True and Free Seventh-day Adventists
The True and Free Seventh-day Adventists (TFSDA) are a splinter group of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The group formed in the Soviet Union as a result of religious persecution. TFSDA members believed that the Seventh-day Adventist Church had apostatized and had become "Babylon". The group related its origins to the Seventh-day Adventist Reform Movement which formed in Germany during the period of World War I, when Seventh-day Adventist leaders determined it was permissible for Adventists to bear arms and serve in the military.[1]
Leaders of the TFSDA movement were vigorously hunted by the KGB (national security agency) and almost without exception, pastors and leaders of this church spent many years in prison, their children were taken from them and forced into exile. Three prominent leaders of the TFSDA were V. A. Shelkov,[2] and two brothers named Murkin.
One of the great accomplishments of the TFSDA was to smuggle out of the Soviet Union documents chronicling their persecution, which became an international embarrassment to the Soviet Union.
Key points of doctrine and controversy for the TFSDA were:
- They did not allow their children to attend school on Saturday (Sabbath), while many families in the official Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Soviet Union did
- They did not allow their young people to serve in the Soviet military
- They rejected the requirement for pastors and religious groups to register with the government
- They believed that because the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists did not dis-fellowship those who bore arms in World War I, that the General Conference had officially compromised its principles and had become "Babylon" (Revelation 18:1-5; compare Seventh-day Adventist eschatology)
- They believed that because the General Conference continued to accept the official Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Soviet Union as legitimate, the General Conference had become Babylonian
- The group saw itself as a "Remnant of the Remnant" (see: Adventist remnant belief)
The True and Free Seventh-day Adventists continue today in small numbers. The group focuses its outreach on members of the regular Seventh-day Adventist Church and expects to see an imminent return of religious persecution.
See also
References
- ^ Murray, Katharine, "Soviet Seventh-day Adventists," Religion, State and Society 5:2 (Summer 1977), p.88–93.
- ^ Sapiets, Marite "V. A. Shelkov and the true and free Adventists of the USSR," Religion, State and Society 8:3 (1980), p.201–217
Bibliography