Discovering the New Covenant by Greg Taylor - exAdventist Outreach

DISCOVERING THE NEW COVENANT
our mouths shut, teach the things we hold in common with
other Christians, and just go along with the denomination—but
at what cost? If the Gospel was important enough
for the early church council to face the criticism of the
Jewish believers, then it must be important for us today.”
What about the billboards I mentioned in the
introduction equating Sunday worship with the Mark of the
Beast? Are these a true reflection of what the Adventist
Church teaches or are they just the extreme views of a few
radicals in the far right wing of the church? Actually before
we left Adventism we heard denominational leaders express
their concerns over these signs and the occasional full page
advertisements in newspapers. They are not happy with those
who have taken it upon themselves to put these out in the
public eye. The concerns, however, are not because they do
not believe these things to be true. They have issue with the
timing. They would prefer to have this come out after seven
or eight nights in a Revelation Seminar or a Prophecy
Crusade when people have had a chance to hear some more
general Bible teaching and have let their defenses down. The
billboards do represent Adventist teaching. It is the timing
that concerns the church leaders.
Are there evangelical Adventists who do not believe
they are the one true church? Are there people in Adventism
who observe Sabbath only as a spiritual discipline and not as
a moral command? Yes, there are. But this is not the official
stance of the church. In the October, 2002 North American
Division edition of the Adventist Review, General
Conference President Jan Paulsen wrote these words.
We shun the perception of being arrogant, and we don’t
want to come across as being overly exclusive, but at the
same time we believe that being Seventh-day Adventists
has direct bearing on our salvation; that while a believer
can be saved as a Catholic, I would risk my whole
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