An
Unguarded Statement
“When she spoke these words she had in mind the ideas of
the people regarding a prophet as one
whose chief office was to predict events, and she wanted them to understand
that that was not her place in the world. I am fully persuaded that John
the Baptist cherished the same idea when he denied being “that prophet.”—WCW to A. M. Taylor, July 6,
1933 (see DF 108a). {5BIO 355.5}
Ellen
White made it clear that her office WAS NOT to predict events, and she
wanted them to understand that that was not her place in the world. “I have been instructed to say,
“I am God’s messenger, sent to bear a message of reproof to the erring and of
encouragement to the meek and lowly.” With pen and with voice I am to bear the
messages given me. The word given me is, “You are faithfully to reprove those
who would mar the faith of the people of God. Write out the things which I
shall give you, that they may stand as a witness to
the truth till the end of time.”—The Review and Herald,
January 26, 1905. {5BIO 356.2}
Some
have scorned me and my commission as well, because it is not my office to
predict events, but to show the House of Jacob its abominable heresies and warn
of the consequences of not having repented for such. I once said that I
predicted that the war with Iran would occur by the summer/fall of 2012. I
immediately qualified that I was not prophesying such, but believed this would
occur based on world events.
All
of us have predicted something at one time or another, but did not think of
ourselves as prophesying. The word predict has more
than one meaning. Weathermen predict (forecast) the weather every day, but they
don’t think of themselves as receiving a prophesy from
God on the weather! I made my prediction in the same vein. But I admitted that
the word prediction was a poor choice, because some very vile detractors jumped
right on that word! But if the “forecast” comes true,
they would never say I was a true prophet, even though they are saying I
prophesied the event. With such persons, you are damned any which way you move!
People
want a sign, but like the Jews, they would not believe if an angel rose one from
the dead in front of them. Jesus proved this in raising Lazarus from the dead. rwb
An Unguarded
Statement
“An
interesting event occurred at one of the Tabernacle meetings. On Sunday,
October 2, Ellen White addressed an audience of 2,500, including many Battle
Creek citizens. She took this occasion to talk about herself and her work, and
she spoke without notes. Reminding them that they had heard her speak many
times, she declared that she bore exactly the same message now as she always
had—the same message she had written in her books. “The truth that we proclaim
today,” she said, “is the same truth that we proclaimed for the last fifty
years.”—Manuscript 140, 1905. Then she startled her
hearers by saying: {5BIO 354.3}
“I
am not, as I said yesterday, a prophet. I do not claim to be a leader; I claim
to be simply a messenger of God, and that is all I have ever claimed.”—DF 108a, W. E. Cornell report,
in AGD to WCW, May 23, 1906. {5BIO
354.4}
Her
reference to the Sabbath meeting was to words she used in speaking of the
appellations people had applied to her. Here are her words from the Sabbath
meeting: {5BIO 354.5}
They
say she is a prophetess, they say she is this and that and the other thing—I
claim to be no such thing. I will tell you what I want you all to know, that I am a
messenger that God has taken from a feeble, very feeble child, and in my
girlhood gave me a message, and here you see the effects that made me what I
am, a cruel stone thrown by a hand and broke my nose, and thereby I have been
made an invalid for life.... Now I want to tell you this, that Mrs. White does
not call herself a prophetess or a leader of this people. She calls herself
simply a messenger.... {5BIO 354.6}
Some
who are not belonging to our church ... listen to Mrs. White, and you know what
my testimony has been though, and the same testimony has been borne from that
time that you have heard, and long before, to the people. I have not gone back
on one sentiment on temperance, not one sentiment religiously. It is just the
same, and that is why I was to write it, that it should go to the people, and
that it should live all through the half century.— Ibid. {5BIO 355.1}
What
she said in the Sunday meeting was this:
{5BIO 355.2}
I
want you [“those who have got the books that God has bidden me to write when
that hand trembled so that it seemed an impossibility”] to read the
books—Patriarchs and Prophets (I expected to have them here on the stand before
us), Great
Controversy,
Desire of Ages, Ministry of Healing[, which] is nearly
done, and a great many other books. I am not, as I said yesterday, a prophet. I do not claim
to be a leader; I claim to be simply a messenger of God, and that is all I have
ever claimed.— Ibid. {5BIO 355.3}
Monday,
the newspapers at Battle Creek heralded the news: The woman the Adventists had
believed in all these years as a prophet had now come straight out and said she
was not a prophet after all! This naturally brought questions from Adventists
as well. Ellen White and church leaders found that an explanation must be made.
She took opportunity on several occasions to explain carefully the thoughts she
intended to convey by her statement. W. C. White observed in a way that throws
considerable light on the matter, as follows:
{5BIO 355.4}
When
she spoke these words she had in mind the ideas of the people regarding a
prophet as one whose chief office was to predict events, and she wanted them to
understand that that was not her place in the world. I am fully persuaded that John the Baptist cherished the
same idea when he denied being “that prophet.”—WCW to A. M. Taylor, July 6, 1933 (see DF 108a). {5BIO 355.5}
Within
a few weeks Ellen White recalled for the readers of the Review what she said,
and gave the following clarification:
{5BIO 355.6}
Sunday
afternoon I spoke again in the Tabernacle. The meeting had been advertised, and
there were present many citizens of Battle Creek who were not of our faith. At
this meeting I assured my hearers that we held the same principles of truth
that we had so many times set before them in past years.... {5BIO 356.1}
I
said that I did not claim to be a prophetess. I have not stood before the
people claiming this title, though many called me thus. I have been instructed to say,
“I am God’s messenger, sent to bear a message of reproof to the erring and of
encouragement to the meek and lowly.” With pen and with voice I am to bear the
messages given me. The word given me is, “You are faithfully to reprove those
who would mar the faith of the people of God. Write out the things which I
shall give you, that they may stand as a witness to
the truth till the end of time.”—The Review and Herald, January 26, 1905. {5BIO 356.2}
But
there was a continued misuse of her unguarded statement, and further
explanations were called for. She prepared an article entitled “A Messenger,”
which was published in the Ibid., July 26, 1906. In
this she explained: {5BIO 356.3}
When
I was last in Battle Creek, I said before a large congregation that I did not
claim to be a prophetess. Twice I referred to this matter, intending each time
to make the statement, “I do not claim to be a prophetess.” If I spoke
otherwise than this, let
all now understand that what I had in mind to say was that I do not claim the
title of prophet or prophetess. {5BIO 356.4}
I
understood that some were anxious to know if Mrs. White still held the same
views that she did years ago when they had heard her speak in the sanitarium
grove, in the Tabernacle, and at the camp meetings held in the suburbs of
Battle Creek. I assured them that the message she bears today is the same that
she has borne during the sixty years of her public ministry. She has the same
service to do for the Master that was laid upon her in her girlhood. She
receives lessons from the same Instructor. The directions given her are, “Make known to others what
I have revealed to you. Write out the messages that I give you, that the people
may have them.” This is what she has endeavored to do.—Ibid.,
July 26, 1906(Selected Messages 1:35). Further explanations appear in this
article, now published in full in Ibid., 1:31-35. We
refer to some: {5BIO 356.5}
Some
have stumbled over the fact that I said I did not claim to be a prophet; and
they have asked, Why is this? {5BIO 357.1}
I
have had no claims to make, only that I am instructed that I am the Lord’s
messenger; that He called me in my youth to be His messenger, to receive His
word, and to give a clear and decided message in the name of the Lord Jesus. {5BIO 357.2}
Early
in my youth I was asked several times, Are you a prophet? I have ever responded, I am the Lord’s messenger. I know that many have called me
a prophet, but I have made no claim to this title. My Saviour declared me to be
His messenger. “Your work,” He instructed me, “is to bear My
word.”... {5BIO 357.3}
Why
have I not claimed to be a prophet? Because in these days many who boldly claim
that they are prophets are a reproach to the cause of Christ; and because my work includes much more than
the word “prophet” signifies.... {5BIO 357.4}
God
has made plain to me the various ways in which He would use me to carry forward
a special work. Visions
have been given me, with the promise, “If you deliver the messages faithfully
and endure to the end, you shall eat of the fruit of the tree of life, and drink
of the water of the river of life.”—Ibid., 1:31-33.
{5BIO 357.5}
After
describing the breadth of the work she was commissioned to do, she declared: {5BIO 357.6}
To
claim to be a prophetess is something that I have never done. If others call me
by that name, I have no controversy with them. But my work has covered so many
lines that I cannot call myself other than a messenger sent to bear a message
from the Lord to His people, and to take up work in any line that He points
out.—Ibid., 1:34. {5BIO 357.7}
I
am now instructed that I am not to be hindered in my work by those who engage
in suppositions regarding its nature, whose minds are struggling with so many
intricate problems connected with the supposed work of a prophet. My commission
embraces the work of a prophet, but it does not end there. It embraces much
more than the minds of those who have been sowing the seeds of unbelief can
comprehend.”—Letter
244, 1906, addressed to elders of Battle Creek church (Selected Messages 1:36). {5BIO 357.8}