Church not built on Ellen G. White!

Once again, I find myself responding to false accusations against the Christian Seventh Day Adventist believers. I recently recieved a letter telling me: "Destroy Ellen White and you have no church." Wow! First off this person assumes that Seventh Day Adventist Christians are Biblically illiterate . All true Chirstians know that the Christian church is built on Jesus Christ.

If you are a Seventh Day Adventist and know of any publication by our church that asserts that we believe that the Christian Church was built on the person of Ellen White please show me that publication.

What Adventist Christians do believe is that God has given the "spirit of prophecy" or "gift of prophecy" to some of His children. New Testament prophets are not above Scripture! Again, if you can show me from any SDA publication that we believe Ellen White's writings to be above that of the 66 canonized books, then please show me the publication.

I want to look at these three attacks sent to me on the Christian Adventist Church by this person I wish not to name and then give a sound response:

Attack One: One of the commandments is "thou shall not steal" and "thou shall not lie". (bear false witness) It seems to me EGW was doing both with her writings. As well she made all kinds of prophetic statements that failed and yet claimed divine inspiration for them. Would that be called lying or fortune telling?

Response: First, you are assuming that Ellen White stole something. You are referring to the charges of plagiarism.

Second, you claim that she made false prophecies and then you show me none. Have you even read her in context?

So let's deal with your false charges of plagiarism.

Did you know that in the Bible itself we find different authors such as Isaiah and Micah saying word for word the same thing? God showed two different people the same vision and they wrote it down. The apostle John's book of "Revelation" has many visions comparable with both the pre and post exilic prophets of the Old Testament.

So can we "prove" that the prophet Micah plagiarized from the prophet Isaiah? I suppose we could make this claim if we wished to not believe in what they said.

Do you believe that a person can receive a vision or a prophecy from God in this time of the Church Age? The Bible speaks about "the gift of prophecy" for New Testament believers. As a Seventh Day Adventist Christian I believe in the "gift of prophecy" and that God can share thoughts and visions with one who has the gift.

Now in doing so God may share with others, who have not had the gift of prophecy, things that they may have been trying to understand. Say many Christian's were writing information out that had a lot of Truth but they were not all correct in some of their understandings due to carnal human nature and reasoning. Could God share the correct information that had been written with a Christian who has the "gift of prophecy" and alow that person to re-write the information in the right manner, without the misunderstandings and without ever showing the person the other writtings?

I believe God could do that and as a matter of fact I believe that God did do that through the person of Ellen G. White. Ellen G. White has been accused of plagiarsim because many of her writtings contain similar and even some word for word information that other Christians had written.

My question to other Christian's is; Why can't you believe in a modern miracle? Why is it so hard to believe that God can do great and wonderful things?All true Seventh Day Adventist Christians realize that she sometimes used other literary sources, as God directed her. She admitted she read and used the works of others. How is this a lie?

We also believe that Ellen White's use of literary sources and assistants finds parallels in some of the writings of the Bible.

Now, what about the Bible itself? Here is something to consider; Did you know that scholars are now trying to prove that the entire Bible itself is a work of plagiarsim?

There is a whole documentary online that "proves" it. The video states that much of Christianity, specifically Jesus, was copied directly from a Egyptian and Greek mythology, among others.It's from the documentary Zeitgeist. Interesting film. Here's a transcript (with sources) of the portion of the film :http://zeitgeistmovie.com/transcript.htm The sources are there. So is it true? Read it and follow up. Is this simply another trick of Satan mixing Truth with error?

To dismiss it because it doesn't conform to your beliefs is just ignorance. The full documentary is longer than 28 minutes. The link to watch it can be found here: http://zeitgeistmovie.com/So have modern “scholars” “proven” that most all of the Christian Bible is a work of plagiarism? Take the flood story for instance.In Sumerian clay tablets dating from the third millennium BCE there is an account of a great flood whose hero is called Ziusudra. There is also a flood story in the second millennium BCE Babylonian legend of Gilgamish. In the Babylonian legend, preserved in much greater detail than that of Sumeria, the hero is named Utnapishtim.

All these pre-date the Mosaic texts that have been found.What about the fact that “word for word” passages are found in Isaiah and Micah? Who copied who? Did Isaiah copy Micah or visa versa?And what of “Mithraism”? There is much speculation that Christian beliefs were influenced by Mithraic belief.The worshippers of Mithras held strong beliefs in a celestial heaven and an infernal hell. They believed that the benevolent powers of the god would sympathize with their suffering and grant them the final justice of immortality and eternal salvation in the world to come. They looked forward to a final day of judgement in which the dead would resurrect, and to a final conflict that would destroy the existing order of all things to bring about the triumph of light overdarkness.

Modern scholars have found many of the Old Testament stories in religions that pre-date Jewish faith. Some found in ancient Egypt and Sumeria. When you say you can "prove" that people cannot be shown the same thing without plagiarism, guess what, you can't. What you are doing is questioning the authority and power of God. I can only assume you are doing this because you wish not to keep God's holy Sabbath day.


Attack Two: Even pictures in her books that she claimed were given to her in vision from God were direct copies from previously published books by other authors. This would be considered theft in any court of law.

Response: Wow! Did you know that some of the prophets of the Bible recieved the same visions? So what you are saying is that when God shows one person something He cannot share it through the power of the Holy Spirit with another person. Wow! So the "beasts" [the vision pictures that the prophet Daniel received] could not have been shown to John by the same Holy Spirit power in which they were shown the apostle John? Yikes! And I suppose if two people get the same idea in different parts of the world the one who got the idea first could claim that the other person is a liar and a thieve? Again...yikes!

Attack Three: As you know the SDA church rises and falls on the person of EGW. Remove her influence and there is no SDA church.

Response: No. I did not know that. And guess what, I am a Seventh Day Adventist. Again, what are you talking about? All Seventh Day Adventist Christians realize that the Church was built on the person of Jesus Christ. Are you saying that all those who came after Christ and spoke about Him or who received visions of Him, like the apostle Paul, after Christ came and left are fake? All Adventist Christians can hold to Biblical integrity without the writings of Ellen White. Her life and gift was a blessing to the Christian church.

As Seventh Day Adventist Christians we do not believe that the New Testament gift of prophecy add's anything to the teachings of the Scriptures and we believe that it cannot ever add anything to the completed 66 books of the Protestant Cannon.

Adventist author Ellen G. White states this very clearly in her own writings. Let's look at some of her statements;

"The word of God is sufficient to enlighten the most beclouded mind and may be understood by those who have any desire to understand it. . . . To leave men and women without excuse God gives plain and pointed testimonies, bringing them back to the word that they have neglected" (2T 454, 455).

"The written testimonies [Ellen's writings] are not to give new light, but to impress vividly upon the heart the truths of inspiration already revealed" (ibid. 605).

Ellen White referred to her counsels as "a lesser light to lead men and women to the greater light" (Review and Herald 80:15, Jan. 20, 1903)."The Spirit was not given--nor can it ever be bestowed--to supersede the Bible; for the Scriptures explicitly state that the word of God is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested" (GC vii).

Her writings are a gift to the church to edify and uplift it. To encourage the body of Christ is why her gift of prophecy was given. Here we need to understand that no Seventh Day Adventist Christian need's the writings of Ellen G. White, John Calvin, Martin Luther, or any other reformer to teach what the Bible teaches.God has sent reformers and the NT gift of prophecy to help guide His church. The Holy Spirit alone is our ultimate teacher! And to this all true Seventh Day Adventist's hold!

So we see that you, like many Evangelical Christians have showed yourselves unlearned and un teachable. Perhaps you should listen more closely before you make your accusations. "He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him." [Proverbs 18:13]

And please, do not use such sorry excuses to ignore the Sabbath issue. "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination." [Proverbs 28:9]

Written by, Eric W. King [January 27,2008]

Continue a deeper look at the charges against E.G.White and plagiarism.

For more Truth please visit: "The Adventist Way of Life"