I don't hate them.
Adventists believe Jesus is the archangel Michael. Which is not scriptural. Whether they are a cult or not I don't know.
This is not accurate -
Adventists believe in the Trinity. God the Son is incarnate as the Son of God - Jesus Christ on earth. But as we see in Genesis 18 and 19 God and the angels can "appear" in the form of a man if they so choose. What is more God the Son can appear in the form of the archangel Michael for His own purposes. God has angels and Satan in rebellion has his fallen angels - Angels either hold their allegiance to God or to Satan. But in Revelation 12 the Angels faithful to God - who serve God are said to be in the group "Michael and HiS Angels" and in Hebrews 1 God says "Let all the Angels of God worship him" they serve God the Son. Who appears in the form of Michael in their ranks as the "Archangel" the head of them all. It is a "form" he takes not - but not an incarnation.
in Genesis 18
18 Now the LORD (YHWH) appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. 2 When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold,
three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw
them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth,...
16
Then the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off. 17 The LORD (YHWH) said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? 19 For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.” 20 And the LORD said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. 21 I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”
22
Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the LORD
Genesis 19
Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw
them, he rose to meet them and bowed down
with his face to the ground.
@EastCoastRemnant and several others indicate they do not.
Individuals here and there may claim whatever they wish - but when talking about a denomination if you want to know what the church actually teaches look at its statement of faith. Seventh-day Adventists have an official voted statement of beliefs - voted by the entire world church - with representatives from all over the world coming together every 5 years to review and confirm or change-if-needed their statement of beliefs.
Beliefs :: The Official Site of the Seventh-day Adventist world church
Trinity (Fundamental Belief 2)
There is
one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of
three co-eternal Persons. God is immortal, all-powerful, all-knowing, above all, and ever present. He is infinite and beyond human comprehension, yet known through His self-revelation. He is forever worthy of worship, adoration, and service by the whole creation. (Deut. 6:4;
Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:4-6; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 Tim. 1:17; Rev. 14:7.) 1 John 5:7-10 KJV
Mark 12:29-30
http://szu.adventist.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/28_Beliefs.pdf
And eastcoastRemnant will admit to this - the Adventist church - as a denomination believes exactly what you find there - the Trinity.
I myself might choose to have some odd idea or two - but I cannot in all honesty claim that whatever off the wall thing I happen to choose - is in fact the actual beliefs of the SDA denomination. For that you have to go to the actual voted statement of beliefs.
=========================== so then
1. We had 3 published statements of belief before Ellen White died - not one of them denied the Trinity.
2. IT was Ellen White who introduced "Third Person of the Godhead" terms into Adventist literature - and this turned the tide in favor the Trinitarian SDAs starting in the 1880's.
3. James White and others like him held such a wrong idea of the Trinity so as to oppose a doctrine that neither they nor any Christians today believe in.
For example
In 1855 J.
James White published an article in the Review and Herald entitled “
Preach the Word.” In dealing with Paul’s statement in 2 Timothy 4:4 “they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” he wrote, “Here we might mention the Trinity, which
does away the personality of
God and His Son Jesus Christ, ....”
Joseph Bates wrote in 1868, “Respecting
the trinity, I concluded that it was impossible for me to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, was also the Almighty God, the Father,
one and the same being.”
4. But as their view of the definition for the term became more accurate and their understanding of the nature of God improved - the men like James White and Uriah Smith began to see no real difference between their own view of God the Father and God the Son - vs - the Trinitarian one.
But in 1876 he wrote that “S. D.
Adventists hold the divinity of Christ so nearly with the Trinitarians, that we apprehend no trial here.”38 And a year later he declared his belief in the equality of the Son with the Father and condemned any view as erroneous that “makes Christ inferior to the Father.”38 (2) Originally Uriah Smith and others taught that Christ was the first created being. Later he adopted the position that Christ was begotten not created (see p. 3 above).............................
37 (The Day Star, Jan 21, 1846)
38 (Review And Herald, Oct 12, 1876)
============================
Trinity (Fundamental Belief 2)
There is
one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of
three co-eternal Persons. God is immortal, all-powerful, all-knowing, above all, and ever present. He is infinite and beyond human comprehension, yet known through His self-revelation. He is forever worthy of worship, adoration, and service by the whole creation. (Deut. 6:4;
Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:4-6; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 Tim. 1:17; Rev. 14:7.) 1 John 5:7-10 KJV
Mark 12:29-30
The power of evil had been strengthening for centuries, and the submission of men to this satanic captivity was amazing. Sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power. It is the Spirit that makes effectual what has been wrought out by the world’s Redeemer. It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress His own character upon His church. {DA 671.2}
We are to co-operate with the three highest powers in heaven,—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,—and these powers will work through us, making us workers together with God.—Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 7, p. 51. (1905). {Ev 617.3}
—We need to realize that the Holy Spirit, who is as much a person as God is a person, is walking through these grounds.—Manuscript 66, 1899 (From a talk to the students at the Avondale School.). {Ev 616.5}
The Holy Spirit is a person, for He beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God. When this witness is borne, it carries with it its own evidence. At such times we believe and are sure that we are the children of God.... {Ev 616.6}
The Holy Spirit has a personality, else He could not bear witness to our spirits and with our spirits that we are the children of God. He must also be a divine person, else He could not search out the secrets which lie hidden in the mind of God. “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.”—Manuscript 20, 1906. {Ev 617.1}
the eternal heavenly dignitaries—God, and Christ, and the Holy Spirit—arming them [the disciples] with more than mortal energy, ... would advance with them to the work and convince the world of sin. Manuscript 145,
Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection, and the life.” In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived. “He that hath the Son hath life.” The divinity of Christ is the believer’s assurance of eternal life.—The Desire of Ages, 530 (1898). {Ev 616.2}
