"Seventh-day Adventists - Facts & Fables" - Pastor Doug Batchelor

morning and happy Sabbath well the Lord certainly has been blessing just it's been a joy to see all the lives that have been transformed as a result of this risk recent evangelistic program and we just praise God the stories were hearing and miracles that have happened victories that are being gained and a number of people have expressed an interest in in joining our church family and for that reason and for some others you know I thought it would be appropriate to talk a little bit about what is a seventh-day Adventist and separate it from fact and fiction and that'll be the title of our message today seventh-day Adventist facts and fables now when I first was exposed to the Seventh day Adventist message some of you have heard my personal testimony that I came from a background that was for the most part irreligious I know it always worries me when people see that picture and they saw so that guys are faster but in my teenage years coming from a Jewish background my mother and my father he was pretty much nay theist but we grew up not really believing anything I went to Catholic school and Jewish schools but we weren't really indoctrinated very much I had never heard of seventh-day adventists so after I read a Bible I was living in a cave during some hippie years and I read a Bible and I accepted Jesus through the power of the word and so I need to go to church I didn't have any I was clueless about where to go I just wanted to go where I could find Bible Christians that were on fire and so I began to study with and meet with a number of evangelical churches and I'll tell you that I had never even heard of seventh-day adventists at that time if you had asked me who they were I wouldn't have been totally clueless and I'm afraid that there are a lot of other people in the world out there that still don't have any idea or they have a lot of misconceptions you know as I travel I'm a pastor so when you meet people and you start with your tip introductory remarks I are you where you from what do you do I'm a pastor what church seventh-day adventists seven they have this what do they believe are you guys with there no blood transfusions right so no it's not us and this is seventh-day Adventist it's like you know SD LDS is is that Latter day Saints I said no we're SDA that's LDS which is not to be confused with a og which is Assembly of God or Church of God or Presbyterian and people you'd be surprised how much ignorant sir is out there about the different denominations and you can understand the reason for some of the confusion because there are literally hundreds of different denominations in North America that all claim to be Christian and so people get lost in the Kaleidoscope of different denominations and you try to explain what a seventh-day Adventist is and they seem to scramble it up if they're not acquainted with it or they knew knew somebody who knew somebody or they had a relative and all they know is that they went to church on a different day and that they didn't need pork I heard a story years ago I've not verified this so it could be an urban myth but I'll share it with you anyway any of you remember the art Linkletter show in he had a either a feature on that program or program and said kids say the strangest things and he had this one little girl up there and he said something about you know what do you do yesterday and she said I went to church he said well no yesterday was Saturday you don't mean you went to church he said no we went to church SATA to see you go to church Saturday why do you do that she's worth seventh-day Adventist seventh-day Adventist what do you believe she said well we don't eat pork and we hate Catholics so that I probably went a long way to help with our public image but not eating pork part is true I hope the other part is not true but you know people have these perceptions and so there's a lot of confusion but it's interesting it seems like in recent months for a variety of reasons seventh-day Adventists have been coming and I expect will be coming more into the public eye and so I thought well I'd like to take a moment to try and talk about what is the seventh-day Adventist and some of the facts and try to debunk some of the fables I Karen and I were tickled when we were in Fiji few weeks ago this is last week maybe two weeks ago and we met the the new president he was president-elect then he has been inaugurated since Major General George Conrad II who is the president and he is the first seventh-day Adventist president of this island nation and I met us twice said amazing facts had something to do with his being a seventh-day Adventist and we were thrilled to hear that wonderful humble man very smart man very respected in his country and then of course we have somebody at least at the time of this recording we'd like to be consciousness may plain a few years but that seventh-day Adventist that is fairly prominent in the polls who is running for the Republican nomination dr. ben Carson and I spoke with him actually about a year and a half ago he was at our religious broadcasters convention I think I said Dwayne here he was there with me and I stayed behind and visited with him we'd actually met before because he would frequent some of the same camp meetings and convocations I would be at and I'd just see him briefly backstage but that was back before he announced he was running and so now Donald Trump and others and I don't know what a seven-day Evans what's this at the end us and so then people began to Google search what is it and it worried because they went to some websites that don't know anything about us and you know that you're gonna find good and bad on the internet some people well it must be true I saw it on the Internet take my word for it not everything you see on the internet is true and if you've got an ache or a pain don't try to find out what it is on the internet because you'll be sure you're dying if you look there so what is a seventh-day Adventist and what makes us different well in a word seventh-day Adventists very simply Bible Christians and of course a lot of Christians will say that but really this is what we believe and if you want to find out what a church is let's get something out of the way right from the start when you want to find out what a denomination believes don't say well I knew a Baptist so I know what Baptists believe because I think every Baptist will admit there are people that go to Baptist churches that don't very nicely represent Baptists or don't even know what they believe and that will be true of Methodists and Presbyterians and Church of Christ and seventh-day emulous and so when you want to find out what a Church believes you don't just look at one person now don't misunderstand you should all if your members we know we have a lot of non Adventists that are visiting worshiping with us today but if you remember you want to live a life that is a good example for what you believe but not everybody does and every Church has some kooky cousins right so if you were to really find out what they believe look in the foundational documents and if you look in the documents of what the seventh-day adventist believe they'll tell you very clearly this is one of our baptismal vows when you join the church you say we believe the Bible is God's inspired Word and that it constitutes the only rule of faith and practice for the Christian we believe both the Old and New Testaments comprise the Word of God we believe and take the Word of God quite literally we believe it's the inspired infallible Word of God and you will hear people because seventh-day Adventists do believe that God speaks to people I mean what else why would pastors stand up except you hope that God will inspire people right and of the founders in the Adventist Church L&G white mole seven the admins believe was inspired and had the gift of prophecy that a prophet might have and but because that people say well seventh-day Adventist you base your teachings on the writings of Ellen White now I'm gonna do something a little risky here in this message because I know many of you are seventh-day Adventist I'm gonna come down where you are and we're gonna put you on camera we'll do it as a crowd we won't single you out now I'm giving you a warning in a in advance cuz some of you look very austere right and I want you to smile before the camera goes on here alright so come down we'll get a camera shot I want to ask the question and I want them to see your answer because we've got how many of you are seventh-day Adventist members I won't ask it and I see a lot that are not raising the answer your visitors okay and so getting a shot of the members so you can bear witness do we base our beliefs on what the spirit of prophecy says what Ellen White says or what the Bible says okay just wanted to get that on record did I hadn't told you I was gonna say that right so this is all unscripted I just want others that are watching might see this tape if we put it up and I want them to know this is what we believe in Ellen White herself who we do believe was inspired by God she said do not base your beliefs on anything I've said she said base it on the Word of God and so you'll hear people accuse us of that and it's just not true jesus said heaven and earth will pass away my word will not pass away and then that's Matthew 24:35 Matthew 4 it is written man shall not live by bread alone but we live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God and so everything what the pastor says what a prophet says what anybody says must be measured up against what the Word of God says now when I first heard about seventh-day Adventist I'll just be very honest with you I thought it was a peculiar name you know when I started saying Lord just show me your church cuz I worship with many different churches and they found that they disagreed on some what I thought were pivotal doctrines and I I just went back up to the cave and I said Lord I just want to know the truth show me and I expected I find a church that was named Church of God and there are churches that are called the Church of God that's a great name or I'd find one that saved the Church of Christ and there is a church called the Church of Christ that's a good name simple right Assembly of God assembly wouldn't have been my first choice but it's still a great name and you know you'll find a lot of the best names are copyrighted and there may be several that are actually arguing over certain names a lot of churches have a lot of names we're living near the end of time I want to be a latter-day Saint don't you but that's a Mormon and our beliefs are different I want to be a witness for Jehovah and you got to be careful because that's another very different denomination so why seventh-day Adventist well it's very simple because along with the other nine commandments we believe on keeping a hundred percent and one of them says remember the Sabbath day so we worship on the seventh day of the week Saturday as a Sabbath we don't see evidence in the Bible or history that it has been changed by God and so we're gonna just do what God tells us to do we figure that it's a commandment that's one reason the word Adventist means that we believe in the soon coming or the imminent return of Jesus Christ said behold I am coming quickly several times in Revelation he tells us he's coming in John chapter 14 I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and so the disciples and the Apostles made a great priority about talking about the shortness of life the return of the Lord and getting people ready for that event and so we believe that we are a church that's been called in the last generation the last age of the church the age of Laodicea to prepare the world for the advent of Jesus that's all that means is so we are seventh-day Adventists but we're Bible Christians and so sometimes the names can sound confusing a little history about the formation of the church back in 1835 there was a great revival it became known as it was a great second awakening or the great Advent movement not to be confused with seventh-day Adventist seventh-day adventists were not organized as a church until 1863 I think the name was picked in 1860 it would formally organized incorporated 1863 we're going back now to 1835 through 1844 there was a millerite movement William Miller was a Baptist he was an adventist Baptist and hundreds of thousands of Christians around North America and South America and Europe through reading the prophecies of Daniel they were convinced because Daniel 8:14 said unto 2300 days then the sanctuary would be cleansed and they understood those verses to mean that Christ was going to come at the end of this time period and cleanse the earth with fire that the earth was the sanctuary and that Jesus was coming and it is true the Lord's coming with fire in a whirlwind but they misunderstood the prophecy but that's what they believed and they sincerely believed it and there was a great Advent movement that's known in history is the great disappointment when in 1844 and that October date past Jesus didn't come and people have said seventh-day Adventist you're the ones that have set dates for Jesus coming I'm gonna go down here see all the copy and when I ask you now hopefully you know your Bibles in your history have we as a church ever set a date for the second coming of Jesus okay just thank you very much appreciated that looked very decided we have not set a date that was the Miller rights that set a date we were not even organized as a church until years later what is true is a number of church groups fragmented and grew out of that disappointment and that's not necessarily a bad thing because if you love Jesus in the New Testament are you aware that the Bible writers in the New Testament wrote after organizing after coming through a great disappointment because they misunderstood prophecy did the apostles believe that Jesus was going to die in a cross even though he told them were they devastated didn't they think that Jesus was going to overwhelm the the Romans and set himself up on the throne of David and proclaimed himself king and make Israel a literal nation and even after he rose from the dead they came to him and they said will you at this time established a kingdom and he said you know you don't get it and they were so disappointed so it shouldn't surprise you that God would raise up a movement coming from the ashes of a great disappointment and because that's how the New Testament sort of grew up there was a lot of misunderstandings they also didn't think they should preach to Gentiles it was quite a struggle when Peter first went to Cornelius house he thought but the the message about the Messiah was just for Jews and they had to convince him no it's to go to everybody and so um that's where it grew out of this great disappointment time was organized in 1863 but to just give you the picture what I love about the adventist church is that we are were sort of the commingling of christians from many different backgrounds that basically put aside their differences back after Jesus didn't come in 1844 there were Baptists Methodists Congregationalist Presbyterians all these different churches and they said let's study together we've obviously misunderstood the word there's probably many other misunderstandings it had not been that long since the Protestants came out of the Dark Ages where the truth was cast to the ground and they said let's study and in those studies from Christians of many denominations the church developed they said let's get back to the Bible they realized there were several things they'd been following that were not biblical and so we'll be talking about once some of those things are and what some of them are not some of the principle founders of our church there was a sea captain who had been I believe Presbyterian Joseph Bates a very interesting man if you want to hear an amazing autobiography this guy started out running away as a cabin boy ended up in jail and Preston the British Navy and shipwrecked and almost eaten by sharks and just an incredible story Joseph Bates one of the founders of the church along with James White Ellen White and a number of others and they were all young many of them were in their 20s Joseph Bates was sort of the the senior man in the group so what do we believe as a church what grew out of that Bible study that developed us into the church we are today well one thing we believe in following the Bible loving the Lord and loving your neighbor we believe in serving our fellow man seventh-day Adventists have a worldwide community service program some of you have heard of addre the Adventist Relief Development Agency and we go into countries around the world especially when there's disasters and we provide relief plus ongoing help in developing countries to alleviate the needs of the people Jesus said I was hungry and you fed me I was thirsty and you gave me drink I was naked and you clothed me I was a stranger and you visited me I was in prison and you came to me and Christ said and as much as you do it to the least of these you've done it to me so seventh-day Adventist believe in alleviating the suffering of humanity and that is part of the Ministry of Christ that's what it means to be a Christian and some of the evidence of that is that all over the world we have a very extensive health and ministry work we have hospitals and sanitariums actually there are 171 seven day Adventist hospitals and sanitariums around the world it is the largest health care ministry largest Christian health care ministry next to the Catholics Catholics have a long history of medical work and hospitals seventh-day Adventist considering that were certainly not the oldest Protestant group but we're number two when it comes to our understanding relieving the physical stuff of humanity and ministering to the sick and that means they're treating 14 million nine hundred and ninety seven thousand people every year according to the research done not too long ago some of you heard of the Blue Zone study because of the seventh-day Adventist belief that the Bible teaches healthful living that your body is the temple of the holy spirit we need to care for our bodies a number of studies have shown the seventh-day Adventists live an average of ten years longer than the average citizen now in some countries it's much better than that but in America we live an average of ten years longer matter of fact I think I've got a picture somewhere that shows yeah there she is that's Marge at the time of this picture 104 years old some of you saw the National Geographic magazine secrets of living longer they identified four groups three of those groups were identified based on a territory I think it was Sardinia Okinawa Japan Loma Linda is up but there was a there's a fourth one huh what was it huntin I don't know if that was one of them anyway there anyway there's four groups that were identified one of them though was seventh-day Adventist they focused on Loma Linda California but it wasn't because of their race or their geography it was because of the belief system in this study and they said seventh-day Adventist clearly live longer than the average and it was attributed to one thing the rest and community on the Sabbath there's something helpful about that but a lot because of the lifestyle and it's much more common for a seventh-day Adventist to reach a hundred years of age than it is for the average citizen because we believe in caring for our bodies we have we abstained from unclean food alcohol tobacco and along with another number of other important health practices or a health conscious people just a few facts and figures I might share with you about the seventh-day Adventist I just printed these off last night because the numbers of course are changing it's a very dynamic figure but as of this recording in November 2015 there are 78,000 cheese worldwide church membership it was only about 7,000 around the turn of the century or 78,000 around the turn of the century and now it's an eighteen point four million and growing baptisms last year or if I'm could be wrong it might be baptisms in the last five years this may be a Quinn quinium report hunt 1 million no I think it's more than that yeah was just last year 1 million baptisms nots and we just added to that and will today 18,000 ordained ministers worlds how many countries in areas in the world according to the United Nations there are 237 not just countries but including places designated as areas they may not be incorporated as countries 237 some of the adventist are working out of 237 we are 216 that's encouraging jesus said the gospel of the kingdom shall go into all the world for a witness and then the end will come language is used in the seventh-day adventist publications and oral work 947 languages and so people that are sharing the message around the world are doing it in 900 languages jesus said to every tongue and people educational program we have seven thousand five hundred and seventy nine schools with a total enrollment of 1 million eight hundred thousand and change students and and two hundred ninety four clinics and dispensaries thirty four orphanages and fifteen media centers sixty-three publishing houses printing in three hundred and sixty-six languages and so this is a worldwide movement and some of you are going to be joining that movement today through baptism and we thought it'd be good for you to have some of those figures so that gives you a little picture of what we're doing our educational system medical system media system and amazing fax is part of this global media work of the seventh-day adventist church but what about our teachings because that's the bottom line what's what are the ingredients you know when you ask a person what does your church believe person might say well let me see what did my pastor say we believe last week or well I don't know I'll ask one of our members if you're going to join a church what is the reason to join a church you know why most people join churches let me see if I can just list from memory some of the the top 10 reasons why do people join churches it's where their family went I joined well it's our people our family for generations we've been Catholics on the Catholic what do you believe well I don't know let me ask the priest but some people they just join it's sort of like they've inherited their religion well yeah I was born about this time gonna die a Baptist what do you believe what my church believes what do they believe what our pastor teaches what does he believe we believe the same thing and if some people do not sure it's just it's sort of like a cultural thing with him some people pick a church because it's close to their house why do you go there right up around the corner it's convenient what do they believe like most of I agree with it I know this cuz we get calls on the radio every week and we hear the reasons that people join a church why do you go to that church well it's the church where everybody does anybody in our community goes to that sure it is the church where the people with the power go they are connected Karen and I were visiting with somebody just last week and they basically that's what they said this is a church where the people are connected with it the community there they they're it's like the power influence years ago when presidents changed and presidents used to go to church more commonly on Sunday in Washington DC and they would like to call the local Methodist Church of the Presbyterian Church and say is the president attending today they wanted to go when the president went why do you go to that church wow it is the most beautiful building I go in and win the stained glass and the Sun is at a certain place and it shines in this is ambience I just feel the presence of God the are picture the vault the echo it's the building what do they believe I don't know but oh that's just so beautiful really some some people that's why do you go to that church they've got a great children's program now I think we have a great children's program and everybody wants to go to a church with a great children's program but is that the reason you pick a church why do you go to that church the music I am I like to sing they've got a choir so I go what do they believe I don't care for the beliefs but the singing is out of this world and for that reason you ought to join the Mormon Tabernacle Choir because they are really good isn't that right they're great they can sing but what do they believe and then the thing is what do you believe right so when you're gonna make a decision and say I'm joining the church even though you want them to have a charismatic pastor it's nicest that they have a good music program a good children's program a clean building all of those things are fringe benefits none of them are the reason to pick the church the reason to pick the church is the teachings of that church the official teachings of that church are the teachings you find of Jesus in the Bible that's the reason that's why I joined this church and if I find a church I hope I don't hurt anybody's feelings but fine to find a church closer I want to be in the church that is the closest to the teachings of Jesus that's really the reason that you want to be part and if you're joining this church it's because I hope you believe that the teachings of the church are the teachings of Christ well let's look at some of those what about our teaching of God let me read to you what our teaching is there is one God Father Son and Holy Spirit a unity of three Co eternal persons God is immortal all-powerful all-knowing above all and ever-present he is infinite beyond human comprehension yet known through his self revelation he is forever worthy of worship adoration service by the whole creation we believe in what you would call the Trinity word is not found in the Bible that God the Father Son and spirit comprise God and so no we don't believe Jesus was created we believe all things that were made were made by him we do not believe that the Holy Spirit is just some electric force that God uses the Holy Spirit is a person jesus said when he the Spirit of Truth has come he will lead you into all truth and Christ identifies him as father son and spirit being part of God what do we believe about salvation all because you believe in the Sabbath seventh-day Adventist you believe you are saved by keeping the seventh-day Sabbath all right coming down here for a second start smiling now get a camry you ready all right do we we believe the seven days of Sabbath do we believe that we are saved because we keep the Sabbath seventh-day Adventists don't believe we're saved by Sabbath keeping any more than a Baptist believes you're saved by not stealing just because you believe all 10 commandments does not believe mean that you believe you're exclusively saved by keeping one of the commandments we just believe they're all important and obviously because you're in a culture where Christians at large and neglect one of the commandments we are gonna say more about that idolatry is wrong there's some churches that don't have a problem with that there are gonna be people in heaven that did not know about idolatry I know that might be hard for some of you to imagine matter of fact why don't I do that right now I'll come down here I'm gonna ask another question one of the myths that I hear is that seventh-day Adventist believe that we're the only ones that are going to be in heaven do any of you believe that only seventh-day Adventist go into heaven okay that's good you talk to me later because I hear people say all admira's they think they're the only ones that are going one reason I joined the church is I was pleased to finally find a group that said that they believe the largest part matter fact this is something Ellen White says in the book great controversy the greatest part not the smallest part the greatest part of Christ's true followers are in the Fellowship of other denominations I said oh that's refreshing I don't agree with all the teachings but God knows their hearts and that there are many people in these other churches that love him and they walk in the light they've got and they're God's children and His Spirit works in them and God answers their prayers but theological II they may be wrong on some things I'm in this church because I believe it's theological II closer to the Bible but the 70 AD nasai think there's more to it than that I believe that in the last days the whole world is going to be polarized into one of two groups most Christians agree that there's gonna be those who have the mark of the beast those who have the seal of God you can have one group everyone's gonna be forced to worship the Beast that's gonna be sort of global right all small and great rich and poor free and bond the other group is going to be faithful to God and that means right now since he's got his people in so many different churches there's gonna be a time of trouble there's gonna be a shaking before the end and people are going to be shaken into one of two groups Christ said other sheep I have that are not of this fold them also I must call they will hear my voice there will be one full right now there's many the church is fragmented other religions make fun of Christianity cuz there's such a such a fractured religion it's not gonna always be that way Christ is gonna come back for a church that was like the faith that he delivered unto the Saints there's gonna be a revival of apostolic spirit filled biblical Christianity before the end where we're gonna return to the teachings of the Bible alright let me let me get back to some of the specifics do we believe we're saved by works or faith salvation Ephesians 2 by grace you are saved through faith not of yourselves it is a gift of God do we all believe that does anyone believe we're saved by keeping the Sabbath or any command no and it says this in our teachings we accept the death of Jesus Christ on Calvary as the atoning sacrifice for our and believed through faith in his shed blood I am safe from sin and its penalty is through faith alone we are saved we all believe that so and when the myth out there is that somehow we believe by not eating pork we're saved are eating more garlic you've all meant people to believe in righteousness buy garlic haven't you and they come to church and sit in their own pew and that's a pun it's through faith now with that I should probably say something about the law in the Sabbath we do not keep the law to be saved we keep the law because we are saved jesus said if you love me what comes first love for me if you love me do one keep come in that's if anyone says you love the Lord you don't keep his Commandments John says you're a liar and the truth is not in you and that wouldn't mean fifty percent or eighty percent we believe a hundred percent including the Sabbath commandment that has never been changed and of course you find that in Exodus 20 remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy wouldn't it seem on to you that God would say that the one commandment you're supposed to really forget about is the only commandment he said to remember he says remember the Sabbath day and then in the next page he says well but that's the one you're supposed to forget I know he's very clear and so we believe that we believe in keeping all of them I don't believe I'm saved more by keeping the seventh-day Sabbath than I am by not committing adultery or by not stealing or lying it's all part of God's law and if we love the Lord we're gonna want to keep his Commandments now something that is admittedly different from typical evangelicals with the Seventh day Adventists is our understanding of what happens when you die we believe that when a person dies that they sleep a dreamless peaceful sleep an unconscious sleep in the grave until the resurrection but what about that verse in the Bible pastor Doug it says in 2nd Corinthians 5:8 to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and as soon as you die you go uh sure it off to Abraham's bosom or somewhere spirit form and then when Jesus comes back he'll get the body and then you'll have the judgment we just don't find that's biblical first of all it is true that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord meaning if you're saved and you should die your next conscious thought is the resurrection in the presence of the Lord there's no awareness of time for you and so and God lives in all dimensions of time but you and I we live in time and the resurrection hasn't happened yet we all agree Christ said I'll raise him up the last day very clear jesus said in the last day the judgment hasn't happened yet the idea that people go right to hell or heaven as soon as they die before the resurrection before the judgment is not biblical and so yes we are in that group and we're not alone that was the belief of many of the Protestant reformers but some of the mythological the the teachings of the Dark Ages that were in the church crept into the Protestant churches let me give you a quote and this is from Martin Luther this is actually written by the Lutheran scholar dr. eighty Kent Onan in his book the Christian Hope page 37 for just as one who falls asleep and reaches morning unexpectedly when he awakes without knowing what happened to him we shall suddenly rise on the last day without knowing how we have come in to death or through death that was a teaching of Luther he believed you slept in the grave unconsciously but he believed your next conscious thought was the resurrection of the Lord are they resurrection the coming of the Lord that's also what William Tyndale believed you've heard of the Tyndale Bible Translators many of these evangelicals would be surprised how many of the great reformers believed exactly what seventh-day Adventists believe about the subject of death even though how many of you have been to a funeral where they say well our dearly beloved they're out there up in heaven with Jesus now and they're singing and walking and they're there telling their friends down on earth to shape up and they're watching over us right now you've all heard that the reason it's important not to be confused on the subject of death is because the Bible says in the last days Satan is going to use seducing spirits that will deceive people and if you believe that the dead can communicate with the living and ghosts and spirits Christians shouldn't be getting involved in that if people are getting messages they may have fallen angels that are manipulating them but the Bible is very clear the living know that they will die Ecclesiastes chapter 9 but the dead know not anything it is the living that praise the Lord those that diets is in the day their breath goes forth Psalm 146 their thoughts perish they stop thinking they're not thinking anything they're sleeping there are about 12 resurrections in the Bible old a New Testament are you aware that in every one of those cases none of those resurrected ever made a single comment about knowing anything when they died why don't you think that the first question that would be asked when someone was dead and they were raised is what did you see what did you experience what was it like what did you feel but the record of the Bible is and none of them have anything to say about their experience during death because the dead don't know anything it's pretty clear but that flies in the face of what some Christians have heard for years and I know what troubles people cuz they say you know I lost my husband and I just feel his presence with me and you know you've got those memories I'm sure they're very precious but they're sleeping and some of us know loved ones that have died that maybe didn't know the Lord I hope you find relief in the knowledge that they're not roasting why you walked the earth that's why on many of the ancient graves it says r.i.p what does that mean rest in peace they're sleeping dreamless sleep until the resurrection so that's one thing that is admittedly different about the Adventist belief connected with that is our understanding about Hellfire now I want to get who wants it this time I'll come back over here microphone picks up win moonwalk okay we've been accused seventh-day Adventist do not believe in Hell let me ask you do we believe in hell yes okay it's hell hot will the loss burn in hell okay just in case I want to make sure we I know we have some Baptists that are watching and they so you the seventh-day Adventist don't believe in hell no we do believe in hell matter of fact our hell is hotter than the Baptist hell because the Baptist hell just sort of tzimmes simmers them forever and our help burns them up they don't burn forever and ever and I know that's different you know during the Dark Ages it was very profitable for the church to scare people out of their wits with the idea of the wicked being tormented forever and ever and ever and can you imagine okay and they say as soon as you die they go to torment you haven't even been judged they go to hell to burn forever and ever and ever for the sins of one lifetime and if the if the Bible says every man is rewarded according to their work but Adolf Hitler gets the same punishment as some and a poor confused teenager that committed suicide and didn't know Jesus where's the justice in that this is not what the Bible teaches Jesus said their two choices believe and live do not believe and perish john 3:16 the devil said you will not surely die that doctrine that you just burned forever and ever comes from the devil God said in the day you sin you will die life is a gift God doesn't give eternal life where in the bible does it say that everybody has immortality when Jesus comes then this mortal will put on immortality God and God only has immortality the idea that sinners are immortal well the devil would like to believe that because even he will be cast into the lake of fire but he's not immortal only God is immortal God gives us the gift of immortality in the resurrection we don't have that yet so we believe that the wicked are cast into hell hell is real it's gonna burn everyone is punished according to what they deserve but the Bible says they are consumed Malachi chapter 4 they are burnt up in Revelation 20 says fire comes down from heaven and devours them the scriptures are very clear that though we could burn up in Hill by the way this was the belief of John Stott who is probably the most influential evangelical theologian in the last century he firmly believed in what we call annihilation that the wicked will be burnt up and you know what I'm relieved I need to be honest and tell you that Seventh day Adventists don't really hold a monopoly on that teaching more and more evangelicals I am meeting a matter of fact I meet some of them at these religious broadcaster meetings and they come up and they look around to make sure nobody's listening they'll say I agree with you on the subject of Hell said you you can't prove the other from the Bible and there are Pentecostals Baptists Presbyterians Methodists more and more leading scholars in these churches realize that the idea of the eternal torment of the Lost is was a medieval theology that it kind of come over into the evangelical churches it's not what Jesus taught Jesus said when you go to heaven revelation no more sin no more crying no more pain all things new if all things are new and there's no more pain and there's no more crying how can you say there's some vast torture chamber where people are shrieking for ever and ever and ever by the way that would that would glorify and make a sinner immortal and hopefully that will warn you the alarm out there all right moving along here another interesting belief is regarding the sanctuary now you know the reason that what I'm doing is I'm highlighting some of the things that are unique about seventh-day adventists in many ways we're just we're typical Christians and believe and do the typical Christian things but seventh-day Adventist believe that Jesus is our high priest and doesn't the Bible teach this and that there is a literal dwelling place of God known as the sanctuary in heaven the Bible talks about it Hebrews is very clear and that Christ has entered into the last phase of his work of redemption yes he died once he was sacrificed once but he hasn't ceased working as our high priest if the Ministry of Jesus is totally over why hasn't he come back what's God waiting for if it's all over what are we doing here obviously it's not over yet and Christ is continuing his work his intercession his mediation as our high priest if you look in Hebrews 8 1 & 2 this is now the main point of these things were saying we have such a high priest who's seated on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens a minister of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle which God erected in not man like most Christian seventh-day Adventists celebrate the communion we use unleavened bread and unfermented grape juice that would be the same as Methodists Baptists Mulsim churches Presbyterian Catholic ease fermented grape trees we believe that it's a type of the blood of Christ which is unpolluted and is to be pure it should be unfermented and I I don't know how to say this but except just to say that I believe Jesus was a seventh-day Adventist did Jesus believe that the seventh day was a Sabbath you can read in the Bible it says as his custom was he went into the church on the Sabbath day and stood up to read the scriptures Luke chapter 2 mark chapter 1 Jesus believed in the second coming he said I go to prepare a place for you and I will come again now here's a question vegetable but pastor Doug I've heard seventh-day Adventist Church in the last days that had a revival of biblical truth and if you were the devil how would you want to portray them wouldn't you do everything you could just to smear that name are you aware that that's what they did to Jesus when he walked the earth they accused Paul of that listen what I said about Paul called my heretic act twenty four five four we have found this man a plague and a creator of dissension among the Jews throughout the world and a ringleader of the sect the cult of the Nazarenes and they portrayed Paul in the most violent and outrageous terms acts 24:14 Paul said but this I confess to you that according to the way that they call a sec I worship the God of my father's believing all things that are written in the law and the prophets and friends that's why I'm a seventh-day Adventist some will call it a cult but I will be happy to stand toe-to-toe with a pastor from any church and say here's why I believe what I believe now let me challenge what you believe from the Bible it's all about can you prove it from the scriptures and I respect that different people are convinced differently and I understand that but I believe as Jesus comes back there's gonna be a great shaking in our world and people are going to be called in to biblical faith I don't know exactly how it's gonna happen friends but something's going to happen and there's gonna be a shaking it'll affect our church it'll affect the whole world and people are gonna be searching for God men's hearts failing for fear there's gonna be a great time of trouble in a small time of trouble and during this small time of trouble I think there's going to be the outpouring of the Holy Spirit people are gonna be digging in the Bible like never before God's people are gonna be brought before kings and rulers of the world to give a testimony I understand Mel Gibson is making a movie a hundred and twenty million dollar movie about a seventh-day Adventist hero have based on Desmond dass the winner of the Medal of Honor who would not lift up a gun very unusual and I knew him his his wife was a member of our church an incredible person but I think a number of things are happening in the world today that are gonna bring seventh-day adventists more into visibility and I thought it was appropriate to take a little time and talk about what are some of the facts and what are some of the fables and let our viewers hear it from the horse's mouth so to speak and say it in the presence of witnesses that will confirm and affirm these things so the bottom line is we invite people to study the word for themselves and make sure you're building on the rock jesus said there's going to be a storm coming and the only house that's gonna survive is the one that is built on the foundation of God Christ teaching in his word amen what seventh-day Adventist believe is not new it's actually very old we are seeking to return to the faith that was delivered to the Saints and I invite all those that are watching to do that isn't that your prayer friends and I want to be part of that people let's pray together as we close and we'll sing our closing song Father in Heaven we just want to thank you for the truth we thank you through your Providence that you've exposed us to that truth we ask it might have a sanctifying influence on our lives help us be faithful to represent the teachings of your word and your people in our lives so that it might bring glory to you I pray that you'll bless each one of our members that we might be living stones in your temple with Jesus being the cornerstone thank you for your presence today and we just pray that you'll work in our lives and revive your people as we enter into the last days all this we ask in Jesus name Amen right number 348 number 348 [Music]

Channel: Aaron

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Length: 53min 2sec (3182 seconds)

Published: Tue May 08 2018