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Some of Her Critics Would Eventually Doubt the Bible
The Predictions
In 1890 Ellen White made the following prediction:
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The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit
of God. "Where there is no vision, the people perish" (Prov. 29:18). Satan will work ingeniously, in different
ways and through different agencies, to unsettle the
confidence of God's remnant people in the true testimony.—Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 48.
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This prediction is harder to analyze than most, for even a false prophet could say as much. But would
a true prophet ever make such a prediction? To be fair, we have to admit that some of the Bible writers,
like John and Paul, said similar things:
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We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he
that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit
of truth, and the spirit of error. (1 Jn. 4:6)
As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received,
let him be accursed. (Gal. 1:9)
If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things
that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. (1 Cor. 14:37)
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If we accept without question John and Paul's denunciations of those that disagreed with them, then to
be fair, Ellen White's predictions of future attacks upon her work cannot be discounted without further
investigation. And in doing that, we want to look a little at one of the characteristics she identified
of those who would attack her, something first written in 1876:
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It is Satan's plan to weaken the faith of God's people in the
Testimonies. Next follows skepticism in regard to the vital
points of our faith, the pillars of our position, then doubt as
to the Holy Scriptures, and then the downward march to
perdition. When the Testimonies, which were once believed,
are doubted and given up, Satan knows the deceived ones will
not stop at this; and he redoubles his efforts till he launches
them into open rebellion, which becomes incurable and ends
in destruction.—Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4, p. 211, bold added.
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Are there those with a Seventh-day Adventist background who have become critics of Ellen White who now
have doubts about the Bible? Ellen White predicted that there would be. Has this prediction
come true?
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| Old Bible manuscript.—Davis Collection |
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Analysis
Many who take college theological courses have come across the fact that for the last several centuries,
skeptics, liberal scholars, and infidels have been assaulting the Bible's authenticity and authority.
Sometimes these skeptics have claimed that the Bible's authors made historical, scientific, and theological blunders.
At other times they have claimed that the Bible writers plagiarized from other authors, and made
false predictions.
Today's critics of Ellen White often wield the same weapons as the skeptics, which raises
the question, Do her critics believe the Bible? Or, have they instead adopted the conclusion of skeptics
and infidels that the information in the Scriptures is unreliable?
When one asks a critic this question, sometimes the answer given is fairly straightforward. For example,
one critic we asked this of informed us that he did not believe that God commanded Abraham to offer up Isaac,
or that there was a world-wide flood in Noah's day, or that God commanded the Israelites to slay the Canaanites
(Walter Rea). In another conversation, he repeatedly tried to convince us that
Lot's wife didn't turn into a pillar of salt.
Ellen White predicted that Adventists who gave up faith
in her ministry would tend to doubt the Bible. While we don't presently know what percentage
of her critics hold views similar to the above, it will not surprise us if some of Ellen White's apologists
claim that this prediction of hers has already come true.
Where the Rest of This Page Went
Due to the threat of a lawsuit, the original version of this page had to be moved to
"Some of Her Critics Would
Eventually Doubt the Bible." We apologize for the inconvenience.
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