Seventh-day Adventist. Generally but some branches . A Seventh-day Adventist is a follower of a Christian denomination which believes strongly in Sabbath worship (Saturday) rather than Sunday. That's fine in itself but some Seventh-day Adventists in New Zealand (believed to be a minority of SDAs in this country) go overboard in this and proclaim that only they are saved because other denominations do not do this – a cultic claim. Seventh-day Adventists (as individuals or the organisation) run the publishing company Patriotic Christian Distributors, Final Warning Ministries, New Zealand Christian Foundation, television station Firstlight, breakfast cereal company Sanitarium, and the tabloid newspapers Discovery News and The [South Pacific] Signs of the Times. The denomination was founded by Ellen G White, their Prophetess. It varies on a branch-by-branch basis, but any particular branch that practices or teaches that Ellen G White's teachings are more important than the Bible qualifies itself as a cult. Most New Zealand branches apparently do not hold strongly to that (although they do hold her writings to be an "authoritative source of truth"), whereas in other countries the tendency is in the other direction, and her writings are deemed to be more important than the Bible. In New Zealand the Seventh-day Adventist Church is divided into the North New Zealand Conference (North Island) and South New Zealand Conference (South Island). Both officially believe her writings "make clear that the Bible is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested" and that the Bible is "the authoritative revealer of doctrines". However, people have questioned how this is played out in practice, since the Bible is often interpreted for Seventh-day Adventists by Ellen G White – or rather, her writings, with which there are many serious problems. This leads them to misinterpret clear passages such as Romans 14:5-6 (NIV).

⁵ One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. ⁶ Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.

Also 1 Timothy 4:1-5 (NIV).

¹ The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. ² Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. ³ They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. ⁴ For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, ⁵ because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

Robert K Sanders has written a testimony of how he left the SDAs after 37 years. He points out that Ellen G White often contradicted the Bible.

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Printed on 18 December 2019 at www.cults.co.nz.
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