“Precious Gems from the Pen of Inspiration”
by Jack Hoehn
By Jack Hoehn, June 19, 2014
Walter T. Rea, Ellen White critic, was the pastor of the nearby Alhambra SDA church in my youth.1 When I knew him, Elder Rea was an expert in making collections of Ellen G. White quotations on many subjects, and had syllabi consisting of selected “quotations” from the “Spirit of Prophecy.” Others have published collections of key quotations of special interest to Adventists or to the world. I too have found it useful and interesting to type collections of “statements” on different religious or moral subjects I have been studying. I always find new insights and spiritual direction when I do so from the writings (or “pen”) of Ellen G. White. 2,3
Now, as an adult faced with issues where what Ellen White wrote and what I now believe to be true do not always agree, I have made a new compilation of her quotations that has helped me understand what to do in cases of conflict between what was written and what now seems to be true. All the following quotations are from the published works of Ellen G. White.4
FIRST: INSPIRED WRITERS NOT “THE PEN OF INSPIRATION”
“The writers of the Bible were God’s penmen, not His pen.” Selected Messages, book 1, p. 21.
SECOND: SOME SDA DOCTRINES ARE WRONG
“We have many lessons to learn, and many, many to unlearn. God and Heaven alone are infallible. Those who think that they will never have to give up a cherished view, never have occasion to change an opinion, will be disappointed. As long as we hold to our own ideas and opinions with determined persistency, we cannot have the unity for which Christ prayed.” Christian Experience and Teachings of Ellen G. White, p. 203.
MORE TRUTH TO BE REVEALED
“There is no excuse for anyone in taking the position that there is no more truth to be revealed, and that all our expositions of Scripture are without an error. The fact that certain doctrines have been held as truth for many years by our people is not a proof that our ideas are infallible. Age will not make error into truth, and truth can afford to be fair. No true doctrine will lose anything by close investigation.” Counsels to Writers and Editors, p. 35.
NO HUMAN INFALLIBLE
“God has given men brains to use, intellect to cultivate, to employ to His glory; and He would be the One to mold, control, and fashion the minds after His own impress. Men are only men whatever may be their work. The more responsible the position, the more important that the one who stands in this position have no more honor or exaltation given him than is for his good. In fact, people are ruined through praise and honor bestowed upon them as though they were infallible. While due respect should be given to those whom God has entrusted with more than ordinary talents, that man thus endowed needs to walk more humbly and closely with God as he advances.” Christian Leadership, p. 45.
“I wish that self should be hid in Jesus. I wish self to be crucified. I do not claim infallibility, or even perfection of Christian character. I am not free from mistakes and errors in my life. Had I followed my Saviour more closely, I should not have to mourn so much my unlikeness to His dear image.” Letter 27, 1876, to James White
LONG CHERISHED OPINIONS NOT INFALLIBLE
“As we take up the study of God’s word, we should do so with humble hearts. All selfishness, all love of originality, should be laid aside. Long-cherished opinions must not be regarded as infallible. It was the unwillingness of the Jews to give up their long-established traditions that proved their ruin. They were determined not to see any flaw in their own opinions or in their expositions of the Scriptures; but however long men may have entertained certain views, if they are not clearly sustained by the written word, they should be discarded. Those who sincerely desire truth will not be reluctant to lay open their positions for investigation and criticism, and will not be annoyed if their opinions and ideas are crossed.” Counsels to Writers and Editors, p. 36.
DON’T BE CONSERVATIVE ABOUT ADVANCED TRUTH
“Whenever the people of God are growing in grace, they will be constantly obtaining a clearer understanding of His word. They will discern new light and beauty in its sacred truths. This has been true in the history of the church in all ages, and thus it will continue to the end. But as real spiritual life declines, it has ever been the tendency to cease to advance in the knowledge of the truth. Men rest satisfied with the light already received from God’s word, and discourage any further investigation of the Scriptures. They become conservative, and seek to avoid discussion.” Counsels to Writers and Editors, p. 38.
NATURE SHEDS LIGHT ON SCRIPTURE
“To such a student, scientific research will open vast fields of thought and information. As he contemplates the things of nature, a new perception of truth comes to him. The book of nature and the written word shed light upon each other.” The Ministry of Healing, p. 462.
“The book of nature and the written word shed light upon each other. We are thus led to adore the Creator, and to have an intelligent trust in His word.” Counsels on Education, p. 196.
BIBLE DOES NOT TELL US HOW GOD CREATED
“Just how God accomplished the work of creation, he has never revealed to men; human science cannot search out the secrets of the Most High.” Counsels on Education, p. 193.
WE NEED TO RECONCILE GEOLOGY WITH SCRIPTURE
“Moses wrote under the guidance of the Spirit of God; and a correct theory of geology will never claim discoveries that cannot be reconciled with his statements. All truth, whether in nature or in revelation, is consistent with itself in all its manifestations.” Counsels on Education, p. 193.
REBUKE OF THE LORD ON “GUARDIANS OF DOCTRINE”
“The rebuke of the Lord will be upon those who would be guardians of the doctrine, who would bar the way that greater light shall not come to the people.” Counsels to Writers and Editors, p. 37.
GOD NOT PLEASED
“The present attitude of the church is not pleasing to God. There has come in a self-confidence that has led them to feel no necessity for more truth and greater light. We are living at a time when Satan is at work on the right hand and on the left, before and behind us; and yet as a people we are asleep. God wills that a voice shall be heard arousing His people to action.” Counsels to Writers and Editors, p. 41.
WE DIFFER IN UNDERSTANDING OF TRUTH
“Every association of life calls for the exercise of self-control, forbearance, and sympathy. We differ so widely in disposition, habits, education, that our ways of looking at things vary. We judge differently. Our understanding of truth, our ideas in regard to the conduct of life, are not in all respects the same…. So frail, so ignorant, so liable to misconception is human nature, that each should be careful in the estimate he places upon another.” The Ministry of Healing, p. 485.
STORM OF WORDS
“Under a storm of stinging, faultfinding words, keep the mind stayed upon the word of God. Let mind and heart be stored with God’s promises. If you are ill-treated or wrongfully accused, instead of returning an angry answer, repeat to yourself the precious promises: 'Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.'” The Ministry of Healing, p. 486.
Amen. ““Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.”5 Listen to what Nature tells us about the Bible and let Nature shine light on Revelation, even as Revelation shines light on our understanding of Nature.
2“Pen” is correct, Ellen White handwrote all her articles; she never used a typewriter or word processor. I’m not sure if she ever used a pencil, but suspect not.
3I have previously been criticized as “attacking Ellen White.” I will reprint here my reply to that accusation.
“The 10 commandments tell me to not worship anything or anyone. I am attacking idolatry of Ellen White. I also attack the idolatry of Mary, the mother of Christ. However, I would love and revere Mary, and I do love and revere Ellen. But I am seriously attacking the immaculate and error-free-blasphemous-worship-in-disguise of my human older sisters. It is your beliefs about Ellen I am attacking, not Ellen White. To say that David was wrong, wrong, wrong, to kill Uriah and take Bathsheba, is not attacking David; it is saving David. To say that Peter was wrong, wrong, wrong to withdraw socially from Gentile Christians, is not discrediting Peter; it is saving Peter. To say that Ellen was wrong on the age of the earth and the length of creation is not discrediting Ellen; it is editing and improving Ellen, and will result in her writings’ being of continued use to this generation, instead of ending up on the trash-heap of uselessness. Being wrong, as she occasionally was, is not a sin, it is an error. But holding to a sweet error when the evidence has long since shown it is wrong, is the sin, perhaps unforgivable, of idolizing the writer, instead of loving and obeying the truth.
"Please, Adventists, back off on the adoration, glorification, veneration, idealization, romanticization, and near-deification of Sister Ellen. 'Let God be true, though every man a liar' (Romans 3:4, emphasis added). Let her be wrong when she was wrong; respect her when she was right, as she so often was. Sister White never claimed inerrancy or infallibility.
"Please read carefully the new Ellen White Encyclopedia article on 'Revelation and Inspiration,' and note her own words, 'Everything that is human is imperfect' (EGW Encyclopedia, page 1100). And for even clearer illustrations of that in her own life, please buy and read Ellen Harmon White from the Oxford University Press.
"Even though Dr. C.E. Stewart saw some of her errors, his children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren still use and value her ministry, and remain faithful Seventh-day Adventists. Those who idolize her instead of valuing her may live to regret it.”
4One quotation I would have liked to include, but have not because it came from Ellen’s son, W.C. White. Nevertheless, it has been a gem to me. Surely this wise advice from Ellen could apply to the chronology of the age of the earth and time of creation as well?
“Regarding Mother’s writings and their use as authority on points of history and chronology, Mother has never wished our brethren to treat them as authority regarding the details of history or historical dates. The great truths revealed to Mother regarding the controversy between good and evil, light and darkness, have been given to her in various ways, but chiefly as flashlight views of great events…” “In past years whenever definite proof has been found that the writers of our Adventist literature had come short of finding the exact proof regarding details, Mother has taken her position in favor of correcting those things that were clearly found to be in error.
“It seems to me there is danger of placing altogether too much stress upon chronology. If it had been essential to the salvation of man that he should have a clear and harmonious understanding of the chronology of the world, the Lord would not have permitted the disagreements and discrepancies which we find in the writings of the Bible historians, and it seems to me that in these last days there ought not to be so much controversy regarding dates.”
“It seems to me… that there is great possibility of our weakening our influence by closing our eyes to the fact that we are all as little children learning from day to day from the great Teacher, and that it is our privilege to advance in knowledge and understanding. It seems to me that it is much wiser for us to convince the world that God has been leading us, and that He is leading us by presenting from time to time, unanswerable evidences regarding the soundness of our position by a clear presentation of the correspondence of prophecy and history through the use of historical data which the world cannot question, than by any efforts that we shall make to prove that the positions we held last year or ten years ago or twenty years ago or thirty years ago were infallible and unchangeable" (W.C. White, in Selected Messages, book 3, p. 449).
52 Chronicles 20:20
Thank you for writing this article, I appreciated your observations and insights very much. I have not been troubled by this issue as I have never considered Mrs. White as infallible. She like the rest of us was human, with the broken nature we all have. God used the Spiritual Gift of prophecy through her as He had many in the past and as Joel tells us He will in the future.
If we believe Mrs. White was used by God to bring special messages, then we have nothing to prove, ever. It ia only as we doubt the veracity of the claims made about her during her life and after, there arises a problem. When I say doubt, I am refering to those spend vast time, effort, rescouces, trying to prove that which does not need to be proved if it is Truth.
Either she was used by God or she wasn't! Lets stop wasting valuable time, money, resources which could be used on sending the Gospel of God's Grace to a world craving that very thing.
During my long lifetime I have met some "fanatics" of EGW who used her constantly and often in harsh condemnations. There are two sides to the EGW coin and often those are the two extremes which people choose.
For those who are benefited by her writings, great; but please do not try to convince everyone else of you opinions as all Adventists should have. There are many good Adventists who choose to use the Bible only and they are neither more or less saintly than her devotees. "Let everyone be persuaded in his own mind" is an excellent motto to follow.
Couldn't agree more.
Jack,
Excellent! Thank you for using her pen to help us put her pen in proper perspective. Though I couldn't help but notice you included an item about reconciling geology and scripture. 🙂
How interesting that yesterday at church a member explained to me that our local congregation is caught up in a controversy regarding whether or not we should honor and employ the writings of Ellen G. White in our ministry and study. He informed me that our local pastor wants to turn away from EGW and that a group of our members has risen up to resist him in this matter. Yet I was seated in the congregation, at a location in the hall regarded as having the very best acoustical qualities, and I distinctly remember that the pastor employed in his sermon at least two substantial quotes from her writings. Apparently where he got into trouble was when he pointed out from her writings themselves that one of her primary goals in writing was to encourage Adventists to turn to the Bible, first and foremost, as in, " I commend to you this Book," (holding aloft a copy of the Bible).
A visitor with a commanding voice seated directly behind me, several times during the sermon literally broke into the pastor's address yesterday, uttering "No, Sir!" and "That's not right, Sir."
Is our denomination indeed undergoing a schism over the matter of Ellen G. White, or is her name and work being used as a foil for a dispute over something deeper and more fundamental than her ministry itself?
Edwin, you have stubbled across and irony there. As you rightly say, Mrs White very much prompted us to use the Bible, and claimed her voice was only as a lesser light leading to the Bible. I believe she also said:
‘In public labor do not make prominent, and quote that which Sister White has written, as authority to sustain your positions. To do this will not increase faith in the testimonies. Bring your evidences, clear and plain, from the Word of God. A [p. 30] "Thus saith the Lord" is the strongest testimony you can possibly present to the people. Let none be educated to look to Sister White, but to the mighty God, who gives instruction to Sister White.’ (Letter 11, 1894.)
As far as I am concerned, the Church service is public labor. If your Church has no non-Adventist visitors in the audience, but only speaking to Adventists, then your Church is doing something wrong. Our usual local Church service is about 25% non-Adventist visitors, so using in-Adventist jargon and Ellen White is discouraged by convention as confusing those visitors – in accordance with Mrs White's own counsel.
But I don't think the Church is undergoing a schism re Ellen White. In the under 40s (my demographic), and in even the younger groups (I teach teen SS), I would rather say Ellen White is heading towards irrelevancy. But that is not necessarily a bad thing, if she was primarily a non-cannonical prophet, like Nathan, whose own book never made it into the biblical cannon per 1 Chron 29:29.
It's possible.
Without Ellen White, there would not be an SDA Church. She was instrumental in its formation, she was guided by the Holy Spirit for God's wisdom to the young church as it struggled in the early years.She provided overseership for 60 years.She was a prolific writer, some inspiration, some not, as were all other prophets.Her inspiration in health leadership has resulted in one of the largest Hospital systems in the world, including research excellence.Also the 2nd largest private school system.She was a person of the nineteenth century,and wrote of the general knowledge of the day, not of fantastic future discoveries of the 20th & 21st, whereby the knowledge since her passing has surpassed that of all since the time of man on the Earth. She could not have written of these magnificient advances,and she didn't, however she stated there would be new light in some areas that would challenge the ridgidity of some earlier views of some church fundamentalists, and they would retain earlier believed positions that new knowledge would dispell.
i am a Christian today, because i read Ellen's book, "Steps to Christ", at the most vulnerable time in my life. Ellen's witness to millions i feel certain brought them to their knees, and to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord for her lifetime witness to millions.
Lumbering, contorted apologetics for Ellen White has a sense of desperation whenever and wherever it appears. Parsing her etymology, explaining her errors, loading her quotations onto bellies of verbal bombers to blast dissenters, the exercise of logical gyrations and mental curlicues, reveal nothing about her, but everything about those who need to validate their view of her.
Of the dozens of "case in points" raised here, just analyze this one: "WE NEED TO RECONCILE GEOLOGY WITH SCRIPTURE." Is there really any possible way in the entire universe to validate this idiotic statement? Nope.
Attempting to force a wet noodle down a worm hole says nothing about the noodle. But it does raise questions about why the pusher is attempting to do the impossible. In other words, EGW is not the problem. She is what she was/is. She is the wet noodle. The more you shove her around the more convoluted and ridiculous the result.
It's way past time to give up the reinterpretation to conform her to some imagined template that is based on a presupposition she was somehow special. As stated elsewhere in a reply above, she has become "irrelevant" because she is not an authority on anything to anyone, except for those who long for the good old days that are long gone. Long gone.
My point is, the attempt to rehabilitate her as a legitimate spokesperson for all things is futile. History tracks sages of all kinds. She was one of many. Most offered something of value. She did, too. Spirit of Prophecy? Not so much.
14-20 million people alive today have found the Message that came to them through the "wet noodle" of Ellen White was truer than anything else they have ever found. In fact it is her extreme value for our spirituality that has made some of us worship her, instead of worshiping her God. Sorry, she is very special, unique, most often deeply insightful, inspired, and spiritually wise.
Listen to what her doubters said of her, to remind us of her value to our souls. These are John Harvey Kellogg's words after years of controversy with her:
"~~“Dr. Kellogg: I have written Sister White repeatedly during all this controversy; I have written her every little while—“Sister White, don’t be alarmed at the statements that have been made to you; don’t believe the reports that are being sent to you about my attitude towards you. You have been my friend all my life, and I am your friend and am going to remain so no matter what your attitude is, what you may say about me, and what you do—I am not going to take up any campaign against you, for you have been my friend, the best friend I ever had, and I remain there just that way and shall stand there notwithstanding.” I have maintained that attitude, and I propose to keep that attitude. I recognize the fact that Sister White has been a messenger of truth to the world.
“I do not believe in her infallibility and never did. I told her eight years ago [1899] to her face that some of the things she has sent to me as testimonies were not the truth, that they were not in harmony with the facts, and she herself found it out. I have a letter from her in which she explains how she came to send me some things. She charged me with things I never had done at all, and I got a letter from her in which she explains that she thought I had done them—she drew an inference that I had, and she was worried about it. I never made a public matter of that thing…I have not made it public and am not going to do it. Just think of it—a man who has got as much business as I have, to pursue a feeble old lady, to try to show up that she is a fraud when she is not a fraud, to try to show up that she is dishonorable and really an immoral woman when I know she is not. Anybody that knows anything about Sister White’s career knows that she has been a woman who has worked for truth and righteousness, and if you can find a flaw here and there or some plagiarism here and there that is a mistake and a blunder and a slip and never ought to have been done, but now that does not invalidate the good that she has done, and I don’t feel that I want my name connected with anything that does that thing…”
“…I can see the weak spots and still hang onto the strong ones. I propose to do that thing and not to throw a stumbling block in anyone’s way. I got down on my knees and prayed to the Lord to help me, to hold me back from doing any such thing.”
Bugs, unlike ex-Adventist Kellogg you have gotten off your knees and wish us to join you in your complete denial of the Gift we have had in a woman like Ellen White. Please accept my sincere and informed opposition to your opinion. I'm not sure why you feel burdened to trash our attempts to hold onto what is precious, while washing away the surrounding rubbish. At times it feels like you think that anyone who hasn't come to your conclusions is an imbicile? You certainly use disrespectful words when discussing my articles with a different view than yours, why is that necessary? Jack.
Thank you Jack, where can I find this letter?
Jack, I grant her a limited Gift. I have no desire to "trash" her in any way. She is not a wet noodle except when noodle pushers try to make her what she isn't. Some people have benefited by her ministry. But not because she was an expert on everything. Most of her pronouncements about science and medicine are rooted in the knowledge of the day. Now they are known to be incorrect, faulty, and otherwise useless. Knowledge has advanced. Now we know the world wasn't created in seven days seven thousand years ago. Noah's flood is a myth. You can deny these two items all you want, you can spend the rest of your days pushing a wet noodle down a worm hole. In medicine if an aspirin doesn't improve a patient, you don't keep giving him aspirins. I encourage you to quit pushing wet noodles!
I grew up with EGW as one of my internalized parents. I eventually tossed her out with my other ones. Appreciation for them didn't end. I abandoned the limits they place on my psyche. Afterwards when I crossed a street I no longer had a voice telling me mommy would be mad at me if I didn't look both ways. I took charge of my spiritual life as well, no longer needed or wanted EGW to provide her version of guidance. I later read most of her books, scanned countless compilations, and enjoyed some uplift from some of it. Her area of expertise, in my mind, was limited to the same boundaries I found in other spiritual writings. I learned that much of the aura around her was myth (including magically holding a large Bible outstretched for long time periods), promoted by noodle pushers with agendas (White family i.e.). I learned some of the beautiful things she said were done with borrowed words. Then I learned she didn't always practice what she preached. And sometimes her opinion was represented as vision, I discovered.
She was a flawed spiritual guide (well documented by your quote from Kellogg). But not useless. Yes, the SDA church probably wouldn't exist without her work. The trouble arises when she is elevated to a super human, almost holy, contributor as the Spirit of Prophecy. Where that doesn't fit, noodle pushers try to reclaim that flawed appointment from the past by what I judge to be mindless locutions.
The SDA church is not going away. It can positively adventure on with her being a useful guide, but not as the Spirit of Prophecy torchbearer. Sorry, there is no Spirit of Prophecy outside of pregnant imaginations.
Darrel, I was given a photocopy of the Kellogg Interview of 1907 with the Newbold papers including the CE Stewart Blue Book I wrote about in BLUE BOOK. A Google search did not show an online copy, but listed PUC/LaSierra/Avondale libraries as sources of this document.
~~http://www.worldcat.org/title/authentic-interview-between-elder-gw-amadon-elder-ac-bordeau-and-dr-john-harvey-kellogg-in-battle-creek-michigan-on-october-7th-1907/oclc/28955954
Jack, my intent has never been to disrespect you in any way. I see you as a very intelligent, able minded person. I value your profession. I know you put a lot of thought and effort into your writings. My challenges are not intended to be impolite in any way. I reread your reply and I see these words, "the Gift we had in a woman Like Ellen White," my (me-Larry) "trash [your] attempts to hold onto what is precious while washing away the rubbish." I apologize for not figuring it out from my previous irritation a few months ago that you have a level of investment in your work for an audience that isn't me. My views are always fair game for attack and challenge and I welcome the interchange. But I defer and I heartfully extend my apologies to you.
"idiotic" "lumbering" "contorted" "noodle pushers" are criticisms and denigrations of people not ideas, I'm sure with some practice you could seperate your judgment on the abilities of your opponents from the ideas they are promoting and you disagree with. Once you cross the street away from your mother's directions, it is not very helpful to look back over your shoulder and shout insults at her!
Let's close with our "Mother White" again. ~~ " So frail, so ignorant, so liable to misconception is human nature, that each should be careful in the estimate he places upon another.” I'll try to do that. Thanks for doing the same to me.
That was then. Later, Dr.Kellogg had a very different opinion of EGW.
Citing Kellogg as a credible source is fraught with other serious liabilities. Two of his books,
Plain Facts about Sexual Life and later Plain Facts for Old and Young were garbage heaps of distortion and misinformation. His pantheistic views were troubling to the SDA church in his time.
So could we conclude that both Ellen and Dr Kellogg changed their minds at various times?