YES, THERE IS LIFE AFTER ADVENTISM!

Did you ever think about why some folks stick with the SDA Church even if they don't agree with everything it teaches? Maybe they feel they don't have many other choices because other churches don't fit their beliefs as closely. Lots of Adventists feel this way, and they might also be hesitant to leave because of their job or family ties.

Some people who used to be Adventists have joined different religions after leaving the SDA Church. Some have become Jehovah's Witnesses, others have chosen Islam, and some have joined Iglesia ni Cristo (1914) or Eliseo Soriano's Ang Dating Daan (MCGI). In Lambunao, Antique, I talked with a former SDA elder who switched to Ang Dating Daan after the local SDA church changed into Soriano's MCGI church.

It's important to say that mentioning Jehovah's Witnesses, Muslims, Iglesia ni Cristo (1914), and MCGI doesn't mean these religions are true. The point is to challenge the idea that Adventists can't change their beliefs because they think no other denomination teaches things "closer to the Bible." This idea isn't strong because it's based on personal feelings rather than facts. The real test should be the Bible itself, understood by its teachings, not personal feelings or church rules. For 24 years, I strongly believed in the Seventh-day Adventist church and thought it was the only true church. I didn't consider any other beliefs as true. But as I read the Bible more carefully guided ny the Holy Spirit, I noticed some things that didn't make sense and raised questions. This made me want to find the the truth that will set me free (John 8:32).

I hesitated to leave my church because I didn't know where else to go if I left the SDA church. But after praying and thinking about it, I realized I misunderstood what the church really means according to the Bible. The word "church" isn't just about which denomination, organization, or group you belong to. It's about a community of people who sincerely worship God and believe in Jesus as their only Savior, no matter where they are or what group they belong to (John 4:24; 1 Cor. 1:1, 2; 1 Pet. 1:1).

I also found out that since the time of the apostles, the only real measure of true faith is the Gospel, not the specific beliefs of a certain group, like the Seventh-day Adventist church's 28 Fundamental Beliefs. This is something the apostle Paul stressed:

Galatians 1:6-9 (NLT) 6 I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News7 but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. 8 Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. 9 I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.

Since the time of the apostles, the way to know if someone truly believes is not by looking at what their church teaches or what they believe, but by seeing if they follow the "Gospel." Paul's writings really emphasize this idea.

1 Corinthians 2:2 (NLT) 2 For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified.

In the New Testament, Paul's letters talk a lot about how important "only Jesus Christ and his crucifixion" are as the gospel or good news. Let's listen to what Paul has to say about why this is so important.

Romans 5:6, 8-11 (NLT) 6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

The reason why Jesus Christ's death on the cross is called "Good News" is because it saves people from their sins and brings them back to God. Since the time of the apostles until now, the message of bringing God and people back together has been the main message of Christianity.

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (NLT) 18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:1-5 (NLT) 1 Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. 2 It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. 3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. 5 He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve.

The main message of the gospel, as the apostles taught it, is still the same today. Many people still need to make peace with God through Christ, so the unchanged message of the gospel is just as important now as it was back then.

Jude 1:3 (NLT) 3 Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people.

The gospel preached by the apostles remains the standard for truth. It's not our doctrinal knowledge but acceptance of Christ's crucifixion as the sole means of salvation that reconciles us with God. This immutable truth serves as the criterion for evaluating diverse beliefs.

We don't have to look at all the different beliefs of every church to find the true one. The only thing that matters is if a church focuses on Jesus and His salvation by grace alone as the centeral message of preaching and his sacrifice on the cross as the only way to be saved. Whether a church is big or small, if it teaches that Jesus brings people and God together through grace, that's what truly matters in Christianity.

The importance of being saved is more significant than small differences in beliefs. This message isn't just for certain groups like Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Iglesia ni Cristo, Ang Dating Daan, and Islam, which sometimes think you have to do good things to be saved.

Understanding what the gospel really means changed how I saw salvation when I was a Seventh-day Adventist preacher. Instead of only talking about Adventist teachings, I talked about coming back to God through Christ's sacrifice on the cross, which helped many people decide to be baptized and saved.

COMMENTARY OF "SINGING THE LORD'S SONG IN A STRANGE LAND" (Jan 27–Feb 2, 2024)

"I WAS PROHIBITED FROM WATCHING PREACHERS LIKE YOU!"

 

Is it right for Seventh-day Adventist leadership to prohibit their members from watching the videos of the Former Adventist Fellowship Philippines? That's what we're discussing today. What could have prompted the SDA leadership to ban their members? In my humble opinion, I see the concern of the SDA leadership about the decrease in the number of their members because they are being "cheated" or "deceived" by the expositions in our podcasts. In fact, more and more SDA members worldwide, not just in the Philippines, are leaving the Seventh-day Adventist church because of such programs by former Adventists who were once members, evangelists, apologists, elders, pastors, and theologians.

If this is the reason, it's only natural to prohibit their members from watching because any religious denomination would do so to protect their members. That perspective aligns with the views of the leaders of the SDA church. But what should the perspective of SDA members be on this matter? Will it help or not? SDA members may have different views on this. If you are convinced and committed to the teachings of the SDA, you're sure not to waste time watching our podcast. However, if you're an SDA member afraid to find out that there might be something wrong with SDA doctrines, you certainly wouldn't watch our podcasts because you're more concerned about the potential negative consequences it may have on your family, friends, or even your job.

But if you are an open-minded SDA who still wants to learn more and is not afraid to confront the truth to be even more certain in what you believe, then, to me, that is more admirable and honorable. It's not a guarantee that you are already in the truth, that's why your leaders are jusrified in prohibiting you from watching and listening to our podcasts because that's what cult religions do. They prohibit their members from reading materials from other religions that they haven't published, fearing that their hidden history might be exposed. This was my experience when I was still a Jehovah's Witness. They were very strict with their members, forbidding them from reading books from other religions, which they considered rebellion against their organization or apostasy. This is what they often called me back then because I liked collecting various readings from different religions believing that I could use them as weapons against them if ever I confronted them during my door-to-door preaching. But despite the opposition and discipline from the Jehovah's Witness leaders, I continued until I read publications from former Jehovah's Witnesses members and leaders about the wrong teachings they saw, such as their false prophecies that their leaders hide from their members. That's when I understood why the leadership strictly forbids reading other books. That's what led me to leave Jehovah's Witnesses. 

So, it's not surprising that even after becoming a Seventh-day Adventist, I continued collecting religious readings from various groups. Not because I doubted the SDA church, but to further ensure that I am truly in the right faith. I'm not content to just hear one side; I also want to know what others are saying so I can formulate my own answers and prove to myself that there is no truth to the allegations made by critics of the SDA church. However, just like my experience with Jehovah's Witnesses, I also discovered many lies of the SDA church that leaders have been hiding from their members for a long time now. I have read teachings of the SDA, especially in the writings of Ellen White, that they are no longer hiding from unsuspecting members today. One example is Ellen G. White's false prophecies, such as her Camden Vision,[1] where she stated in her first vision that the door of mercy for the world closed on October 22, 1844, so it was too late for people to repent because they rejected Ellen G. White's message.[1] Another glaring example is Ellen G. White's clear teaching that Christ is just a created being, an angel with wings.[2]

So the question is, is it really wrong to be curious and read or watch videos from other religions like those of former Adventists? It's not inherently wrong, especially if SDAs believe that their leaders are not hiding anything from them. But why are they prohibited from watching videos and reading materials from them by their leaders? If they are truly convinced that the truth lies within the Seventh-day Adventist church, they shouldn't be afraid of their members watching our podcasts and reading our articles.

In my personal experience, similar to other former pastors and theologians of the SDA church, I also discovered many lies being concealed and suppressed writings of Ellen G. White, including hundreds of unpublished writings by Mrs. White that until now have not been published and are still hidden in the Ellen White Estate vault in America. I feel sorry for the ordinary members of the SDAs and their newly baptized individuals who are unaware that many false teachings are being concealed from them by the SDA leadership until now.

Therefore, I continue to expose the errors and deceptive teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist church through the ministry of the Former Adventist Fellowship Philippines because by God's grace, many are awakened and minds are opened. Such an attitude from SDA leaders only indicates their weakness. This weakness is evidenced by their prohibition of their members from watching our podcasts, which suggests one of the following:

a.) They themselves have no confidence in the teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist church.

b.) They lack trust in their own members.

c.) They also lack trust in their layman debaters who are aspiring defenders of their church, allegedly lacking deep backgrounds in theology and biblical languages, many of whom have not completed college.

I receive numerous calls from SDA members across the Philippines who request not to be mentioned for confidential reasons and emails expressing heartfelt gratitude to the Lord for leading them to our videos and articles to open their eyes to the truth. One of them is Sister Helen Yamaguchi, mentioned earlier. She wrote:

"It's true what Pastor Obidos said; I was prohibited from watching preachers like you. I've left that congregation, so now I'm free to study the Word of God."

Hallelujah Praise the Lord! AMEN!