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The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an evangelical Protestant Christian denomination that grew out of the prophetic Millerite movement in the United States during the middle part of the 19th century. According to historians of the movement, this group gained its more recent name from the teaching that the expected return of Jesus Christ in 1844 had been fulfilled in a way that had not previously been understood. Prophetess Ellen G. White received a vision that Jesus had entered into an "investigative judgment" of the world: a process through which there is an examination of the heavenly records to "determine who, through repentence of sin and faith in Christ, are entitled to the benefits of His atonement." (from "The Great Controversy" by Ellen G. White page 422,1911 edition) after which Jesus will return to earth. This completion of the return of Christ may occur very soon, according to the church's teaching.

In addition to traditional Trinitarian Protestant theology, Seventh-day Adventists place particular emphasis on the seventh day (Saturday) as a Sabbath day of rest. Like their Millerite forebears, Seventh-day Adventists believe that the second advent (Second Coming) of Jesus Christ is imminent. The church is also known for the following:

• Its prophetess and prolific author Ellen G. White
• Health message including vegetarianism and abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine
• Belief in a literal six day creation process, culminating in a seventh day of rest

While Adventist theology remains quite similar to its 19th century Protestant roots, one notable exception is the belief that death is a sleep during which the "dead know nothing" (Ecclesiastes 9:5). This doctrine hangs upon the notion that the body and the soul perish together at death and are resurrected as one at the second coming of Jesus.

See also:

• Official home page of the Seventh-day Adventist Church