Hi Jeff,
My husband and I went to visit a SDA Reform Church this past Sabbath upon invitation from one of the members. We knew nothing about that church, so we went with open mind and a willing heart to learn what we could. We brought their version of the Review home to read some of the articles and find nothing out of sync with the SOP, but several things out of sync with our typical SDA church.
It seems that they hold fast to the original teachings of the pioneers and practice what they believe more so than in our church, just from what we saw on that brief encounter. Do you know much about this sector of our church and do you have any cautions as to what they may believe that would be of a concern? It’s disheartening to see how much compromise is in our churches today and we are just wondering how to deal with it. Do you have any counsel on this matter? N.
Response
Sister N,
The Reformed members I have met are generally very dedicated to reform and that is quite refreshing. They have several fundamental flaws in their reasoning. They believe in closed communion, though Ellen White disagrees. They make health reform a test of fellowship, though SOP disagrees. Their prophetic understanding is greatly flawed, as they take the passages that deal with the shaking at the Sunday law and the purification of the church at the Sunday law, and place them in the history of 1917, when they separated from the Adventist church. They teach and believe that they are the fourth angel, though the SOP teaches that when the fourth angel arrives it will be rapid, paralleling the midnight cry which lasted about two months, not almost one hundred years. They teach, (though covertly) that the SDA church is Babylon, and the SOP disagrees. They do uphold the reform aspects of Adventism much better than Adventism, but these are some of the problems with that offshoot. I purposely use the word offshoot, though not meaning to be derogatory towards them. In spite of the their zeal for some aspects of reform, their message is incorrect. Jeff.
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