Seventh Day Baptists: Not COG

Logos of the SDBs

COGwriter

The Seventh Day Baptists (SDBs) go to church on Saturday. But basically they hold Protestant doctrines, and primarily consider themselves as Baptists.

Although they claim a long history, in their claims they include early Sabbath keepers who do not hold their present doctrines like 4th century Semi-Arians in Armenia and 6th century Holy Day keepers in the British isles (Davis, Tamar. A General History of the Sabbatarian Churches. 1851; Reprinted 1995 by Commonwealth Publishing, Salt Lake City, pp. 20, 108). The SDBs are trinitarian (Stillman W. Miscellaneous Compositions in Poetry and Prose. F.H. Bacon, New-London 1852; pp. 3-4) and do not keep the biblical holy days. They also include earlier groups who accepted “church eras” (Davis, p. 31) as well as those who called themselves “Church of God” and not Seventh Day Baptist (Duggar, pp. 275-277).

The late COG historian Richard Nickels made several points about the SDBs and history:

Seventh Day Baptists cannot validly claim exclusive “ownership” of the history of Sabbatarians. SDB’s today do not agree doctrinally with their Sabbatarian ancestors! Actually, today’s faithful Church of God brethren are doctrinally closer to early English and American Sabbath-keepers than are today’s liberal SDB’s. Early American Sabbatarians rejected Trinity and immortal soul teaching, eschewed Christmas and Easter, promoted their faith much more than SDB’s do today, and traced their spiritual ancestry directly to English Lollards, Waldensians, and the first century Church … The oldest existing Seventh Day Baptist Church, the Mill Yard Church in London, England, began during the mid 1600’s. The Mill Yard Church has apparently always kept the “Lord’s Supper” on the fourteenth day of the first Hebrew month, but almost no American SDB churches have followed this practice. Today, SDB’s accept Christmas, the Trinity, and immortal soul teaching. (Nickels R. Six Papers on the History of the Church of God. Sharing & Giving, Neck City (MO), 1993, p. 83).

In the late 1700s, those now called Seventh Day Baptists adopted Protestant positions and also started calling themselves Sabbatarian Baptists. They began to use the title Reverend for their ministers (Randolph CF. A History of the Seventh Day Baptists in West Virginia, 1905. Reprint 2005. Heritage Books, Westminster (MD), p. 28), insist on the immortality of the soul (Dugger AN, Dodd CO. A History of True Religion, 3rd ed. Jerusalem, 1972. Church of God, 7th Day. 1990 reprint, p. 277; Randolf, p. 87), put steeples on their church buildings (Randolf pages 74a, 100a, 160a, 208a, 214a, 238a, and 242a of church buildings without steeples, but shows steeples on pages 104a, 106a, 246a, and 344a), and became separate from Church of God brethren that they claim to have been their ancestors (Stillman, pp. 3-4; Randolf, p. 87).

By 1808, many SDBs considered Protestants to be true Christian brothers (Randolph, pp. 138-140). Essentially, SDBs are Protestants, with their main difference that they go to church on Saturday.

Notice something written by H.E. Carver (who was then a leader in Church of God, Adventist) to the SDBs that was published in the February 8, 1872, Seventh Day Baptist Sabbath Recorder:

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Sabbath-keepers scattered over the land, from the Atlantic coast to the shores of the Pacific, who do not belong either to your church organization, or that of the Seventh-day Adventists. (As cited in Briggs, Lawson. What Became of the Church Jesus Built? Thesis for Ambassador College, April 1972, pp. 265,267)

The true Church of God was never part of the official organizations called the Seventh Day Baptists or Seventh-day Adventists (SDAs).

What about the modern SDBs?

Here is a 21st century report about the SDBs:

Are Christians wrong to worship on Sunday when the biblical Sabbath is Saturday? Rob Appel, executive director of the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference answers with a question of his own: “What day did Christ go to church? Saturday. OK, let’s be Christ like.”

… Saturday worship is not a definitive marker over which the church is willing to fight.

“It’s not a big thing,” said Appel … “We are Baptist,” Appel said. “We just have a different day of worship” … North American churches once called Sabbath Baptists organized as a Conference in 1802. Although “we’ve been around a long time … we’re small.” Appel attributes stunted growth in part to “our own fear.”

Early members were persecuted because of their Sabbath worship, which prompted “a tendency to keep to ourselves.”

“That mentality permeated from generation to generation,” he said. “We don’t feel that anymore …”…

Seventh Day Baptists leave women’s ordination up to the local church. The Conference has issued no statement on ordination, although it has accredited some female pastors …

The Sabbath theology takes second place, or third …

“We’re Baptists first,” Kersten said. “When I send kids off to college, I encourage them to keep the Sabbath and find a good Sunday Baptist Church.” He said there are “so many theological problems” in other Sabbatarian groups that “Baptist” is more important than Saturday worship. (Jameson N.  ‘Baptist’ comes first for Seventh Day Baptists. Associated Baptist Press, June 29, 2011. This article was commissioned by the North American Baptist Fellowship)

There is no historical evidence that early SDBs ordained any women, and there is evidence that they would take stronger stands on the Sabbath than they now do.

The “theological problems” that the SDBs have with groups like the Continuing Church of God seem to include the fact that we have retained historical Christian beliefs on matters such as the Godhead as well as other doctrines they do not hold.

The Continuing Church of God has the following related sermon on its ContinuingCOG channel:

1:20:28

Although Seventh Day Baptists (SDBs), Seventh-day Adventist (SDAs), and Messianic Jews keep some version of the seventh day Sabbath, are they Protestant or Church of God. What do they claim? What do they teach? What do SDAs and Messianic Jews teach about their history? Do SDBs cite groups who held Church of God (COG) and not SDB doctrines? Which group teaches the original biblical Christian faith? How do the SDAs, Messianics, and SDBs agree with Protestants on issues such as salvation, history, and the Godhead, which differ greatly from the Continuing Church of God (CCOG)? Are there really 613 laws of the Torah? Are the 613 mist What are 28 ways the SDBs differ from the CCOG? Are ‘Black Israelites’ right about Jesus being a black African? Was the Day of Atonement on October 22, 1844 according to Rabbinical or Karaite Jews? Did the SDAs or COG come out of the Millerite movement? Did Ellen White make false prophecies that she insisted came from God? If so, what were some of them? Did the SDA church send out literature it knew was clearly wrong? Was Ellen G. White’s sanctuary interpretation the “complete system of truth”? Did SDAs once teach crosses were pagan, but now include them in their official logo? Which of the 4 churches (SDB,SDA, Messianic, CCOG) doctrines have the most biblical and historical support? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more.

Here is a link to the sermon video: Seventh Day Baptists/Adventists/Messianics: Protestant or COG?

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

The Sardis Church Era was predominant circa 1600 A.D. to circa 1933 A.D. Discusses early history of the Seventh Day Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, and COG-7th Day.
Seventh Day Baptists are Protestant, not Church of God This article explains reasons why Baptists, include seventh day ones (SDBs) do not have the historical and doctrinal ties to the original church that many have claimed. Here are two related sermons in the English language: Seventh Day Baptists/Adventists/Messianics: Protestant or COG? and Protestant, Baptist, and CCOG History.
SDA/CCOG Differences: Two Horned Beast of Revelation and 666 The genuine Church of God is NOT part of the Seventh-day Adventists. This article explains two prophetic differences, the trinity, differences in approaching doctrine, including Ellen White. Did Ellen White make prophetic errors? Did Ellen White make false prophecies? Here is a version in the Spanish language: SDA/COG Diferencias: La bestia de dos cuernos de Apocalipsis y 666. Here is a sermon in the English language: CCOG and SDA differences and similarities.
Messianic Judaism Beliefs Differ from the Continuing Church of God Both groups keep the seventh-day Sabbath, but have important differences in doctrines and practices. Here is a link to a related sermon: Messianic Jewish Beliefs.
What is the Origin of the Cross as a ‘Christian’ Symbol? Was the cross used as a venerated symbol by the early Church? Two related YouTube videos would be Beware of the ‘Ecumenical Cross’, The Chrislam Cross and the Interfaith Movement, and Origin of the Cross.
Did Early Christians Think the Holy Spirit Was A Separate Person in a Trinity? Or did they have a different view? A related sermon is available: Truth about the Holy Spirit: What THEY do not want you to know!
Did the True Church Ever Teach a Trinity? Most act like this is so, but is it? Here is an old, by somewhat related, article in the Spanish language LA DOCTRINA DE LA TRINIDAD. A related sermon is available: Trinity: Fundamental to Christianity or Something Else? A brief video is also available: Three trinitarian scriptures?
Did the Archangel Michael become Jesus? The Jehovah’s Witnesses teach this, and SDA Ellen White did, but does the Bible allow for this?
Binitarianism: One God, Two Beings Before the Beginning This is a longer article than the Binitarian View article, and has a little more information on binitarianism, and less about unitarianism. A related sermon is also available: Binitarian view of the Godhead.
Which Laws were Superceded? Which Remain? What about the Ten Commandments? What about the 613 regulations (called 613 Mitzvot) in the Old Testament? Which were ‘done away’?
Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God differs from Protestantism How the real Church of God differs from mainstream/traditional Protestants, is perhaps the question I am asked most by those without a Church of God background. As far as some changes affecting Protestantism, watch the video Charismatic Kenneth Copeland and Anglican Tony Palmer: Protestants Beware! [Português: Esperança do salvação: Como a igreja do deus difere da maioria de protestantes]. Several related sermon are also available: Protestant, Baptist, and CCOG History; The First Protestant, God’s Command, Grace, & Character; The New Testament, Martin Luther, and the Canon; Eucharist, Passover, and Easter; Views of Jews, Lost Tribes, Warfare, & Baptism; Scripture vs. Tradition, Sabbath vs. Sunday; Church Services, Sunday, Heaven, and God’s Plan; and How Does the Church of God Differ from Protestantism?
Tradition and Scripture: From the Bible and Church Writings Are traditions on equal par with scripture? Many believe that is what Peter, John, and Paul taught. But did they? A related sermon is titled Tradition and Scripture.
Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism The CCOG is NOT Protestant. This free online book explains how the real Church of God differs from mainstream/traditional Protestants. Several sermons related to the free book are also available: Protestant, Baptist, and CCOG History; The First Protestant, God’s Command, Grace, & Character; The New Testament, Martin Luther, and the Canon; Eucharist, Passover, and Easter; Views of Jews, Lost Tribes, Warfare, & Baptism; Scripture vs. Tradition, Sabbath vs. Sunday; Church Services, Sunday, Heaven, and God’s Plan; Seventh Day Baptists/Adventists/Messianics: Protestant or COG?; Millennial Kingdom of God and God’s Plan of Salvation; Crosses, Trees, Tithes, and Unclean Meats; The Godhead and the Trinity; Fleeing or Rapture?; and Ecumenism, Rome, and CCOG Differences.



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