Our Distinctive Sign

The banner of the third angel has inscribed upon it, “The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Our institutions have taken a name which sets forth the character of our faith, and of this name we are never to be ashamed. I have been shown that this name means much, and in adopting it we have followed the light given us from heaven.... The Sabbath is God’s memorial of His creative work, and it is a sign that is to be kept before the world.

There is to be no compromise with those who are worshiping an idol sabbath. We are not to spend our time in controversy with those who know the truth, and upon whom the light of truth has been shining, when they turn away their ear from the truth to turn to fables. I was told that men will employ every policy to make less prominent the difference between the faith of Seventh-day Adventists and those who observe the first day of the week. In this controversy the whole world will be engaged, and the time is short. This is no time to haul down our colors.

A company was presented before me under the name of Seventh-day Adventists, who were advising that the banner or sign which makes us a distinctive people should not be held out so strikingly; for they claimed it was not the best policy in securing success to our institutions. This distinctive banner is to be borne through the world to the close of probation. In describing the remnant people of God, John says, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12). This is the law and the gospel. The world and the churches are uniting in harmony in transgressing the law of God, in tearing away God’s memorial, and in exalting a sabbath that bears the signature of the man of sin. But the Sabbath of the Lord thy God is to be a sign to show the difference between the obedient and the disobedient. I saw some reaching out their hands to remove the banner, and to obscure its significance....

When the people accept and exalt a spurious sabbath, and turn souls away from obedience and loyalty to God, they will reach the point that was reached by the people in the days of Christ.... Shall anyone then choose to hide his banner, to relax his devotion? Shall the people whom God has honored and blessed and prospered, refuse to bear testimony in behalf of God’s memorial at the very time when such a testimony should be borne? Shall not the commandments of God be more highly esteemed when men pour contempt upon the law of God?—Manuscript 15, 1896.

Selected Messages Book 2, pp.384,385.

Are Adventists Denying the Spirit of Prophecy Without Knowing It? | Marko Kolic

The Trail to Women’s Ordination in the NPUC Started in Oregon

Naomi Pepper 

September 3, 2026

The historic vote on women’s ordination at the 2026 North Pacific Union Conference (NPUC) constituency session was driven by Adventists in Oregon. The motion was voted onto the agenda after delegates successfully navigated complex internal union bylaws to secure a direct vote. The efforts of these delegates resulted in a major victory for women in ministry and longtime advocates of ordination equality across the region.

Kessia Reyne Bennett, lead pastor of the Pleasant Valley Adventist Church in Oregon and a delegate at large, offered support that was characteristic of the careful way in which the Oregon Conference constituents presented the proposal. Noting that the move was not oppositional toward either the General Conference (GC) or “the establishment,” Bennett said, “I appreciate the motion for recognizing the authority of of the unions to administer ministerial credentials,” and added that the motion was careful not to compel conferences to put forward candidates who would not align with the conference’s “convictions or the qualifications of the candidate.” Kessia Reyne Bennett praised the motion for recognizing unions’ authority to approve ordinations. Video NPUC

But it wasn’t only Oregonians who spoke out in favor of ordination. José Haroldo Alomia, pastor of the Kirkland Adventist Church in the Washington Conference, said in support of the motion, “As a Hispanic man growing up in Latin America, I used to be of the opinion that women could not be ordained, nor lead in the church as I could.” He added that in over two decades of ministry, he changed his position because “Scripture doesn’t explicitly prohibit it,” and because his ministry “has been blessed and amplified by all the women that have worked with me,” including his current associate.José Haroldo Alomia noted that the Mid-America Union had already implemented the same measure proposed by the NPUC with no adverse effects to the Adventist Church or its mission. Video: NPUC

During more than an hour of discussion on the motion, of the 26 delegates who commented on the motion, seventeen spoke in favor, six in opposition, and three raised questions or declined to state a position. Nine of the seventeen delegates who voiced support are Oregon Conference pastors; one is an administrator in the conference.

The road to getting the motion to the floor was far from simple. Organizers had to navigate significant administrative hurdles to ensure the union leadership heard what a majority—62 percent—of delegates wanted for the women working in their churches.

The question of women’s ordination remains one of the most debated issues within the Adventist Church. Notably, the issue was brought to delegates at the 2015 GC Session in San Antonio, Texas. Out of 2,358 voters representing the world church, that motion fell just 203 votes short of allowing each world division to decide whether to permit the ordaining of women within their territory. There has not been a GC vote about whether unions can decide.

Increasingly, Adventists have pushed back against this stance, advocating more flexibility for unions and conferences to do what they believe is best for their congregations and pastors in their local contexts. With their awareness of how biblical values need to be communicated to increasingly diverse communities, they note how inviting people to join a church that officially discriminates on the basis of gender impedes Adventist mission. Walla Walla, Washington resident Jack Hoehn, author of Adventist Tomorrow: Fresh Ideas While Waiting for Jesus, stated in an interview, “‘Not now’ to female pastors is just another way of men saying ‘no!’”

In 2012, well before the 2015 GC vote, the Pacific Union and the Columbia Union successfully voted bylaw amendments approving “ordination to the gospel ministry without regard to gender” in their respective territories.

In 2021, the Mid-America Union followed, stating in their motion that it,“recognizes the right and responsibility of each local conference to prepare and recommend names for ordination, and will consider all recommended persons for ordination as submitted by the respective local conference executive committees.”

This was the exact language that members of the Oregon Conference executive committee used when submitting their proposed motion for the constituency session agenda. Though this does not compel conferences within the union to take any particular action, it gives each conference the flexibility to follow its own convictions on employment gender equality.

National Reform is Church and State (with text) | A. T. Jones

 National Reform is Church and State (with text) | A. T. Jones

EllenWhiteAudio - English

Sep 25, 2026  Pamphlets – A. T. Jones Audiobooks

National Reform is Church and State, by A. T. Jones, answers those who insisted that the National Reform movement did not seek a union of church and state. Using the movement's own statements — that there is no Christian religion apart from the Christian church, and that this religion should become the fundamental law of the nation — Jones shows that its program is, by definition, a union of church and state. This edition shows the full text on screen, so you can read along as you listen.

📖 Listen to more pamphlets by A. T. Jones:

   • Pamphlets – A. T. Jones Audiobooks  

Are Adventists Rejecting Genesis? The Mark of the Beast, Sabbath & Male Headship

 

Reject Ecumenism

September 9, 2026 

Michael Cookenmaster




Jesus is coming soon, and the attacks on the Church are on the increase. The Christian faith stands or falls upon the authority of the Word of God. “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth” (John 17:17). Faithful Christians should therefore never treat the Bible as merely another ancient document to be reconstructed according to changing theories of scholars. We are dealing with the foundation of faith, doctrine, worship, and salvation.

This is why the rise of higher criticism and the modern critical-text movement deserves serious scrutiny. In particular, Christians should examine the textual theories associated with Brooke Foss Westcott and Fenton John Anthony Hort, whose 1881 Greek New Testament helped establish a radically different approach to the textual basis underlying all modern English translations.

The concern is not simply that newer translations use different English wording. The deeper issue is the Greek text upon which they are based and the assumptions used to reconstruct it. Westcott and Hort rejected the traditional dominance of the Received Text and elevated a comparatively small group of manuscripts, particularly Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, while developing theories of textual criticism that profoundly influenced subsequent generations.

This raises an important spiritual question: What influences shaped the manuscripts, textual traditions, and interpretive assumptions that have increasingly displaced the traditional Received Text?

Some conservative Christian scholars have raised concerns about similarities between certain readings in the Alexandrian textual tradition and theological tendencies associated with Gnosticism. Gnosticism radically distorts biblical teaching concerning Christ, His incarnation, His humanity, His divinity, and salvation. Christians should therefore be cautious whenever disputed readings diminish, qualify, or omit passages that have historically testified to foundational doctrines concerning the deity, incarnation, blood, and saving work of Jesus Christ.

There is another concern that deserves attention. Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus, two manuscripts that have exercised enormous influence upon modern textual criticism, disagree with one another in more than 3,000 places in the Gospels. The extent of their differences should cause Christians to consider carefully why these manuscripts have been given such extraordinary weight in reconstructing the New Testament text.

There is also a prophetic concern. Many modern translations contain readings in Revelation that differ from the traditional wording in ways that can affect how readers understand the prophetic identification of religious powers. The Protestant Reformers and Seventh-day Adventists have historically understood the beast power of Revelation 13 and related passages as pointing to the papacy and its opposition to God's law and truth. When modern translations weaken, alter, footnote, or omit wording traditionally used in studying these prophecies, Adventists should take notice.

Seventh-day Adventists Answer Questions on Doctrine

Seventh-day Adventists Answer Questions on Doctrine

In anticipation of the most carefully scrutinized book we have published.

Seventh-day Adventists Answer Questions on Doctrine

June 1957

We are happy to announce that the new book Questions on Doctrine is about ready for release. Several references to this forth­coming publication have already appeared in THE MINISTRY. Of all the books we have ever published, none has had more careful scrutiny than this one. It is a group project, and not the work of one author, and it came into being to meet a definite need.

Some two years ago a group of sincere Chris­tian scholars visited our headquarters to make inquiry about certain phases of our belief. That initial interview was but the beginning of some fifteen subsequent interviews. These were not just for a few hours, but sometimes as much as a whole week was occupied in the close examina­tion of the Word of God. Our beliefs were being subjected to the most careful and exegetical study.

Up until that time these men, like thousands of other sincere Christians, looked upon Sev­enth-day Adventists as a "cult" holding beliefs that were at striking variance with the funda­mentals of historic Christianity. They came ex­pecting to find heretics, but were surprised when they discovered that we rang true on all the great cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith.

This editor's office in the General Conference building proved a hallowed spot where some six earnest men, sometimes more, sat around the table searching the precious Word of God. This editorial room is more than an office, for it is lined with books comprising the major part of the Ministerial Association library. Many of the theological sources for such investigation are here.

This experience seemed to us to be one ful­fillment of a statement made by the messenger of the Lord many years ago:

Women’s Ordination: By Whose Authority? | Marko Kolic

 

Women’s Ordination: By Whose Authority? | Marko Kolic

Profit From Prophets

Sep 3, 2026 

Women’s ordination—by whose authority can the church ordain women to gospel ministry? Marko Kolic examines the women’s ordination debate, General Conference votes, and biblical qualifications for church leadership, asking whether Scripture or human decisions have the final say.

Mayor in Lusaka Zambia Wants to Copy Uganda's Cleaning Day on Sabbath

August 26, 2026 NewsHound



A new storm is brewing for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Zambia as the newly elected Lusaka Mayor has called for the introduction of a mandatory Saturday cleaning day, urging the church to follow Uganda's model despite the recent resolution that allowed Adventists there to observe the Sabbath on Saturdays.

The mayor's proposal comes as a shock to church leaders, who are still watching the situation in Uganda unfold. In Uganda, Adventist members have been forced to start Sabbath School in their homes and only gather for main worship at 10:00 AM due to the government's National Cleaning Day being held on the last Saturday of every month.

In Uganda, the Seventh-day Adventist Church formally objected to the government's mandatory National Cleaning Days, citing that the programme, as communicated, interfered with the observance of the Seventh-day Sabbath. According to Scripture, the Sabbath is God's holy day, observed from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday, and is a time for worship, fellowship, and rest from ordinary labour.

After negotiations, the Ugandan government granted an exemption, allowing Adventists to participate in the cleaning exercise on Sundays instead. President Yoweri Museveni directed that SDA faithful undertake their cleaning activities on the last Sunday of every month in recognition of their Sabbath observance.

The proposal from the Lusaka Mayor has raised concerns among Adventist leaders in Zambia, who fear a repeat of the Ugandan conflict. The Church is now waiting to see how the two unions in Zambia will respond to what is seen as a direct threat to religious liberty.

In Zambia, the Adventist Church is a significant presence, with over 1.3 million members in more than 3,200 congregations. The Church has actively engaged in community clean-up efforts in the past, including a major city-wide cleaning exercise in Lusaka in 2024, but such initiatives have always been conducted without compromising the sanctity of the Sabbath.

The Church's position is clear: while Adventists support initiatives that promote a clean and healthy environment, they remain committed to the sanctity of the Seventh-day Sabbath as ordained by God.

Commentary

Uganda introduced mandatory National Cleaning Days on the last Saturday of every month (from 8AM to 11AM) to address public health crises caused by poor sanitation and waste management. It has been observed that 75% of the country's disease burden (such as malaria, typhoid, and diarrhea) stems from poor hygiene, endemic litter, and poor sanitation.

Hakainde Hichilema, the president of Zambia is a baptized member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It will be interesting to see how he responds to this proposed cleaning mandate in Lusaka.

****

“Those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed” (1 Samuel 2:30).

Source

Adventists and Catholics: The Great Compromise - Nick Ionashku

Seventh-day Church of Revelation

Apr 29, 2021  Sermons

Adventists and Catholics explores the Biblical record of the son of perdition, the reasoning of the son of perdition, the historic fulfillment of the prophetic son of perdition and the ecumenical history of Adventists and Catholics. This is a history the Great Compromise in the Seventh-day Adventist church.                                    

Image Sources

Goodsalt

Shutterstock

wikipedia.org

Ellen White’s 1863 Vision That Changed Adventist History Forever

Beyond the Pages

 Aug 22, 2026  

🌿 What happened in June 1863 changed Adventist health history forever.

During a small gathering in Michigan, Ellen G. White received a vision that emphasized the connection between physical health, the mind, daily habits, temperance, and spiritual life. What seemed simple — nutrition, rest, exercise, water, fresh air, and self-control — would influence generations and help shape the Adventist medical missionary work. 🥗💧🌤️

In this video, you will discover the story of the 1863 Health Reform Vision, understand why it became so important to early Adventists, and see how its principles still raise powerful questions today:

✨ How are we caring for the life God has given us?

😴 Are we respecting our need for proper rest?

🥦 Are our habits strengthening or weakening our bodies?

🧠 How are physical health and mental clarity connected?

🙏 What do temperance and self-control have to do with the Christian life?

More than a list of rules, Ellen White’s health reform message points toward a life of balance, responsibility, temperance, and service to God and others.

📖 A story about practical faith, daily choices, and small decisions that can transform an entire life.

The Good—Not Great—Commission of Women Pastors

Andrew Francis|August 13, 2026

As much of the US spent the evening of Saturday, July 4 outside, celebrating the nation’s independence with barbecues and fireworks, I too was outdoors, though I was not thinking about America’s 250th birthday. Instead, I was at the hot and humid Camp Victory Lake in Hyde Park, New York, for the Northeastern Conference’s second week of camp meeting, which included its annual ordination service. What occurred during that special service helped illustrate the denominational progress Adventism has made, while also highlighting what has been described as its “hypocritical” nature.

Four ordinands stood on stage alongside top conference administrators and General Conference (GC) Vice President Pierre Omeler, who gave the program’s homily. All four ordinands had been serving as pastors and leading churches in the Northeastern Conference for at least four years. All four were vetted by a conference ordination committee to determine their “spiritual stability,” “social maturity,” and other character qualifications. All four went through the same ceremonial procedures during the July 4th ordination program. Yet, only three pastors were ordained.

What Even is the Difference?

Petrice Wideman holds her certificate after being commissioned as a pastor at the Northeastern Conference camp meeting. Photo courtesy of Petrice Wideman

The fourth pastor was Petrice Wideman, lead pastor of the Stuyvesant Heights Church, one of the few women pastors in the conference. She is also Omeler’s daughter. Despite being listed as an “ordinand” in the camp meeting bulletin, Wideman was granted the distinction of being commissioned by the conference, an alternative to ordination that is used almost exclusively for women pastors. While both require nearly identical qualifications and expectations of the candidates, ordination is superior to being commissioned, as it grants the pastor the ability to plant churches and hold administrative positions. Many maintain that different distinctions are just a tool to limit a woman’s pastoral capacities.

“It’s a semantic thing where one word is used for women, but one word is used for men,” Wideman explained. “But the thing is, words are very impactful. So on the one hand, it’s not much of a difference, but then on the other hand, the small distinction is everything, where for many people it will always justify the subordination or devaluing of women leaders.”

The Atlantic Union, which the Northeastern Conference is a part of, currently permits the hiring and commissioning of female pastors. A few other North American Division (NAD) unions permit women’s ordination, in direct opposition to the GC’s mandate based on a vote during the 2015 GC Session to not allow women’s ordination. This distinction, however, seems to be lost on many church members, as seen during Wideman’s commissioning.

Who is the real Adventist?

The Mystery of God

Chapter three

What in the World

Aug 08, 2026

“Be zealous therefore and repent” (Rev. 3:19).

Introduction

In the Book of Revelation we have seven Churches. Most Bible scholars agree that these churches represent God’s Church as it progresses historically through time. The historical periods are generally divided thus:

1. Ephesus – the Early Church;

2. Smyrna – the church persecuted by the Roman Empire;

3. Pergamos – the precursor to the Roman Catholic Church;

4. Thyatira – the Roman Catholic Church;

5. Sardis – The Protestant Churches;

6 Philadelphia – Between Sardis and Laodicea

7. Laodicea – the Last Church

The first three churches no longer physically exist on earth; they have either ceased to exist or the people have been absorbed into other institutional entities. But the fourth church, the Roman Catholic Church, exists now and will continue to exist until the end of Time. The same applies to the fifth church – the Protestant Churches, they exist now and they will continue to exist until the end of time. And the Last Church, because it is the last church, exists now and continues until the end of Time. This means that the sixth church, Philadelphia exists along side three other Churches that exist now and continue until the end of time. Which means that the Philadelphians exist contemporaneously with the last four churches. So, can we identify the Philadelphian Church? And can we identify Laodicea?

The Philadelphian Church

There are several churches that claim the title Philadelphia – but the first to claim the honour were the pioneers of the Advent Movement.


All Advent believers know perfectly well that the Philadelphia Church, the church of brotherly love, was made up of those who came out of Sardis or the nominal church, in 1844, under the cry, ‘Babylon is fallen, is fallen.’ Milton Wilcox, The Seven Churches and the Seven Seals, (Pacific Press, 1904). p. 9.

Milton Wilcox was addressing Adventists in the year 1904, he wrote “All Adventists know perfectly well that the Philadelphia CHuch was made up of those who left Sardis and joined the Advent Movement by the year 1844.However that is not the case today -most Adventists believe they are the Laodicean Church. But all those who lived the years prior to 1844, agreed with Milton Wilcox, not only that they were the Philadelphia Church, but that they were fulfilling the prophecy of the Philadelphia Church:


…the Philadelphia Church is the true church of the last days… James White, Review and Herald, May 9, 1854.

In mercy He reached forth his hand and enabled the Advent people in 1844 to break the cords of sectarianism that bound them, that they, (the Philadelphia Church) might be disciplined and guided into the kingdom by the order and pure doctrines of the gospel. James white, RH Dec. 6, 1853. (Brackets are those of James White).


The true church are to be found with those that… entered into the Philadelphia Church in the fall of 1844 and became a church at that time… Joseph Bates, RH Aug 19, 1851.


While standing in that waiting position (spring 1844), the light of the second angels message flashed upon us; and a voice came like a mighty rushing wind, “Come out of her my people.” No one knew who raised the cry first; but as we heard from our brethren north, south, east and west, all had the same experience, and immediately left their respective churches. Yes, and we all left our creeds, or what had been before our differences. Right there we formed the Philadelphian state of the church – a church of brotherly love. George Washington Morse. RH March 7, 1899.

How One Book Changed Seventh-day Adventist History

 

PASTORS ARE DRESSING LIKE TEENAGERS — AND ADVENTIST PULPITS ARE GROWING WEAKER

 

Why SDA Present Truth Is Under Attack | Pastors Marko Kolic & Al Fletcher Respond

 

National Cleaning Day: SDA Church Seeks Alternative Participation Date

UBC Television Uganda

UBC is an Uganda public broadcast service. Wikipedia 

2,070 views  Jul 26, 2026

The Deputy Secretary General of the NRM, Rose Namayanja, has called on Seventh-day Adventists to remain committed to environmental cleanliness while faithfully observing the Sabbath. 

She says government and church leaders are consulting to agree on an alternative day for SDA members to participate in the National Cleaning Exercise.

...

P.S.

Namayanja Rose Nsereko (born 18 August 1975) is a Ugandan lawyer, columnist, author, security sector manager and politician. She is the current Deputy Secretary General of Uganda's ruling party.[1]

Namayanja is a former National Treasurer of Uganda's ruling party, The National Resistance Movement (NRM). She is also the former Minister of Information and National Guidance in the Cabinet of Uganda, a position she held from 23 May 2013,[2] until 1 March 2015.[3] Prior to that, she served as Minister of State for Luwero Triangle in the Prime Minister's office, from 27 May 2011 until 24 May 2013. She replaced Thembo Nyombi, who was appointed State Minister for Information Technology.[4] Namayanja also served as the elected Member of Parliament for Nakaseke District Women Representative from 2006 to 2016.[5] She was a founder member of the Uganda Young Democrats (UYD), the youth wing of Uganda's Democratic Party (DP) that was known for its radicalism in the mid-1990s.[6][7]

Source: Wikipedia

"The World Against God’s People" — Maranatha, July 28

 

SABBATH WORSHIP UNDER THREAT IN UGANDA? The Full Story

 

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Community Cleaning Exercise vs. SDA Worship: Government Addresses Church Concerns

"God’s People Brought to the Test" — Maranatha, July 20.