Need Help with Adventist Teachings
I am seeking help studying several Seventh-day Adventist teachings. My parents are Adventists, and our discussions have raised questions that I would like to examine carefully through Scripture. I want to understand the passages in their grammatical, historical, and biblical context and represent their beliefs accurately.
Could you help me address these questions?
- Christ’s heavenly ministry and 1844: Hebrews 6:19–20, 9:12, 9:24, and 10:19–22 appear to describe Jesus as already having entered God’s presence behind the veil, with access already available to believers. How do these passages bear on the Adventist interpretation of Daniel 8:14 and the claim that a new phase of ministry in the Most Holy Place began in 1844? Does the text establish that date or that distinction between phases?
- Michael and Jesus: Daniel 10:13 calls Michael “one of the chief princes,” while Jude 9 calls him the archangel. Colossians 1:16–17 identifies Christ as Creator, and Hebrews 1 distinguishes the Son from the angels. These passages seem to support distinguishing Michael from Jesus. What is the strongest contextual argument against identifying them, and how should we answer the argument that “archangel” is simply Christ’s title as commander of angels?
- The Ten Commandments and the Sinai covenant: Deuteronomy 4:13 identifies the Ten Commandments with the covenant, and Deuteronomy 5:1–3 identifies Israel as its recipients. Exodus 24:7–8 also describes the book of the covenant. Do Scripture’s distinctions between the tablets and the book establish separate covenants, or different components of the same covenant?
- The tablets inside the ark and the book beside it: This is my most important question. Deuteronomy 10:1–5 places the tablets inside the ark, while Deuteronomy 31:24–26 places Moses’ book beside it as a witness against Israel. What does this difference signify? Does Scripture explain it as proof that the Ten Commandments remain binding unchanged while the other laws expire, or does that conclusion go beyond the passages?
- Christian obedience under the new covenant: How should we read Matthew 5:17–20 and John 14:15 alongside Romans 7:4–7, 2 Corinthians 3:6–11, and Hebrews 8:13? How do we distinguish continuing moral obligations from the Sinai covenant’s requirements, particularly in light of Colossians 2:16–17 concerning Sabbaths?
I understand that release from the old covenant does not mean permission to sin. I want to understand how Christians obey Christ under the new covenant and whether seventh-day Sabbath observance is required.
My father accepts the King James Version and the Spanish Reina-Valera, so explanations using those translations would be especially helpful. I would appreciate a Bible study, recommended resources, or an opportunity to speak with someone about these questions.
Lastly, is to become born again believing?
Thank you for your time and guidance.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Thank you for writing. I am going to refer you to Dale Ratzlaff’s book Sabbath in Christ. He carefully goes through the old covenant and its fulfillment in Christ and how the law was completely fulfilled in Jesus. Subsequent to that book, we have many articles addressing each of these issues that you mention.
Related to Christ’s heavenly ministry in heaven, Dale’s book Cultic Doctrine of Seventh-day Adventists goes through the history of the development of the doctrine of the investigative judgment and shows with references, exactly how it occurred.
First, the books are available online free here: https://lifeassuranceministries.org/sabbath-in-christ-2/ and https://lifeassuranceministries.org/cultic-doctrine-of-seventh-day-adventists/
Second, I want to refer you to our Former Adventist Podcast and to our Former Adventist Fact Check podcast. These weekly podcasts will be helpful to you, I believe, in learning to understand the Adventist worldview and how it contradicts Scripture. I especially want to recommend our podcast on the book of Daniel which shows how Adventism has misused the book of Daniel:
Here is an article addressing the Adventists’ teaching about Jesus and Michael the archangel: https://lifeassuranceministries.org/2022/10/13/michael-is-not-jesus-and-the-resurrection-is-not-a-re-creation/
The issue of the Ten Commandments and the “book of the law” is an invented argument. The Ten Commandments were the actual “words of the covenant” (Exodus 34:27, 28) that God gave Moses. They were the heart, the “abstract” if you will, of the entire covenant. All 603 laws besides the Ten that were included in the covenant were laws explaining how to practice the general categories expressed in the Ten.
The Law of Christ in the New Testament (see 1 Corinthian 9:20–23 and Galatians 56:2) was an entirely NEW LAW. Hebrews 7:11, 12 tells us that when there is a change of the priesthood, of necessity there must be a change of the law also. The fact that the New Testament commands include moral requirements that echo the Ten does not mean Christians keep the Ten. It only means that the Decalogue and the Law of Christ have the same Author: God. He is the SOURCE of all morality and righteousness. His laws reflect that fact. But just as an emigrant from Brazil to America does not keep the laws of Brazil once they live in the United States, so a New Covenant Christian does not keep the law of Moses (and the Ten are part of the law of Moses). The two sets of laws contain similar moral requirement because they have the same Author, but the administrations and applications of those law are for different people, different citizens. The Ten Commandments were for citizens of Israel; the Law of Christ is for citizens of the Kingdom of the Beloved Son (Col 1:13), those who have been born again and transferred out of the domain of darkness.
Unbelievers have ONE command: to believe in the One whom the Father sent to atone for sin. Believers now have the Law of Christ—all the commands of the New Testament. Those who believe literally pass from spiritual death to life (John 5:24) and are indwelled by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13, 14). This miracle is the new birth.
Here is an article that will help you understand how the Ten are not separate from the whole Mosaic Covenant: https://lifeassuranceministries.org/2018/12/07/the-unity-of-the-law/
On our website Proclamationmagazine.com you will find a tab for “topics”. You will find a wealth of articles there on Sabbath, the covenants, and so forth.
Also, please visit our Youtube channel and find our two podcasts. You can also find them on any podcast server.
Please fee free to email any time!
How Do I Answer Ellen White Arguments?
Thanks so much for what you do! I listen to you and Nikki often.…I’m attending a nondenominational church. I’ve recently shared some studies and documents I wrote on different topics with my parents who live in another country. They actually finally got brave enough to start reading them. I only gave it to them because they asked.
Anyway, my mom has started reading them out loud to my dad a little each evening. My dad is taking notes and is arming himself for his response, haha! Last time I talked to them, he said next time we talk, he wants to share about Paul’s letters and how his writings seemed to disagree with the rest of the Bible. But he wants to show me that they only appear to contradict.
Then he wants to tie that in somehow with Ellen White’s testimonies. I’m guessing he’s going to bring out the point that the Bible has seeming contradictions and so does EGW. We need to read everything she said, put the extremes on a shelf, and find what she says in the middle that’s balanced. I’m sure he’ll try to say she’s no different than the Bible prophets because they were flawed and sometimes said things that contradicted other parts of the Bible, too.
I guess I’m trying to sort out in my mind how to respond to this argument, since I think it’s a pretty common one; I don’t want to give them a long lecture, just simple, Biblical truth that speaks for itself. I guess one big difference is that the Bible writers were many authors in different contexts, cultures, and times. EGW, on the other hand, didn’t have all of these different contexts. The Lord “showed” her something that later was contradicted by other things “the Lord” showed her.
Another thing that is often used to defend EGW is saying the Bible has conditional prophecy that didn’t always come to pass. And it seems like any time I bring up a prophecy of EGW that was false, it’s immediately written off as irrelevant because it was conditional, just like in the Bible…!
Anyway, I’m sure you’ve written about or done videos on those topics? I’m just looking for resources to help me think through these topics before I talk to Dad and Mom again. I’m sure the current Sabbath School lesson is fueling their conversations that EGW is a true prophet; I just watched your commentary on the next lesson. I do find it helpful to keep up with what’s being taught at church since my whole family on both sides are Adventist. It’s good to know what’s happening in their world. And it reminds me of why I left!
Anyway, any resources you may have on those topics would be very appreciated!
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Oh, yes—the EGW defenses. Sigh. You know, Ellen’s prophecies weren’t like the Bible prophets’ prophecies. Biblical prophets were directly given messages by God for the people to whom they were sent—almost always Israel or Judah and once in a while some neighboring gentiles, such as Jonah going to Ninevah and calling them to repent a few years before Assyria (of which Ninevah was the capital) would utterly DESTROY Israel. Actually, the OT prophets all prophesied within the framework of the Mosaic covenant, and they always called the Israelites back to their covenant promises with God. They weren’t sent randomly to all the people in the world.
Ellen’s “prophesies” were her own declarations quite separate from any covenant arrangement. She prophesied within the framework of Adventism, and the terms of her prophecies were just random beliefs or threats or ideas she gleaned from the culture and ethos of the day, such as “Old Jerusalem will never be rebuilt…” a prophecy which DIRECTLY contradicts multiple Old Testament prophecies that were given to Israel within the context of God’s covenant with them. And so on.
The Old Testament prophets gave details as time went on that directly revealed HOW God would fulfill and keep His covenant promises to Abraham and to Israel. They weren’t random, out of context prophecies and predictions. Ellen’s were. Her declarations were within a specifically Adventist framework, and Adventism has no covenant promises from God. The real church, on the other hand, is created by God on the basis of faith, and those who are born again are brought INTO the new covenant in Jesus’ blood. All of God’s promises which He gave to Abraham and to Israel are fulfilled IN JESUS, and the biblical prophecies and promises are all within the context of God’s covenant promises.
Ellen was just a random voice who delivered “visions” to confirm the doctrinal and organizational dreams of James White who used her visions as “proof” that his ideas were from God. It was a clever way to make money and grip control. Did you see last Friday’s Proclamation! email? The chapter from Henry Monk’s book is quite revealing as to the way she used her “testimonies” to manipulate and control—and Monk demonstrates that the “brethren” were afflicted with resentment and guilt as well as doubt about her. Her authority was not universally accepted, and after James died, she became more and more of a flash point of confusion and conflict. She destroyed the lives of many good men as she pulled rank to keep control.
Bottom line, any prophet of God will absolutely tell the truth about Him. Ellen never affirmed the biblical identity of the Trinity and the shared essence of the three Persons. She blatantly did the things God hates—stealing words from others and claiming God gave them to her—have you watched this week’s Fact Check #3 from the fourth quarter? I addressed some of these things. But Ellen never delivered the biblical gospel nor did she correctly teach the identity of the man Christ Jesus and His finished atonement on the cross. The fact that she delivered heretical teachings disqualifies her whatever else she may have done!
I hope this helps!
Write to: proclamation@gmail.com
- Ellen White: False Claims (Q4 L4) - October 15, 2026
- We Got Mail - October 15, 2026
- What’s the Truth About Ellen White? - October 8, 2026