My Encounter with a Christian Advent Church

One time as mentioned in a previous post, while I still believed HWA, I went visiting some churches in my area. I was completely convinced that HWA spoke the truth, so I was not afraid of having my faith challenged. Indeed I would not have my beliefs changed while there.

But one day I went into a church which I did not know. After the service I looked at some of their writings, and I was most surprised to find that they believed in soul sleep and the mortal soul.

This was a Christian Advent Church. Similar to the COGs it is descended from the Millerite movement of the 1830s-1840s. Many of them later formed the Seventh Day Adventist Church. The COGs sprang from an offshoot of the that church. Others accepted some of the distinctive Adventist doctrines, yet continued to observe Sunday. It was from such people that this Christian Advent Church emerged from. The Jehovah's Witnesses also derive from a non-Sabbatarian branch of the Adventist movement. Hence all these churches' similarities.

At the time this did not change my beliefs at all. But it did surprise me that these people should share such doctrinal commonalities. I do recall reading of a nineteenth century minister who taught soul sleep being cited in LCG's "Church History" booklet, but it was still quite a shock to me to see doctrines that I thought were so distinctive being taught by this church I had never heard of.

I did not then realize that HWA simply stole practically all his doctrines from other sources, one of which was the Adventist movement.