Grace Upon Grace Productions

A documentary made by ex-Seventh-Day-Adventist Protestant evangelicals about the history and teachings of Seventh-Day Adventism and its prophetess Ellen G. White. The video has value as a good overview of some of the sectarian and cultish distinctions of Seventh-Day Adventism. Despite the melodrama and Protestant patter in the video, it nevertheless communicates to Orthodox Christians a basic understanding of many of the heterodox views of Seventh-Day Adventists, placing these views in contrast with the Scriptures, with the New Covenant in Christ, and consequently with the doctrines of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

As Orthodox Christians looking at the teachings of anti-Orthodox, Protestant Seventh-Day Adventism, we would benefit from pondering the following statements of Saint John of Damascus which draw a sharp distinction between the Old Covenant, under the Torah, and the New Covenant, under the Law of Love commanded by the Incarnate God who demonstrated His love on the Cross:

“I worship my Lord and King clothed in the flesh, not as if His Flesh were a garment or as if It constituted a fourth person of the Trinity—God forbid. That Flesh is Divine, and continues to endure after Its Ascension. Human nature was not diminished by His Divinity, but just as the Word became Flesh while remaining the Word, so flesh became the Word while remaining Flesh, becoming one with the Word through union with His Person. Therefore I can dare to draw an icon of the Invisible God, not as Invisible, but as having become Visible for our sake through Flesh and Blood. I do not draw an icon of the Immortal Deity. Rather I paint the Visible Flesh of God.”
—Saint John of Damascus, On the Holy Images 1.

“It is not matter which I adore; it is the Lord of matter, becoming matter for my sake, taking up His abode in matter and working out my salvation through matter. For ‘the Word became Flesh, and dwelt among us.’ It is evident to all that flesh is matter, and that it is created. I reverence and honour matter, and worship Him Who brought about my salvation. I honour it, not as God, but as a channel of divine strength and grace. Is not the thrice-blessed Wood of the Cross matter? and the Sacred and Holy Mountain of Golgotha? Is not the Holy Sepulchre matter—the Life-Giving Stone the source of our Resurrection? Is not the Book of the Gospels matter, and the Holy Table which gives us the Bread of Life? Are not gold and silver matter, of which crosses, and holy pictures, and chalices are made? And above all, is not the Lord's Body and Blood composed of matter? Either reject the honor and veneration of all these things, or conform to the Tradition of the Church, sanctifying the veneration of icons in the name of God and of God's friends, and thus obeying the Grace of the Divine Spirit. If you reject icons on account of the Torah, you should also keep the Sabbath and be circumcised, for these are severely inculcated by it. You should observe the entire Torah, and not celebrate the Lord's Passover outside of Jerusalem. But you must know that if you observe the Torah, Christ will profit you nothing.”
—Saint John of Damascus, On the Holy Images 2.

Since Seventh-Day Adventists tend to view themselves as Jews, the true Jews, the viewer of this video ought also to read this library's Review of the video "Feasts of the Bible." That Review will help orient the Orthodox Christian in relation to Judaism and in some ways, by extension, to Seventh-Day Adventism.… (meer)