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Commentary on "The Work of the Prophets"

STEVE PITCHER

 

Day 4: Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Today's lesson is dealing with one issue: the work of God in revealing sin to individuals. Examples are given from Kings, Isaiah, Amos, Malachi and Matthew. Each of the examples from Scripture show how God often gives messages to groups of individuals and pronounces curses on the unrepentant. The lesson then asks, “How did Ellen White deal with messages of reproof for individuals?”

Again, parallels are attempted to show how Ellen White is following the same method used by OT prophets. From a practical aspect, there is no area of Ellen White's ministry by which more people were damaged, save from her demotion of Jesus, which has more serious eternal consequences. Books have been written by individuals dealing with areas of sin in the lives of individuals. Sometimes these books find their way onto the shelves of Christian bookstores, but do not remain there long. Often, these books are never available through Christian bookstores but only through the larger secular bookstores.

Ellen White is quoted at length for todays lesson. To provide a proper understanding of the issue, the following is copied from the lesson:

“Were I, in order to prevent suspicions and jealousy, to give a full explanation of my course, and make public that which should be kept private, I should sin against God and wrong the individuals. I have to keep private reproofs of private wrongs to myself, locked in my own breast. Let others judge as they may, I will never betray the confidence reposed in me by the erring and repentant, or reveal to others that which should only be brought before the ones that are guilty.” Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, pp. 584, 585.

The fact is that one can walk into virtually any Adventist Book Center and purchase a handsomely-bound, nine-volume set of writings titled Testimonies for the Church, by Ellen G. White. These volumes written from 1855 to 1909 include numerous accounts of “sins” shown to Ellen White in vision, and sometime through other means.

It is apparent that she has not kept these reproofs private, locked in her own breast. She and the SDA church have done the exact opposite of what she is here claiming. If we are to judge her by her own words, she has sinned against God and wronged the individuals. These volumes are massively reproduced, so much so that the church, upon printing the fourth edition, had to state that the plates were being worn out from the amount of printing being done. The preface to the fourth edition from May 1, 1947 states, “The many printing impressions necessary to meet the continual and ever-widening distribution of the Testimonies for the Church have worn out the printing plates.”

Wearing out printing plates seems somewhat less than keeping these sins private.

 

Summary

 

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The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.

 

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