Excommunicated!

Today – October 14, marks the 8^th year anniversary of this writer’s fall from the roster of the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church.

The Mountain View College Alumni Church unanimously voted his demise from their ranks based on the SDA Church Manual, which stated this:

Their decision and action on this fateful day based on their second bible proved a few things:

1. They believe that they have been “conferred the power to act in Christ’s stead.” In other words they believe that they are the Vicar of Jesus (A vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). This is akin to the Catholic Church’s claim for the Pope.

2. The church manual states that their decision “will be ratified in heaven.” This means that the collective action of a group of people who after following the guidelines of a church can determine who will be saved or not.

3. They believe that their authority to bar persons from heaven is based on the verse in Matthew 16:19 (“And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”)

The reader will be spared the details of this particular case. It will suffice to know that the root cause for the church’s action was based on this writer’s straightforward interpretation of this particular bible verse: “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.” Colossians 2:16.

For the information of the reader, this church believes and teaches that eating or touching of the foods deemed “abominable” in the ancient Israelites’ covenant at Mt. Sinai is also binding for the present-day Christian, so is the Sabbath observance.  They also teach that the ‘breaking’ of these old covenant laws will exclude one from heaven.

The SDA church can never accept this verse at face value, because in doing so it would shatter the very foundations of its establishment. They would rather make a 180-degree turn against the truth in this verse and judge one member with regards to food, drink and the Sabbath day.