Truth Led Me Out

by Dale Ratzlaff

Clean pages and tight binder!

156 pages, Paperback

First published April 2, 2012

Reviews

[Pam Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent book chronicling a former Seventh-day Adventist pastor's journey, the author - Dale Ratzlaff, out of adventism. He clearly showed how the major foundational doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist church are NOT biblical and cannot be proven only using the Bible. Instead they very much rely on the writings of the church's "prophet" (now proven to be a false prophet) to "prove" their doctrines, such as the investigative judgement. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is Seventh-day Adventist and maybe questioning the biblical foundation of this church's doctrine, or if you know someone who is questioning the church's teachings.

[Gary Land · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as part of a research project I am working on. Although I don't think I ever met Dale Ratzlaff, I had his mother as a teacher for grades 5-7 and corresponded with her at Christmas toward the end of her life. Thus I feel that I have a connection with the family. This volume tells Dale's story of his transition out of Seventh-day Adventism. Although he was an Adventist minister he had seen problems with the sanctuary doctrine from his time in college. When the church went into some turmoil over both Ellen White and the sanctuary doctrine in the 1970s and 1980s he became more aware of the issues and being unable to gain appropriate answers from church leaders, he was eventually asked to resign or be fired. He resigned and eventually began pastoring his own churches and publishing books criticizing Adventist doctrine. In addition to his life story, which is told effectively and fairly, he includes quite a bit of theological and biblical discussion, all of which is explained more thoroughly in his earlier books. Although I do not agree with all his criticisms, this is a book that provokes thought and, more importantly, helps us understand better the personal turmoil and costs that leaving a church in which one was raised is often a difficult decision. In short, the books helps humanize the often abstract theological debate.