High Sabbath Adventists

High Sabbath Adventists are a small offshoot organization/group of members who claim to be part of the Seventh-day Adventists (But differ widely in beliefs). The Seventh-day Adventist Church claims no knowledge and does not agree with everything the "High Sabbath Adventists" believe. The HSA believes they see prophetic significance in the High Sabbaths for the last generation according to the studies of the Last Countdown Ministry. They consider themselves "sighers and criers" within the Seventh-day Adventist Church (though again, the SDA church does not acknowledge the views of the HSA), waiting for its cleansing. The publishing work of the ministry is done online from a rural location in Paraguay, South America.

Beliefs

High Sabbath Adventists have three core studies and their unique beliefs generally relate closely with one of those core studies. They are the [Orion Message]], the Vessel of Time, and what is termed, "Our High Calling."

The Orion Message

High Sabbath Adventists believe that the constellation of Orion is a representation of the “throne room” of God and they interpret the symbols of Revelation 4 and 5 within that framework. This, in combination with the prophecies of Ezekiel 1 and Daniel 12, provides the foundation of what is called The Clock of God in Orion. This clock highlights seven different key events in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist church, which they consider to exemplify (either positively or negatively) the seven pillars of the faith. They are:

1. The doctrine of the Sanctuary
2. The Seventh-day Sabbath
3. Health Reform (which includes Dress Reform)
4. Taking a non-combatant stance
5. Refusing to compromise with the State
6. Righteousness by Faith
7. Abstinence from the ecumenical movement.

The clock ends on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) in 2015, which is interpreted as the general close of probation for humanity (when the Judgment is complete and Jesus ends His intercession). After this, there is one more year depicted in a different form, which represents a year of plagues before the return of Jesus.

The Vessel of Time

High Sabbath Adventists regard their study entitled Full Moon at Gethsemane as the foundational study for their understanding of God’s calendar. Their calendar differs from other calendars in use today in that it is calculated based on the following principles:

• Days begin at sunset.
• Weeks are seven-day periods concluding with the Sabbath (which spans from Friday sunset until Saturday sunset).
• Months begin when the first visible crescent after the astronomical new moon is seen at sunset from the temple mount in Jerusalem. (They rely on computer software to calculate this for past and future dates.)
• Years begin when the first visible crescent of the new month is seen on or after (but not before) the day of the spring equinox, and when ripe barley can be found in the fields around Jerusalem. If the barley is not found, then an additional month (the intercalary month) is added to the year, and the new year begins with the following month (thereby providing ample time for the barley to become ripe). This introduces uncertainty in future calculations and those of past years when no record of the Barley test is available, because it cannot be known without direct observation, whether the barley was/will be found or not. High Sabbath Adventists, therefore, recognize that there are always two possibilities for the beginning of the year—one lunar month apart—and this features into their studies.

They maintain the traditional Adventist doctrines, especially that the antitypical Day of Atonement began in 1844, which is based on the understanding that the 2300 days mentioned in Daniel 8:14 began at the same time that the 70 weeks did—in 457 BC, and each day of the prophecy is counted as a year in reality according to the day-year principle. According to this reckoning, the 70 weeks prophecy places the crucifixion of Jesus in AD 31. However, the only way that Christ’s crucifixion could have taken place on a Friday (as Seventh-day Adventists firmly believe) in AD 31 is if it happened in the second month that began after the spring equinox. If the year is allowed to begin before the spring equinox, as is the case with similar calendars, then there is no possibility for a Friday crucifixion that year, even if the intercalary month is added. Therefore, in order to uphold the traditional Adventist understanding that...

1. the 70 weeks and the 2300 days both begin in 457 BC,
2. the 70-week prophecy points to Jesus’ crucifixion in AD 31 (and the 2300 days to 1844), and
3. Jesus died on a Friday (the day before the weekly Sabbath),

they deduce that the first month of the year cannot begin before the spring equinox. If in 31 AD, the barley was not found, so that the first month beginning after the spring equinox was added to the previous year, it would place Jesus’ crucifixion on Friday May 25, AD 31 (according to the Julian calendar, which was in use at that time). This discovery is used to resolve a long-standing problem that has challenged Bible commentators for the Seventh-day Adventist Church and left the rest of the Christian world without a clear choice regarding the date of the crucifixion.

Application of the Calendar

High Sabbath Adventists use their understanding of the calendar in their calculations regarding the Jewish feasts. They believe that the weekly Sabbath, while significant of itself, bears special significance when combined with the feast Sabbaths (i.e., when the feast Sabbath happens to fall on a weekly Sabbath—which they regard as the definition of High Sabbaths), according to Leviticus 23, which defines the feasts of the Lord as both weekly Sabbaths and seasonal feast sabbaths. They take the parenthetical statement in John 19:31 to indicate that this combination occurred when Jesus was in the grave, necessitating a Friday crucifixion. By teaching this additional understanding of the significance of the Sabbath when it is combined with the feast Sabbath, they believe that they are fulfilling Ellen White's prophecy regarding "proclaiming the Sabbath more fully."

They assign a short, descriptive code to each High Sabbath group (those that always occur on the same weekday). They are:

Code	Month/Set	Included High Sabbaths
N1	Nissan / first set	7th day of Unleavened Bread (Passover is also on Sabbath)
N2	Nissan / second set	1st day of Unleavened Bread
N3	Nissan / third set	Wave offering of the FirstFruits (which is the 2nd Day of Unleavened Bread)
T1	Tishri / first set	Feast of Trumpets, 1st Day of Tabernacles, and Shemini Atzeret (8th day)
T2	Tishri / second set	Yom Kippur (a.k.a. The Day of Atonement)

Each year, if there are High Sabbaths, they may be represented by an “N” code (if they are in the Spring collection), and/or a “T” code (if they are in the Autumn collection). Additionally, because there is a second possible starting month for each year, there may be one or two additional High Sabbath codes that apply.

An excerpt from the High Sabbath List, illustrating the codes.

	Spring		Autumn
Year	Barley Found	Not Found	Barley Found	Not Found	Code
1999	N1				N1
2000	N3	N2	T1		N3N2T1
2001
2002				T2	T2
2003	N3	N2			N3N2

The list of codes for the years from 1840 until 2015 constitutes what they call the “High Sabbath List” or the "Vessel of Time", which they interpret in the context of Seventh-day Adventist history.

Interpretation of the List

The 1888 Message of Righteousness by Faith is the key that is used to interpret the list. It is based on a statement from Elder Steven Haskell in 1899, where he attributed a remark to Ellen White that the world could have been warned and Jesus could have come already two years after 1888 if they had gone to work after receiving the message. Although the Ellen White Estate refutes the claim that she ever said this, High Sabbath Adventists believe that because of Haskell’s position and faithfulness, it is a trustworthy statement, even though he didn’t have a proper reference for it. The three years from 1888 to 1890, therefore, are used as a “Rosetta Stone,” for interpreting the rest of the list.

The codes for those three years are N3N1 (1888), T1 (1889), and N1T2 (1890). The pattern of possible High Sabbaths for this triplet of years occurs only one other time between 1841 (the beginning of the First Angel’s Message) and 2015: the last three years, 2013 (N3N1), 2014 (T1), and 2015 (N1T2). This is taken to represent the next opportunity for Jesus to come.

Based on this, the group originally understood that Jesus would return in the autumn of 2015, but in early January, 2013, they realized that they had not considered that the judgments of God in the plagues could come only after the expiration of the three-and-a-half years of Daniel 12:7. The duration of the time of plagues being fixed, they needed an additional year. This adjustment made the expected return of Jesus fall on Shemini Atzeret in 2016 instead of on the Day of Atonement in 2015. This error became known as "Miller's Mistake" among the group, referring to the similarly obvious error of William Miller in retaining the non-existent "year zero" in his calculations between BC and AD, which also extended his timeline by one year from 1843 to 1844.

Analogy with DNA

The triplets of encoded High Sabbaths are comparable to the triplets of bases that encode for amino acids in DNA. High Sabbath Adventists take this as a hint, and look at DNA as analogous to the High Sabbath List. There is a rule of thumb in the encoding of amino acids, that the first two bases generally define the specified amino acid, regardless of the third base in the code. This principle is applied to the High Sabbath List by noting the years when the same codes appear for just the first two years of the triplet. This set of “codons” would then all encode a similar message. Applying this to the High Sabbath List reveals a total of 8 triplets (the “stop codons”).

Another important analogy arises because the last two "stop codons" of the List are side-by-side. This is said to represent the special biological “double stop” scenario, which occurs when two stop codons follow one after the other in the DNA. When DNA transcription encounters a stop codon, if certain suppressors are present, transcription may continue. But if a double-stop codon is read, then it is protected against suppression and transcription ceases, no matter what. Seventh-day Adventists have historically considered it their purpose to prepare the world for the Second Advent of Jesus and the wrath of God. At that time, they believe that the ministering of His blood for sinful humanity will be put to a stop, just as the stop codons communicate to the DNA-interpreting “machinery” to stop its transcription. The supposed end of Christ's ministry (a.k.a. the close of human probation) is represented as unequivocal by the termination of the “double-stop” triplets of 2010-2012 and 2013-2015.

Additionally, the first triplet of the series is identified as a “start codon,” having an encoding that also differs from the 1888-1890 “Rosetta Stone” by only one code (but the first instead of the last is different, so it does not classify as a “stop codon”). This exact triplet is not found anywhere else in the High Sabbath List, analogous to how the biological start codon has no similar encodings to represent it like many of the amino acids and stop codons do.

For High Sabbath Adventists, the analogy with DNA is important because it represents character. The character DNA of the church is revealed through the record of key choices in its history, while the proper choices in those key times represent the perfect DNA of Christ. They see this as an illustration that the repair of their damaged character may be accomplished by beholding Christ's choices and accepting them instead of their own.

Structure of the High Sabbath List

Both the High Sabbath List and the Orion Message highlight significant years within the history of the Adventist Church. There are seven approximately equal periods of time (about 24 years each) that are delineated by the “stop codons” of the High Sabbath List. This is taken as a reflection of the 24 periods of seven years that are depicted in the Orion Message, just as the earthly sanctuary (upon which the feasts and High Sabbaths were centered) is a reflection of the heavenly (Hebrews 8:5). Also, just as relationships are recognizable in symmetrical Orion dates, so do the highlighted events of the “stop codons” with the same codes bear a relationship to each other.

The High Sabbath List depicted as analogous to DNA, showing two strands and start & stop "codons," with related triplets highlighted in matching colors.

Our High Calling

High Sabbath Adventists take the perspective that the plan of salvation is not merely about man's salvation, but about cleansing the Universe from sin. They take the great controversy theme with the vindication of the Father by the last generation (as explained in M.L. Andreasen's influential work, The Sanctuary Service) in the light of the possibility of failure according to Jesus' open-ended question in Luke 18:8—"Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" They believe that faith needs to be found in 144,000 people of the last generation who will yield themselves to be emptied of self and filled with the Holy Spirit, that they might stand through the time of plagues without sin. In their view, if this demonstration is unsuccessful, it would show that Satan is more powerful in tempting to sin than God is to deliver from sin, and sin would ultimately arise again and spread throughout the Universe. Then God, who is love (and love must be given), would be forced to choose from a few undesirable options:

And [what] if there is no one to give this love to because the creatures of the universe decided to follow the god of the dead, and therefore no longer exist?

God would have four possibilities:

1. Recreate the universe knowing that the same deadly circle of free will and refused agape love would eventually destroy the second universe, and the third, etc., OR
2. Refuse to create beings and live in all eternity in three persons without giving His love to others, OR
3. Create a universe full of robots without free will, OR
4. Do anew what Jesus proved even a member of the Godhead can do:

“Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.” (John 10:17)

The Role of the Last Generation

High Sabbath Adventists understand the exclamation of Revelation 7:10 to be referring to salvation that is given to God (rather than just that belongs to Him). "Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." It is the vindication of His law that they believe is being referred to there; the testimony of the last generation, which would demonstrate that it is possible for sinful humanity, having experienced the bondage to sin (unlike Jesus, who was never caught in its grasp), to overcome sin in their weak and sinful flesh through the power of the Holy Spirit. They see this as a fulfillment of Jesus’ words that His disciples would do greater works than Himself. They do not believe it is meritorious, but just that they do what Jesus could not do: apply His blood to bring about the cessation of the sin that once held them in bondage.

Comparison of Experiences with Sin

	Innocent (physical) infirmities (i.e. hunger, pain, sadness, etc.)	Bondage to Sin	Knowledge of Sin	Experience of Sin	Resistance to Sin	Stopped Sinning (in lifetime)
Adam before his fall into sin	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Adam after his fall into sin (before his repentance and conversion)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Adam after his fall into sin (after his repentance and conversion)	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Christ as human on earth	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
The 144,000	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (they become the antibodies against sin)

No other group of people has experienced en-masse the overcoming of sin within their lifetime that the 144,000 must experience. There have been a few isolated examples, such as Enoch, Daniel, Job, etc., but remember that the court needs ample evidence, not a scattered handful of anecdotal “special cases”. Even Jesus Himself did not experience the overcoming of sin, because He was without sin. Again, it rings true that “greater works than these shall he do.” (John 14:12)

The Character of Jesus

High Sabbath Adventists teach that the 144,000 will reflect the character of Christ fully in the time of greatest trial, because then they are completely emptied of self and full of the Holy Spirit. A unique aspect of their belief is that this entails a willingness to surrender even their eternal lives for the sake of their High Calling, if need be. They base this on the example of Jesus' character, an important aspect of which they believe is revealed in what led him to give up His own (eternal) life on the cross.

Criticism to Catholicism

The group regard the Papacy as the Antichrist and have published a series of articles that purport that Pope Francis is Satan embodied in the flesh.

Criticism Received

The most common criticisms that are made against High Sabbath Adventists are given below with their responses.

Time-Setting

High Sabbath Adventists believe that in recent years, God has revealed the year and day of Jesus' return. While most Christians contest that the Bible forbids all time-setting for Jesus’ return (generally based on Matthew 24:36, Acts 1:7 and comparable verses), Seventh-day Adventists believe that it is forbidden only since 1844, according to their understanding of Revelation 10:6.High Sabbath Adventists accept that time marker, but believe that the symbolism of the declaration, in having only one hand raised, means that it only applies for a given period of time (until 2012), after which time prophecy would again be applicable. Some of their reasoning on this topic may be found in their series called "Day and Hour"

Their fellow Seventh-day Adventists often cite many quotes of Ellen White, whom they mutually regard as a prophetess, where she gives admonitions against time-setting. Many of these statements have been grouped together and may be found in Selected Messages Book 1, Chapter 23 and Last Day Events, Chapter 3. They understand these to be limited in their applicability according to their interpretation of Revelation 10:6 as having a termination date, even if the statements may otherwise appear universal.

The Church is Babylon

A common criticism from other Seventh-day Adventists is that High Sabbath Adventists allegedly teach that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is Babylon. This goes against the teaching of Ellen White, who clearly says that it is not. In their news article, "Capital Crime: Pope Francis Kidnaps God’s Bride! (Isaiah 62:5)", they clarified their position regarding the Seventh-day Adventist Church, identifying it as God's true church, but claiming that the organizational structure has been corrupted by the infiltration of Jesuits. The corrupted part is what they identify as Babylon.

Speculation

The relationships and parallels that High Sabbath Adventists see as significant are regarded by many as mere speculation. For example, they believe that the three belt stars of Orion represent the throne of God, with each star corresponding with one of the persons of the Godhead, and that the four outer stars of the constellation (Saiph, Betelgeuse, Bellatrix, and Rigel), represent the four beasts of Revelation 4:6. But many consider this, and many other alleged relationships as mere speculation. High Sabbath Adventists consider linguistic, numerical, and visual consistencies as suggestive of relationship when the context is thematically related. They generally use multiple sources, however, to establish the credibility of a proposed relationship.

Attacking the Church

Since mid-April, 2015, the publishing team of the High Sabbath Adventist movement has published several news articles relating negative views of the leadership of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (of which they are a part). Many believe that it is not right to speak negatively regarding the church or its leaders, and discredit High Sabbath Adventists on account of that. They regard the negative speaking as appropriate on the grounds that they do not expose anything that is not already publicly available information, and simply express their opinion and present the supporting evidence.

Conspiracy Theorists

The criticism that High Sabbath Adventists are conspiracy theorists is based primarily on their analysis of graphics that they believe contain symbols of freemasonry or other secret societies. It is claimed that these alleged symbols are simply attractive graphical elements used for their aesthetic qualities and contain no esoteric symbolism as is suggested. High Sabbath Adventists claim to understand the symbolism in the coats of arms of Popes Benedict XVI and Francis I, the signet of the Year of Paul, (which they call the "Year of Saul"—a reference to his name when he persecuted Christians) and more recently, in the brochure for the 2015 General Conference Session of Seventh-day Adventists. They take the position that if there is sufficient evidence to believe, even if something may be labeled as a "conspiracy theory," it may yet be true.

No Biblical Foundation

Often, High Sabbath Adventists are accused of basing their doctrine on extra-biblical material since the Orion Message and the High Sabbath List require the study of the stars of Orion and the sun and moon in relation to earth. In answer to these claims, they cite the biblical references to Orion (Job 9:9, Job 38:31, and Amos 5:9) and the apparent significance of the high Sabbaths (because Jesus' rest in death was on a high Sabbath), and reason that in order to properly understand their meaning, it is necessary to study them. They also believe that the book written within and on the outside mentioned in Revelation 5:1 and Ezekiel 2:9-10 are references to the Orion Message, that the seven thunders of Revelation 10:3-4 represent the High Sabbath List, and that these messages are therefore incorporated in Scripture.

One article in particular led many to bring up concerns of a lack of biblical foundation, because it presented a study of a serpentine crop circle that appeared on July 29, 2011, which they related to the Mesoamerican legend of Quetzalcoatl. This study, however, was not the basis of the message that they related to it, but was extra-biblical evidence in support of what they had previously presented from a biblical perspective.

Astrology

It is sometimes claimed that the study of the stars as illustrated in the Orion Message, which High Sabbath Adventists promote, is a use of Astrology. However, they do not believe there is any influence of the stars on the events of the earth, but simply that they represent or point to those events. They use the sun, moon, and stars (as opposed to planets, which are typically used in Astrology) in a similar manner as the hands of a clock are used.

References

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