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I was born and raised a Seventh-day Adventist. Now, some of you might wonder why I would need to tell you that detail as part of my testimony. Indeed, some might wonder why Trinity Church supports a Former Adventist Fellowship at all, since the Adventists you know or with whom you work seem like fine Christian people. So what if they worship on a different day and don’t eat bacon?
Frankly, when I started coming to Trinity a few years ago, I wondered that, too. I had left Adventism years before after reading Walter Martin’s book Kingdom of the Cults where he addressed some of the same questions about their strange doctrines that I had. I’d been frustrated for years that my Adventism didn’t seem to have the power to help me be the Christian I wanted to be, so when Martin confirmed my suspicions that the weakness came from holding to non-Biblical doctrines, I left the Adventist church, thinking that I would never look back.
Years passed. My wife Nancy and I tried a couple of different churches, but I could never get comfortable in them. Then we visited Trinity to check out the “Light and Power” program for adults with intellectual disabilities, a program which our adult son was enjoying. We enjoyed the service, and it just happened to be a day on which the prospective members class was being offered, so I went. I discovered that Trinity was part of the Evangelical Free denomination that “majored in the majors, and minored in the minors”. Coming from my hyper-legalistic background, this emphasis was a real breath of fresh air, so we became members and felt as if we finally had a church home. I saw a notice in the worship folder about the Former Adventist Fellowship and went once to see what it was all about, but I had no interest in joining them because I thought I was completely done with all that Adventist stuff.
Even though I was being bathed week after week in great Bible teaching, however, I began to see a bothersome difference between the other members of Trinity and myself. I just didn’t seem to fit in. I knew something was wrong, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. It came to a head one Sunday when I arrived just before second service and ran into a friend coming out of first service who told me with great enthusiasm that I was going to love the service this week because it’s “all about Jesus”. Not at all inspired by that news, I went in and sat through song after song about Jesus and then through a sermon about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
I didn’t understand why everyone seemed so jazzed. So He died for us; what good was that if He wouldn’t help me be a better person now? Even though I had everything going for me—a great business, the perfect wife, and I was living the American dream—I was a mess inside. I had no power, no confidence, absolutely no interest in “sharing my faith”, and that morning I felt surrounded by people who appeared to be fired up about Jesus, and I had no clue why. I left the service in a foul mood that wasn’t helped by my wife’s coming to me with some magazine to read that she had gotten in Elizabeth Inrig’s class that morning. I could see that it was some of that former Adventist stuff. Oh, goodie. But since my wife really is perfect, I took her advice and started thumbing through her Proclamation! magazine. I found myself skimming an article by Louis Talbot, chancellor of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, entitled “Why Adventism is NOT evangelical” (July/August/September, 2010). All of a sudden I found myself reading a quote I recognized as being from the Adventist prophet Ellen White’s book about the life of Christ, The Desire of Ages—my favorite of all her books. Let me share it with you and see if you notice anything fishy about it.
“Yet into the world where Satan claimed dominion God permitted His Son to come, a helpless babe, subject to the weakness of humanity. He permitted Him to meet life’s peril in common with every human soul, to fight the battle as every child of humanity must fight it, at the risk of failure and eternal loss” (Desire of Ages p. 48).
Next Professor Talbot quotes from an official Adventist publication, Signs of the Times:
“In Christ’s veins was the incubus of a tainted heredity, like a caged lion, ever seeking to break forth and destroy. Temptation attacked Him where by heredity He was weakest—attacked Him in unexpected times and ways, yet in spite of bad blood and inherited meanness, He conquered. Jesus took humanity with all its liabilities, with all its dreadful risks of yielding to temptation” (by L. A. Wilcox, editor, Signs of the Times, 1927).
As Talbot went on to point out the terrible heresy in these statements which claimed that the Eternal Son of the Eternal Father might have failed, I realized that I had been duped. During all those years in Adventist schools, I had been taught the most grievous of lies and false doctrines. I felt ill.
The beautiful thing about God’s truth, though, is the way it can uncover and remove lies. I began to study with the former Adventists and read some of the books they recommended—no, make that all the books they recommended. Error after error in my thinking about spiritual things began to be revealed, and a new strength and joy began to emerge. Now instead of thinking that I had to add to Christ’s work on the cross with my Sabbath keeping and diet as good Adventists do, I realized that I was buried and resurrected in Christ. Moreover, I am made complete and have no condemnation in Christ. I possess forgiveness, liberty, complete redemption, and have even been given a spiritual gift in Christ. The future looks so different to me; I’ve finally figured out that for the Christian, eternity has already started. Think about it, in heaven you won’t be worrying about what the future holds, because you know that God is in charge of heaven. I finally get it; He’s in charge of earth too!!! That’s some good news.
So why did I start this story by telling you I was an Adventist? Has all this been to bash them or malign them in some way?
No, my goal has been to clarify for you that the teachings to which your Adventist friends and coworkers are being subjected is non-Christian to its very core. You have a tremendous opportunity to share truth with them, because they are missing out on the joy of the real gospel. Finally learning the “real gospel” has made such a difference in my life, and I will be forever grateful to you, the Christians known as Trinity Evangelical Free Church, for giving the Former Adventist Fellowship a place to call home, so that they could help me find my true Savior, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. †
Hap shared this testimony at Trinity Church during the Sunday services on March 9, 2013. You can watch the video of his testimony here: http://youtu.be/CQQD45rBicE.
Copyright 2013 Life Assurance Ministries, Inc., Casa Grande, Arizona, USA. All rights reserved. Revised April 3, 2013. Contact email: proclamation@gmail.com
Julius (Hap) Botelho grew up in the northeast and attended Adventist schools through college. He came to California in 1981 for a two-week visit that extended a little longer than he expected: he still lives in Redlands, California. Retired from a career in the insurance industry, Julius and his wife Nancy enjoy spending time with their seven children and six grandchildren. Julius loves to ride his recumbent bicycle long distances and last year rode in the Death Valley Double Century event. He is currently listening to a Hebrews series by Andrew Farley on his mp3 player.
S P R I N G • 2 0 1 3
VOLUME 14, ISSUE 1
D E P A R T M E N T S
Stories of FAITH