Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20060514.htm

PROFITABLY LEARNING FROM THE ERRORS OF THE CULTS
Part I: Profitably Learning From The Errors Of Seventh-Day Adventism
(Daniel 8:13-14 et al.)
  1. Introduction
    1. God calls us to have no part with the unfruitful works of darkness, but even to expose them, Eph. 5:11.
    2. Yet, in doing so, we like Solomon in Proverbs 24:30-34 can learn from the errors of those who fail.
    3. Thus, we study Seventh-Day Adventism to note its errors and to see how to avoid the causes behind them:
  2. Learning From The Errors Of Seventh-Day Adventism, Daniel 8:13-14 et al.
    1. To understand the errors of Seventh-Day Adventism, we view its broad historical development as follows:
      1. Around 1828, William Miller, a poor, humble farmer, converted to Christianity, and began to study the King James Bible with a Cruden's Concordance, Jan Karel Van Baalen, The Chaos Of Cults , p. 228.
      2. He concluded the Daniel 8:14 prophecy held 2,300 "days" of years would elapse between Artaxerxes' Daniel 9:25 decree and Christ's coming so that Jesus would return in 1843, Ibid., p. 229, 233, ftn. 9!
      3. When Miller led his followers to prepare for Christ's coming, and Jesus did not visibly return in 1843, "Millerite" Samuel S. Snow refigured the numbers to claim the right date was October 22, 1844, Ibid.!
      4. Well, as the 1844 date came and went without Christ's return, Hiram Edson, another Millerite, said he saw a vision that revealed Miller was right about the time, but not about the place, Ibid., p. 229-230! Edson thus asserted that the Daniel 8:14 sanctuary to be cleansed in 1844 was the heavenly one!
      5. After Edson, another Millerite, Father Bates asserted belief in the seventh-day Sabbath, Ibid., p. 230.
      6. Another Millerite, Ellen G. White, defended Miller's Daniel 8:14 interpretation only to produce heresy: she with Edson held Jesus returned to heaven's temple, that He did so to complete His atonement, and had then closed the door to all future salvation except for Seventh-Day Adventists, Ibid., p. 232-234!
      7. Well, this obvious heresy finally led thoughtful Adventist leaders to author the book, Seventh-day Adventists Believe by 1989 to assert that Christ's death sufficed to ransom sinners, Ibid., p. 111-112.
      8. However, that book DECEPTIVELY failed to admit that Ellen G. White had taught heresy on the atonement, even adding: "Ellen G. White . . . has given inspired instruction for God's people . . . Passing the Biblical tests . . ." (Ibid., p. 224) It also held to keeping the Sabbath, Ibid., p. 244!
      9. Well, some evangelicals (cf. The Cults Exposed by Irvine Robertson (1992), p. 223-231 from Moody Bible Institute's Center for External Studies) claim Adventism is no longer a cult for this corrected view of the atonement regardless of the group's continued support of Ellen G. White's heretical words!
    2. In light of Scripture, we can itemize and learn from such errors relative to Seventh-Day Adventism:
      1. Had they used a better concordance and checked the context, Miller and Smith would have seen the Daniel 8:14 "days" came from 2 Hebrew words, "morning" and "evening", that they were 2,300 solar days when the earthly temple sacrifices ceased (Strong's Ex. Con. of the Bible, p. 245) between the 171 B. C. pollution of the temple and its cleansing on 12/25, 165 B. C., Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, 1978, ftn.
      2. Had Edson done the same, he would not have extolled the vision he received (cf. Deut. 13:1-4), and had he checked Psalm 11:4, he would have seen the heavenly temple was holy long before 1844!
      3. Had Father Bates heeded Col. 2:14-17, he would know Christians are not obliged to keep the Sabbath!
      4. Had Ellen G. White checked Miller's view with adequate study aids and the Bible's context, she would not have justified his error and known Christ's atonement was complete at the cross (Heb. 9:24-28) and that salvation would be by faith at least to Christ's earthly reign (2 Tim. 3:16-4:2; Gal. 1:8-9)!
      5. Then, had Seventh-Day Adventists honestly corrected their errors, they would have denounced Ellen G. White's heresy and reputation as a prophet and their allegiance to the Sabbath Day rule (in 1989)!
      6. Had evangelicals who claim Adventism is no longer a cult waited to exonerate the group until after it had given a consistently upright presentation of the truth, they would not have engaged in Adventism's misleading mixture of White's heretical words with Bible truth contrary to the warning of 1 Tim. 5:22!
Lesson: Seventh-Day Adventism's errors arose from ignorance and inadequate study tools, and were upheld by a deceptive bias to defend the group versus checking the Bible fully and clearly to deny them.

Application: May we value discipleship above preserving any "group", and expound Scripture with good tools, recheck our work, and honestly, carefully and consistently uphold God's truth, 2 Tim. 2:15!