Question: “Pastor Ronald, have you ever considered they might be staying in the SDA church because they don’t know of any other church that’s more biblical?”

Answer:

Honestly, that’s a very important question, and we need to answer it directly, not with vague or diplomatic words.

First of all, if someone stays in the SDA church because they feel there’s “no more biblical church available,” then we are shifting the blame to the lack of options, when in reality, the deeper issue is not the absence of churches but the presence of false doctrine. The problem is not geography, it’s theology.

Second, let’s be clear: in the Philippines, there are many historic, gospel-centered, orthodox Christian churches, Evangelical, Reformed, Baptist, Pentecostal, and independent Bible churches that preach a clear gospel, uphold sound Christology, and practice faithful hermeneutics. So the idea that “there’s nowhere else to go” is not accurate. The real issue is that many people are unwilling to let go of the teachings they grew up with, even when those teachings contradict Scripture.

Third, if the SDA church is truly “more biblical,” then we must ask:

• Why do they elevate Ellen White as a prophet whose writings function as the final authority in practice? 
• Why do they teach the Investigative Judgment, a doctrine never taught by Jesus or the apostles
• Why is their gospel a mixture of grace, law, and Sabbath-keeping, instead of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone? 
• Why do they claim to be the “remnant church,” contradicting Ephesians 4:4-6, which says there is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all? 
• Why do they universalize the Old Covenant Sabbath, when the New Testament clearly teaches freedom from the law? 
• And why do they reinterpret Christ’s finished work on the cross as an “ongoing atonement” in a heavenly sanctuary? 

Is that truly biblical, or does it only sound biblical until you examine it closely?

Fourth, the irony is this: many remain in the SDA church not because they have no choice, but because they have never heard the clear gospel and sound doctrine outside of it. That’s the real challenge for us.

So what should we do?

• Let’s keep planting churches with solid biblical teaching.
• Let’s keep preaching the pure gospel without mixture.
• Let’s keep reaching out to SDAs with truth and grace, not hostility.
• Let’s build safe, loving communities where former Adventists can grow in Christ.

Because the solution is not to tolerate error, it’s to make truth accessible. If people say they can’t find a “more biblical church,” then it’s our responsibility as pastors and leaders to show them that such churches do exist and have always existed, not built on Ellen White, but built on Scripture alone and centered on Christ alone.

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Former Adventists Philippines

“Freed by the Gospel. Firm in the Word.”

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