HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2013 / FALL / FAITH STORY EUNICE SELLERS
My journey out of Adventism began in the mid 1980’s in Loma Linda, a few years after my Adventist marriage ended in divorce. To be sure, over the years I had experienced little “red flags” about Adventism that bothered me, but from my childhood to adulthood I had tucked these little red flags away for another day. They had never seemed serious enough to cause me to consider leaving.
I was a first generation Adventist. When I was born my parents were Christians and members of the United Brethren Church in central Pennsylvania. Then one fateful Sunday after church, Dad listened to the Voice Of Prophecy radio program and sent for the Bible Correspondence Course for the whole family including my four older siblings. (I was only two years old.) Within weeks the whole family embraced the Sabbath and were all baptized into the Adventist church.
This sudden conversion to Adventism was upsetting to my Christian grandparents and to my aunts and uncles. Nevertheless, convinced about the “truth” of the Sabbath, my parents stood firm. In those early days, however, Dad did not know much about Ellen G. White (EGW), so I grew up in a loving Adventist home without some of the rigid restrictions that come with deeper indoctrination into EGW’s writings. Moreover, I had the Christian influence of my grandparents, aunts, and uncles.
Early red flags
The influence of my Christian extended family, in fact, contributed to my early cognitive dissonance. One of the first red flags that caught my attention was the doctrine of the state of the dead. Through the years when I attended Christian funerals I heard that the deceased person’s spirit went to be with the Lord immediately. Spirit? What was the living spirit? Did people not sleep in the ground as the Adventists taught in their doctrine of soul sleep?
My second red flag was my understanding that Adventists were the only ones going to heaven because they were God’s remnant people. The people who worshiped on Sunday, I learned, would be unsaved because they were of the “world” and “wicked”, refusing to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. I learned this distinctive doctrine in the Adventist elementary school I attended.
What do you think a young child who loved her grandparents thought about this horrifying belief?
The “true” prophet
In grade school, I heard all the usual stories about Ellen Harmon. I learned that when she was nine years old, she was struck in the head by a rock and was in a coma for three weeks. We were told, “Wasn’t it wonderful that although Ellen was in poor health, she was chosen to be God’s special messenger?” In another story, I learned how, at the age of 17, she held a big family Bible weighing more than 18 pounds on her outstretched arm for 20 to 30 minutes.
To me as a young child in grade school, these stories were impressive. I found out much later, however, that there are questions about the accuracy of the reports of Ellen White ever holding a heavy Bible or doing many of the things she allegedly did.
Later, as an adult, I visited the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah. The tour was very interesting, and I heard the story about their prophet Joseph Smith. I thought to myself at the time, “Wow! How was I so lucky as to be a member of the true church with the true prophet?”
But—wait—how did we know for sure that Ellen White was the true prophet?
In the early 1970’s I experienced another discouraging encounter with the prophet. As a young mother I was trying so hard to be a good mom. The Loma Linda University Church offered a class using the book Child Guidance by EGW as a textbook for helping moms learn to raise their children properly. I signed up.
You guessed it: the class was a huge disappointment and made me feel unworthy to be a mother. It offered no love or hope, and most of it was completely negative. I do not remember the Bible being used at all in that class, only EGW.
Three more red flags
Living in the Adventist “ghetto” of Loma Linda, the home of the Adventist health sciences university and the heart of the “health message”, one heard the current gossip about what was happening in the church, especially since many of the significant issues were discussed in our area. Three more red flags emerged that I tucked away into the back of my mind.
These three red flags were the discovery that EGW had borrowed most of her health reform ideas, the research reported by Desmond Ford showing the investigative judgment doctrine was unscriptural, and new questions about the Sabbath doctrine.
In 1986, I started a new job at the Faculty Medical Offices (FMO) in Loma Linda. My marriage had ended, and I was trying to get my bearings as a divorcee in a town where everyone had known me as the wife of a local professional man. Most of the doctors at the FMO were Adventist; however, most of the employees were not. This situation of working with non-Adventists was a new, positive experience for me.
One young Christian girl befriended me, and we formed a bond which I treasure to this day. She made a huge, positive impression on me and was always happy to discuss any biblical questions I had. Also, about this time, I became reacquainted with Edgar, a Christian man whom I had known when I was a girl and he was a young boy in my hometown in central Pennsylvania. We started writing back and forth, and his love for the Lord was very obvious.
Finally, answers
Meeting these two people at this time in my life when I needed biblical answers was the Lord’s perfect timing. Jeremiah 29:11-13 says, “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give hope to the future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.’”
In the very first letter Edgar wrote to me, he quoted this verse, “I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Ps. 121:1). These words were just what I needed to hear! I had struggled for years and realized I couldn’t help myself, but I needed Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
After corresponding for three years and visiting back and forth several times, we fell in love and decided to get married. Suddenly my life changed again. I had a new husband—one who was not embedded in the Adventist professional culture, and I moved from California back to my home state, Pennsylvania. I had stopped attending the Adventist church and was not attending any other. Edgar, however, knew I had decided to leave the church of my childhood. He understood that I needed time to study God’s word to discover what I really believed, not just what my parents or a church had told me to believe. It’s a blessing that I love to read, because I spent the decade of the 1990’s reading more than I ever had before. My husband introduced me to Christian authors and their books—what a blessing! Eternal Security by Arthur W. Pink and Grace Awakening by Charles Swindoll were especially wonderful for me. For the first time I understood grace is a free gift. I did not have to work for my salvation. Jesus did everything necessary through His blood on the cross. What a blessing to know for sure I was saved!
The Adventist veil fully lifted for me in 1992 while I studied the covenants with the guidance of my faithful, patient husband. As I looked up passages, he encouraged me to read whole chapters so I would understand the correct context of the verses. He was a smart man. Slowly but surely the word of God was beginning to knock down the false doctrines of Adventism for me. I read page after page discovering more truth that answered the questions raised by my red flags, questions I had ignored because I had known of no way to answer them. It was so refreshing to study the Bible without the Adventist veil distorting my understanding of God’s word. Truly, God meets our deepest needs when we trust in Him.
Finally ready
Later in the 1990’s I was visiting the Damascus Road Adventist church in Damascus, Maryland, and the pastor, Richard Fredricks, told me about Dale Ratzlaff and Life Assurance Ministries. I called Dale; he was very gracious and suggested I read two of his books, Sabbath in Crisis (now called Sabbath in Christ) and The Cultic Doctrine of Seventh-day Adventists. I agreed, and he mailed them to me. These books were a huge help to me in understanding what the Adventists believe and what the Bible really teaches.
The LAM Publications website was a gold mine of information. Three more books I ordered from that website helped me resolve some of the earlier red flags that had begun to disturb me in the 1980’s when I was in Loma Linda: Prophetess of Health by Ronald Numbers, The White Lie by Walter Rae, and Desmond Ford’s book about the investigative judgment.
Finally, I told my husband I was ready to find a Sunday church to attend. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! He was jubilant.
Finding a church took some time. We visited different churches each week until we went to a Calvary Bible Church. This was the one! The pastor was preaching on end time prophecies—just what I needed to hear. I was like a sponge soaking up all these wonderful Christian teachings from the Bible. There I first heard a teaching on the rapture, a new concept for me. Calvary Bible became our home church; the people were friendly, and we liked the service and the pastor’s teachings. It was a perfect match.
In 2002 I requested that my name be added to the Proclamation! magazine mailing list. What a gold mine of information to help transitioning Adventists! Of course, it was through this publication that I first met Colleen and Richard Tinker. Little did I know these two precious people would become so important to me in my future.
Unfortunately, in 2006, my husband, who taught me so much, went to be with his Lord and Savior. While the months following his death were very sad for me, I was comforted in knowing that someday I would see him again and be with the Lord, too.
The Lord still had a lot to teach me. I moved back to California a year later to be near my daughter and two grandchildren. This move back to Redlands, California, was perfect—except that I left two sons and four grandchildren behind in the East. When I arrived, however, I already knew I wanted to go to Trinity Church because I had visited there several times when I had come to visit my daughter.
I have been so blessed at Trinity. Over the next six years I soaked up Pastor Gary Inrig’s weekly expository preaching from God’s holy word, and I dived into the inductive Bible studies written and taught by his wife, Elizabeth, for the women of Trinity. I have met wonderful Christian ladies in my women’s Bible study small groups, and I have learned so much from all these dear people. I praise the Lord for Richard and Colleen Tinker and their leadership of the Former Adventist Fellowship (FAF). The Friday night Bible Studies and the Sunday lunches are special times with people of all ages who have become my family in Christ, giving me lots of love and support. I truly treasure this family as well as my Trinity family.
Truth that defines my life
I like Jesus’s announcement of who He is: I AM (Jn. 8:58). That says it all.
Another Scripture passage I hold dear is, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).
This gift can never be earned by doing good works. It is free to us, but it was costly to God, who gave His beloved Son. Jesus has already paid the penalty for our sins!
If there is anyone reading who has not received this free gift of eternal life, I encourage you to ask Him for it right now. He will gladly give it to you.
It’s very simple: believe, receive (Acts 16:31). Do it! †
Copyright 2013 Life Assurance Ministries, Inc., Casa Grande, Arizona, USA. All rights reserved. Revised October 1, 2013. Contact email: proclamation@gmail.com
F A L L • 2 0 1 3
VOLUME 14, ISSUE 3
Eunice Sellers left Adventism in the mid 1980’s while living in Loma Linda. Although she did not attend any church for a few years, she loved the Lord and was praying He would guide her in seeking the truth in His written word. In 1989 she married a Christian man and moved to Pennsylvania. The Adventist veil lifted for her in 1992 when she was studying the covenants, the investigative judgement and end-time prophecies. Six years ago she moved back to Redlands, California, to be near her daughter and two grandchildren. She also has two sons and four grandchildren who still live in the East. Today Eunice is a member of Trinity Church and holds onto these verses: “For I know the plans I have for you” (Jer. 29:11), and “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom.5:8).
Edgar and Eunice pose on their Pennsylvania farm in the late 1980’s.
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