Doug Batchelor Refuted Point by Point / Master's Seminary Video Calling SDA Church A Cult

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Hello, in this video I'm going to be refuting Doug Batchelor point by point. Doug is the host of the

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TV program, Amazing Facts, and he is also an apologist for the Seventh -day Adventist Church.

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Here he is reviewing a video posted by John MacArthur's Master's Seminary. So in a sense,

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I'm going to be reviewing Doug's review, since, as is brought out by this professor from Master's Seminary, the

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Seventh -day Adventist Church has traditionally been seen by Protestants and Evangelicals as a cult.

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Doug is trying to help them shed that label. So if you are watching this, you've probably already seen my other video titled,

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Kingdom of the Cults, which has drawn a lot of attention from Seventh -day Adventists. So my intention in this video is not to put anyone down.

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Doug handles this in a calm manner, so I'm going to try to be respectful as well. But I do care about Biblical truth.

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So let's jump right into it. Watch. Hi friends, Pastor Doug Batchelor here.

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You know, periodically, someone will email me and they'll draw my attention to a

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YouTube where people are saying something negative and critical about Seventh -day

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Adventists. And there's a lot of misinformation out there on the internet. You realize anybody can say anything.

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And some people watch these programs and they're easily persuaded. But you know,

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I thought it would be maybe helpful if I took one of these. And I went through, point by point, some of the criticisms that people have, where they're saying that Seventh -day

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Adventists are a cult, or you need to watch out for Seventh -day Adventists. I appreciate this one that was produced by the

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Master's Seminary. We're going to play it for you. I'm going to pause it along the way. I like it because they basically broke the criticisms down into three easy -to -understand points.

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And so, just be with me now. Let me just tell you, I am a Seventh -day Adventist Christian. I have not always been.

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I used to go to church on Sunday, and I attended other denominations. When I continued to read the

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Bible and I learned the Bible truth, I became a Seventh -day Adventist. Nobody in my family was a

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Seventh -day Adventist. I realized that it might make me unpopular in some circles, but I wanted to go by the

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Scriptures. So, with that little introduction, I'd like to get into this video. I'll just play segments of it.

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I'll stop it along the way, and I'll do my best to be fair and let them make their points. Hi, I'm Jamie Jackson with the

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Master's Seminary, and joining me right now is Dr. Nate Buznitz. Dr. Buznitz, thanks so much for joining me.

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Absolutely. I want to talk about Seventh -day Adventism. How should we as believers view that denomination?

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Well, even the word denomination is one that raises questions in the minds of some evangelicals.

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Should Seventh -day Adventism be considered a denomination? Okay, I've got to pause right there, because they're saying…

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Now, first of all, this is Dr. Nathan Buznitz, and he is a teacher at the Master's Seminary in Los Angeles, California.

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We've never met. He seems like a nice enough gentleman. I'd be happy to talk to him, be happy to debate him on some of these issues publicly if he was interested.

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But he said that Seventh -day Adventists should not even be considered a denomination. Well, I think that that was maybe a little over the top, because the word denomination simply means it's the way of naming or classifying things.

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All denominations need a name to identify them, to register, to show they're separate, to put a name on the building.

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To say Seventh -day Adventists cannot be a denomination is like saying that the $1 bill is telling the $5 bill you cannot be a denomination.

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Well, they're both denominations. They're named. They're classified. And so, yes, we can be classified. Okay, so this argument about denominations.

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Here's the thing. Doug knows very well that by calling the Seventh -day Adventists a denomination, implied in that is that they're just another

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Protestant evangelical denomination. They're pretty much just like anyone else. That's what's implied when you call them a denomination.

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That's why we're reluctant to do it. So, no, we don't believe they're a denomination.

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We believe that the Seventh -day Adventists are a cult. So, he knows what's being implied here.

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He tries to sidestep it. Historically, it's been regarded as a cult, though there are some in more recent decades who want to have more of an open attitude towards Adventists.

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I'm talking about an evangelical perspective. So, the question is one that has been raised. All right, so they're basically saying that there's disagreement among evangelicals about whether or not

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Seventh -day Adventists should be classified as a cult. A number of years ago, Donald Barnhouse and Walter Martin wrote a book.

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They worked together on a book. I think Martin principally wrote the book called Kingdom of the Cults, and the conclusion of that book was

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Seventh -day Adventists are not to be categorized as a cult. All right, well, yeah,

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Walter Martin, right? Walter Martin, what he said was interesting but not authoritative.

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The fact is Walter Martin is not the final authority. Whether he came to that conclusion or not, evangelicals historically have viewed the

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SDA church as a cult. Historically, the

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Adventist movement actually started in the early 19th century in the 1800s. There was a man named

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William Miller. William Miller believed through his study of Scripture that he had figured out when

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Jesus was going to come back. He said Jesus was going to return sometime between March 21st, 1843 and March 21st, 1844.

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The Lord Jesus did not return, and so he adjusted his date and said, no, it's going to be October 22nd, 1844.

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His followers were known as the Millerites, and when Jesus didn't come back on that date, they experienced what they called the

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Great Disappointment. And obviously, Miller's calculations, his predictions did not come true.

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What he's saying is correct right now. William Miller, who was a

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Baptist preacher, he did do some incredible prophetic

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Bible study. He came to the date of 1844 when he studied the prophecies in Daniel chapter 8, and it said the sanctuary would be cleansed.

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He thought that meant that the earth was the sanctuary to be cleansed by fire, even though there's really nothing in the Bible that says that the earth was to be considered the sanctuary.

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Seventh -day Adventists were not organized as a denomination until 1863. So I just want everyone to have a picture of the span that took place between the

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Great Disappointment in 1844 and the organization of the Seventh -day Adventists as a denomination in about 1863.

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All right, so the 1844 date by William Miller. Either way, however you try to spin it, that false date, that false prophecy, that is what spawned the

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Seventh -day Adventist church. The fact that they didn't officially organize until almost two decades later, that's irrelevant.

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L. N. G. White was busy long before their official organization. And it was

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William Miller that gave her, I mean, this is where it came from, the 1844 date that L.

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N. G. White taught about, it came from William Miller. So really the whole Seventh -day Adventist movement, at the very least, is loosely based on this false date for the return of Christ.

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Most people realized that his calculations had been wrong. But there was a small group who said, wait a second, maybe his calculations aren't wrong.

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Maybe it's just the event he associated with his calculations that is wrong. The early

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Seventh -day Adventists came up with the doctrine of what they call Christ's heavenly work of atonement.

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What they say is that on October 22, 1844, Jesus went from the holy place in the heavenly sanctuary into the

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Holy of Holies to continue a second work of atonement in heaven, something they call a work of investigative judgment.

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It's not Seventh -day Adventists that manufactured the teaching that Christ is still ministering in the heavenly temple.

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And yes, we do believe that the work of heavenly ministry of Jesus is still going on.

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This is a Bible teaching. I should let him continue with what he's saying here and give people the whole picture.

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So Doug, notice how he started to make the argument that the 1844 investigative judgment was biblical, but then he didn't follow through.

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Why? Because you really can't make the case that it's biblical. It's not biblical. So that's how the whole movement got started.

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And a young woman named Ellen Harmon, later married Ellen G. White is her married name.

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She began to receive visions. Through these visions that she received, supposedly, she gave really the basis to the

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Seventh -day Adventist movement. So let's talk about the Sabbath because obviously they meet on Saturday, but they have a wrong view of what the

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Sabbath is, biblically speaking. Well, yeah, I would say that there's really three big problems with Seventh -day

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Adventist doctrine. Three major reasons why evangelicals should be very concerned and why they shouldn't just embrace

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Adventism as a denomination. It's not a denomination. It's something that really is outside of evangelical, biblical

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Christianity. Three reasons why. Number one would be that they do have, in spite of some of the statements that they make about salvation being by grace, they really do have a legalistic understanding of the gospel.

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And that's seen in their insistence that Christians observe the Sabbath and that Christians observe certain dietary laws out of Leviticus 11 and so on.

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All right. Are we legalists? Why is he saying we're legalists?

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Because he says we insist that people keep the Sabbath. Is it Seventh -day Adventists that create the

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Ten Commandments or is God commanding? Are these the Ten Recommendations? If Seventh -day Adventists were telling people they should turn from their sins, stop killing, stop lying, stop committing adultery, are you then categorized as a legalist for doing that?

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So, the Seventh -day Adventists, are they legalists? Well, yes, they are legalists.

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Why? Because they try to put people back under the law. You see, under the

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New Covenant, the Apostle Paul says, we are not under the law, we are under grace.

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We did not write the Ten Commandments. This is a Bible teaching that we are to encourage people to turn from sin.

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We just believe that you need to put the Sabbath truth in the same category as the other Ten Commandments.

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It's right in the middle of the Ten Commandments. It begins with the word remember. And so, do you become a cult because you believe in all

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Ten Commandments instead of just nine? Alright, so the Seventh -day Adventist Church is not a cult because they insist on keeping the

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Sabbath, although that is a major problem. They are a cult because they follow, not so much the

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Bible, they follow more what Ellen G. White says about the Bible. Many Seventh -day

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Adventists will openly admit they think her writings were inspired. She had the spirit of prophecy.

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Now, the real issue with the Sabbath is that the Seventh -day Adventists, they claim that you must worship on Saturday because those who worship on Sunday, they say

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Sunday worship is or at least it will be the mark of the beast. So, if you go to church on Sunday, that's just evidence that you're not a true

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Christian. See, back in the 1800s, the Seventh -day Adventists, they believed they were the true church, they were the true

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Christians, and all these Protestants and Evangelicals were just a bunch of sun worshipers.

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I've had Seventh -day Adventists tell me that, and of course, that's ridiculous. The idea that Sunday worship is the mark of the beast, that is fiction.

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That is made up by the false prophetess Ellen White. And then he goes on to say that, well, we're legalists.

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We believe in righteousness by faith, that we're saved by grace. If you look, for instance, in Baptismal Vow number three,

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I accept the death of Jesus Christ on Calvary as the atoning sacrifice for my sins and believe that through faith in his shed blood,

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I am saved from sin and its penalty. So, this is our official teaching. Alright, so this is double talk.

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If they believed that salvation was by faith alone, Jesus would not have to investigate how you're living and how well you're keeping the commandments.

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Christ already knows who has faith in him. Number one, the Bible teaches the doctrine of election, and there's different understandings of the doctrine of election, but Ephesians 1 is very clear that God chose the elect from the foundation of the world, so God doesn't have to, or Jesus doesn't have to investigate how well you're keeping the commandments.

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It's the Spirit of God who regenerated the redeemed in the first place, so God already knows who is saved and who is not.

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So, bottom line, this 1844 investigative judgment doctrine, not only is it made up, the 1844 date is made up, it's based on a false prophecy, as I've already said, but really, the investigative judgment, what it really boils down to, it's a works -based salvation.

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The salvation comes through the works of the law. I've had many Seventh -day Adventists tell me that I'm not saved because I don't observe the

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Sabbath. That's just another way of saying you're not saved because you're not keeping the law.

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Well, does salvation come through the law or by faith alone in Christ? You see, you can't have it both ways.

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By the way, you'll notice that Dr. Buzneth, in his comments, he never opens up any book, he never quotes from any document, he sits in front of a sign of Master's Seminary, and he basically shoots from the hip.

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So, this is kind of a cheap shot, since Doug preaches with a

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Bible in his hand, but he never actually opens it and reads it. He keeps it open. If you notice, in his preaching, he has it open to the first page where he keeps his notes, which, whatever, that's not really a big deal, but he's sort of taking a cheap shot at this guy, so I just wanted to point that out.

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Our official teachings make it very clear, we do believe in salvation by faith, but we also believe that Jesus said people need to turn from their sins.

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Christ began teaching, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. John the Baptist, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

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The apostles, repent and be baptized. Repent of your sins. What is sin? Transgression of God's law.

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So, if you're still part of a church that's teaching the Ten Commandments, you're a legalist. Okay, not so.

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That's very misleading. The part of repentance that saves is not that you've stopped doing this sin, you've stopped practicing this sin.

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That's not what saves a person. What saves a person is the part of repentance where they turn to Christ.

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Yes, you turn from sin, but it's turning to Christ that saves. Nobody is saved because they have stopped sinning.

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In fact, 1 John, the apostle says, if you say that you have no sin, you deceive yourself.

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So, there's not a single person in the world who has stopped sinning. Besides, Paul taught in Galatians 2 .21,

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if salvation came through the law, then Christ died in vain. But this is what Doug Batchelor in the

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Seventh -day Adventist will try to do about the Ten Commandments. Well, you need to keep the commandments. Well, should we obey the commandments, generally speaking?

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Yeah, but nobody is saved by keeping the commandments. So, you just kind of have to be careful. This is what the cults do.

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They will say something that's in the Bible, or they will use biblical language, but they sort of redefine it and put a different spin on it.

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The apostle Paul addresses those issues in Colossians 2 .16 and 17, makes it very clear that as Christians, as those who are no longer bound by the old covenant because we are under the new covenant in Christ, that we're not bound to observe the

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Sabbath or observe dietary laws. The rest of the New Testament really underscores the fact that believers met on the first day of the week, the day of Christ's resurrection.

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Okay. Well, he mentioned Colossians 2 .13. Let's read that and find out what

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Paul is saying here. Okay, and then the final point, because this video goes on and on.

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This is the final point that I'm going to focus on. Doug gets into the teachings about the

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Sabbath, and he says that Christians did not meet on the first day of the week.

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That's not in the Bible anywhere. Then he sort of admits that, okay, well, it does say they did assemble on the first day, but they assembled on other days, too.

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Listen, the apostles and the early Christians, for 2 ,000 years Christians have been meeting on Sunday, or as the

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Bible puts it, the first day of the week. You find that in Acts 20 .7, 1

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Corinthians 16 .2. The first day of the week is not the Sabbath. It's the

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Lord's Day. The apostle John mentions this in Revelation 1, verse 10. We worship on the first day of the week in honor of Christ rising from the dead and appearing to his disciples as they were gathered together on the first day of the week.

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There is no command in the New Testament for Gentiles to keep the

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Jewish Sabbath. It's just not there. They assembled on Sunday, and 2 ,000 years later

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Christians still assemble on Sunday. So this idea that Gentile Christians in the 19th, 20th, 21st century have to observe the

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Old Testament Sabbath day, it's a strange doctrine, bottom line. And on top of that, nobody kept the

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Sabbath until it was given by God to Moses at Mount Sinai. So it was specifically for Israel under the

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Old Covenant. But we're not under the Old Covenant. We're under the New Covenant. And for 2 ,000 years

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Christians have worshipped on the first day of the week in honor of Christ rising from the dead.

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My name is Pastor Michael Grant from Moores Corner Church. Until next time, may the Lord be with you. Have a great day.