The word "inspiration" means "God-breathed." The nature of God dictates the nature of inspiration. The Bible teaches that God does not change, "For I, the Lord, do not change;" Malachi 3:6. he is the same "...yesterday and today, yes and forever" Hebrews 13:8
God's Word never changes or contradicts itself! "Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven" Psalm 119:89. "THE LAW ["torah," or Scripture] OF THE LORD IS PERFECT, restoring the soul, THE TESTIMONY OF THE LORD IS SURE, making wise the simple. THE PRECEPTS OF THE LORD ARE RIGHT, rejoicing the heart;" Psalm 19:7-8 (emphasis added). Any new revelation God gives will not contradict any previous light He has given.
"Men need to understand that Diety suffered and sank under the agonies of Calvary." Manuscript 153, 1898 (and BC, Vol 7, page 907)
"The Diety did not sink under the agonizing torture of Calvary" Manuscript 140, 1903 (and BC, Vol 5, page 1129)
Here they are in their context:
Manuscript 153, 1898 - "In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Men need to understand that Diety suffered and sank under the agonies of Calvary. Yet Jesus Christ whom God gave for the ransom of the world purchased the church with His own blood. The Majesty of heaven was made to suffer at the hands of religious zealots, who claimed to be the most enlightened people upon the face of the earth."
Manuscript 140, 1903 - "The man Jesus Christ was not the Lord God Almighty, yet Christ and the Father are one. The Diety did not sink under the agonizing torture of Calvary, yet it is nonetheless true that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
"The Lord loves those little children who do right and he has promised that they shall be in his kingdom; but wicked, naughty children God does not love.... When you feel tempted to speak impatient and fretful [sic], remember that the Lord sees you and will not love you if you do wrong.
Written by Ellen White to her son Willie on 14 March 1860
"God loves honest-hearted children, but cannot love those who are dishonest....The Lord loves those little children who try to do right, and he has promised that they shall be in His kingdom. But wicked children God does not love. . . . When you feel tempted to speak impatient and fretful [sic], remember the Lord sees you, and will not love you if you do wrong.
An Appeal to the Youth, Battle Creek Mich. Steam Press, 1864, pp. 42,62
"Do not teach your children that God does not love them when they do wrong; teach them that He loves them so that it grieves His tender Spirit to see them in transgression"
Signs of the Times, February 15, 1892
Mrs. White taught that the "door" of salvation, or "probation" as she referred to it, had forever shut for the world in 1844.
In a letter to Joseph Bates, Mrs. White refers to the fact that BY RECOUNTING HER VISION to a group of Adventists SHE PERSUADED THEM TO BELIEVE THAT THE DOOR OF MERCY WAS SHUT.
"AT THE TIME I HAD THE VISION OF THE MIDNIGHT CRY I had given it up in the past and thought it future, as also most of the band had....AFTER I HAD THE VISION and God gave me light, he bade me deliver it to the band, but I shrank from it. I was young, and I thought they would not receive it from me...The view about the Bridegroom's coming I had about the middle of February, 1845, while in Exeter, Maine, in meeting with Israel Dammon, James, and many others. Many of them did not believe in a shut door. I suffered much at the commencement of the meeting. Unbelief seemed to be on every hand....The Lord worked in mighty power, setting the truth home to their hearts....MOST OF THEM RECEIVED THE VISION, AND WERE SETTLED UPON THE SHUT DOOR"
Letter B-3-1847, Letter to Joseph Bates, July 13, 1847, White Estate (emphasis added)
In his 1847 publication, "A Word to the Little Flock", James White recounts this experience:
"WHEN SHE RECEIVED HER FIRST VISION, Dec. 1844, she and all the band in Portland, Maine, [where her parents then resided] had given up the midnight-cry, and shut door, as being in the past. IT WAS THEN THAT THE LORD SHEW [sic] HER IN VISION, THE ERROR INTO WHICH SHE AND THE BAND IN PORTLAND HAD FALLEN. She then related her vision to the band, and about sixty confessed their error, and acknowledged their 7th month experience to be the work of God"
A Word to the Little Flock, p. 22 (emphasis added)
On March 24, 1849 Mrs. White clearly states that her vision taught her that the door of salvation was shut. She warns the faithful not to allow their faith to be shaken in the shut door by the apparent conversion of sinners since 1844.
"I was shown that the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, relating to the shut door, could not be separated....I saw that the mysterious signs and wonders and false reformations would increase and spread. The reformations that were shown me were not reformations from error to truth, but from bad to worse, for those who professed a change of heart had only wrapped about them a religious garb, which covered up the iniquity of a wicked heart. Some appeared to have been really converted, so as to deceive God's people, but if their hearts could be seen they would appear as black as ever. My accompanying angel bade me look for the travail of soul for sinners as used to be. I looked, but could not see it, FOR THE TIME FOR THEIR SALVATION IS PAST"
Present Truth, pp. 21-22, August 1849 (emphasis added)
"For a time after the disappointment in 1844, I did hold, in common with the advent body, that the door of mercy was then forever closed to the world. THIS POSITION WAS TAKEN BEFORE MY FIRST VISION was given me. IT WAS THE LIGHT GIVEN ME OF GOD THAT CORRECTED OUR ERROR, and enabled us to see the true position"
Selected Messages, vol. 1, p. 63 (emphasis added)
"With my brethren and sisters, after the time passed in forty-four I did believe no more sinners would be converted. BUT I NEVER HAD A VISION THAT NO MORE SINNERS WOULD BE CONVERTED. And am clear and free to state no one has ever heard me say or has read from my pen statements which will justify them in the charges they have made against me upon this point"
Selected Messages, vol. 1, p. 74 (emphasis added)
WHAT ABOUT LYING PROPHETS?
Mrs. White's own testimony forces us to conclude that she is lying. The Lord has some very unpleasant things to say about lying prophets:
They see falsehood and lying divination who are saying, 'The Lord declares,' when the LORD has not sent them; yet they hope for the fulfillment of their word. Did you not see a false vision and speak a lying divination when you said, 'the Lord declares,' but it is not I who have spoken?" Therefore, thus says the Lord God, "BECAUSE YOU HAVE SPOKEN FALSEHOOD and seen a lie, therefore behold, I AM AGAINST YOU," declares the Lord God. SO MY HAND WILL BE AGAINST THE PROPHETS WHO SEE FALSE VISIONS AND UTTER LYING DIVINATION. They will have no place in the council of My people, nor will they be written down in register of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel, that you may know that I am the Lord God"
Ezekiel 13:6-9 (emphasis added)
Although it has been proven that Mrs. White was actively involved in plagiarism, taking the words of other authors and using them as her own without giving credit, she denied this.
"Although I am as dependent upon the Spirit of the Lord in writing my views as I am in receiving them, yet THE WORDS I EMPLOY IN DESCRIBING WHAT I HAVE SEEN ARE MY OWN, unless they be those spoken to me by an angel, which I ALWAYS ENCLOSE IN MARKS OF QUOTATION"
Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 37 (emphasis added)
The following is but one of many examples where Mrs. White used something from a book she had in her library, giving the impression that she received it in a vision from God:
L.B. Coles, Philosophy of Health: Natural Principles of Health and Cure.
"PARENTS ARE ALSO UNDER OBLIGATION TO TEACH AND OBLIGE THEIR CHILDREN TO CONFORM TO PHYSICAL LAW for their own sakes....How strange and unaccountable that MOTHERS should LOVE THEIR CHILDREN so tenderly as to INDULGE them in what they have occasion to know may INJURE THEIR CONSTITUTIONS and impair their happiness for life. May many children be delivered from such mothers, and from such cruel kindness! THE MANAGERS AND TEACHERS OF SCHOOLS...." (Boston: William D. Ticknor & Co., 1849, 1851, 1853), pp. 144-145
"I was shown that one great cause of the existing deplorable state of things is that PARENTS DO NOT FEEL UNDER OBLIGATION TO BRING UP THEIR CHILDREN TO CONFORM TO PHYSICAL LAW. MOTHERS LOVE THEIR CHILDREN with an idolatrous love and INDULGE their appetite when they know that it will INJURE THEIR HEALTH and thereby bring upon them disease and unhappiness.... They have sinned against Heaven and against their children, and God will hold them accountable. THE MANAGERS AND TEACHERS OF SCHOOLS...." Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, p. 141, 1872, (see contents p.1), (emphasis supplied).
"Those who labor with their hands must nourish their strength to perform this labor, and those also who labor in word and doctrine must nourish their strength; for Satan and his evil angels are warring against them to tear down their strength. They should seek rest of body and mind from wearing labor when they can, and SHOULD EAT OF NOURISHING, STRENGTHENING FOOD to build up their strength;... I SAW THAT YOUR VIEWS CONCERNING SWINE'S FLESH would prove no injury if you have them to yourselves; but in your judgment and opinion you have made this question a test, and your actions have plainly shown your faith in this matter. IF GOD REQUIRES HIS PEOPLE TO ABSTAIN FROM SWINE'S FLESH, HE WILL CONVICT THEM ON THE MATTER. He is just as willing to show His honest children their duty, as to show their duty to individuals upon whom He has not laid the burden of His work. If it is the duty of the church to abstain from swine's flesh, God will discover it to more than two or three"
Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, pp. 206-207 (emphasis added)
"Pork although one of the most common articles of diet, is one of the most injurious....GOD NEVER DESIGNED THE SWINE TO BE EATEN UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. The heathen used pork as an article of food, and American people have used pork freely as an important article of diet"
Selected Messages, bk.2, p. 417 (emphasis added)
"But GOD NEVER DESIGNED THE SWINE TO BE EATEN UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES"
Spiritual Gifts, vol. 4a, p. 124 (emphasis added)
"The eating of pork has aroused and strengthened a most deadly humor which is in the system....NEVER SHOULD ONE MORSEL OF SWINE'S FLESH BE PLACED UPON YOUR TABLE"
Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, p. 94 (emphasis added)
"I saw that some were quickly destroyed, while others suffered longer. They were punished according to the deeds done in the body. Some were many days consuming, and just as long AS THERE WAS A PORTION OF THEM UNCONSUMED, ALL THE SENSE OF SUFFERING REMAINED. Said the angel, "The worm of life shall not die; their fire shall not be quenched as long as there is the least particle for it to prey upon" Early Writings, p. 294 (emphasis added)
This obviously contradicts Mrs. White's other teachings about unconsciousness at death. Here she teaches that even if only a hip bone is left, and the brain and nerves have been already consumed, the person will still suffer and be in agony. Clearly she is teaching that people can suffer without their bodies.
"UPON THE FUNDAMENTAL ERROR OF NATURAL IMMORTALITY RESTS THE DOCTRINE OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN DEATH -- a doctrine, like eternal torment, opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures, to the dictates of reason, and to our feelings of humanity" The Great Controversy, p. 545 (emphasis added)
"While Moses was shut in the mount with God, the plan of salvation, DATING FROM THE FALL OF ADAM, was revealed to him in a most forcible manner" Selected Messages, bk. 1, pp. 231-232 (emphasis added)
"The words, "Mine hour is not yet come," point to the fact that every act of Christ's life on earth was in fulfillment of THE PLAN THAT HAD EXISTED FROM THE DAYS OF ETERNITY" The Desire of Ages, p. 147 (emphasis added)
"THE SACRIFICE in behalf of man WAS FULL AND COMPLETE. The condition of the atonement had been fulfilled" Acts of the Apostles, p. 29 (emphasis added)
"To the angels and the unfallen worlds the cry, "It is finished," had a deep significance. It was for them as well as for us that THE GREAT WORK OF REDEMPTION HAD BEEN ACCOMPLISHED. They with us share the fruits of Christ's victory" The Desire of Ages, p. 758 (emphasis added)
"Now while our great High Priest IS MAKING THE FINAL ATONEMENT for us, we should seek to become perfect in Christ" The Great Controversy, p. 623 (emphasis added)
"I have not changed my course a particle since I adopted the health reform. I have not taken one step back since the light from heaven upon this subject first shone upon my pathway. I broke away from everything at once, from meat and butter, and from three meals. ....I left off those things from principle. I took my stand on health reform from principle. And since that time, brethren, you have not heard me advance an extreme view of health reform that I have had to take back. I have advanced nothing but what I stand to today."
Testimonies, Vol. 2, pp. 371-372 (1869)
The fact is that it was 1896 before she finally did away with meat altogether. In 1882 she shows her fondness for herring and oysters (aren't these unclean?). In this excerpt from a letter to her daughter-in-law, Mary Kelsey White, she says:
"Mary, if you can get me a good box of herrings - fresh ones - please do so. These last ones that Willie got are bitter and old. If you can buy cans, say (a) half dozen cans of good tomatoes, please do so. We shall need them. If you can get a few cans of good oysters, get them."
Letter 16, 1882, dated May 31, 1882, from Healdsburg, Calif.
The following was written in 1896. You can find it in Ellen G. White and Her Critics by Francis D. Nichol, pages 388-389:
"I have a large family, which often numbers sixteen. In it there are men who work at the plough, and who fell trees. These have most vigorous exercise, but not a particle of the flesh of animals on our table. Meat has not been used by us since the Brighton (Australia) Campmeeting (January, 1894). It was not my purpose to have it on my table at any time, but urgent pleas were made that such a one was unable to eat this or that, and that his stomach could take care of meat better than it could anything else. Thus I was enticed to place it on my table. The use of cheese also began to creep in, because some like cheese; but I soon controlled that. But when the selfishness of taking the lives of animals to gratify a perverted taste was presented to me by a Catholic woman, kneeling at my feet, I felt ashamed and distressed. I saw it in a new light, and I said, I will no longer patronize the butchers."
Mrs. White's practices were clearly not in line with her teachings.
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