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Exposing Adventism - We Respect Bible But Ellen Is The Lord's Messenger

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Our Faith Founded on Truth

I long daily to be able to do double duty. I have been pleading with the Lord for strength and wisdom to reproduce the writings of the witnesses who were confirmed in the faith and in the early history of the message. After the passing of the time in 1844 they received the light and walked in the light, and when the men claiming to have new light would come in with their wonderful messages regarding various points of Scripture, we had, through the moving of the Holy Spirit, testimonies right to the point, which cut off the influence of such messages as Elder G has been devoting his time to presenting. [REFERENCE IS HERE MADE TO TEACHINGS ON THE SANCTUARY QUESTION--AT VARIANCE WITH THOSE HELD BY SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS THROUGH THE YEARS--WHICH DENIED THE FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY IN 1844 AND REPUDIATED THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST IN THE INVESTIGATIVE JUDGMENT.--COMPILERS.] This poor man has been working decidedly against the truth that the Holy Spirit has confirmed.

When the power of God testifies as to what is truth, that truth is to stand forever as the truth. No after suppositions contrary to the light God has given are to be entertained. Men will arise with interpretations of Scripture which are to them truth, but which are not truth. The truth for this time God has given us as a foundation for our faith. He Himself has taught us what is truth. One will arise, and still another, with new light, which contradicts the light that God has given under the demonstration of His Holy Spirit. A few are still alive who passed through the experience gained in the establishment of this truth. God has graciously spared their lives to repeat, and repeat till the close of their lives, the experience through which they passed even as did John the apostle till the very close of his life. And the standard bearers who have fallen in death are to speak through the reprinting of their writings. I am instructed that thus their voices are to be heard. They are to bear their testimony as to what constitutes the truth for this time.

We are not to receive the words of those who come with a message that contradicts the special points of our faith. They gather together a mass of Scripture, and pile it as proof around their asserted theories. This has been done over and over again during the past fifty years. And while the Scriptures are God's word, and are to be respected, the application of them, if such application moves one pillar from the foundation that God has sustained these fifty years, is a great mistake. He who makes such an application knows not the wonderful demonstration of the Holy Spirit that gave power and force to the past messages that have come to the people of God.

Elder G's proofs are not reliable. If received, they would destroy the faith of God's people in the truth that has made us what we are.

We must be decided on this subject; for the points that he is trying to prove by Scripture, are not sound. They do not prove that the past experience of God's people was a fallacy. We had the truth; we were directed by the angels of God. It was under the guidance of the Holy Spirit that the presentation of the sanctuary question was given. It is eloquence for every one to keep silent in regard to the features of our faith in which they acted no part. God never contradicts Himself. Scripture proofs are misapplied if forced to testify to that which is not true. Another and still another will arise and bring in supposedly great light, and make their assertions. But we stand by the old landmarks. {1 John 1:1-10 quoted.}

I am instructed to say that these words we may use as appropriate for this time, for the time has come when sin must be called by its right name. We are hindered in our work by men who are not converted, who seek their own glory. They wish to be thought originators of new theories, which they present claiming that they are truth. But if these theories are received, they will lead to a denial of the truth that for the past fifty years God has been giving to His people, substantiating it by the demonstration of the Holy Spirit.--Letter 329, 1905 (Selected Messages, Vol 1, page 160-161).

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The Truths That Have Been Revealed

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Learn to take the truths that have been revealed, and to handle them in such a way that they will be food for the flock of God.

We shall meet those who allow their minds to wander into idle speculations about things of which nothing is said in the Word of God. God has spoken in the plainest language upon every subject that affects the salvation of the soul. But He desires us to avoid all day dreaming, and He says, Go work today in my vineyard. The night cometh wherein no man can work. Cease all idle curiosity; watch, and work, and pray. Study the truths that have been revealed. Christ desires to break up all vacant reveries, and He points us to the fields ripe for the harvest. Unless we work earnestly, eternity will overwhelm us with its burden of responsibility....

In the days of the apostles the most foolish heresies were presented as truth. History has been and will be repeated. There will always be those who, though apparently conscientious, will grasp at the shadow, preferring it to the substance. They take error in the place of truth, because error is clothed with a new garment, which they think covers something wonderful. But let the covering be removed, and nothingness appears.--The Review and Herald, Feb. 5, 1901. (Selected Messages, Volume 1, page 162)

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Questions of Eternal Import

Dwell upon the lessons that Christ dwelt upon. Present them to the people as He presented them. Dwell upon questions that concern our eternal welfare. Anything that the enemy can devise to divert the mind from God's Word, anything new and strange that he can originate to create a diversity of sentiment, he will introduce as something wonderfully important. But those things that we cannot clearly comprehend are not a tenth as important to us as are the truths of God's Word that we can clearly comprehend and bring into our daily life. We are to teach the people the lessons that Christ brought into His teachings from the Old Testament Scriptures. The language of divine truth is exceedingly plain.--Letter 16, 1903. (Selected Messages, Volume 1, page 163)

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Points Unnecessary for Faith

There are many questions treated upon that are not necessary for the perfection of the faith. We have no time for their study. Many things are above finite comprehension. Truths are to be received not within the reach of our reason, and not for us to explain. Revelation presents them to us to be implicitly received as the words of an infinite God. While every ingenious inquirer is to search out the truth as it is in Jesus, there are things not yet simplified, statements that human minds cannot grasp and reason out, without being liable to make human calculation and explanations, which will not prove a savor of life unto life.

But every truth which is essential for us to bring into our practical life, which concerns the salvation of the soul, is made very clear and positive.--Letter 8, 1895. (Selected Messages, Vol 1, page 163)


Quote (Arthur White, grandson of Ellen White, and for years the head of the Ellen G. White Estate, made the following claim):

"Seventh-day Adventists are uniquely fortunate in approaching the question of the inspiration of the prophets. We are not left to find our way, drawing all our conclusions from writings of two thousand years and more ago that have come down to us through varied transcriptions and translations. With us it is an almost contemporary matter, for we have had a prophet in our midst. It is generally granted by the careful student of her works that the experience of Ellen White was not different from that of the prophets of old ...

What is more, rather than having in our possession only relatively few chapters or a handful of letters, as is the case with the extant records of the Bible prophets, we have the full range of Ellen White writings penned through a period of seventy years ... Further, she wrote in the English language, so we are not confronted with problems of translation and only rarely with those of transcription." (Arthur L. White, The Ellen White Writings, Chapter 1, p. 15, Toward a Factual Concept of Inspiration, Adventists Uniquely Fortunate)

Title Page URL: http://www.ellenwhitedefend.com/Testimonials/EGWW-index.htm
Section URL: http://www.ellenwhitedefend.com/Testimonials/EGWWc01.html

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"Seventh-day Adventist hold that EGW performed the work of a true prophet during the seventy years of her public ministry. As Samuel was a prophet, as Jermiah was a prophet, as John the Baptist, so we believe that Mrs. White was a prophet to the church of Christ today". (Review and Herald, October 4, 1928)

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The historic sanctuary message, based on Scripture and supported by the writings of Ellen White, continues to be held to unequivocally. And the inspired authorities on which these and other doctrines are based, namely the Bible supported by the writings of Ellen White, continue to be the hermeneutical foundation on which we as a church place all matters of faith and conduct. Let no one think that there has been a change of position in regard to this. (Jan Paulsen, "The Theological Landscape," 2002, http://www.adventistreview.org/2002-1524/story3.html)

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"The Bible is an infallible guide but it needs to be infallibly interpreted, to avoid confusion and division. When will the people of God cease trusting in their own wisdom? When will they come to the place where they will cease to measure, construe, and interpret by their own reason what God says to them through His appointed channel? When we come to the place where we place no trust in man or in the wisdom of man, but unquestionably accept and act upon what God says through this gift, then will the spirit of prophecy as set before us in the Bible and confirmed among us and become in fact a counselor, guide and final court of appeal among God's people." (Adventist Review, June 3. 1971, page 6, The Source of Final Appeal, By Roderick S. Owen)
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"How advantaged the Seventh-day Adventist Church is to have a modern inspired interpreter of both the Old and New Testaments! Surely there is every logical reason to give the inspired interpretation top priority in arriving at our understanding of the world today." (Sabbath School Quarterly, April-June 1976, page 92, Lesson Author Gordon M. Hyde, Editor W. Richard Lesher)
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"It is from the standpoint of the light that has come through the Spirit of Prophecy (Mrs. White’s writings) that the question will be considered, believing as we do that the Spirit of Prophecy is the only infallible interpreter of Bible principles, since it is that Christ, through this agency, giving real meaning of his own words." (from the tract The Mark of the Beast, p. 1, G. A. Irwin, General Conference President)

Seventh-day Adventists "respect the Bible", but as an official position, Seventh-day Adventists do NOT believe in an inerrant Bible.

From http://www.adventist.org/beliefs/statements/main_stat21.html

The Holy Scriptures lie at the foundation of the Seventh-day Adventist understanding of purpose, message, and mission. We respect the Bible as the message of God transmitted through human writers. Although the format of the Scriptures manifests itself in human language, background, and historical setting, its content consists of divine messages conveyed to humanity as a whole, and especially to believers in God. Above the diversity reflected in human language stands the unifying truth that ties together the whole into the Word of God.

The Scriptures provide authentic, reliable reports of the Creator God and His activities in bringing into existence the world as well as its inhabitants. They provide knowledge of origins, give meaning to life, and disclose the ultimate destiny of humanity.

Above all, the Scriptures bear testimony to Jesus Christ who is the ultimate revelation, God among us. Both Old and New Testaments bear witness to Him. For these reasons the Holy Scriptures stand as the infallible revelation of God's will, the norm for Christian values and life, the measure of all things within human experience, and the sole reliable guide to salvation in Christ.

This statement was approved and voted by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Administrative Committee (ADCOM) and was released by the Office of the President, Robert S. Folkenberg, at the General Conference session in Utrecht, the Netherlands, June 29-July 8, 1995.

Notice that the word "infallible" refers ONLY to "the revelation of God's will" and not to His book, the Bible in whole.

Notice that the word "autographa" does not appear, also.

The emphasis is on the "message", a word repeated twice in the first paragraph. They also say "They 'respect the Bible'..." That is such a weasel word, it is pathetic; it can mean anything, and to them, the 'message of the Bible" is the message of Ellen, as I prove below.

But Seventh-day Adventists consider Ellen White to be the "Lord's messenger".

From http://www.adventist.org/beliefs/fundamental/index.html

18. The Gift of Prophecy:
One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is prophecy. This gift is an identifying mark of the remnant church and was manifested in the ministry of Ellen. G. White. As the Lord's messenger, her writings are a continuing and authoritative source of truth which provide for the church comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction. They also make clear that the Bible is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested. (Joel 2:28, 29; Acts 2:14-21; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 12:17; 19:10.)

Where does the previous statement say that Scripture is a "source of truth"? NO! BUT THEY RESPECT THE BIBLE

Where does the previous statement state that the Bible is "authoritative"? NO! BUT THEY RESPECT THE BIBLE

Where do they ever make a reference to 2 Timothy 3:16 stating that the Bible is guidance, correction, instruction, etc? NOWHERE! Yet they use these words to describe the mere words of Ellen. BUT THEY RESPECT THE BIBLE

Do you notice the antecedent of the sentence beginning with "They also make clear ..." That is in the previous sentence, and it refers to the words of Ellen. That makes it abundantly clear that the LORD'S MESSENGER is Ellen and by definition,the only, and inescapable conclusion is that her words are superior to the Bible It is impossible to read otherwise. NO! BUT THEY RESPECT THE BIBLE

Provided by John_T

 

 
Our Observation

Mormonism, like Adventism, also elevates their prophet above the Scriptures. Mormonism teaches that if a person prays about the Book of Mormon "with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it (the Book of Mormon) unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost." (Book of Mormon, Moroni 10:4, insert added) If this is done, "your bosom shall burn within you" to show that it is true (Doctrine and Covenants, 9:8)

When a Mormon says that, he will generally pat his chest and say he received a burning of the bosom to know that it is true. It would be agreed that the bosom contains the heart. Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" In other words, we are not to rely on feelings because they are notoriously unreliable. Feelings change about as often as the direction of the winds.

The Bereans knew nothing of a "burning bosom" to determine if God's word is true. In fact, they "searched the scriptures daily, whether those things [Paul taught] were so." (Acts 17:11, insert added) Paul commended them for doing this, saying that they were "more noble than those in Thessalonica" for testing his teachings. We are to "Prove all things, hold fast that which is good." (1 Thessalonians 5:21) If Paul commended those who tested him, how much more should we test others who claim to be prophets?

From http://www.concernedchristians.org/nocomparison_bom7.php

 
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Unless otherwise noted, all original material on this ExposingAdventism.com website is © 2007-2008 by Gilbert Jorgensen. Careful effort has been made to give credit as clearly as possible to any specific material quoted or ideas extensively adapted from any one resource. Corrections and clarifications regarding citations for any source material are welcome, and will be promptly added to any sections which are found to be inadequately documented as to source.