KASPARS OZOLINS | Assistant Professor of Old Testament Interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Life Assurance Ministries Board Member |
Among the most notable changes that took place at the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference meeting this year in St. Louis was the election of a new president, Erton Köhler. He takes office in the wake of the fifteen-year long tenure of Ted Wilson, who was clearly a polarizing figure among progressive Adventists. (Despite the umlaut on his last name, Köhler is not German by origin, but rather Brazilian; there are many Brazilians of German ancestry.) He has been a long-time administrator within the organization, though with his election he is the first South American to lead as SDA president.
A major question facing many Adventists—particularly those who either identify or are seen as being on the more progressive side within the movement—is whether this new president will take Adventism in a significantly different direction than his predecessor did. Will Köhler continue Wilson’s “historic Adventist” approach (for lack of a better word), and double down on Ellen G. White and her foundational teachings? Or will he rather bring back the style and emphasis of Wilson’s predecessor, Jan Paulsen? The latter, another non-American, who led the organization from 1999–2010, was perceived as being quite different from Wilson in tone and substance. In other words, does the presidency of Erton Köhler herald the arrival of a new kind of Adventism that intends to distance itself from its own theology?
A different Adventism?
In reality, the Adventist organization led by Paulsen in 1999–2010 was not markedly different in substance from that of Ted Wilson more recently. To be sure, there is a superficial difference between the leaders, as the two clearly have very different backgrounds and leadership styles. Yet as Colleen Tinker has pointed out in this eloquent piece, the Adventist doctrine of the investigative judgment was as much at the core of Paulsen’s vision of Adventism as it was in Wilson’s, and Paulsen frankly admits this:
“The historic sanctuary message [of which the Investigative Judgment is the central event], based on Scripture and supported by the writings of Ellen White, continues to be held to unequivocally. And the inspired authorities on which these and other doctrines are based, namely the Bible supported by the writings of Ellen White, continue to be the hermeneutical foundation on which we as a church place all matters of faith and conduct. Let no one think that there has been a change of position in regard to this.” [emphasis added]
So the question concerning the model of leadership Köhler will adopt in his tenure is less significant than might be supposed. Given historical precedent, and what we know about how the organization operates, no one can rise to a position of leadership within the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists while at the same time repudiating its heretical foundations.
The most recent events in the GC under the leadership of Erton Köhler underscore this very point.
#OneVoice27
At the 2025 Annual Council meeting this October, Adventist leaders unveiled a flashy new campaign, titled “OneVoice27: Mission for All.” At the beginning of the presentation, a video was played showing Adventists around the world speaking in their native languages and imagining a world in which the Adventist message could be spread by a united effort. As the Adventist News Network explained in an article, “OneVoice27 is designed to connect large-scale media outreach with on-the-ground engagement by local congregations so that interest generated online and on air leads to Bible study and membership pathways.”
This initiative is an extension of the “Total Member Involvement” strategy which calls for every Adventist member in their local context to be more proactive in spreading the Adventist message. The hope is that if Adventists speak loudly with one voice, concentrating their efforts on one month—September 2027—they are more likely to be heard and noticed by the world. Key Adventist leaders explained the new initiative to attendees at the meeting, beginning with the president of Hope Channel International, Vyacheslav Demyan:
“Imagine the great opportunities that we have. [There are] over 7.4 billion active smartphones in the world. And [the] Adventist church has such a power, through ministries like Adventist World Radio, like Hope Channel [reaching] hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Adventists dedicated to the mission use their smartphones, their media, technologies, to reach the world. How do we respond to these times? We believe the best way to respond is to stop and to speak with one voice…We want to be united in timing, in theme, and in global marketing. However, we must still be diverse—decentralized in approaches and contextualized in the way the message is communicated…Let’s use all this media, all the power that we have as a global church, speaking with one voice. We have a great opportunity in 2027.”
Adventist leaders at the meeting explained that there are three activities all members should be engaged in as preparation for the 2027 initiative: (1) prayer; (2) studying the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, supported by The Great Controversy; (3) “spending significant time every day reading Adventist pioneer Ellen White’s Desire of Ages to focus on the life of Jesus.” As for the reason why 2027 is being emphasized, Demyan explained that it was chosen because of the 2,000-year anniversary of Jesus’ baptism and anointing. In order to underscore this special number, GC treasurer Paul Douglas boasted that $27 million would be committed to the OneVoice27 initiative.
Yet amid all the buzzwords in this glossy presentation, there is an unmistakable disconnect between the stated aims of this initiative, as presented by Adventist leaders, and its actual purposes. Let me highlight at least three examples.
“A decentralized approach”
Adventist leaders at this meeting repeatedly emphasized that this initiative is to be undertaken with a “decentralized approach.” As Demyan emphatically stated: “We are not going with a top-down approach. No. In fact, we will have here some people from your divisions and you will see it’s a bottom-up movement.” The slides further explained that the initiative was to be contextualized (from a missiological standpoint), as well as involving “collaboration and integration” (from an institutional standpoint).
This decentralized approach (not “top-down”) is ostensibly demonstrated by the call in the presentation for the global Advent movement to be united in prayer “daily for the power and presence of the Holy Spirit,” even going so far as to mention “the baptism of the Holy Spirit.” Presumably, a true move of God would not require the contrived efforts of a General Conference led by fallible human beings.
Yet the actual reality of Adventism immediately exposes this veneer. The prophet Jeremiah was given a monumental promise centuries before the new covenant would be inaugurated at Pentecost: “No longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD” (Jer 31:34). This intimate knowledge of God would come as the Spirit, the Helper promised by the Lord Jesus, would indwell every believer, from the least to greatest. Spirit-led believers do not need to be marshaled into a global program for evangelism with fancy catchwords; they know how to serve the living God because they are permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
Yet Adventism is not a Spirit-led movement of local churches equipped with biblical eldership. Rather, in order to maintain their grip on the organization and prevent the global church from “drifting” when exposed to the teachings of Scripture, the GC leadership must continually thrust the writings of Ellen G. White in front of their members’ eyes. To the extent that the Spirit of God is operating in Seventh-day Adventism today, He is using Scripture to rescue Christ’s sheep out of this organization.
Who is to be reached with the advent message?
Hope Channel president Vyacheslav Demyan began his presentation at the Annual Council meeting in impassioned tones: “After 2,000 years, since Jesus gave us this Great Commission, there are still over 3.4 billion people in the world who don’t know Jesus.” This statistic (drawn from joshuaproject.net) does not include those who profess to be Christians in some manner. On its face, then, this initiative would appear to not be targeted at Christians, but rather those who are not. Yet despite this, the Seventh-day Adventist message at its heart has always been targeted not just at the secular and irreligious, but also at Christians (as demonstrated trivially in the name “Seventh-day” + “Advent-ist”). Its central mission is to advance the three angels’ messages as understood by the church. Adventism claims to be the true remnant movement of God, and as such, it cannot help but regard Christianity as its mission field.
The Annual Council meeting included a prerecorded informative video featuring president Köhler and other prominent Adventist leaders explaining the content of this initiative. Köhler states: “OneVoice27 is a call for our Adventist family to unite in sharing the hope we have in Jesus.” He was immediately followed by Rick McEdward, executive secretary of the GC, who explained just exactly what that hope is: “Revelation 14:6 tells us, ‘Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. That’s what OneVoice27 is all about.” Paul Douglas, treasurer and CFO, concurred, stating: “This is what makes it so exciting; in September 2027, every Adventist media outlet, every local church, every believer around the world, all sharing the three angels’ messages together.”
More ominously, the media kit made available online includes a downloadable Powerpoint slide presentation that concludes by specifically singling out the third angel’s message, only giving the beginning of the quotation in big letters: “Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice…”
Let the reader understand.
Which advent gives hope?
A critical component in preparation for #OneVoice27 is the study of the prophetic books of Daniel and Revelation, in conjunction with The Great Controversy. Despite the brief nod to Christ’s baptism 2,000 years ago (which almost seems too convenient for their upcoming calendar), the emphasis of the Adventist message is not Christ’s first coming, much less the baptism of the Lord Jesus. Instead, Adventists remain squarely focused on an apocalyptic proclamation about the second coming of the Adventist Jesus.
We are now in the midst of the wonderful Christmas advent season. The English word “advent”is borrowed from Latin (adventus) and simply means “coming; arrival.” But whose arrival? It is none other than the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and specifically, his coming to us as a baby, born of a virgin, born under the law in order to redeem those under the curse of the law (Gal 4:4). But Seventh-day Adventism proudly takes its name from its failed origins: they claim to be the faithful remnant out of the Millerite movement which failed to realize the prediction of the second coming of Jesus on October 22, 1844.
There is a connection, I suggest, between the two advents. For the Christian, the first advent of Jesus Christ is the very ground for hope in His second advent. Therefore, when the apostle Paul defends the final resurrection of the body and the consummation of the kingdom of God in 1 Corinthians 15, he begins with the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus—the gospel (1 Cor 15:3–8). So when John sees a great multitude standing before the throne of God, he is told that “[t]hey have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev 7:14). They are now finally before the one who loved them, possessing a righteousness that the great reformer Martin Luther described as an alien righteousness—won for them by the Lord Jesus Christ.
For Adventists, however, the Adventist Jesus as imagined by Ellen White first came for an entirely different purpose:
“The law requires righteousness,—a righteous life, a perfect character; and this man has not to give. He cannot meet the claims of God’s holy law. But Christ, coming to the earth as man, lived a holy life, and developed a perfect character. These He offers as a free gift to all who will receive them. His life stands for the life of men. Thus they have remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. More than this, Christ imbues men with the attributes of God. He builds up the human character after the similitude of the divine character, a goodly fabric of spiritual strength and beauty.”—The Desire of Ages (ch. 79)
Note the careful language which sounds biblical until it is closely scrutinized. One can only receive a “remission of sins that are past.” This is only granted through “the forbearance of God.” The righteousness that Adventism offers is to have one’s “human character” built up “after the similitude of the divine character.” Adventism has thus fatally obviated the entire biblical purpose of the incarnation of Jesus Christ (the first advent). As such, it can only call for the world to be ready for the second coming by telling it to keep “the commandments of God.” If there is any doubt as to the effect that this theology has, note again what Ellen White states in the same chapter in The Desire of Ages:
“The warfare against God’s law, which was begun in heaven, will be continued until the end of time. Every man will be tested. Obedience or disobedience is the question to be decided by the whole world. All will be called to choose between the law of God and the laws of men. Here the dividing line will be drawn. There will be but two classes. Every character will be fully developed; and all will show whether they have chosen the side of loyalty or that of rebellion.”
The “perfect character” which was “developed” by the Adventist Jesus at his first coming will be required of all the remnant at his second coming.
Hope for Seventh-day Adventist people
I receive a weekly Adventist Today email in my inbox to keep abreast of the issues. Frequently, their editors explain why they see their work as invaluable to Seventh-day Adventism in serving as a witness to their progressive vision of the church. For example, Loren Seibold recently explained the AToday editorial perspective by stating: “There is enough in Adventism that has been hurtful. We want to bring healing, freedom, and joy—an abundant life in Christ.”
But it is plain as the noonday that Adventist Today will not fundamentally change Seventh-day Adventism, nor can it. The only hope for Adventist people—precious human beings created in the image of God—who are trapped in this tightly guarded system, is the light of the true gospel which must shine ever brighter within the darkness.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”—John 1:5
- What Is Your Advent Hope? - December 18, 2025
- New Covenant Has a New Commandment - October 16, 2025
- Seventh-day Adventism: Neither Christian, Nor a Church - August 14, 2025