In brief, Seventh-day Advenstist…
- Teach the SDA Church is the remnant church of Revelation
- The first “proof” of their identity is their keeping of the Fourth Commandment of the Old Covenant
- The second “proof” of their identity is the prophetess Ellen White
The SDAs concept of “Remnant church” is plainly explained as #13 of their 28 Fundamental Beliefs
#13. The Remnant and its Mission
“The universal church is composed of all who truly believe in Christ, but in the last days, a time of widespread apostasy, a remnant has been called out to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. This remnant announces the arrival of the judgment hour, proclaims salvation through Christ, and heralds the approach of His second advent. This proclamation is symbolized by the three angels of Revelation 14; it coincides with the work of judgment in heaven and results in a work of repentance and reform on earth. Every believer is called to have a personal part in this worldwide witness.” (Rev. 12:17; 14:6-12; 18:1-4; 2 Cor. 5:10; Jude 3, 14; 1 Peter 1:16-19; 2 Peter 3:10-14; Rev. 21:1-14.)
THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST TRUTH ABOUT THE REMNANT
Seventh-day Adventists teach that Revelation 12:17 identifies their church as the “remnant church” of Bible prophecy.
How does the Seventh-day Adventists identify themselves as the “remnant” of Revelation 12:17:
- The “woman” depicted in Revelation 12 represents the true church of God.
- The true church “fled into the wilderness” (Rev. 12:6) for a period of 1,260 years. This prophecy was fulfilled when the Waldenses and Albigenses of Europe hid in the mountains during the period of papal supremacy (from 538 AD to 1798 AD) and preserved the truth about the seventh-day Sabbath and the Bible for 1,260 years.
- At the time of the end, Satan makes war with the “remnant.”
- The “remnant” is identified as those who “keep the commandments of God” and have the “testimony of Jesus.”
- According to Adventists, the “commandments of God” are the Ten Commandments given to Israel in Sinai, and the “testimony of Jesus” is their prophet, Ellen G. White.
Adventists use an interesting formula to equate Ellen White with the Spirit of Prophecy. They do this by linking the “testimony of Jesus” in Rev. 12:17 to the same phrase found in Rev. 19:10.
They claim that Revelation 19:10 unlocks the meaning of the testimony of Jesus. Rev. 19:10 is written: “for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
Mrs. White and other sect leaders frequently referred to her testimonies (written and verbal) as the “Spirit of Prophecy.” Therefore, since Ellen White was recognized by the sect as having the gift of prophecy, the assumption was made that she was the Spirit of Prophecy. After Mrs. White’s death in 1915, the SDA church was in a dilemma because they no longer had a living prophet. So, they redefined their previous teachings, and began teaching that Ellen White “lives on” through the writings of her books. Since the sect never had another prophet after Ellen White, that explanation has taken root in the sect, which now seems to be perfectly content without a living prophet.
1.) Waldenses did not keep the truth alive for 1,260 years?
Ellen White claims that the Waldenses were Sabbath keepers
“Through ages of darkness and apostasy there were Waldenses who denied the supremacy of Rome, who rejected image worship as idolatry, and who kept the true Sabbath.” The Great Controversy 1911, p. 65
The Waldenses were not Sabbath-keepers. Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi an Adventist historian and scholar on the history of the Sabbath says:
“I spent several hours searching for an answer in the two scholarly volumes Storia dei Valdesi–(History of the Waldenses), authored by Amedeo Molnar and Augusto Hugon. These two books were published in 1974 by the Claudiana, which is the official Italian Waldensian publishing house. They are regarded as the most comprehensive history of the Waldenses. To my regret I found no allusion whatsoever to Sabbathkeeping among the Waldenses.” [Endtime Issues number 87, “A Reply to Criticisms Part I ‘The Use of Ellen White’s Writings in Interpreting Scripture'” (August 1, 2002)]
A Waldensian minister in Italy was contacted and asked if the Waldenses ever kept the Sabbath. Here is his response:
“The Waldensians did not keep the Sabbath and were not guardians of the “Sabbath Truth” as you call it. The Waldensians never followed the Seventh-day Adventist but they follow more: Romans 14,5-8 than other truths. We can therefore say very clearly that the Waldensians were not Seventh-day Sabbath keepers and they were not persecuted for keeping Saturday as the Sabbath! They were persecuted, from 1535 (when they joined the Reformation) to 1848 (when they received religious freedom), because of their Reformed-Calvinistic (Protestant) faith.”
Bacchiocchi is not the first Adventist to search in vain for evidence of the Waldenses keeping the Sabbath. The only thing researchers have found thus far are some documents which refer to the Waldenses by their nickname, “insabbati.” Unfortunately for Mrs. White, the term has nothing to do with the Sabbath. It refers to the sandals the Waldenses were known to wear. The Latin word for sandals is sabbatum. Thus, the Waldenses were insabbati–“sandal wearers.”
“Behind the lofty bulwarks of the mountains . .. the Waldenses found a hiding place. Here the light of truth was kept burning amid the darkness of the Middle Ages. Here for a thousand years, witnesses for the truth maintained the ancient faith.” The Great Controversy 1911, p. 65-66
The Waldenses did not move to the mountains until after 1184 AD. Persecution ended by the middle of the 1600s, so this group was in the so-called “wilderness” less than 500 years.
2.) The SDA interpretation of “1260 years” is not supported by any standard historical references
The papacy did not establish in 538 A.D.
In the 1888 edition of The Great Controversy Mrs. White wrote:
“The 1260 years of papal supremacy began with the establishment of the papacy in A. D. 538,and would therefore terminate on 1798.” (p. 266)
In his newsletter, Endtime Issues number 87, “A Reply to Criticisms Part I ‘The Use of Ellen White’s Writings in Interpreting Scripture'” (August 1, 2002)
Bacchiochi points out that the supremacy of the papacy was actually established centuries prior to 538 A.D.:
“In my dissertation [From Sabbath to Sunday] I have shown that the development of the papal primacy began already in the second century, when the Pope exercised his ecumenical authority by imposing on Christian churches at large Easter-Sunday, weekly Sunday, and by condemning various movements like the Montanists.”
“The development of the supremacy of the papacy is a gradual process that can hardly be dated from 538. The process began already in the second century as the primacy of Bishop of Rome was widely recognized and accepted.”
Bacchiocchi describes yet another problem with the 538 – 1798 prophetic period, which is that the persecution of the church does not correlate with these years:
“The second problem with the traditional interpretation is its failure to account for the basic meaning of this prophetic period. The persecution and protection of the church did not begin in 538, nor did it end in 1798. These are realities that have characterized the whole history of God’s church throughout the centuries. Some of the most bloody persecutions by Roman emperors occurred during the first four centuries.“
3.) SDAs interpretation on Revelation 12:17 is based upon three false assumptions:
(1) For SDA, “Commandments of God” must refer to the Ten Commandments of Sinai and specifically include the Sabbath commandment,
The word “commandments,” as used in the New Testament, does not always refer to the Ten Commandments, and when it does, only once is it used in connection with the Sabbath commandment. That one time is:
“And they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment [entole].” (Lk. 23:56).
John 7:23 (NKJV)“If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law (nomos) of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?”
There is no evidence that entolon theou (“the commandments of God”) was a technical term that would have been understood as referring exclusively (or even primarily) to the Decalogue. We must remember that we are seeking to define “commandments” as used by John, the author of Revelation. The word “Law” (nomos) is never used in the book of Revelation which is authored by John. When John uses the word “commandment” (entole) it never refers to the old covenant law and usually refers to the new covenant law of love.
It will become immediately evident that when used in John, “commandment” (entole) does not refer to the Ten Commandments, or other portions of the old covenant. We conclude that the term, “commandments of God” as used by John in Revelation 12:17 and 14:10 does not refer to the Ten Commandments. If he were referring to the Ten Commandments He would have used the Greek word (nomos) “Law.”
The word, “testimony” comes from a root word which in its various forms in Greek means testifying, testimony, witness, and martyr. The underlying meaning is the proclamation of truth regardless of consequences. The “of Jesus” part of this phrase can be understood in two ways. It can mean the testimony from Jesus, or it can mean the testimony concerning Jesus. The first meaning stresses the fact that this testimony has Jesus as its source. The second meaning stresses the idea that this testimony has Jesus as the subject matter. Either interpretation is valid as far as the Greek syntax is concerned. In other words, the phrase “testimony of Jesus” means proclaiming the truth of (either from or about) Jesus. When we stop to think about it, this is not a bad definition of the gospel. It is a proclamation of the truth both from and about Jesus. From a linguistic definition we would say the “testimony of Jesus” is a term which stands for the gospel as it is fearlessly proclaimed. The “testimony of Jesus” or just “the testimony” is used as a term for the gospel. John bears witness to the gospel, the truth about (or from) Jesus (Rev. 1:1,2). The souls under the altar had been slain because they maintained the truth about (or from) Jesus.
John was imprisoned on the isle of Patmos not because he had the writings of Ellen White or because he was a prophet, but because he held to the truth concerning Jesus. The church derives its “trueness” as it submits to the head of the church, Jesus Christ.
With this background let us now return to the two texts in question and see if our definition of “testimony of Jesus” fits within their context.
“And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments (entole) of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” (Rev. 12:17).
Who are these people with whom the dragon is angry?
They are the people who keep the new covenant commandments of God and hold to the truth about (or from) Jesus!
Notice the close parallel verse in Revelation 14:12.
“Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments (entole) of God and their faith in Jesus.”
These two verses seem to say the same thing. In one the saints are described as those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. In the other, they keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. Therefore, the term “testimony of Jesus” and keeping their “faith in Jesus” are parallel in meaning.
(3) the “spirit of prophecy” must refer to a modern-day prophet.
What does the Revelator mean when he says “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy”?
Here the angel says he also holds the “testimony of Jesus.” In other words, the angel also believes the truth about (or from) Jesus. Focusing on the last phrase, we read, “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” To paraphrase, “The truth about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Notice how this verse is variously translated or paraphrased.
“Those who bear testimony to Jesus are inspired like the prophets.” (The New English Bible).
“For the truth revealed by Jesus is the inspiration of all prophecy.” (Weymouth).
“For the testimony of Jesus is what inspires prophecy.” (Goodspeed).
“It is the truth concerning Jesus which inspires all prophecy.” (Knox).
“The testimony focused on Jesus is the gist of prophecy (The Idiomatic Translation of the New Testament).
“The purpose of all prophecy and of all I have shown you is to tell about Jesus.” (Living Bible).
“For the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus.” (New Living Translation).
All prophecy, when rightly interpreted, in some way points to the truth concerning Jesus.
CONCLUSION:
By using this text as “proof” that the SDA church is the “remnant church of Bible prophecy”, the Adventist church has, in essence, substituted the writings of Ellen G. White in the place of the gospel of Christ!
Are you looking for “the true church”? You will find no one human organization which is the true church. Rather look for a local gathering of Christian believers who confess and worship Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, who make Him the center of their theology, who demonstrate the fruits of the Spirit in their lives, who proclaim the simple gospel of God’s grace, who practice water baptism and celebrate the Lord’s Supper, who study and obey God’s word, and who express their forgiven condition by loving one another—even immature sinners who need God. There you will find God’s true church regardless of its name.
No comments:
Post a Comment