My Attitude Toward the Life and Work of Ellen G. White

This brings us to the heart of this entire study. That which we have presented thus far is but a background for the all-important questions, What is my own personal attitude toward the life and work of Ellen G. White? What is yours to be today and for all time to come?BHP 312.3

Personally, many years ago I settled my attitude toward the three great facts of faith on which Christianity is built. Therefore, there is no need of proofs and evidences to convince me of the gift of prophecy manifested through men and women chosen and called by God; there is no need for any further evidence to convince me that Ellen G. White was the one chosen by God as His messenger to the remnant church. Furthermore, I believe that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is the remnant church, and that God’s requirements for my salvation from this sinful world and for my entrance into His everlasting kingdom are still, as they always have been, “perfect obedience to the law of God, perfect righteousness,” neither of which I have in and of myself, but both of which are made available to me through my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. (Steps to Christ, 62, [pocketed.].)BHP 313.1

I believe that the Bible is given to me to show me how God thinks, how God works, what God wants me to become as a candidate for citizenship in His kingdom.BHP 313.2

I also believe that the prophecies in the Bible have made plain to me where we stand today in relation to the grand consummation of all God’s plans. It seems to me that my business as a Christian is not so much how to get into heaven by and by, as it is how to get heaven into me here and now.BHP 313.3

“Our happiness comes not from what is around us, but from what is within us; not from what we have, but from what we are.” The Youth’s Instructor, January 23, 1902.BHP 314.1

“The surrender of all our powers to God greatly simplifies the problem of life. It weakens and cuts short a thousand struggles with the passions of the natural heart. Religion is as a golden cord that binds the souls of both youth and aged to Christ. Through it the willing and obedient are brought safely through dark and intricate paths to the city of God.” The Youth’s Instructor, February 2, 1893.BHP 314.2

“The Christian’s life is not a modification or improvement of the old, but a transformation of nature. There is a death to self and sin, and a new life altogether. This change can be brought about only by the effectual working of the Holy Spirit.”—The Desire of Ages, 172, (1940).BHP 314.3

The cleansing of the soul temple is the objective set before us:BHP 314.4

“From eternal ages it was God’s purpose that every created being, from the bright and holy seraph to man, should be a temple for the indwelling of the Creator. Because of sin, humanity ceased to be a temple for God. Darkened and defiled by evil, the heart of man no longer revealed the glory of the divine One. But by the incarnation of the Son of God, the purpose of Heaven is fulfilled. God dwells in humanity, and through saving grace the heart of man becomes again His temple…. In cleansing the temple from the world’s buyers and sellers, Jesus announced His mission to cleanse the heart from the defilement of sin,—from the earthly desires, the selfish lusts, the evil habits, that corrupt the soul…. No man can of himself cast out the evil throng that have taken possession of the heart. Only Christ can cleanse the soul temple. But He will not force an entrance.” The Desire of Ages, 161.BHP 314.5

The indwelling of the spirit of Christ works an entire transformation:BHP 315.1

“The grace of Christ is to control the temper and the voice. Its working will be seen in politeness and tender regard shown by brother for brother, in kind, encouraging words. An angel presence is in the home. The life breathes a sweet perfume, which ascends to God as holy incense. Love is manifested in kindness, gentleness, forbearance, and long-suffering.BHP 315.2

“The countenance is changed. Christ abiding in the heart shines out in the faces of those who love Him and keep His commandments. Truth is written there. The sweet peace of heaven is revealed. There is expressed a habitual gentleness, a more than human love.BHP 315.3

“The leaven of truth works a change in the whole man, making the coarse refined, the rough gentle, the selfish generous. By it the impure are cleansed, washed in the blood of the Lamb. Through its life-giving power it brings all there is of mind and soul and strength into harmony with the divine life. Man with his human nature becomes a partaker of divinity. Christ is honored in excellence and perfection of character. As these changes are effected, angels break forth in rapturous song, and God and Christ rejoice over souls fashioned after the divine similitude.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 102.BHP 315.4

I believe that the writings of Ellen G. White describe what God wants of me and what God will do for me through His Son Jesus Christ. They are words of beauty and of power. They present before me the pattern for the Christian life. I accept her words as she has declared them to be, words of reproof for the “erring,” words “of encouragement to the meek and lowly,“ words of “counsel,” “instruction,” “correction.” They are not the “commandments of the Decalogue,” but the wise counsel and earnest entreaties of a kind heavenly Father through His chosen messenger.BHP 315.5

I find myself in perfect agreement with the great mass of counsel given, but like so many others I am tempted to despise and reject ONLY the testimonies which reprove my darling sins, conflict with my own preconceived ideas of theology, and disturb my self-complacency.BHP 316.1

In these few, very few, items I am daily praying that God will help me to conform completely and perfectly to His will and standard.BHP 316.2

I believe that I am voicing the opinion and describing the experience of Seventh-day Adventists generally in all parts of the world. Such opposition and indifference as is seen here and there is not directed against such books as the Conflict Series, Steps to Christ, Christ’s Object Lessons, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, and a score of other such books, but rather to a very few paragraphs, a small percentage indeed, of the total messages given by Ellen G. White. Each one of us would do well to set down on paper a list of the things that cause us concern or that we may be inclined to ignore, and then give careful and prayerful study to each item.BHP 316.3

It may be that your experience and mine are described in the words of these paragraphs from the Testimonies:BHP 316.4

“As the word of God is walled in with these books and pamphlets [by Ellen G. White], so has God walled you in with reproofs, counsel, warnings, and encouragements. Here you are crying before God, in the anguish of your souls, for more light. I am authorized from God to tell you that not another ray of light through the Testimonies will shine upon your pathway until you make a practical use of the light already given. The Lord has walled you about with light; but you have not appreciated the light; you have trampled upon it. While some have despised the light, others have neglected it or followed it but indifferently. A few have set their hearts to obey the light which God has been pleased to give them.’” Testimonies for the Church 5:666.BHP 317.1

“Let ministers and people remember that gospel truth hardens when it does not save. The rejection of light leaves men captives, bound about by chains of darkness and unbelief…. ‘The more self is exalted, the more will faith in the Testimonies of the Spirit of God be lessened…. Those who trust wholly in themselves will see less and less of God in the Testimonies of His Spirit.’” Testimonies for the Church 5:681.BHP 317.2

Such paragraphs will cause any man down deep in his heart to desire to live a better life, to be a better man. But we must ever remember that the power to inspire is not wrapped up in the words themselves, but in the God who inspired the messenger with His thoughts and then allowed the human agent to find the human words to give expression to those inspired thoughts.BHP 317.3

In a letter penned by Ellen G. White back in 1890 she wrote concerning the last work of Satan:BHP 317.4

“Satan is … constantly pressing in the spurious—to lead away from the truth. 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.’ [Proverbs 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.” Letter 12, 1890.BHP 317.5

“If the people who now profess to be God’s peculiar treasure would obey His requirements, as specified in His word, special testimonies would not be given to awaken them to their duty and impress upon them their sinfulness and their fearful danger in neglecting to obey the word of God. Consciences have been blunted because light has been set aside, neglected, and despised.”—Testimonies for the Church 2:607.BHP 318.1

“I was shown that many had so little spirituality that they did not understand the value of the Testimonies or their real object. They talked flippantly of the Testimonies given by God for the benefit of His people, and passed judgment upon them, giving their opinion and criticizing this and that, when they would better have placed their hands upon their lips, and prostrated themselves in the dust; for they could not appreciate the spirit of the Testimonies, because they knew so little of the Spirit of God.” Testimonies for the Church 5:672, 673.BHP 318.2

“If you lose confidence in the testimonies you will drift away from Bible truth…. As you now hold the testimonies, should one be given crossing your track, correcting your errors, would you feel at perfect liberty to accept or reject any part or the whole? That which you will be least inclined to receive is the very part most needed.” Testimonies for the Church 7:98. (See also Testimonies for the Church 5:674.)BHP 318.3

“My brethren, beware of the evil heart of unbelief. The word of God is plain and close in its restrictions; it interferes with your selfish indulgence; therefore you do not obey it. The testimonies of His Spirit call your attention to the Scriptures, point out your defects of character, and rebuke your sins, therefore you do not heed them. And to justify your carnal, ease-loving course you begin to doubt whether the testimonies are from God. If you would obey their teachings you would be assured of their divine origin. Remember, your unbelief does not affect their truthfulness. If they are from God they will stand.” Testimonies for the Church 5:234. (See also Testimonies for the Church 5:674.)BHP 318.4

“I have been shown that unbelief in the testimonies of warning, encouragement, and reproof is shutting away the light from God’s people. Unbelief is closing their eyes so that they are ignorant of their true condition.” Testimonies for the Church 3:255. (See also Testimonies for the Church 5:674.)BHP 319.1

“The question to be settled with them is: Shall I deny myself and receive as of God the Testimonies which reprove my sins, or shall I reject the Testimonies because they reprove my sins?” Testimonies for the Church 4:32. (See also Testimonies for the Church 5:675.)BHP 319.2

“Satan has ability to suggest doubts and to devise objections to the pointed testimony that God sends, and many think it a virtue, a mark of intelligence in them, to be unbelieving and to question and quibble. Those who desire to doubt will have plenty of room. God does not propose to remove all occasion for unbelief.” Testimonies for the Church 3:255. (See also Testimonies for the Church 5:675.)BHP 319.3

“God gives sufficient evidence for the candid mind to believe; but he who turns from the weight of evidence because there are a few things which he cannot make plain to his finite understanding will be left in the cold, chilling atmosphere of unbelief and questioning doubts, and will make shipwreck of faith.” Testimonies for the Church 4:232, 233. (Also see Testimonies for the Church 5:675, 676.)BHP 319.4

“Many now despise the faithful reproof given of God in testimony…. But opposition to God’s threatenings will not hinder their execution.” Testimonies for the Church 4:180. (See also Testimonies for the Church 5:678.)BHP 319.5

Brethren and sisters of the Advent family, let us give most careful, thoughtful, and prayerful consideration to the topic of this study, and take our stand with the remnant church for the message given to us as a people, and for the messenger whom God chose to accomplish His will and purpose in and for us as probationary time comes to an end, as history comes to its last chapter, as Christ finishes His work for the salvation of men, and as closing events in the great controversy bring us ever nearer to the grand consummation of all things earthly.BHP 320.1

We have every reason to rejoice as Seventh-day Adventists in the abundant provision made by God Himself for our salvation. He loves us with a tender love. He is kind and good and gentle. He has anticipated our every need, and has given us the help we must have at every turn in life’s way. He is ready to fit us for His kingdom. May each and every one of us be molded and fashioned according to His own divine pattern. He wants you and me in His presence throughout eternity.BHP 320.2

“Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets” (Hosea 6:5).BHP 320.3