Ellen White's Critics and Isaiah 8:20
"But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. 2 Peter 2:10.
"Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities." Jude 1:8.
The writer has read all of the criticisms of Ellen G. White, those appearing on the World-Wide Internet, and some that do not so appear as yet. It is interesting that all of the critics of Ellen G. White, fail the test of Isaiah 8:20. God has given man Isaiah 8:20, as a fast, efficient way of ruling out every wind of belief and doctrine. One can readily dismiss hundreds of belief systems, and thousands of individuals who are advocates of those false believe systems by one verse in Scripture. Every professing Christian should be forever grateful to God for Isaiah 8:20. Otherwise, one would have to spend a lifetime investigating the different belief systems.
All the critics of Ellen White on the Internet make one fatal mistake. They all violate Isaiah 8:20, in that they endorse D.M. Canright, and are thus corporately responsible for his allegiance to sunday-keeping, whether or not they keep sunday or not! Canright failed the test of Isaiah 8:20, and just as soon as any individual endorses Canright, he/she is corporately responsible for Canright's errors!
"If you seek to turn aside the counsel of God to suit yourselves, if you lessen the confidence of God's people in the Testimonies He has sent them, you are rebelling against God as certainly as were Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. You have their history. You know how stubborn they were in their own opinions. They decided that their judgment was better than that of Moses and that Moses was doing great injury to Israel. Those who united with them were so set in their opinions that, notwithstanding the judgments of God in a marked manner destroyed the leaders and the princes, the next morning the survivors came to Moses and said: 'Ye have killed the people of the Lord.' We see what fearful deception will come upon the human mind. How hard it is to convince souls that have become imbued with a spirit which is not of God." E.G. White, Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 66.
It is well known that D.M. Canright, was proud and vain, in that he let it be known that he felt he was a great speaker, and he felt he could draw larger audiences if he joined a sunday-keeping church. This was the simple but fatal failing of a fledgling, foolish-virgin. Those who endorse him are just as simple and just as foolish-virgin. We need say no more about the Ellen White critics, but we will!
Ellen G. White prophesied that near the end of all things a terrible hatred would be kindled against her Testimonies, and her work in general. One needs no more than to purvey the WorldWide Internet to discern that this prophecy has been abundantly fulfilled. Here are some of her statements:
"There will be a hatred kindled against the testimonies which is satanic. The workings of Satan wil be to unsettle the faith of the churches in them, for this reason: Satan cannot have so clear a track to bring in his deceptions and bind up souls in his delusions if the warnings and reproofs and counsels of the Spirit of God are heeded." E.G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 1, 48.
Those who perpetrate false notions concerning the Spirit of Prophecy gift to the church are agents of Satan. They are forwarding his cause on earth. They think they know what they are about, and that they are all right, when they are all wrong.
"One thing is certain: Those Seventh-day Adventists who take their stand under Satan's banner will first give up their faith in the warnings and reproofs contained in the Testimonies of God's Spirit." E.G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 3, p. 84.
Clearly, Ellen White said the Testimonies were of God's Spirit. This is no small claim. This should warrant no placing of credibility on the writings of those who openly violated the law of God in order to pursue their own way, such as Canright and Kellogg.
"I testify the things which I have seen, the things which I have heard, the things which my hands have handled, of the Word of Life. And this testimony I know to be of the Father and the Son. We have seen and do testify that the power of the Holy Ghost has accompanied the presentation of the truth, warning with pen and voice, and giving the messages in their order. To deny this work would be to deny the HolyGhost, and would place us in that company who have departed from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits.
"We have long been convinced that the teachings of the Holy Spirit in these visions were indispensable to the welfare of the people who are preparing for translation into the kingdom of God. In no other way can secret sin be rebuked and base men who creep 'in unawares' into the flock of God be exposed and baffled in their evil designs. Long experience has taught us that such a gift is of inestimable value to the people of God." Testimonies, vol. 1, 610.
"The enemy has made his masterly efforts to unsettle the faith of our own people in the Testimonies, and when these errors come in they claim to prove all the positions by the Bible, but they misinterpret the Scriptures. They make bold assertions, as did Elder Canright, and misapply the prophecies and the Scriptures to prove falsehood." The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, p. 739.
"If you lose confidence in theTestimonies you will drift away from Bible truth." Testimonies, vol. 5, 98.
One way many who have rejected the Testimonies, have fulfilled the above statement, is by returning to and/or joining sunday keeping churches. Thus they completely fulfill Isaiah 8:20.
"Soon every possible effort will be made to discount and pervert the truth of the testimonies of God's Spirit. We must have in readiness the clear, straight messages that since 1846 have been coming to God's people.
"As with the Bible, so with the Testimonies. Tose who desire to doubt will have plenty of room. God does no propose to remove all occasion for unbelief. He gives evidence, which must be carefully investigated with a humble mind and a teachable spirit; and all should decide from the weight of evidence." E.G. White Manuscript Releases Volume Nine, p. 204.
Unfortunately, the majority of professing Seventh-day Adventists are rjecting the Spirit of Prophecy because it does not agree with their long-cherished preferences and personal opinions versus the gold, tried in the fire, pure truth.
"In ancient times God spoke to men by the mouth of prophets and apostles. In these days He speaks to them by the Testimonies of His Spirit. There was neer a time when God instructed His people more earnestly than He instructs them now concerning His will and the course that He would have them pursue." Testimonies, vol. 4, pp. 147, 148.
"Let none entertain the thought that I regret or take back any plain testimony I have borne to individual or to the people. If I have erred anywhere, it is in not rebuking sin more decidedly and firmly. Some of the brethren have taken the responsibility of criticizing my work and proposing an easier way to correct wrongs. To these persons I wouls say: I take God's way and not yours. What I have said or written in testimony or reproof has not been too plainly expressed....
In light of the fact that Ellen White stated that those who reject light and truth will be found to NOT possess integrity, it behooves one to first weigh the character and integrity of those who "rush in like fools where Angels fear to tread," when it comes to indicting as fraudulant, any person, who has given his/her life to the cause of God in the earth, such as Ellen White certainly did. Can we achieve this "weighing" of character without judging? I believe we can. We are told that those who are right with God will posses the fruits of the Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit will not include acts which are not integral and are found to be in violation of Isaiah 8:20.
Let us consider some of the CHARACTERistics of some of Ellen White's past and current critics:
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