seventh day adventism is this a cult or a true Christian church I'm going to answer that in a moment you're going to hear about their history you're going to also learn about what they believe some of the beliefs that are very consistent with Orthodox Christian Evangelical beliefs as well as some beliefs that are very sketch now the seventh day Adventists are known for the doctrine that is in their name keeping the Sabbath some know 7day Adventists as health conscious and frequently vegetarian some even know about a woman named Alan white whose writings the SDA which is short for 7 Day Adventist Church treats as virtually Holy Scripture however the real distinctive doctrine of SGA Church the doctrine that really drives all other beliefs is called the investigative judgment now we will look carefully at this Doctrine but first let's learn some statistics and some history the 7day Adventist Church has 95,200 now the SDA Church operates 9,419 schools including primary secondary and University levels 229 hospitals 57 publishing houses and branches the famous people that are associated with SDA Church include musicians like Prince Little Richard basketball player Magic Johnson politician Ben Carlson and Malcolm X who initially attended SDA Services before he converted to Islam now the 7 Day Adventist Church emerged from the Second Great Awakening 1795 to 1835 it was a period of intense religious revival in the America during this time a Baptist preacher William Miller studied Bible prophecy for 13 years and he predicted that Jesus would return in 1844 I'm not sure if he read the verse where the Bible says nobody knows the day but he made a prediction that in 1844 Jesus will come he began preaching this second Advent message in 1831 drawing between 50,000 to 100,000 followers some actually estimate that he was was reaching up to a million people now of course on October 22nd 1844 Jesus did not come which led to the great disappointment that is the terminology that's used in SDA Church which deeply distressed Miller's followers the next day after this great disappointment when Jesus didn't come heram Edson had a vision of Jesus entering the Heavenly Sanctuary to begin a special work of judgment leading to the belief that the date was correct but the event was misunderstood now here's the quote from Midnight Cry that explains Ham's Vision that he had and I quote we started and while passing through a large field I was stopped about Midway of the field Heaven seemed open to my view and I saw distinctly and clearly that instead of our high priest coming out out of the most holy place of the Heavenly Sanctuary to come to this Earth on the 10th day of the seventh month at the end of the 2,300 days he for the first time entered on that day the second apartment of that sanctuary and he had a work to perform in the most holy place before coming to the earth now this ham Edson developed the teaching of the investigative judgment which became the key belief of the SDA Church another figure in the SDA church is Ellen White she had over 2,000 Visions starting at the age of 17 providing hope and guidance to the SDA church after the great disappointment she promoted observing the Sabbath on the seventh day she wrote extensively producing over 100,000 pages of text and advocating a vegetarian diet emphasizing that fruits grains vegetables and dairy as the most helpful Foods here is a short timeline of SDA history in 1844 was the great disappointment in 1851 Ellen White publishes her first book a sketch of the Christian experience and views of LG white in 1863 the 7th Day Adventist Church was founded in Battle Creek Michigan with 3,500 members in 1901 SDA church has a membership of 75,000 people in 1940 SDA membership exceeds half a million in 1955 SDA membership surpasses 1 million and as of 2022 the membership is about 22 million here are six doctrines where Evangelical Doctrine and SDA Doctrine are the same the first one is Trinity there's no problems there although Ellen White had some issues in this area the current SDA church is trinitarian believing in the father Son and the Holy Spirit the second Doctrine is that the Bible is scripture that is the same as Evangelical Christianity but SDA deviates in adding other writing so they're not really Sola scriptura even though though they claim to be on their official website the third doctrine that we agree with is Doctrine about Jesus they believe that Jesus is fully God and fully man that he was born of a virgin and he lived a sinless life and he died for the sins of humanity and was raised from the dead the fourth Doctrine where there is agreement is that Jesus is coming back to Earth the savior's coming will be literal personal visible and worldwide when he returns the righteous dead will be resurrected and together with the righteous living will be glorified and taken to heaven but the unrighteous will die basically in line with the Evangelical Christianity evangelicals hold various views on end times but the basis on which we agree is very similar to what SDA believes the fifth one is the new Earth but here God himself will dwell with his people and suffering and death will be passed away so basically same Doctrine as evangelicals the sixth one is the water baptism and the Lord's Supper SDA churches practice both ordinances which are standard within Evangelical Christianity now the rest of this video I'm going to focus on the five doctrines that are different from Evangelical Christianity the first one is the prophetic Ministry of Ellen G white SGA Church believes that the script scure testify that one of the gifts of the holy spirit is prophecy and that this gift is an identifying Mark of the remnant church and they believe that it was manifested in the ministry of Len G white her writings speak with prophetic Authority and provide Comfort guidance instruction and correction to the church they also make it clear that the Bible is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested but this is a major problem because SDA puts this Ellen White's writings on the par with the Bible Evangelical Christians even and especially Pentecostal charismatic churches reject putting any prophecy on the same level as the Bible the second Doctrine and that is keeping the law as found in the Ten Commandments SDA believes that the basis of God's covenant with his people is The Ten Commandments highlighted by the Holy Spirit to reveal sin and the need for a savior salvation is by Grace not by works and it results in obedience to the Ten Commandments now Evangelical Christians however believe that Christians fulfill the law through Christ living within them not by legalistic adherence they point to the fact that Jesus rose on Sunday which they refer to as the Lord's day and that early Christians met on Sundays for worship and fellow Fellowship acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:2 we believe that Paul taught against observing special days including the Sabbath Colossians chapter 2: 16 and 17 now 7 Day Adventist emphasize Sabbath keeping asserting that it was mandated by the fourth Commandment and was the original practice of the Jerusalem Church now they argue that Constantine changed the day of worship to Sunday in 321 ad however evangelicals note that Paul opposed judaizers who insisted on Jewish Customs like Sabbath keeping and wrote the book of Galatians against such practices in fact Paul stated that following the law including the circumcision and Sabbath keeping was a return to slavery and contrary to the freedom in Christ read Galatians chapter 5: 1-4 early Christians like Justin Martyr also indicated that they did not observe the sabbath as Jews did supporting Evangelical stance third Doctrine where there is disagreement cation of existence at physical death SDA Church believes that the wages of sin is death but God who alone is Immortal will grant eternal life to his redeemed until that day death is an unconscious state for all people when Christ who is our life appears the resurrected righteous and the living righteous will be glorified and cut up to meet the Lord the second Resurrection the resurrection of the unrighteous will take a place after 1,000 years now this is not a Christian doctrine because Paul taught that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord second Corinthians 5:8 Paul did not indicate that when we die we go into a soul unconscious sleep we go straight to be with Jesus the fourth Doctrine where there is disagreement is no earthly Millennium according to the 7 Day Adventist Church the Millennium is 1,000 year reign of Christ with his Saints in heaven between the first and the second resurrections during this time the Wicked Man will be judged and the Earth will be utterly desolate without living human inhabitants but occupied by Satan and his angels at its close Christ with his Saints and the holy city will descend from heaven on Earth the unrighteous dead will then be resurrected and with Satan and his angels will surround the city but fire from God will consume them and cleanse the Earth thus the universe will be freed from sin and sinners Forever The Book of Revelations teaches us that the millennial reign of Jesus will be physical on the planet Earth not in heaven the fifth doctr where there is sharp disagreement and this is a big Doctrine and that is the investigative judgment as I mentioned earlier where that was birth it when one guy missed the date of when Jesus was supposed to come back which he he should have not been playing with those dates in the first place because the Bible is very clear we don't know when Jesus is coming we can see the signs but we don't know exact date so anyway so to kind of cover that great disappointment you know they had a vision that Jesus is pretty much doing an investigative judgment since that day it's a key SDA Bel in investigative judgment where they believe that they will be judged based on their obedience to God's Commandments especially Sabbath keeping this judgment which begun in 1844 evaluates the lives of all believers starting with the Old Testament Saints and continuing until the present sda's believe that until this investigation is complete in individuals are not fully saved so this is what Alan white a key figure in SDA theology wrote When sin has been repented of confessed and forsaken then pardon is written against the sinner's name but I want you to listen to this but his sins are not blotted out until after the investigative judgment she also emphasized that Believers should never claim that they are saved stating that those who accept the Savior however sincere their conversion should never be taught to say or to feel that they are saved as long as a man is full of weakness for of himself he cannot save his soul he should never dare to say I am saved well hold on Ellen White you are off here this whole investigative judgment is just not biblical what does the Bible say about investigative judgment well the Bible says that God already knows those who are his John 10:14 2 Timothy 2:19 our sins are blotted out when we believe on Jesus and when we walk in repentant confessing fellowship with him acts 3:19 1 John 1 7-9 the atonement was finished on the cross John 1930 Hebrews 101 12-14 Romans 51- 2 and Romans 58-1 Ellen White and SD do not understand salvation it is true that we must be faithful to the end to be saved but we're also saved in the present Jesus saved us when we believed on him we are presently saved we will on the day gain our new heavenly bodies and be immortal like Jesus we will experience the final salvation however you can know right now that you are saved That's the basis of Christian faith Ephesians chap 2: 8-10 say for by the grace you have been saved not you have to wait for some investigation to be finished no by the grace you have been saved that's past tense through faith and that is not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works so that no man can boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so we should walk in them notice it says you have been saved our Salvation is a present reality but what about judgment well the Bible does talk about judgment in Daniel chapter 7 the Revelation chap 20 Matthew chap 12 says that we will be judged for every Idol work that was spoken however in John 5:24 it says we will not come into judgment for our past sins it says this truly truly I say to you he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment but has passed out of death into life if we walk in sin yes we will be judged if we walk in the light the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin 1 John 1:7 so then do Believers experience judgment not for our past sins but we will be judged by Jesus Christ it's called the judgment seat of Christ where our ministry will be judged 1 Corinthians CH 3: 10-15 our interpersonal relationships will be judged Ephesians chapter 6:9 and Colossians 4:1 our devotion to Christ will be judged Revelation chapters 2 and chapters 3 but these things they don't determine our Salvation they determine our reward should Christians feel uncertainty about their standing with God never we must know that the gospel assures us of Salvation we must also examine our lives that we are living in line with the gospel we can know that we are saved we can know that we are right with God we never need to live in uncertainty or fear so this pretty much Recaps the 7-Day Adventist Church doctrines we agree with and doctrines we disagree with now I don't consider 7 Day Adventists as a non-Christian cult like Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons from 1840 to 1950 many evangelicals believed that the 7day Adventists were a non-Christian cult like Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons but after the dialogue with the SDA Scholars and apologist which happened in 1950s this led a lot of the Evangelical Community to reconsider how they view 7 Day Adventists to view them as a denomination that has moved from accepting Doctrine a person can be a 7day Adventist and still be a born again believer at the same time there is enough potential risk to warn us against joining a 7-Day Adventist Church I would strongly encourage Believers not to get involved in 7-Day adventism why because they are embracing the same STS as those Jews in the book of Galatians and Paul used very strong language and he said that if they want to circumcise then he hoped that they would go all the way and just cut after their organs completely I mean Paul used a very strong language so we as Gentile Believers you know we are saved by grace we're not saved by keeping the law of Moses and when we are saved we're not saved so we can keep the law of Moses we are saved so we can keep the Commandments and the words of Jesus Christ thank you for watching this video I hope that you found this to be encouraging enlightening instructing and convicting if you are a 7-Day Adventist I love you appreciate you watching let me know your thoughts is there some things that I mentioned that were not right if you are a 7-Day Adventist I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below maybe you used to be a 7-Day Adventist would love to hear your experience as well don't forget to hit like subscribe and share this video with others