Discovering the New Covenant by Greg Taylor - exAdventist Outreach

CONCLUSION
spiritual life and salvation were I to leave what I am now
and join any other community. 1
Further, toward the conclusion of the article, Jan
Paulsen, President of the General Conference of Seventh-day
Adventists, says regarding historic Adventism,
Some would have us believe that there have been
significant shifts in recent times in regard to doctrines
that historically have been at the heart of Adventism.
Take specifically our understanding of the judgment and
Christ’s ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, and the
prophetic messages in which these teachings are
contained…. nothing could be further from the truth.
The historic sanctuary message, based on the scripture
and supported by the writings of Ellen White, continues
to be held unequivocally. 2
What does he mean by the sanctuary message? He
means the idea of an investigative judgment of believers
before Christ comes that determines salvation. This
sanctuary doctrine in Adventism first led them to predict that
Jesus would come in 1844, and then when He did not come,
to say that the Old Covenant style Day of Atonement began
in heaven on that date. It was out of this teaching that the
Sabbath emphasis came. By causing Adventists to focus on
the Old Covenant sanctuary, they became fascinated with the
Ten Commandments, and eventually the seventh-day
Sabbath. This is the very core of the problem in Adventism.
The Adventist emphasis on the Old Covenant has caused
them to insist on Sabbath observance and food laws that the
New Covenant clearly warns Christians not to do. Has
Adventism changed? Is it becoming part of the Christian
1 Jan Paulsen, Adventist Review, October 2002, p 34.
2 Ibid, p. 37
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