Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists

Christ's return (Matt. 24: 29, 32, 33).
Paul too warned: "'After my departure, savage
wolves will come in among you, not sparing the
flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise
up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the
disciples after themselves'" (Acts 20:29, 30). These
"wolves" would lead the church to "the apostasy,"
or "falling away."
This apostasy must occur before Christ's return,
Paul said. It was such a certainty that the fact that it
had not yet taken place was a sure sign that Christ's
coming was not yet imminent. "Let no one deceive
you by any means," he said, "for that Day will not
come unless the falling away [apostasy] comes
first, and the man of sin [lawlessness] is revealed,
the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts
himself above all that is called God or that is
worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple
[church] of God, showing himself that He is God"
(2 Thess. 2:3, 4).
Even during Paul's time this apostasy was
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