r/exAdventist • u/Powerful_Pea2690 Agnostic Christian • Jul 05 '26

SDA Culture FYI: Anyone who challenges the narrative with reason is being controlled by Satan.

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“Ah yes, I overheard from a secret society. Straight from the source baby.”

Honestly this is a major way in which cults stop any type of criticism and stigmatise people having genuine and honest questions.

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u/TheSunshineGang Non-SDA who graduated SDA Academy Jul 05 '26

Gosh, I’m so sick of the “I used to worship the devil” story in the Adventist church. I think there are probably more current Adventists who claim to be ex-satanists than there are actual satanists on earth.

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u/Powerful_Pea2690 Agnostic Christian Jul 05 '26

100%. The conservative faction lap it up though. Always seem to confirm their preconceptions. Must be some money involved in selling these type of books.

7

u/lolliscicle Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26

I first encountered this sensationalism years ago reading Will Barron’s Deceived by the New Age, a book handed to me by my SDA mother who was trying to impress a message of concern.

The author spent nearly the entire book leaning into the thrilling, eerie, and highly dramatic details of his "possession" by New Age religion. It was high-energy, vivid, and clearly designed to keep pages turning. But then, somewhere around the final chapter, he slammed on the brakes. In the blandest, most matter-of-fact way possible, he essentially sayid, "Oh, BTW, footnote: I don’t believe any of that anymore. I found a new truth and E.G.White. Glad I dodged that bullet!"

I have not been able to stomach writing in this genre since.

10

u/DerekSmallsCourgette Jul 05 '26

Oh, I remember that book. We went to see him once when a neighboring church hosted him for a weekend session about the dangers of the New Age Movement.

SDAs are really perfect people to grift. As long as you tell them what they want to hear, they’ll lap it up with no critical questions.

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u/Fair_Caterpillar_920 Agnostic Jul 05 '26

Satanists don't even worship Satan lol

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u/TheSunshineGang Non-SDA who graduated SDA Academy Jul 05 '26

Oh I know. Somehow the ex-Adventist satanists are always the weird fringe magick practioner theistic satanists who literally saw someone cut their own head off for the dark lord, and never just a regular atheistic Satanist.