I would like to present some real-life examples which illustrate the parable I wrote a few weeks ago, Deceitful Duck Logic.
A very common practice in Adventism in order to gain converts is to rent a public facility for meetings and send invitations in m
ass mailings to the community. The colorful invitations include promises to explain Biblical topics relating to end times and other subjects people may have questions about. What they don’t include is any mention of who they are. Most who attend these meetings are already Christians attending other churches, as these are the people with the most interest in prophecy subjects.
I heard the following account from a person directly involved. Feel free to check out the facts of this if necessary. In July 2009 the Adventist “It Is Written” ministry rented the Performing Arts Theater in Lancaster, California for three weeks, at the cost of thousands of dollars a night. They sent out over 200,000 invitations to the community and named the series of meetings “Countdown to Eternity”. An ex-Mormon and other concerned Christians decided that someone needed to at least inform the attendees about the identity of their hosts and their key beliefs. After the meetings ended they passed out fliers to those leaving the building. They delivered more than 500 in the first couple of meetings and many expressed their gratitude for the information. Observers of the first meetings reported no one would have suspected they were not mainstream evangelical. They promised to help their audience “understand prophecy better”. No church affiliation had been indicated.
I have seen this method in action myself, on a smaller scale. When our own small local SDA church organized similar meetings at the local college, we were asked to lie in response to questions about the speaker – that our SDA pastor teaching the series “may be the pastor of a church in the area in a few months”. We did not agree to lie for him.
Recently another former SDA I know in Nevada received a brochure at her door. She immediately recognized it as having the Adventist flavor, but no name was listed. She called the number provided and this is what transpired:
I called the phone number on there. When the lady answered I told her I had this brochure. I asked what church was sponsoring it. She said, “No church.” I could not stand the lie, so I told her I was a former SDA and I recognized SDA doctrine when I saw it. She did a LOT of protesting and I kept on telling her she was not telling the truth. That is when she admitted she was SDA. I told her it was a lie to say she did not know what church sponsored this, and that they had given it to the wrong person. – Diana R. Lopez
A couple who are in the process of leaving the SDA denomination recently confronted the church’s practice of initially hiding their identity in evangelistic outreach activities. The following is a response to this issue, a direct quote from the associate pastor of the high-profile Pioneer Memorial Church on the campus of the Seventh-day Adventist Seminary, Andrews University.
The discussion of whether our evangelistic advertising should include the church name has been a live discussion in the church ever since I can remember. Many agree with you that
all of our evangelistic advertising should always include the Adventist name. Most of our evangelistic meetings are held in our own churches because it’s less expensive than renting public facilities, and in these cases the advertising does include the church name by necessity. The other argument is that surveys indicate that the average person on the street confuses us with Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc., and to include the Adventist name would not be communicating truthfully to such people. I won’t claim that there is never an attempt to deceive, but I think it’s safe to say that that is rare. Other motivations are involved. – Skip MacCarty
So we see the line of logic is “honesty requires us to not tell the truth.” Of course the REAL question is, “Why do people confuse you with the other two cults?” And another, “Why is it okay to lie in order to teach people they should keep the 4th Commandment?”
In spite of their fear of being associated with JW and LDS, Adventism has done an amazing job in the last few decades of presenting itself as a mainstream Christian church which simply meets on Saturday. I meet so few Christians who know what Adventists actually believe, or that they also have a prophet like the Mormons. Evangelical factions exist within the denomination who do not hold to the historic precepts which launched the church into existence. Yet the official stance from the organization remains unchanged in crucial areas that deviate from the tenets of orthodox Christianity. For an overview of these differences, an excellent Evangelical Resource is “The Truth About Adventist Truth” – by Dale Ratzlaff, former SDA pastor.
Truth does not need to hide or deceive. It is not afraid of being questioned or tested. This practice alone tells me there is something wrong with Adventist “truth.” I dearly love Adventist people. I know many believe their message is so important it justifies the means. But I also have a burden for unsuspecting prospects to not take the bait, but to be aware and discerning.
I have been given permission to share both the exit letters and church response which contain the above quotation. (links below) The church requested this couple always include its response with copies of their own letters. While this couple is under no obligation to do so, we are in agreement that the church response says much than their exit letters ever could have.
8thDay4Life 
I have noticed this … but thanks for putting it out there so clearly! Nice job exposing the darkness.
Oh, may people open their eyes and seek truth at all costs.
I am privileged to share what happened to me here in Nevada.
It is my privilege, also, to attend a large church with many ministers. I have been able to share with many of them, including the senior pastor, what adventists really believe.
I have also met the local Baptist pastor. His wife told me that when they were in seminary they studied all the abberant beliefs of adventism, i.e, the investigative judgement, EGW, and all the other cult like beliefs.
I am glad you can use my experience here.
This is quite an extensive statement that you have made, and I will do my best to give what clarification I can. First off, why should you (the reader) care a lick about what I say. While I have no authority of my own, I have worked for both “It is Written” and “Pioneer Memorial Church”. I held a leadership position in the latter for over 3 years, so my comments are not merely hear-say as are the majority of comments out there.
That being said, I would like to first touch on the 3 letters posted at the end of your article. While I see no connection at all of these letters to the content of the article, I would encourage the reader to realize one thing: you are reading these letters from an outside view. I had the privilege of knowing and working closely with Skip MacCarty and DK Nelson for a number of years. The Adventist’s truths are not something that are easily nor quickly explained. Both Skip and Dwight understood that they are speaking with two individuals with extensive knowledge of the SDA beliefs. That being known, there is no reason to beat around the bush with the issues presented. Skip specifically addresses each of the points given by both authors, and then goes to ask very pointed questions. If I could summarize all of his so called “scare tactics” as one you-tube user put, it would be this:
Are you absolutely certain that you are willing to abandon ALL the teachings of the Adventist church as you leave? Have you thought this out in totality?
This is not a method of scaring people back into the church. His response was as that of an Adventist speaking directly to Adventists asking if they are ready to abandon some very fundamental doctrines that most Adventist take for granted. Skip is wondering, “have you taken these teaching so for granted that you have forgotten about them in you church hunting and just assumed they will hold true across the myriad of churches out there?” It would be premature and ignorant of us to blame Skip’s comments as mere scare-tactics.
Regarding the article of Evangelism. The topic of broadcasting ourselves as SDA even before we share our teachings with people has been a hot topic among the church for years. But let me share with you (reader) one thought …
I have a beautiful collection of poetry and songs that can uplift your soul, inspire you, and also help you to live your life to it’s true purpose. Sounds interesting doesn’t it. In fact, some people may even want to hear more about this. Now, what if I told you that these writings are contained in a book called the Qur’ān and I am a fundamental Muslim. This new information changes your perception of me only because of one thing: Prejudice.
If we as Adventist go around with banners proclaiming who we are BEFORE we are even able to say what we think, people who could benefit from these teachings may simply avoid them because of a false prejudice to the word “Adventist”. Now I am in no way saying that we should hide our identity, but in order to share any new idea, it is ALWAYS wise not to allow prejudices to influence the judgment of those ideas (one method I find works nicely is to ALWAYS provide identification either during or after you share teachings with someone else). If you are completely lost, I recommend reading the book “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austin, and I mean READ, not watch the video. The lessons in that book teach that our preconceived ideas about anything or anyone can cause us to miss life altering opportunities and truths and for no better reason than our stubbornness. If romantic classics are not your thing, take a hint from the US Constitution. Our justice system is specifically built blind so that prejudices cannot influence the outcome of law.
In closing, I would encourage each and every reader to actually put some brain power into what they read/hear. Dont simply let it flow past you. Ask yourself, what is this person trying to say? What does it mean to me? Does it contain internal consistency? To many of us simply let the world think for us – in reading this article and the tree attached letters I humbly and earnestly urge each person to think for themselves instead of letting the author think for them.
**Please do not ask me to comment on D. Lopez comment. I will not tolerate hear-say, nor comment on it.
Hi Evan,
Welcome, and thank you for sharing your perspective! Unlike SDA blogs which repeatedly refuse to post my polite questions or comments, I do welcome open discussion. As far as the letters go, I didn’t offer any opinions at all. I report – you decide. 🙂 I have mine – and you have yours, and that is great. We do all reach our conclusions from a bias of some sort or other. No one is free from that. I understand how you arrived at yours, as I would have said the same thing at one time. I also understand the desire to speak out and defend that position.
It’s my belief that people deserve to know what they are being presented with. It’s not even remotely in my being to be able to trick people into hearing “the truth”. It goes completely against my sense of all that is right in the world in the eyes of God. Who in the world believes they need to protect people from their own prejudices by deceiving them? That is an interesting concept. I wonder, would you condone Mormon activity with this method? It’s interesting even though their theology is even more drastically divergent from evangelical Christianity than Adventism, they don’t seem to feel a need to hide, and continue to use the same methods. Everyone knows who the guys with white shirts on bicycles are. I really wonder why SDA’s feel they need to “blend in” in order to gain converts. It’s not admirable or honorable to me, but like I say… that’s my opinion. I know not all do it, but this is very common.
However I find your Muslim analogy a bit amusing. Your example only proves where a “prejudice” is actually helpful. It’s called discernment.
Thanks again for you input!
8thday
In reply to myself. (yes.. talking to myself) I realized this morning.. I have an answer to my own question about who believes they need to avoid people’s prejudices by not revealing their identity…. SALES people. I have been involved in two sales organizations which practiced this very same thing. We would try to get people to let us in their house to show them “the plan” and we knew if we told them the name of the company, they would immediately say no. But we knew our business would only HELP them, so we were taught many ways to avoid telling them what we were going to present to them. In the end, the plan only helped those at the top and we ended up thousands of dollars in debt. The other sales job I had was cold-calling, door to door. We needed to find a way for people to let us in their homes with a product that cost $1500-$2000, and we needed them to make a decision by the end of our presentation. In order to get our foot in the door, we went into neighborhoods taking “surveys” and asking people if they wanted to put their names in for a drawing for free groceries. That gave us our database of names to call on the phone where we then promised them some other gift if they would just let us come present our product.
I participated in both of these tactics, and always felt like a sneak and a liar, but at the time I just wanted to make some money, so I justified it. When these methods are used in spiritual matters, it’s even less honorable. It says your truth isn’t strong enough to stand on its own and must hide in order to get its foot in the door. Why are people prejudice against these things, both salesmen and divergent religious groups? With good reason!! Who is it in scripture that uses a disguise? Not the truth. And there is plenty of evidence for those who are given all the information that Adventism is most definitely not the truth it claims to be. But there will always be those who are not able to discern. I once was and by the grace of God hope never again to be. My aim is to to urge people to “test the spirits” and truly – not take anyone’s word for anything (mine included) but to search out the Word of God for themselves in prayer.
I find myself in agreement with you to a point. The procedure for many Adventist seminars is to present ideas/teachings without any obvious ties to a church. The theory is that the Biblical truths being presented should be able to stand on their own, not on the foundation of a (or any) church. Should people then decide to find a church dependent on these teachings, they may then be pointed to the Adventist church. I personally believe that any Biblical truth is strong enough to stand alone, and anyone who asks what is behind the teachings should receive a straight and honest answer that they were presented by a church (SDA) who lives dependently on these truths.
It all goes back to the idea of sola scriptura. We, as a church, do not want to present a church to people. Instead, we would rather present the Bible and the amazing truths held within. I do not feel as if this method is “hiding our identity”, but instead giving an opportunity for the Bible to speak for itself and allow for listeners to choose a church according to the truths presented, not merely by name association.
It all goes back to allowing a person to think for themselves. In the case of a the aforementioned seminars, people must decide first if they agree with or disagree with the teachings before being presented with a church. The foundation must be the Biblical truths, not a church.
On a second note, I must apologize for any person denying or deceiving people about church affiliation. That is not a part of are standard procedure and most certainly does not follow the Biblical teachings that the church founded itself on.
isn’t this interesting… I too have been in sales for many years and find those tactics “sneaky”, what is interesting to me is that some people would cast aside any truth based on a prejudice. Everything I believe I can show from the bible using the inductive method of bible study allowing the bible to interpret itself… Period.
I would be interested to know how you define the “inductive method”. I personally did not learn this in 9 years of Adventist school, or later during study with Bible workers.. proving out the doctrines. We were taught proof-texting – something very different than inductive study. Nor was there ever any expository teaching – through entire books of the Bible so we could really see things in context. It was only when I (and many others) ventured out to study through the Bible, not just with the Bible, that we began to see a very different picture emerge than the one we had been told was there. Satan used proof-texting when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness. I hear pastors in many churches (of any kind) get up and preach on a topic and insert verses from all over the place that contextually do not fit what they are saying, but standing alone -they seem to. You can teach ANYTHING you want pretty much and make it SOUND Biblical with this method. This to me is the difference between Bible-based teaching (your idea made to look Biblical) or Bible-led teaching – letting the Word say what it says – an honest hermeneutic. This is rare to find anywhere these days.
8thDay, Amen! You are spot on,
“. . .the difference between Bible-based teaching (your idea made to look Biblical) or Bible-led teaching – letting the Word say what it says – an honest hermeneutic.”
When I left Adventism and became a Christian in 2009 after 4 generations of SDAism, I realized a difference in preaching and presenting the Scriptures. I attend Stonebriar Community Church (non-Denominational) here the love of Christ is alive and present AND God’s Word is preached using the Expository and Exegetical method.
This requires the preachers to “communicate the biblical concepts in the Scripture, derived from and transmitted through a historical, grammatical, literary study of a passage in its context” and then provide a “Critical explanation or analysis, especially of a text.
If the Scriptures are handled in this way it prevents the “monkeying” around of the clear meaning of Scripture; it is very unlike the proof-texting used in Adventism. It is studying the Scriptures with correct hermeneutics. It is very difficult to hoodwink your members when they are catechized in this manner.
I’d tell anyone who has been brought to the point of leaving Adventism by the Holy Spirit to “Get thee to a Bible Based Church” that handles Scripture in this manner.
As human beings, we all have a certain group to which each of us belongs. however as christians, we have the aim of whom we want to serve. therefore, if we all want to serve the true living GOD, why should identity be a concern? The SDA church has the responsibility and the mission of presenting biblical truths to those who need it. to ensure that at the end of the day it is not the church that is seen, but the LORD JESUS CHRIST.
having sad that, the church will continue to present the scriptures, of which they enable us to see and know the LORD spiritually.
If identity did not matter, then the SDA group would not be so intent on hiding theirs, often through outright lying and deception. If identity didn’t matter, they would not work so hard to IDENTIFY Catholicism as the whore of Babylon, and Protestants as her harlot daughters. If identity didn’t matter, Jesus would not have warned us about wolves in sheep’s clothing. He wanted his flock to be able to discern clearly the identity of false teachers, no matter how they were attempting to disguise their identity as “normal” harmless teachers. I like the sound of your theory, but coming from Adventism, I see it as a hypocritical double standard. The truth has no need to lie and hide, or appear to be something it’s not. Jesus said He is the light and to walk in the light. Light overcomes the darkness. It does not seek to hide in it.