Am I an Adventist?

Here are three questions in degree of importance: (1) Am I a Christian? (2) Am I a Protestant? (3) Am I an Adventist? It is possible to be an Adventist, without being a Christian. It is not possible to be a an Adventist without first being a Protestant. It is best to be an Christian first, then a Protestant and then an Adventist. Biblical History teaches us that the correct sequence of importance in a believer's life is to be a Christian first, Protestant second, and Adventist third. That said, how well do you measure up with key doctrines and beliefs that the Seventh-day Adventist Church has had since 1863? Take the simple test. How many of these beliefs do you hold dear and follow?

1. That Christ's second coming is imminent and will be literal, not metaphorical, seen by all the world
2. That the seventh day, Saturday, not Sunday, is God's Sabbath and the obligation to keep it is perpetual
3. That God does not eternally torment sinners, but rather that the dead "sleep" until the second coming and last judgment
4. That Christ ministers in the heavenly sanctuary, thereby mediating to us the benefits of His death on the cross, saving us by His righteousness, not our own deeds
5. That in the last days Christians will be tempted by apostasy, but will be called back to divine truth — the "third angel's message" of Revelation 14 — by a small "remnant" of faithful believers
6. That the remnant would be marked by a recurrence of the prophetic ministry

How did you score? Did you score 6/6, 5/6, 1/6 or 0/6? As a Christian, Protestant, and Adventist for the last 18 years, I have met people who struggle or have completely rejected some of the biblical and foundational beliefs of Adventism. Jehovah's Witnesses who reject the literal second coming of Christ, instead stating that He came spiritually to San Diego in 1914 or so. Countless Christians who reject the biblical sabbath as Saturday, and instead observe Sunday as the Lord's Day. Ministers and pastors who at funerals teach that the dead aren't really dead, but are in glory and Heaven already while the saints on earth mourn and weep. Desmond Ford, a good Christian and bible scholar, who taught in late 70s and early 80s that there is no Heavenly sanctuary, no significance to 1844, and that there is no investigative judgment at all leading a wave of countless church members out of the church in confusion and disbelief. Walter Rea who published "the White Lie" to discredit Ellen G. White as a inspired writer and prophetic voice charging Ellen White of plagiarism, only to have his accusations responded too in a rebuttal book called "The White Truth".  People like Dale Ratzlaf, Dirk Anderson, Christian Silva, Hugo Gambetta and others who have rejected the Adventist Church as the remnant church of Bible prophecy, and as a result have separated themselves from the Seventh-day Adventist movement to form or establish their own church. Each of the six historic and foundational beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which was  organized officially in may 1863, has been, is being, and will be attacked until Jesus returns. If personally, you don't believe and accept any of these six core beliefs of Adventism, why don't you? If you accept most or all of these six beliefs, why do you? Why be Adventist? Is it because you were born an Adventist or became one before you could become Pentecostal, Baptist, Catholic, etc.? You like the Adventist lifestyle on health, dress, etc.? Why be an Adventist at all?

For me, the answer is simple. "While there is no perfect church, the only church that stands in the light of Bible prophecy, and is preaching the message that the book of Revelation says the remnant church of Bible prophecy will be preaching is the Seventh-day Adventist Church. I wish more churches were preaching the three angel's messages. So, as a Christian and Protestant, I am an Adventist by conviction more than by conversion or by birth."

As the Seventh-day Adventist Church gets ready to celebrate on May 18, the 150th anniversary of it's organization and mission as a world-church, may you restudy, recommit, and rededicate yourself to being a Christian, Protestant, and Adventist. God bless you!