Part 16: Ellen White: Saint or Charlatan?
“You describe someone as a charlatan when they pretend to have skills or knowledge that they do not really possess” (
Source).
But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die (Deuteronomy 18:20).
“The Seventh-day Adventist Church believes that God has given divine inspiration to Ellen G. White…… The messages that came through Ellen White were just as much the word of God as the messages that came through Isaiah or Ezekiel……. The purpose of Ellen White is to reveal more clearly the plan of salvation which is already contained in the Bible…… We are concerned here about the source, the originating point of her messages. Did they come from God, or did they come from her own opinions or the ideas of others? She expressly says that her messages come from God, that the originating point is God. So let us remember that her claim is that the messages she writes are God's messages, not her messages” (
Source).
The above quote is that of Dennis Priebe, “a Seventh-day Adventist minister, with over 50 years experience as a pastor, a teacher, and seminar speaker. Eleven years were spent as a college professor at Pacific Union College, and over 30 years as a seminar speaker for Amazing Facts” (
Source).
Thus, if he doesn’t speak authoritatively for the SDA church, no one does. His discourse on the divine inspiration of ‘Sister’ White is filled with quotes from her writings which give no doubt as to her view that her words are from God alone.
Can a Prophet of God Lie?
Like the false prophet, Joseph Smith, who claimed knowledge of moon men (
source), Ellen White claimed knowledge of a 12-foot Adam and 11-foot Eve:
“And now God says to his Son, "Let us make man in our image." As Adam came forth from the hand of his Creator, he was of noble hight [sic], and of beautiful symmetry. He was more than twice as tall as men now living upon the earth, and was well proportioned. His features were perfect and beautiful. His complexion was neither white, nor sallow, but ruddy, glowing- with the rich tint of health. Eve was not quite as tall as Adam. Her head reached a little above his shoulders. She, too, was noble—perfect in symmetry, and very beautiful” (Ellen G. White, Spiritual Gifts 1864, 3:34; as cited by Adventist PhD candidate, Edwin Zackrison [
source]).
Though the Lord had raised up scores of highly educated, brilliant theologians throughout the centuries, whose knowledge included Hebrew, Greek and Latin, as well as an in-depth grasp of history, and whose vast catalogue of writings are studied in colleges and seminaries worldwide, according to the SDA the world lacked a woman with a 3rd grade education to finally explain salvation and the Bible correctly.
Adventist Pastor Walter Rea Fired for Exposing the White Lie
The Adventist publication, Spectrum Magazine, has published a must-read
article entitled,
The Great Controversy Over Plagiary: The Last Interview of Walter Rea.
Adventist author, T. Joe Willey, writes, “While in Orlando, Florida, Rea was given a book published by Ellen White. It was titled Sketches from the Life of Paul, published in 1883. When he showed this book to a church member, he was told that the problem with the book was that it had been copied from another book with the same title. Rea began a comparison study and found some of the literary borrowing in this book unsettling.”
Previous to his discovery, Rea admitted, “I thought that Ellen G. White was divine, a voice from God, and everything that she wrote came straight from God. And I was no different than most other churchgoing Adventists.”
“Following his discovery, Rea researched deeper into the implications of the very familiarity of the words, chapter titles, illustrations, patterns of thought, even biblical texts out of context, found in Edersheim, Harris, Melville and other authors when compared with the ‘originality’ of White’s writings. Finally, it struck him. “At this point, I was so dumbfounded that I went home, closed the door to my study, sat at my desk and wept!”
Rea and Other Adventists Question the Character of ‘Sister’ White
“After contemplating what this all meant to him, he began to reflect (I should say with a certain sadness) on the ‘sheer recklessness of plagiarism by Ellen White while claiming to be a prophet of God and still appropriating the works of others to save time or to create a better article or book to increase her fame.’ Rea went on to elaborate. “She was asked at one point, when confronted about her copying, who had been harmed? Well, I suppose you could say that plagiarism could do no harm to anyone today because the copyrights are extinguished. But now, of course, it is not what has been copied that harms the church, but what the copying and her explicit and implicit denials reveal about the character of Mrs. White.”
Pastor Rea goes to the heart of the issue. It is not the character of a true child of God to deceive others in order to promote herself, let alone promote herself as God’s end time messenger, who speaks in His name.
Rather, it is the attribute of a child of the Devil, the father of lies (John 8:44).
It is the fulfilling of Christ’s warnings:
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ [i.e. ‘anointed of God’];
and shall deceive many (Matthew 24:4-5).
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them (Matthew 7:15-20).
An insightful comment written by an Adventist, re: This article on Plagiarism
“The Vatican has spent four billion covering up the pedophilia in the Catholic Church.
While not spending four billion, Adventism has spent much energy, effort, expense and excercise in trying to refute, deny, explain away, Ellen’s dishonest “borrowing” of other writers’ ideas.
Her emphatic denial that she ever used any material other than her own, except that obtained from Angels, which she then supposedly placed in quotation marks, reveals,her dishonesty.
Her children and grandchildren have been in deep denial that their ancestor had vociferously and vehemently denied any plagiarism.
More recently, new evidence has come forward, that in addition to her “borrowing”, her extensive entourage of “literary assistants” were heavy contributors to her prolific output.
So any current reading of her vast bibliography means that any given paragraph, phrase, or page, is SUSPECT-- was it her original output, or was it plagiarized, or was it penned by one of her “secretaries”?
Given this dubious record, it still astonishes me that our esteemed leader, often has more EGW quotes in his sermons than Biblical texts!
This deeply flawed woman remains Adventism’s “Virgin Mary” positioned high on her undeserved pedestal, while all other Adventist women, like Catholic women, are decidedly SECOND CLASS CITIZENS.
Adventism owes a huge debt to Walter Rea.
His prodigious computer-like mind, his prolific memorization of reams of EGW’s writings, enabled him, in a pre-internet era, to “connect the dots”.
From being an ardent admirer, acolyte and adherent of EGW, he was able to expose her as a cheat and a charlatan.
His reward? After years of faithful pastoring and service his legally earned pension and medical benefits were revoked.
A travesty for revealing TRUTH!” (Robin Vandermolen, January 6, 2017).
TO BE CONTINUED…………..
