This has manifested attitudes of condemnation and arrogance toward other denominations. A church that claims to be the sole remnant fosters pride and exclusivity. In complete contrast Hebrews 3: 14, "because we shall remain co-heirs with Christ only if we keep a grasp on our first confidence right to the end." Hebrews 13: 6, "God himself has said, 'I will not fail you or desert you', and so we can say with confidence: With the Lord to help me, I fear nothing what can man do to me?" See I John 4-whole chapter 5:1, 15. Lest you think this an isolated incident, review what White in Christ Object Lessons records on page 155, "Those who accept the Saviour, however sincere their conversion, should never be taught to say or feel that they are saved." And in the next paragraph she writes," Those who accept Christ, and in their first confidence say, 'I am saved' are in danger of trusting to themselves." This is in direct opposition to the good news of the gospel. Recently in an Adventist church I was told that if I felt saved that shows how truly unsaved I was. Paul tells us we can be confident in our Salvation, not because of what we do, but because of what He did. The Bible teaches throughout the New Testament that faith or belief in Christ saves us-period, not plus anything. This is the very work which the Lord has left for us to do." This statement is unbiblical. None but ourselves can work out our salvation with fear and trembling. White writes in 2T 505.2 "To retain pure and undefiled religion it is necessary to be workers, persevering in effort. It seems to always be reinforced by the attitude that salvation is attained by belief in Christ plus keeping the law. Yet in practice it teaches righteousness by keeping the Sabbath, eating clean meats, etc. Adventism in theory believes in Righteousness by Faith. We will continue to educate the SDA membership about this problem but in a capacity that will not implicate us in this crime.Ģ. However, the murder of innocent children cannot be swept under the rug of our consciences as a small sin. No more will be elaborated on this subject, as it is too lengthy to get into in this venue. We have seen deception from our leaders and deliberate cover-ups attempting to appear neutral on this issue while SDA institutions are actively pro-choice. Arthur and I have been involved with the Adventists for Life since 1985. Reid stated that the church is pro-choice and that he was disappointed that the "Washington Adventist Hospital had become an abortion mill." Please note that I am quoting him. George Reid to get the official church policy. In 2000, I (Tesa) called the General Conference about the abortion issue. At least one that I have personally investigated does partial-birth abortions. Some Adventist hospitals perform abortions-on-demand. These are the reasons we left the Seventh-day Adventist Church in descending order of importance: (For your convenience, at the end of the letter there are some exhausting, yet by no means exhaustive, texts on which we base our theology.)ġ. This is how we began finding additional discrepancies between Adventist theology and the Bible. So we decided to begin reading the Bible and the Bible only, asking the Holy Spirit to guide us and reveal truth. In 1997, Arthur and I were growing seriously disillusioned with the Adventist system. These things however will not keep us from worshipping with you, so feel free to invite us to your church whenever you like. Again, please understand that we are not on a quest to change anyone's SDA affiliation, only explain why we have been compelled to change ours. We hope that it will convince you that our decision is not based on emotion but on scripture. Please bear through the following explanation. But since it has occurred in our lives, it is imperative that we follow Christ and Christ only, apart from the Adventist denomination. This juncture may never occur in your walk with Christ, nor do we feel it must. One was to continue in the Adventist denomination, the other, to follow where Christ was and is continuing to lead us. As we studied the Bible, we felt a clear separation of paths was being set before us. We need to explain why we came to this decision so that you will be assured that was not out of spite or that we have given up on the truth of Christ. The official letter is attached at the end. For this we are truly sorry and we hope that you will continue to pray for us. We are also aware of the disappointment and hurt it has caused you, our dear family. This has caused much pain for us as we have gone through the process. Most of you know by now that Arthur and I have removed our membership from the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
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