What is the Seal of God?

By Robert K. Sanders

Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church officials mislead people who attend their
evangelistic seminars and Bible studies, read Adventist publications, or study views posted on their
Internet sites on the topics of "The Seal of God" and "The Mark of the Beast". Adventists teach
that those who keep the seventh day Sabbath will receive the Seal of God and those who worship
on Sunday will receive the Mark of the Beast.

This non-biblical teaching is an evangelistic tool that causes fear and pressures people to join
the SDA Church, as no Christian wants to receive the Mark of the Beast. In addition, I might note
that many SDAs fear leaving Adventism and giving up the Sabbath, as they do not wish to receive
the Mark of the Beast and lose their salvation. Seventh-day Adventists must teach this non-biblical
doctrine as one of the major doctrines of their church since it has been defined as such by the
visions of their prophetess Ellen G. White (EGW).

Mrs. White repeatedly states that in order to receive "the seal of God" a person must maintain
the works of Sabbath keeping. If this were true then all Sabbatarians, including Jews, would
receive the Seal of God.

Ellen G. White Denies the Holy Spirit's Seal and Replaces it With the Jewish Sabbath

EGW: In these things I saw great danger; for if the mind is filled with other things,
present truth is shut out, and there is no place in our foreheads for the seal of the
living God. This seal is the Sabbath. To Those who are receiving the seal of the living
God. —January 31, 1849, paragraph 11.

EGW: “To the church of God who keeps the Sabbath—the seal of the living God.”
[Used as a closing sentence.] —Ms 3, 1849, p. 2. (To Brethren and Sisters, January
18, 1849.) {5MR 200.1}

EGW: "Those who would have the seal of God in their foreheads must keep the
Sabbath of the fourth commandment." —7BC 970 (1899).

EGW: "The sign, or seal, of God is revealed in the observance of the seventh-day
Sabbath, the Lord's memorial of creation . . . . The mark of the beast is the opposite of
this--the observance of the first day of the week." —8T 117 (1904)

EGW: “In Revelation 13 this subject is plainly presented. [Rev. 13:11-17 quoted].
This is the test that the people of God must have before they are sealed. All who prove
their loyalty to God by observing His law, and refusing to accept a spurious sabbath,
 will rank under the banner of the Lord God Jehovah, and will receive the seal of the
living God. Those who yield the truth of heavenly origin, and accept the Sunday
sabbath, will receive the mark of the beast. What need will there be of the solemn
warning not to receive the mark of the beast, when all the saints of God are sealed
and ticketed for the New Jerusalem? "O consistency, thou art a jewel!" —Letter 11,
1890 - MR. 1140, 15.3.

God puts his "seal of ownership" on Christians who believe in Christ and the Holy Spirit. God
DOES NOT SAY keep the Sabbath and I will seal you.

2 Cor. 1:21, 22 (NIV): Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm
in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in
our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Eph. 1:13,14 (NIV): And you also were included in Christ when you heard
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were
marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit
guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s
possession—to the praise of his glory.

Eph: 4:30 (NIV): And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you
were sealed for the day of redemption.

Please note that Sabbath is NEVER called a SEAL, either in the Old Covenant or in the New
Covenant. Sabbath keeping will never entitle anyone to receive the SEAL OF GOD.

Revelation tells us about another sealed group called the 144,000. They are from the twelve
tribes of Israel. This means that no Seventh-day Adventists will be sealed and be among the
144,000, because they never belonged to any tribe of Israel.

Rev. 7:2-4 (NIV): Then I saw another angel coming up from the east,
having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four
angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: “Do not harm
the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the
servants of our God.” Then I heard the number of those who were sealed:
144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.

The Seal is the Son and the Father's name written in the forehead of the 144,000 and not the
Sabbath!

Rev 14:1 (NIV) Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing
on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s
name written on their foreheads.

How the 1888 Bible Readings were changed

 On January 31, 1849, James and Ellen White published an 11 X 17 inch Broadside titled To
those who are receiving the seal of the living God. The three-column document contained three
lengthy articles by Ellen G. White. Sometime after 1888, either Rosswell Cottrell or Frank Belden
republished the same broadside, this time adding a comments on the bottom right-hand column of
the page, clearly showing disgust and contempt for EGW and Bates’ calling the Sabbath “the Seal
of God.” The note was signed by "your gospel song writer".

This is what was not approved

The quote from Ellen G. White in the Topsham Jan. 18, 1849 broadside, which brought about
the change in the 1888 edition of Bible Readings for the Home Circle, is as follows:

EGW: "I saw great danger; for if the mind is filled with other things, present truth
is shut out, and there is not place in our foreheads for the seal of the living God is the
Sabbath."

The note points out that it was he, U. Smith, and George Butler that changed the “corruptive
error of Sabbath keeping being the seal of God in the 1888 Bible Readings.

The full statement is as follows:

Preceding this "E. G. White" publication, and in that same month, Joseph Bates had
issued his pamphlet -- "A Seal of the Living God: 144,000 being sealed in 1849." She
echoed him. Their false six-o'clock Bates-White sabbath of two years (1847-1848)
became, Jan. 5, 1849, their doubly false ("6 P.M." and "Seal of God") sabbath during
the next seven years to Nov. 19, 1855, when Eld. Andrews lopped off the 6 o'clock of
nine years. But the far more corruptive error -- Sabbath observance "the seal of God"
on the individual observer -- remained until Elds. Smith, Butler, and your gospel song
writer changed it as in a million copies of the 1888 "Bible Readings," using the
Scriptural word "SIGN" (of loyalty)—sign of Law observance.

Information about Rosswell F. Cottrell

“Rosswell F. Cottrell (1814-1892) He was a poet, especially noted as a hymn

writer . . . He is better known for such hymns as "The Wonders of Redeeming Love,"
and was an effective force as a writer and counselor . . .. Soon after founding of the
"Youth's Instructor," Cottrell wrote a series of Sabbath school lessons on the law of
God (August 1854 - January 1855), and then on the faith of Jesus . . . And the third
[angel's] message is a "separating message" involving the commandments of the
Beast versus the commandments of God.” Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Volume 4,
page 1090. See also SDA Encyclopedia, p.354.
 Below are examples of the corrections by "your gospel song writer", Butler, and Uriah Smith
made in the 1888 edition of Bible Readings for the Home Circle – pp. 244-247. They corrected the
false Seal of the Living God from the “Sabbath Seal" to "the Scriptural word “SIGN” (of loyalty)—
sign of Law observance. The numbers 10, 14, and 15 are numbers from the 1888 ed.

10. With what is God's seal connected? "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my
disciples." Isa. 8:16.

14. Is the Sabbath ever called a sign? "It is a sign between me and the children of Israel
forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and
was refreshed." Ex. 31:17.

15. For what purpose is the Sabbath a sign? “Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a
sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.” Eze.
20:12.

SDAs misread Isa. 8:16

When SDAs read point 10 from Isa.8:16, and see the word “law,” they have been taught that it
is the Ten Commandments and the Sabbath, which have been bound up among the disciples.
These words are not present in the text. The word “law” means the Torah, which has 613
commands to which Israel was fettered under the old covenant. Christians are not under the
law/Torah. Christians are under the new covenant. The Sabbath was never a sign or seal between
God and new covenant Christians.

James White was confused on the Seal of God

Even James White was confused on what constituted the Seal of God, and accepted his wife's
view over the clear evidence provided in the Bible.

"…The Sabbath is the seal, and the Holy Spirit is the sealer.” Advent Review, 1:57,
September 1850.

Conclusion

There are no requirements, other than the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior, for receiving
the Seal of God!

Keeping the Old Covenant Sabbath is not a prerequisite for receiving the Seal of God as claimed
by Ellen G. White. The Bible is clear on this matter. If the Seal of God were given only on the
condition of Sabbath works, then all Sabbatarians would be entitled, including the works-driven
Pharisees and Sadducees in Jesus' day, as well as present-day Jews, who do not accept Christ as
their Savior.

The Seal of the Living God, which is the Holy Spirit, can only be given to those who have faith
in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. This seal was given to the Christians in the Apostolic
Church, and will continue to be given until the Second Coming of Christ. It has nothing to do with
the end of the world or Sabbath keeping works as taught by EGW.

Ellen G. White was so Bible illiterate and brain damaged by the stone that hit her in the head
that for seventy years she simply could not get things right -- especially the Seal of God! It is sad
that so many intelligent people follow her, believing that she has received the truth directly from
God, when, in fact, her "truth" contradicts the Bible.