The Seventh-day Adventist Church

A worldwide church that grew out of the Advent movement of 1844: it keeps the seventh day as its Sabbath, holds that Christ began a work of judgment in heaven in 1844, and counts the writings of Ellen G. White a gift of prophecy.

General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 28 Fundamental Beliefs ("What do Seventh-day Adventists believe?")

General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Governance

Seventh-day Adventist Church Manual, 20th edition, revised 2022 (General Conference Secretariat; PDF from the Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research)

Seventh-day Adventist Church Manual, 16th edition, revised 2000 (cited only for wording the 2022 edition has changed)

General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, "A Seventh-day Adventist Philosophy of Music" (voted at the Annual Council, 13 October 2004)

Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research, 2026 Annual Statistical Report, Advance Release (membership for 2025)

North American Division, "Erton C. Köhler Elected as General Conference President" (from the Adventist News Network), 4 July 2025

Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, vol. XXI no. 26, 26 May 1863, "Report of General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists"

Joseph Bates, The Seventh Day Sabbath, a Perpetual Sign (Fairhaven, August 1846), Project Gutenberg

Rogersville (Tennessee) Seventh-day Adventist Church, "What to Expect"

Great Disappointment (Wikipedia)

Seventh-day Adventist Church (Wikipedia)

Ellen G. White (Wikipedia)

1888 Minneapolis General Conference Session (Wikipedia)

Review of George R. Knight, ed., Seventh-day Adventists Answer Questions on Doctrine: Annotated Edition (Andrews University Press, 2003), in Andrews University Seminary Studies 44 (Spring 2006), pp. 185–186

The Adventists came out of the Millerite movement, which looked for Christ's return in 1844. When he did not come on 22 October, most Millerites gave up the hope. A small group went on to teach that something else had begun that day in heaven. Over the next twenty years they took up the seventh-day Sabbath and the sleep of the dead, found a prophet in Ellen G. White, and in 1863 organized a General Conference at Battle Creek, Michigan. The church grew from that small company to a world body, and it has had to decide again and again how to hold its own history beside the Bible alone.

The Great Disappointment

William Miller, a Baptist lay preacher, had taught from Daniel 8:14 that Christ would return in 1844, and many others prepared. When Jesus did not appear on 22 October, Miller and his followers were disappointed. The Adventists contended that what happened that day was not the return of Christ but the start of his final work of atonement, the cleansing of the sanctuary in heaven.

Hiram Edson and the sanctuary

The next day, during prayer with other Advent believers, Hiram Edson became convinced that "light would be given" and their "disappointment explained." He went on to study the matter with O. R. L. Crosier and F. B. Hahn, and they concluded that the sanctuary of Daniel 8:14 was in heaven, not the earth. This is the root of the Adventist teaching on the heavenly sanctuary and the investigative judgment.

Joseph Bates writes on the Sabbath

Joseph Bates published The Seventh Day Sabbath, a Perpetual Sign, dated Fairhaven, August 1846. He argued that the seventh-day Sabbath "is a perpetual sign, and is as binding upon man as it ever was." The tract is the earliest Adventist argument for the seventh day that the saved pages reach.

The General Conference is organized

Delegates of the state conferences met at Battle Creek, Michigan, on 20 May 1863 and adopted a constitution for a General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. James White was chosen president and declined. John Byington was elected in his place, with Uriah Smith as secretary and E. S. Walker as treasurer. The church dates its founding from 21 May 1863.

Minneapolis and righteousness by faith

At the General Conference Session in Minneapolis in October 1888, Alonzo T. Jones and Ellet J. Waggoner presented a message on justification by faith, supported by Ellen G. White but resisted by leaders such as G. I. Butler and Uriah Smith. The session is remembered as a landmark in the church's history.

Questions on Doctrine

In answer to evangelicals who had questioned whether Adventist beliefs were orthodox, the church published a 720-page book, Seventh-day Adventists Answer Questions on Doctrine. It was written and edited by men the General Conference empowered, chiefly L. E. Froom, R. A. Anderson and W. E. Read. Most evangelicals were not won over, and within the church M. L. Andreasen and others charged it with leaving historic Adventism, above all on the atonement and the human nature of Christ. The church historian George R. Knight, who edited an annotated edition for Andrews University Press in 2003, called it "the most divisive book in Seventh-day Adventist history."

The Fundamental Beliefs voted

The General Conference adopted the Fundamental Beliefs in 1980, with one more belief added in 2005 to bring the number to 28. The church says they are not a creed: "Seventh-day Adventists accept the Bible as their only creed." They may be revised at a General Conference Session "when the church is led by the Holy Spirit to a fuller understanding of Bible truth." The present wording of Belief 18, on Ellen G. White, differs from the wording printed in the Church Manual of 2000.

A Philosophy of Music voted

The General Conference Annual Council approved "A Seventh-day Adventist Philosophy of Music." It sets out principles and does not list instruments or styles. It says: "Musical forms and instruments vary greatly in the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist family."

Women's ordination refused

At the General Conference Session in San Antonio, delegates voted 1,381 to 977 against allowing the world divisions to ordain women as pastors.

Köhler elected president

At the 62nd General Conference Session in St. Louis, Missouri, delegates elected Erton C. Köhler president of the General Conference. He had been the General Conference secretary since April 2021 and had led the Mission Refocus initiative. He followed Ted N. C. Wilson.

William Miller

A rural New York farmer and Baptist lay preacher who taught from Daniel 8:14 that Christ would return in 1844. He is the source of the movement the Adventists came from, though the Adventists took a different course after the disappointment.

Joseph Bates

The foremost early Adventist proponent of the seventh-day Sabbath. He came to it through a tract by the Millerite preacher Thomas M. Preble, who had been influenced by a young Seventh Day Baptist, Rachel Oakes Preston. He was among the most prominent early figures with James and Ellen White.

James White

Editor of the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, the periodical that for about twenty years was the main tie among the scattered Adventists, and husband of Ellen G. White. The General Conference of 1863 chose him president unanimously, and he declined to serve.

Ellen G. White

A co-founder of the church. Adventists hold that the gift of prophecy was shown in her ministry, and the church's Fundamental Belief 18 says so. Her writings are quoted throughout the Church Manual.

John Byington

Elected the first president of the General Conference in May 1863, in the place of James White, who had declined.

Erton Köhler

Born in southern Brazil, the son of an Adventist pastor. He served as a local pastor in São Paulo, as a youth director, and from 2007 as president of the South American Division, before his election as General Conference secretary in 2021 and president in 2025.

What the sources are. The entries for 1844, 1888 and 2015 and the 1980 vote rest on Wikipedia, used as a last resort because the church's own historical encyclopedia could not be fetched. The 1957 entry rests on a review of Knight's annotated edition in Andrews University Seminary Studies. The 1863 entry rests on the Review and Herald report of the meeting itself. Edson is said only to have become convinced; the chart does not call it a vision.

The Church Manual. The current Church Manual, the 20th edition, revised 2022, says that changes to it "can be made only by action of a General Conference Session, where delegates of the world church have voice and vote." It records that "In 1931 the General Conference Committee voted to publish a church manual," and the first edition came out in 1932.

The Annual Statistical Report. The church's report gives the 2025 total as 24,372,139 members, and 23,684,237 for 2024.

Offshoots. The lineage chart also plots three bodies that left the main body: the Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement (Germany, 1925), the United Sabbath-Day Adventists (1930) and the Davidian Seventh-day Adventists (1934). This chart is about the main body, and those three are not weighed here.

The Bible is the only creed and the standard for all teaching. Fundamental Belief 18 adds that Ellen G. White's writings "speak with prophetic authority."

The Adventist Church says that the Bible alone is its creed, and that its 28 Fundamental Beliefs are its understanding of what the Bible teaches. Belief 1 calls the Scriptures "the supreme, authoritative, and the infallible revelation of His will."

Belief 18 speaks of the gift of prophecy. It says the gift "was manifested in the ministry of Ellen G. White," that "Her writings speak with prophetic authority and provide comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction to the church," and that "They also make clear that the Bible is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested." The Church Manual of 2000 printed the belief in different words: "As the Lord's messenger, her writings are a continuing and authoritative source of truth which provide for the church comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction." The current Church Manual (2022) prints the present wording under the heading "Spirit of Prophecy Writings," and it has each church elect a "Spirit of Prophecy writings coordinator." It quotes her writings throughout, and says of its own rules: "These principles, underscored by the Spirit of Prophecy, are set forth in this Church Manual."

The Holy Scriptures are the supreme, authoritative, and the infallible revelation of His will.

Seventh-day Adventists accept the Bible as their only creed and hold certain fundamental beliefs to be the teaching of the Holy Scriptures.

Her writings speak with prophetic authority and provide comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction to the church.

Belief 18, whole: "The Scriptures testify that one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is prophecy. This gift is an identifying mark of the remnant church and we believe it was manifested in the ministry of Ellen G. White. Her writings speak with prophetic authority and provide comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction to the church. They also make clear that the Bible is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested."

The Church Manual of 2000, in its list of the beliefs, wrote: "As the Lord's messenger, her writings are a continuing and authoritative source of truth which provide for the church comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction. They also make clear that the Bible is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested." The baptismal commitment in both manuals asks the candidate to say: "I believe that the Bible is God's inspired Word, the only rule of faith and practice for the Christian."

The church's statement on how the Fundamental Beliefs may change: "Revision of these statements may be expected at a General Conference Session when the church is led by the Holy Spirit to a fuller understanding of Bible truth or finds better language in which to express the teachings of God's Holy Word." The 2022 Manual adds that "the General Conference in Session determines the stated Fundamental Beliefs of the Church."

A person is saved by grace through faith in Christ. Baptism is by immersion of a believer who has been taught, as a symbol of union with Christ and the forgiveness of sins.

Belief 10 says that, led by the Holy Spirit, a person senses need, repents, and has faith in Jesus. Through Christ the believer is "justified, adopted as God's sons and daughters, and delivered from the lordship of sin," and has "the assurance of salvation now and in the judgment."

Belief 15 says baptism is by immersion, that it is "a symbol of our union with Christ, the forgiveness of our sins, and our reception of the Holy Spirit," and that it "is contingent on an affirmation of faith in Jesus and evidence of repentance of sin." It "follows instruction in the Holy Scriptures and acceptance of their teachings." The Church Manual says candidates "shall affirm their acceptance of the Fundamental Beliefs," and its full vow puts thirteen questions. Among them: whether he accepts "the New Testament teaching of baptism by immersion" as "a public expression of faith in Christ and His forgiveness of your sins," whether he will keep the seventh-day Sabbath, whether he will abstain from unclean foods, alcohol and tobacco, and whether he believes that the Seventh-day Adventist Church "is the remnant church of Bible prophecy."

Led by the Holy Spirit we sense our need, acknowledge our sinfulness, repent of our transgressions, and exercise faith in Jesus as Saviour and Lord, Substitute and Example.

Baptism is a symbol of our union with Christ, the forgiveness of our sins, and our reception of the Holy Spirit.

It is by immersion in water and is contingent on an affirmation of faith in Jesus and evidence of repentance of sin.

Belief 15, opening: "By baptism we confess our faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and testify of our death to sin and of our purpose to walk in newness of life. Thus we acknowledge Christ as Lord and Saviour, become His people, and are received as members by His church."

The Church Manual's baptismal commitment: "I accept the death of Jesus Christ on Calvary as the atoning sacrifice for my sins and believe that by God's grace through faith in His shed blood I am saved from sin and its penalty." Its question twelve: "Do you accept the New Testament teaching of baptism by immersion and desire to be so baptized as a public expression of faith in Christ and His forgiveness of your sins?" Its question thirteen: "Do you accept and believe that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is the remnant church of Bible prophecy and that people of every nation, race, and language are invited and accepted into its fellowship?" The Manual also gives a shorter alternative vow of three questions, the second of which asks: "Do you accept the teachings of the Bible as expressed in the Statement of Fundamental Beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and do you pledge by God's grace to live your life in harmony with these teachings?"

The Supper is a memorial and a proclamation of Christ's death, with foot-washing before it. It is kept about once a quarter, on the Sabbath, and the table is open to all who have committed their lives to the Savior.

Belief 16 says the Lord's Supper "is a participation in the emblems of the body and blood of Jesus as an expression of faith in Him," that Christ "is present to meet and strengthen His people," and that "As we partake, we joyfully proclaim the Lord's death until He comes again." It adds: "The Master ordained the service of foot-washing to signify renewed cleansing, to express a willingness to serve one another in Christlike humility, and to unite our hearts in love."

The Church Manual says that "The communion service customarily is celebrated once per quarter," and that "The service includes the ordinance of foot-washing followed by the Lord's Supper." The congregation separates for the foot-washing and comes together again for the bread and the cup. To reach the most members, "usually it is part of the worship service on the next to the last Sabbath of each quarter." It names unleavened bread and unfermented grape juice as the proper elements. The service "is to be conducted by an ordained/commissioned pastor or an ordained elder." On who may take part, the Church Manual says: "The Church practices open communion. All who have committed their lives to the Savior may participate."

The communion service is open to all believing Christians.

The communion service customarily is celebrated once per quarter. The service includes the ordinance of foot-washing followed by the Lord's Supper.

The Church practices open communion. All who have committed their lives to the Savior may participate.

The Church Manual on foot-washing, quoting Ellen G. White: "This ordinance is Christ's appointed preparation for the sacramental service." In its own words: "The spiritual experience that lies at the heart of foot-washing lifts it from being a common custom to being a sacred ordinance."

On the elements: "Therefore, only unfermented grape juice and unleavened bread are appropriate for use in the communion service." On who may lead: "Deacons or deaconesses are not permitted to conduct the service."

The church governs itself by representation: members elect local officers, and delegates of local, regional and world bodies elect the leaders above them. Each church has ordained elders and deacons, and only a conference-credentialed pastor may ordain its elders.

The General Conference says: "The Adventist Church has a representative form of government. This means church members have the ultimate say in who leads the church." The Church Manual says the church's form of governance "is representative," and it outlines the levels above the local church: the local conference, the union, and the General Conference with its divisions. It adds: "In Seventh-day Adventist Church structure, no organization determines its own status."

In each church the members elect an elder or elders. The Church Manual says that "because of church size" it may be advisable "to choose more than one elder," one of whom is called the "first elder." Officers serve a term of one year, or two where the church votes it. Election is not enough: "Election to the office of elder does not in itself qualify one as an elder. Ordination is required before an elder has authority to function." And "The ordination service is performed only by an ordained pastor currently credentialed by the conference." The communion service is conducted by "an ordained/commissioned pastor or an ordained elder." Above the local church, the Church Manual quotes Ellen G. White: "God has ordained that the representatives of His church from all parts of the earth, when assembled in a General Conference, shall have authority."

The Adventist Church has a representative form of government. This means church members have the ultimate say in who leads the church.

The Seventh-day Adventist form of governance is representative, which recognizes that authority rests in the membership and is expressed through duly elected representatives at each level of organization

Ordination is required before an elder has authority to function.

Belief 12: "The church derives its authority from Christ, who is the incarnate Word revealed in the Scriptures."

The Church Manual on officers: "No church officer is a delegate ex officio to a conference session." On the world body: "the General Conference in Session determines the stated Fundamental Beliefs of the Church," and it "revises the Church Manual."

The General Conference page: "The General Conference has an Executive Committee comprised of union, division and other key international leaders and members, who make recommendations to a large international gathering called the General Conference Session."

The church worships on the seventh-day Sabbath, with song, prayer, Scripture and a sermon. It prescribes no fixed order, and its music statement leaves instruments and styles to each culture.

Belief 20 says the fourth commandment "requires the observance of this seventh-day Sabbath as the day of rest, worship, and ministry in harmony with the teaching and practice of Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath."

The Church Manual says the Sabbath morning service "has two main divisions: the congregational response in praise and adoration, expressed in song, prayer, and gifts, and the message from the Word of God." It adds: "There is no set form or order for public worship." It says that "Forms of service vary from country to country and culture to culture," and its longer sample order opens with a musical prelude and closes with a musical postlude. Under "Place of Music in Worship" it quotes Ellen G. White: "Call to your aid, if practicable, instrumental music, and let the glorious harmony ascend to God, an acceptable offering."

The General Conference's music statement says that "Music is not morally and spiritually neutral," asks Christians to choose "the noblest and the best," and says of instruments: "Musical forms and instruments vary greatly in the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist family, and music drawn from one culture may sound strange to someone from a different culture." It was voted in 2004. It names no instrument as barred.

The fourth commandment of God’s unchangeable law requires the observance of this seventh-day Sabbath as the day of rest, worship, and ministry in harmony with the teaching and practice of Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath.

There is no set form or order for public worship. A short order of service is usually better suited to the real spirit of worship.

Musical forms and instruments vary greatly in the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist family, and music drawn from one culture may sound strange to someone from a different culture.

The Church Manual of 2000 also quoted her: "let the singing be accompanied with musical instruments skillfully handled. We are not to oppose the use of instrumental music in our work." The 2022 edition no longer prints that passage, and its sample order says "Musical prelude" where the 2000 order said "Organ Prelude."

The music statement on what it means by sacred music: "Sacred music should not evoke secular associations or invite conformity to worldly behavioral patterns of thinking or acting." It also says: "All music the Christian listens to, performs or composes, whether sacred or secular, will glorify God."

The Spirit gives gifts to every member in every age, and the church holds that the gift of prophecy was shown in Ellen G. White and is a mark of the remnant church.

Belief 17 says that "God bestows upon all members of His church in every age spiritual gifts that each member is to employ in loving ministry for the common good of the church and of humanity." The gifts it lists include "faith, healing, prophecy, proclamation, teaching, administration, reconciliation, compassion, and self-sacrificing service." Belief 11 says: "Now the Holy Spirit dwells within us and empowers us."

Belief 18 names prophecy as one gift: "The Scriptures testify that one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is prophecy. This gift is an identifying mark of the remnant church and we believe it was manifested in the ministry of Ellen G. White." The baptismal commitment in the Church Manual asks each candidate to say: "I accept the biblical teaching of spiritual gifts and believe that the gift of prophecy is one of the identifying marks of the remnant church."

God bestows upon all members of His church in every age spiritual gifts that each member is to employ in loving ministry for the common good of the church and of humanity.

This gift is an identifying mark of the remnant church and we believe it was manifested in the ministry of Ellen G. White.

I accept the biblical teaching of spiritual gifts and believe that the gift of prophecy is one of the identifying marks of the remnant church.

Belief 15 ties the Spirit to baptism: it is "a symbol of our union with Christ, the forgiveness of our sins, and our reception of the Holy Spirit."

Belief 17 on the protection of the church: "When members employ these spiritual gifts as faithful stewards of God's varied grace, the church is protected from the destructive influence of false doctrine, grows with a growth that is from God, and is built up in faith and love."

Christ returns literally, personally and visibly. Since 1844 he has been carrying on a work of investigative judgment in heaven. The dead are unconscious until the resurrection, and the wicked are consumed.

Belief 25 says the second coming "is the blessed hope of the church," that it "will be literal, personal, visible, and worldwide," and that "The time of that event has not been revealed, and we are therefore exhorted to be ready at all times."

Belief 24 says that "In 1844, at the end of the prophetic period of 2300 days, He entered the second and last phase of His atoning ministry," a "work of investigative judgment" that "reveals to heavenly intelligences who among the dead are asleep in Christ" and "makes manifest who among the living are abiding in Christ." Its completion "will mark the close of human probation before the Second Advent."

Belief 26 says: "Until that day death is an unconscious state for all people." Belief 27 teaches a thousand-year reign of Christ with his saints in heaven, after which the unrighteous dead are raised and "fire from God will consume them and cleanse the earth." Belief 28 describes a new earth.

The Saviour’s coming will be literal, personal, visible, and worldwide.

In 1844, at the end of the prophetic period of 2300 days, He entered the second and last phase of His atoning ministry, which was typified by the work of the high priest in the most holy place of the earthly sanctuary.

Until that day death is an unconscious state for all people.

Belief 24, on the judgment: "It is a work of investigative judgment, which is part of the ultimate disposition of all sin, typified by the cleansing of the ancient Hebrew sanctuary on the Day of Atonement." And: "This judgment vindicates the justice of God in saving those who believe in Jesus. It declares that those who have remained loyal to God shall receive the kingdom."

Belief 13, on the remnant: "This remnant announces the arrival of the judgment hour, proclaims salvation through Christ, and heralds the approach of His second advent."

The seventh-day Sabbath

The fourth commandment binds all people, and its day is Saturday, not Sunday.

The church holds that the Sabbath was made at creation "for all people," that the fourth commandment of "God's unchangeable law" requires the seventh day, and that it is "a sign of our sanctification" and "a token of our allegiance." The Church Manual's baptismal commitment asks each candidate to promise to keep "the fourth commandment, which requires the observance of the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath of the Lord and the memorial of Creation." In 1846 Joseph Bates argued that keeping the first day is the mark of the beast. He wrote: "Is it not clear that the first day of the week for the Sabbath or holy day is a mark of the beast." The current Fundamental Beliefs do not repeat that sentence, and it is quoted here as Bates's argument, not the present statement of the General Conference.

The Sabbath is God’s perpetual sign of His eternal covenant between Him and His people.

It is a symbol of our redemption in Christ, a sign of our sanctification, a token of our allegiance, and a foretaste of our eternal future in God’s kingdom.

the seventh day Sabbath is a perpetual sign, and is as binding upon man as it ever was.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished.

Jehovah our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Jehovah made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath day: which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.

One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord: and he that eateth, eateth unto the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, unto the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.

The Adventists' best texts are real: the fourth commandment rests the seventh day on creation, "for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth" (Exodus 20:11), and the Lord said that not "one jot or one tittle" would pass from the law "till all things be accomplished" (Matthew 5:18). But the commandment belonged to the covenant made at Horeb, "Jehovah made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us" (Deuteronomy 5:3), and Christ came "to fulfil" that law (Matthew 5:17). Paul then names the weekly day among the shadows: "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath day: which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s" (Colossians 2:16-17). So the apostles left days to conscience, "One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike" (Romans 14:5), and the church met "upon the first day of the week … to break bread" (Acts 20:7). To make the seventh day "a token of our allegiance" and a promise at baptism binds what the apostles loosed, and the church is wrong to do it.

Their answers, weighed. The church reads the "sabbath day" of Colossians 2:16 as the yearly ceremonial sabbaths only. But feast, new moon and sabbath is the Old Testament's own order for the yearly, monthly and weekly days: "on the sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts" (1 Chronicles 23:31); "her feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths" (Hosea 2:11). The weekly day is in the list. It reads Matthew 5:18 as keeping the fourth commandment in force. The same sentence sets the term, "till all things be accomplished," and the risen Lord said "all things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses" (Luke 24:44). The apostles teach the other commandments again in their letters, but they never command the church to keep the seventh day. Moses also gave Israel a reason of its own for the day: "thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt … therefore Jehovah thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day" (Deuteronomy 5:15). Some read Acts 20:7 as a Saturday evening by Jewish reckoning. Whichever way Luke counted, he names the first day, and Paul set the collection on it too: "Upon the first day of the week let each one of you lay by him in store" (1 Corinthians 16:2).

The sign of the remnant. The church's own words about itself make the point sharper. The baptismal vow asks the candidate to believe that "the Seventh-day Adventist Church is the remnant church of Bible prophecy," and the General Conference says the remnant "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Salvation is placed in Christ. The Sabbath is not a condition of it in the Fundamental Beliefs, which call it "a symbol of our redemption in Christ." What the church has done is make it the sign by which the remnant is told from the rest. The New Testament has no such sign.

The investigative judgment and the heavenly sanctuary

Christ entered the second apartment of the heavenly sanctuary in 1844 to begin a work of judgment.

The church teaches that Christ, at his ascension began his ministry in the holy place of the sanctuary in heaven, and that "In 1844, at the end of the prophetic period of 2300 days, He entered the second and last phase of His atoning ministry." That work is an "investigative judgment" that shows who is truly in Christ. The date comes from the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14, which the church counts as ending in 1844. The church prints the teaching as Fundamental Belief 24.

It is a work of investigative judgment, which is part of the ultimate disposition of all sin, typified by the cleansing of the ancient Hebrew sanctuary on the Day of Atonement.

The completion of this ministry of Christ will mark the close of human probation before the Second Advent.

And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

For Christ entered not into a holy place made with hands, like in pattern to the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us: nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place year by year with blood not his own; else must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once at the end of the ages hath he been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption.

which we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and stedfast and entering into that which is within the veil; whither as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; henceforth expecting till his enemies be made the footstool of his feet. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

Hebrews answers the very question the doctrine asks. Christ "through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption" (Hebrews 9:12), and the believer's hope already enters "into that which is within the veil; whither as a forerunner Jesus entered for us" (Hebrews 6:19-20): he went within the veil when he ascended, not in 1844. The letter reads the Day of Atonement as fulfilled when "once at the end of the ages hath he been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Hebrews 9:26), and it says that "by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14). Daniel 8:14 answers a question about a sanctuary "trodden under foot" on earth (Daniel 8:13), and no apostle reads it as a date. A second phase of atonement begun in 1844, with a judgment that reviews the believer, has no place in the finished work Hebrews describes; the doctrine is wrong, and binding it as a Fundamental Belief is wrong.

Their answer, weighed. Adventist writers reply that Hebrews speaks of Christ entering the heavenly sanctuary in general, to open his ministry there, and that the Day of Atonement work was left for later. But the chapter has just named the Day of Atonement, when "into the second the high priest alone, once in the year" went in (Hebrews 9:7), and it sets Christ's entry against that yearly entry: "nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place year by year" (Hebrews 9:25). The type Hebrews says Christ fulfilled is the one the church says began in 1844.

The church is clear that the judgment does not save by works: Belief 24 says it "vindicates the justice of God in saving those who believe in Jesus." But the Lord's word is that the believer "cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life" (John 5:24). And Matthew 24:36 answered the calculation before it was made: "But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only."

Ellen G. White and the gift of prophecy

The church holds that the prophetic gift was shown in Ellen G. White, and that her writings speak with prophetic authority under the Bible.

The church does not say that her writings equal Scripture. It says the Bible is "the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested." But it also says her writings "speak with prophetic authority," it makes belief in the gift of prophecy part of the baptismal commitment, and the Church Manual sets out its rules as principles "underscored by the Spirit of Prophecy." Each church elects a "Spirit of Prophecy writings coordinator." The Church Manual of 2000 called her writings "a continuing and authoritative source of truth." Members who are baptized accept that the gift is "one of the identifying marks of the remnant church."

They also make clear that the Bible is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested.

being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner stone;

Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.

God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds;

And I fell down before his feet to worship him. And he saith unto me, See thou do it not: I am a fellow-servant with thee and with thy brethren that hold the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.

The Adventists name the right test, and the Bereans used it, "examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11). But the church does not hold her writings as one more book to be tested: it says they "speak with prophetic authority," makes the gift a mark of the true church in the baptismal vow, and sets out its rules as principles "underscored by the Spirit of Prophecy." God "hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son" (Hebrews 1:2), the church is built "upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets" (Ephesians 2:20), and the faith "was once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 1:3). A voice after the apostles that speaks with prophetic authority to the church adds to what was once delivered, however carefully it is placed under the Bible. Ellen G. White did not have the gift of prophecy, and the church is wrong to bind belief in it on its members.

Their best text, weighed. The church reads Revelation 12:17 and 19:10, "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy," as naming a prophetic gift that marks the remnant. But in 19:10 the angel is a fellow-servant "with thy brethren that hold the testimony of Jesus": the testimony is held by all the brethren, not by one office. John was on Patmos "for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus" (Revelation 1:9), the apostles' witness to Christ, and that witness is written. "his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3). And if the writings were only counsel under Scripture, the baptismal vow would not make the gift an identifying mark of the church.

The church's wording has shifted. The Church Manual of 2000 called her writings "a continuing and authoritative source of truth." The present statement says they "speak with prophetic authority." Both speak of authority in the church, and both set the Bible above it.

The state of the dead

The dead are unconscious until the resurrection, and the wicked are finally consumed.

The church teaches that "God, who alone is immortal, will grant eternal life to His redeemed," and that until Christ appears "death is an unconscious state for all people." The resurrection of the righteous comes at his return and that of the unrighteous a thousand years later, after which "fire from God will consume them and cleanse the earth." Belief 27 teaches that the unrighteous are destroyed, not kept in torment.

but fire from God will consume them and cleanse the earth.

But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if to live in the flesh,—if this shall bring fruit from my work, then what I shall choose I know not. But I am in a strait betwixt the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ; for it is very far better:

And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and that he was carried away by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: and the rich man also died, and was buried. And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things: but now here he is comforted, and thou art in anguish.

And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of them that had been slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a great voice, saying, How long, O Master, the holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life.

The Adventists are right that the believer's hope is the resurrection, and that Scripture calls death a sleep: "them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him" (1 Thessalonians 4:14). But it is the body that sleeps, "many bodies of the saints that had fallen asleep were raised" (Matthew 27:52), and the New Testament shows the dead awake before the resurrection: Paul's "desire to depart and be with Christ; for it is very far better" (Philippians 1:23), the rich man who "in Hades … lifted up his eyes, being in torments" while his brothers still lived (Luke 16:23, 28), and the souls under the altar who "cried with a great voice, saying, How long" (Revelation 6:9-10). Of the end the Lord said, "these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life" (Matthew 25:46), and the punishment lasts as long as the life. The teaching that death is "an unconscious state for all people," and that the lost are at last burned up, sets these texts aside, and the church is wrong on both counts.

Their best texts, weighed. The church cites "the dead know not anything" (Ecclesiastes 9:5). The next verse says what they do not know: "neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 9:6). It speaks of their part in this life, not of their state before God. It calls Luke 16 a parable. Even so, the Lord does not teach by a false picture of death, and he sets the scene before the resurrection, while the five brothers live, "lest they also come into this place of torment" (Luke 16:28). Paul preferred "to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8). And the church reads "the wages of sin is death" as an end. But of those who worship the beast, "the smoke of their torment goeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day and night" (Revelation 14:11).

The health message and the clean foods

Members are asked to eat the most healthful diet possible, to abstain from the foods the Old Testament calls unclean, and to avoid alcohol, tobacco and harmful drugs.

Belief 22 says: "Along with adequate exercise and rest, we are to adopt the most healthful diet possible and abstain from the unclean foods identified in the Scriptures." It adds that alcohol, tobacco and the irresponsible use of drugs are harmful and that "we are to abstain from them as well." The baptismal commitment in the Church Manual asks the candidate to promise to honor God by "abstaining from all unclean foods; from the use, manufacture, or sale of alcoholic beverages; from the use, manufacture, or sale of tobacco in any of its forms for human consumption; and from the misuse of or trafficking in narcotics or other drugs."

Along with adequate exercise and rest, we are to adopt the most healthful diet possible and abstain from the unclean foods identified in the Scriptures.

Since alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and the irresponsible use of drugs and narcotics are harmful to our bodies, we are to abstain from them as well.

And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Perceive ye not, that whatsoever from without goeth into the man, it cannot defile him; because it goeth not into his heart, but into his belly, and goeth out into the draught? This he said, making all meats clean.

And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common and unclean. And a voice came unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, make not thou common.

forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it be received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer.

To care for the body as "the temple of the Holy Spirit," as the baptismal commitment puts it, is sound, and the call to put away tobacco and drunkenness is the right call. But the Lord himself, "making all meats clean" (Mark 7:19), took the food laws from the table, and the voice to Peter said, "What God hath cleansed, make not thou common" (Acts 10:15). Paul names the forbidding of "meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving" as a sign of departure (1 Timothy 4:3). A church can commend a diet. It cannot make abstaining from "unclean foods" a promise required at baptism. The Fundamental Beliefs and the Church Manual both do.

Belief 22 asks for "the most healthful diet possible," which is counsel. The weight of the verdict falls on the written commitment, which names "all unclean foods" beside alcohol and tobacco and is put to every candidate for baptism.

The plumb line is the New Testament: what the apostles commanded, and what the churches practiced with their approval. Each position above is set against it, and the wall below shows how far each one stands from it. Choose a course to read the Scripture and the reason. The Adventists hold more of the New Testament than many: they immerse believers, they keep a memorial Supper, they have no priesthood and no pope, and they confess the Bible as their only creed. Where they stand nearer the pattern than most, they are credited plainly. The wall shows where the added things stand, and the added things are many.

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

The Adventists begin in the right place. They say the Bible is their "only creed," and they say it is the "standard" by which all teaching must be tested, which is what the Bereans did (Acts 17:11). They then set a second voice beside it. Belief 18 says Ellen G. White's writings "speak with prophetic authority," and the Church Manual sets out its rules as principles "underscored by the Spirit of Prophecy." And a doctrine dated to 1844 and drawn from one verse is bound as an article of faith for every member. The Scriptures are "complete, furnished completely unto every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and the faith "was once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 1:3). The church is to "learn not to go beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6). A confession that names the Bible alone and then adds a prophet and a dated judgment has gone beyond what is written. The course stands well out from the line.

The distance is less than a church that puts tradition and councils beside the text, because the Adventists say the Bible tests her writings, and the church has said so in the same sentence as the claim. The distance is still real. In the Church Manual, her words on foot-washing, on the bread and the cup, on the authority of the General Conference, and on music are quoted as the authority for the rule. A writing that decides how the church keeps the Supper is functioning as more than a counselor.

And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name.

Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory.

The Adventists stand close to the line here. They teach that a person is saved by grace through faith, "not of works" (Ephesians 2:8-9). They baptize believers by immersion, after repentance and faith, and they do not baptize infants. That is the pattern of Acts, and few churches keep it as plainly. Immersion fits the picture of Romans 6: "We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death" (Romans 6:4). The church calls baptism "a symbol" of the forgiveness of sins, where Peter says to "be baptized … unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38) and Ananias says "be baptized, and wash away thy sins" (Acts 22:16). The apostles tied the forgiveness to the act, and a symbol is less than that. The church also asks the candidate, before baptism, to accept the whole list of its doctrines, including that it is "the remnant church of Bible prophecy," and to promise to keep the Sabbath and abstain from unclean foods. Those are conditions the apostles did not set. They baptized on the confession of Christ.

The church speaks of "the assurance of salvation now and in the judgment." The phrase keeps the final verdict open until an investigation the New Testament does not describe. See the sanctuary below.

For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.

If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye also should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, a servant is not greater than his lord; neither one that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them.

well reported of for good works; if she hath brought up children, if she hath used hospitality to strangers, if she hath washed the saints’ feet, if she hath relieved the afflicted, if she hath diligently followed every good work.

The Adventists keep the Supper as a memorial and a proclamation of the Lord's death, not a sacrifice, and they open the table to "all who have committed their lives to the Savior." Those are right. But the apostolic example is a Supper on the first day of the week, "when we were gathered together to break bread" (Acts 20:7), and the Church Manual keeps it "once per quarter," usually "on the next to the last Sabbath of each quarter": the wrong day and the wrong rhythm. It also makes foot-washing an ordinance that must come first, "Christ's appointed preparation for the sacramental service." The Lord gave the washing as "an example" of a servant's humility (John 13:15-16), the apostolic churches counted it a good work of the home beside hospitality (1 Timothy 5:10), and Paul delivered the Supper as he "received of the Lord" with no washing joined to it (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). To bind the washing on the church as an ordinance before the cup adds a rite to the Supper the apostles delivered.

Their best text, weighed. The church rests the ordinance on the Lord's words, "ye also ought to wash one another’s feet," and "blessed are ye if ye do them" (John 13:14, 17). The command is real, and the church takes it with a seriousness most churches do not. But what the Lord bound is the humble service the act showed, "a servant is not greater than his lord" (John 13:16), and the one later mention of the washing sets it among a widow's deeds of hospitality, not in the assembly. Acts and the letters never show a church washing feet when it met.

A Supper four times a year is the church's custom, and the Church Manual says "customarily." A church that wants the pattern of the New Testament has no ground to move the day or the frequency.

The church deserves credit for the care it gives the service. The Manual treats communion as a most sacred and joyous occasion, the congregation prepares for it with an announcement the Sabbath before, and members are urged to come: "Every disciple is called upon to participate publicly."

And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge;

Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood.

The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.

The Adventists have elders in each church, and in a large church more than one, chosen by the members, which is the pattern of "elders in every church" (Acts 14:23), and they have no pope. But their structure does not stop at the congregation: an elected elder cannot act until "an ordained pastor currently credentialed by the conference" ordains him or her, local churches sit under conferences, unions, divisions and a General Conference, and the New Testament sets no body over elders who tend "the flock of God which is among you," not "lording it over the charge allotted to you" (1 Peter 5:1-3). That structure gives the next to last rung, and this chart moves the placement one step further, to the far end, because the church treats its founder's word as binding. It says Ellen G. White's writings "speak with prophetic authority" to correct the church, its baptismal vow makes that gift a mark of the remnant, and the Church Manual sets out its rules as principles "underscored by the Spirit of Prophecy." An elder is to be "holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching" (Titus 1:9), and even an apostle wrote, "Not that we have lordship over your faith" (2 Corinthians 1:24).

The structure, in their words. The Church Manual sets the representative form of government against the episcopal and the papal. It says that "representatives of His church from all parts of the earth, when assembled in a General Conference, shall have authority," that only "an ordained/commissioned pastor or an ordained elder" may lead the Supper, and that "no organization determines its own status," the congregation included. The church is led by a system the apostles did not set up.

The representative form of government is not the Roman one, and members have a real voice. But the voice is a voice in a hierarchy. The congregation does not have the last word on who may serve as its elder, on how it keeps the Supper, or on what it teaches; the Church Manual speaks for the whole body and can be changed only at a General Conference Session.

speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

Through him then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make confession to his name.

The Adventists worship with song, prayer, Scripture and preaching, they do not prescribe a ritual, and the Church Manual says "Long preliminaries should be avoided." That is close to the pattern. The New Testament names the music: "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19), and it names the sacrifice, "the fruit of lips which make confession to his name" (Hebrews 13:15). The apostolic churches sang. The Church Manual quotes Ellen G. White to call for "instrumental music," and its sample order opens with a "Musical prelude," which the New Testament never names for the church's worship. The General Conference's music statement leaves instruments and styles to each culture. The day of worship is also moved to the Sabbath, where the New Testament shows the church gathering on the first day (Acts 20:7). The course sits where an unprescribed order with added instruments and the wrong day would put it.

The music statement puts a higher bar on the music than most churches do. It says that "Music is not morally and spiritually neutral," and it asks for lyrics that "correspond with sound biblical theology." Congregations worldwide use different instruments, and the General Conference does not forbid any. The wall judges the practice by the New Testament, which names singing and no instrument.

how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard; God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will.

Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.

The Adventists teach rightly that the Spirit dwells in every believer and is received at baptism, and that every member has a work to do in the body. The Fundamental Beliefs list healing among the gifts, but they name only prophecy as a mark of the church. They teach that the gifts continue "in every age," and they name that one gift as shown in one named person. The New Testament says the word "was confirmed unto us by them that heard; God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit" (Hebrews 2:3-4), and that the church is built "upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets" (Ephesians 2:20). The gifts that confirmed the word came through the apostles' hands and passed with them. To set a modern prophet at the church's mark is to put into the church a gift the foundation does not carry on. The course stands well out from the line.

Belief 17 says of the gifts: "When members employ these spiritual gifts as faithful stewards of God's varied grace, the church is protected from the destructive influence of false doctrine." The church uses the same Spirit and the same gifts to explain the standing of one writer among them, and that is where the verdict falls.

But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.

The Adventists look for the Lord's literal, personal and visible return, and Belief 25 says: "The time of that event has not been revealed," as the Lord said (Matthew 24:36). But the church dates the opening of a judgment to 1844 and teaches that Christ entered a second apartment of the heavenly sanctuary then, where Hebrews says he entered "into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us" and has "once at the end of the ages … been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Hebrews 9:24-26). The Lord says the believer "cometh not into judgment" (John 5:24), and Paul says "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). To this the church adds an unconscious state for all the dead and an end of the lost by fire, against "eternal punishment" (Matthew 25:46). The course is placed at the far end because a dated judgment is bound as a Fundamental Belief, and the church's account of itself as the remnant rests on it (Belief 13).

See the sanctuary and the state of the dead above for the texts weighed in full. The church is right that the hope of the dead is the resurrection; it is wrong that the dead are unconscious until then, and wrong that the punishment of the lost comes to an end.

The Adventists hold a great deal that the New Testament holds. They say that the Bible alone is their creed and that it tests every teaching, their own prophet's writings included. They baptize believers by immersion after repentance and faith, and they do not baptize infants. They keep a Supper that is a memorial and a proclamation of the Lord's death, with Christ among his people, and they leave the table open to all believers. They have no pope and no priesthood that stands between the believer and God, and the members elect their elders. They teach that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ, that his return will be literal, personal and visible, and that the hope of the dead is the resurrection. They hold that every member has a gift and a work to do, and they take the Ten Commandments seriously. In these they stand nearer the New Testament than many larger churches.

The Adventists asked the right question, which was what the Bible says, and they asked it when many around them were content with tradition. They kept what they found: believers' immersion, a memorial Supper, no priesthood. But they did not stop where the apostles stopped. They added a prophet whose writings speak with authority to the church, a judgment dated to one autumn day in 1844, a day of the week made the sign of the faithful, and a vow at baptism that binds a diet and a doctrine of the church on every new member.

The Lord's plain word stands against each: the faith was "once for all delivered," the believer "cometh not into judgment," and "the body is Christ's." The answer is to return to the one authority the Adventists name, the Bible alone, and to let it remove what has been added, the Sabbath as a sign, the judgment of 1844 and the prophet's authority, and to restore the Supper to the first day of every week.

More illuminations · Harbinger's Lamp