Why I left Adventism

By Hazel Holland

I am a former third-generation Seventh-day Adventist (SDA). For the past several years I have been on an intense spiritual journey. It started after I received a prophetic dream and vision in the summer of 1995. As a result of these experiences, I began earnestly seeking the Lord to understand, not only His call upon my life, but more importantly God’s deepest revelation of His love given through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Although I initially didn’t fully understand the meaning of the symbols God gave me in these revelations, He slowly began to reveal the intents and purposes of His heart as I waited on His timing. Eventually I was surprised to discover the common thread running through these revelations was the abuse of spiritual authority in the church that causes believers to remain enslaved to old covenant teachings (the Ten Commandments] instead of walking in the freedom of the new covenant gospel of Jesus Christ.

As I continued to pray and study the Scriptures the Holy Spirit began to show me that within Adventism’s closed hierarchical system of thinking lies the potential for spiritual abuse.  What do I mean by spiritual abuse? I mean that religious performance (being focused on trying to obey the Ten Commandments, especially the 4th) is used by many pastors and leaders within the SDA church as the criterion for accepting or rejecting their spiritual children. This emphasis distorts the gospel and places a veil over people’s minds and hearts so that they cannot “see” the glory of the new covenant gospel and the necessity of placing one’s faith in Jesus Christ’s finished work alone (See 2 Corinthians 3:14-18).

Clearly the New Testament reveals that whenever the law is used as a hurdle through which we must jump in order to gain acceptance from God, or from our fellowmen, it is not only destructive to our spiritual health, but it is also an affront to the new covenant gospel. By enforcing the written code [old covenant that includes the Ten Commandments] that was nailed to the cross, and using it as a guide by which we should live our lives, many spiritual fathers within the church are unknowingly rearming the powers of hell against their spiritual children. Through the use of fear and guilt they are causing believers to become enslaved to old covenant law all over again instead of relying on the Holy Spirit to teach them to depend solely on the merits of the finished work of Jesus Christ.

As a result of much prayer and study over the past several years the Holy Spirit has been opening up my mind and heart to see value in the whole body of Christ. Although I am a third generation Adventist, believing that Adventists had a unique message to deliver to the world, I gradually began to see that the message we claimed was unique unfortunately was not founded on God’s Word. The more I studied the writings of Paul in Romans and Galatians and the more I read the book of Hebrews, the more I began to realize that I was studying myself right out of Adventism. I discovered that it wasn’t the SDA message that was unique, but rather the Good News of the new covenant gospel of Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross that was unique!

I pray that my testimony will cause you, dear reader, to seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance as you study God's Word for yourself. I pray that as you do this you will not only be able to understand where I’m coming from, but more importantly discover that "truth" is more than a system of belief—it is a Person. It is coming to know the Father’s heart and falling in love with the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ.

I must emphasize that I am not leaving the Lord or the body of Christ, but what I have come to consider an erroneous belief system that I can no longer believe in, support or encourage others to follow. I have come to see that the foundation upon which Adventism’s foundational teachings and doctrines rest is not built upon the Solid Rock of Jesus Christ, but rather upon very shaky ground. Let me briefly explain.

The leadership of the SDA church still maintains that the writings of Ellen G. White are a “continuing and authoritative source of truth…” (Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists, No. 17). They still maintain that her writings are inspired and are on the same level of inspiration as the Bible. While there is much good in her writings, I have also discovered there is much error.

I believe there are many within Adventism like myself who would like to expose the error in the unbiblical doctrines supported by Ellen G. White’s writings, so that people can be released from the spiritual bondage to law which Paul calls, “a body of death.” However, to do so would cause a serious crisis in Adventism. For then wouldn’t it become evident that Ellen White is not a “continuing and authoritative source of truth” and then we would be forced to admit that we have been wrong on our foundational doctrines? In order to try and prevent this from happening there has been a huge cover-up of the truth about her writings (that began to be exposed at the 1919 Bible Conference) that has been perpetuated by the leadership of the denomination for around a hundred years.

One such foundational truth that I can no longer support is that the SDA church is the remnant church of Bible prophecy. Nowhere in God’s Word does it speak of a remnant church, only a remnant people made up of many believers from various backgrounds and persuasions. I realize that SDA’s claim to be the remnant church of Bible prophecy rests on their claim to keep all “the commandments of God” [especially the Sabbath] and have the “testimony of Jesus.” The “testimony of Jesus” is interpreted to mean “the Spirit of prophecy” (meaning Ellen White’s Writings, See Revelation 12:17 and Revelation 19:10).

Unfortunately Ellen White is not the theme of this passage of Scripture at all. What the Bible is actually saying is that “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). “The purpose of all prophecy and of all that I have shown you is to tell about Jesus” (The Living Bible).

In other words, it becomes very clear that Adventists put Ellen White in the place of Jesus Christ in these passages of Scripture! They continue to interpret Revelation 12:17 and Revelation 19:10 incorrectly in their claim to be the remnant church. As an Adventist I found that this often made it difficult for me to honestly fellowship with believers of other faiths because the underlying hidden agenda was to convert other Christians to the unique “truths” of Adventism.

A second foundational truth that I can no longer adhere to because the Word of God cannot support it is that the seventh day Sabbath is the seal of God. Ellen White taught in numerous places that Sabbath observance would become the “line of distinction” in the “final test” that will separate God’s remnant people who receive the “seal of God” from those who are rebellious and receive the “mark of the beast.”

However the New Testament never speaks of the Sabbath being the seal of God. Instead the Holy Spirit is said to be the seal that every Christian receives when He believes in Jesus Christ (See 2 Corinthians 1:21, 22; Ephesians 1:13, 14). Clearly the New Testament teaches that the celebration of the Lord’s Supper is the sign of the new covenant in remembrance of Jesus Christ’s death.

In my study I found that nowhere in the writings of the New Testament is emphasis placed on Sabbath keeping. Never once does Sabbath breaking ever appear in any New Testament lists of sins. In fact it becomes clear from Paul’s writings that the weekly Sabbath is included with the other holy days of the old covenant—all of which now serve as a shadow pointing to Christ. I have come to understand that all old covenant statements regarding the Sabbath must be interpreted in the light of the new covenant gospel.

A third foundational truth that I can no longer agree with is Ellen White’s teaching that Sunday observance is or will become the “mark of the beast.” Not only is it unbiblical, it is also a “separating wall” between Adventists and Christians who worship on Sunday. Certainly the worship of God alone is an issue in the end times scenario, but it is not a matter of which day you worship on—it’s about WHO you worship—of who has your heart.

A fourth foundational truth that most Adventists have a difficult time understanding let alone explaining is that Daniel 8:14 refers to October 22, 1844, the Cleansing of the Heavenly Sanctuary which began the Investigative Judgment. Although many theologians, pastors and administrators within the church know that there is no biblical support for this doctrine, they [for the most part] quietly go about their business trying to keep from making waves. Why? Because Ellen White strongly endorsed it, calling it the “central pillar of Adventism” (See White, Great Controversy, p.409).

Immediately it became crystal clear to me that to do away way with the “central pillar of Adventism” is to bring the roof down! If the “central pillar of Adventism” is an error, what about other SDA unique teachings that are connected to it?

The fifth foundational teaching of SDA’s [and the most important in my opinion] that has created much confusion in my mind as well as the minds of many other believers is the church’s confusing teaching over what constitutes the gospel. For years I have heard that faith in Christ plus good works equals salvation. However the truth is that salvation is a gift of God based on faith alone in God’s Son. Paul says we are saved in order to do good works. It’s after we have become new creatures in Christ we desire to do good works. But even then our good works have no bearing upon our salvation because the gospel is not about our good works, it’s about His “good” work—His finished work. The Good News is not about us—it’s about Him!

Again the confusion over the gospel comes from regarding Ellen White’s writings as a “continuing and authoritative source of truth.” She stressed that William Miller’s Second Coming message was a “saving message.” She emphasized that pastors who resisted this message had the “blood of souls” upon them (See White, Early Writings, p. 243).

It is evident to me now that Ellen White never fully understood that faith in Christ’s finished work alone is enough for salvation. She believed that churches who rejected the 1844 sanctuary truth became “Babylon” even though they continued to have faith in Jesus Christ. She believed and taught that Satan deceived them, and their prayers were useless (See White, Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 1, pp. 140, 172, 173). Furthermore, she taught that Christians should never be taught to say, “I am saved.” She believed we could only know we are saved after the Second Coming of Christ (See White, Review and Herald, 1890-06-17). She taught that we are not saved by faith alone, but we must live a life of “perfect obedience” before God’s promises would be fulfilled to us (See White, Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 2, p. 148).

While many SDA’s today reject these confusing and erroneous teachings regarding the gospel because they obviously go against New Testament Scriptures such as 1 John 5:13 that says, “I write these things to you… so that you may KNOW that you have eternal life,” this historic Adventist teaching has never been repented of or corrected. Instead it has been covered up and ignored along with the other erroneous teachings I have briefly mentioned. Non have been publicly confessed, repented of, or corrected by the leadership of the church, because to do so would clearly cause a spiritual earthquake within the church!

It has now become very clear to me why it is difficult for Adventists to admit error in their foundational doctrines. To do so would create a crisis of faith among the laity of the SDA church—a crisis the Lord showed me in a prophetic dream in 1996 while I was a member of Celebration Center Church.

We can know that God is faithful and will keep His word. When He tells us in His Word that “everything that can be shaken will be shaken,” I believe Him. I know the Holy Spirit has radically shaken me from my comfort zone. Leaving Adventism is something I never expected I would be called to do. And to think that it all began with a dream and vision that God gave me seven years ago where He revealed through vivid symbolic pictures that He was bringing a spiritual earthquake to the SDA church! This spiritual earthquake is coming because much of the SDA laity have placed their faith in traditional Adventist teachings rather than in the Word of God and in the Person of Jesus Christ.

Briefly, in the dream God revealed that the covenant that is from Mount Sinai [that many Adventists so tenaciously cling to] continues to bear children who are slaves (Galatians 4:24). His purpose in shaking us is to show us that He died in order to free us from such slavery. He died to show us that “we are not children of the slave woman” any longer because we are no longer under old covenant law. Instead we are now “children of the free woman” because we are under the new covenant gospel (v.26). In Christ we have been set free from this yoke of slavery, IF we choose to believe!

In other words, Mount Sinai must bow to the foot of the cross! We are either disciples of Moses who represents the old covenant law or we are disciples of Jesus who is the author of the new covenant gospel. We cannot be disciples of both (See John 9:28-29).

In the vision I was clearly shown how God desires to draw our attention away from the old order of things to the new order of things—the finished work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. God wants us to know that in the new covenant gospel it’s Christ’s behavior that He is looking at, not ours. That is why we must be found in Christ, because when we believe in Him, we will trust our very lives to His work and enter into His “rest.”

If you, dear reader, have been trusting in the bondage of your own “good” works, my prayer is that you will be freed to lay down your “good” works at the foot of the cross and enter into the joy of His “good” work. The Good News is not about us—it’s about Him! The Good News is an announcement, a shout, a cry and a proclamation of what God has already done for us in His Son, Jesus Christ, for all the inhabitants of planet earth.

As repentant believers who have been freed by the power of His unconditional love, we are being called to share Christ’s work of victory for us with the rest of His children. It’s time to celebrate His victory and enter into His rest! In the words of a popular worship song, “Shout to the North,” it’s time to shout about this Good News! Will you join me in a shout of victory that will wake up the sleeping Church?

Perhaps some of you right now are being shaken from your comfort zones by my briefly sharing with you that it was a dream and vision that got me studying and searching God’s Word to more fully understand the gospel. I can understand how this would be.

But let’s remember that long ago God spoke through the prophet Joel that He would actively seek to communicate His will to His “End-time Church” through the release of the prophetic gift. Visions, dreams, trances and visitations all have biblical precedents, and are established ways that the Lord uses to speak to His people (Joel 2:28-29).

You may ask after having read my testimony, “But how can I discern the true from the false? Didn’t Jesus warn us that in the last days there would be many “false prophets?” (Matthew 24:24).

Yes He did. The very fact that the Lord warned us that there would be false prophets at the end of the age definitely implies that there will also be true ones. Remember in the parable of the weeds that the Lord taught us that whenever He sows wheat in a field the enemy comes along and sows tares in the very same field (Matthew 13:24-30). Isn’t He telling us that Satan will always try to bring confusion by counterfeiting everything that God is doing?

Obviously God is allowing this because He wants us to be able to distinguish the true from the false. From the very beginning of time God has been committed to allowing His children to choose between the true and the false, between good and evil. Instead of rejecting all prophetic experiences as being from the enemy, we must learn how to discern the true from the false.

It seems clear to me that if we do not want to be deceived by false prophecy, we must learn to know what is true. The answer is not to reject all prophecy, but to know His voice—the voice of Good Shepherd. The Scriptures tell us that His sheep know His voice so well they can distinguish it from the voice of a stranger (John 10:3-5).

I believe God is speaking through His Spirit to each one of us today. I know that the same Holy Spirit that led me through prophetic revelations to study God’s Word in order to bring me to the place where I would become passionate about His Son, Jesus Christ, will also lead you and speak to you.

My prayer is that as we open our hearts to the leading of the Holy Spirit’s we will begin to experience God’s heart of intercession for His captive children. As a result, we will be compelled to stand in the gap for those who don’t yet know that “Sabbath-rest” is found in a Person—Jesus Christ alone. Through travailing prayer the veil of unbelief must be lifted from many hearts and minds so that people will be able to respond to the Good News and joyfully enter into His rest. The promise is given to each one of us who believe, “His place of rest will be glorious” (Isaiah 11:10).

See: The Righteousness that Saves Me!