Chapter 13—A Messenger of God

I believe Ellen G. White was a messenger of God and that her writings are inspired instruction from God for my personal well-being. This confidence has developed through the years because her writings have, in a very special way, been a means of spiritual enlightenment suited to the various stages of my development as a Christian and as a worker in the Adventist Church. Her writings have helped at crucial moments.WEWMM 105.1

I became a Christian while I was a freshman in an Adventist college, in the midst of the great depression. Of necessity, I worked my entire way. I received no Bible studies, nor any particular Christian guidance from anyone during those formative months. However, a student across the hall gave me a copy of Ellen G. White’s Christ’s Object Lessons. Though I had very little time for reading during the week due to my heavy work load and full class schedule, I did have time on the Sabbath; often I would spend the largest part of the Sabbath day reading from that book. As I began to read I was practically ignorant of the teachings of the Bible and the basic concepts of Christianity. In this wonderful book, however, Ellen White opened to my mind the possibilities for Christian living and the great opportunities God opens to every man who chooses to cooperate with Him in completing the Christian mission. I was encouraged to believe that my life might grow and develop, even like that of a mustard seed.WEWMM 105.2

Looking back through the forty years since I first read this book, I am truly grateful for its clear picture of what genuine Christianity is like.WEWMM 106.1

After I had been a Christian for several years I felt God’s Spirit calling me to be a Christian minister or teacher. I gradually changed my major from history to theology, and in less than four years after I became a Christian I found myself a minister in the Washington Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. I was assigned to a small church, with very little supervision from an experienced minister. Feeling quite inadequate, I again turned to the writings of Ellen White for special help, especially Gospel Workers and Testimonies to Ministers. I read such words as:WEWMM 106.2

“It is to the honor of Christ that He makes His ministers a greater blessing to the church, through the working of the Holy Spirit, than are the stars to the world. The Saviour is to be their efficiency. If they will look to Him as He looked to His Father, they will do His works. As they make God their dependence, He will give them His brightness to reflect to the world.”—Gospel Workers, 14.WEWMM 106.3

It was a tremendous encouragement to me to know that Christ intends His ministers to be a greater blessing to the church than the stars are to the world. I determined to let Christ work through my life to make me such a blessing.WEWMM 106.4

Upon receiving my first paycheck from the conference I was filled with a sense of awe as I thought of the fact that this money was tithe that had been paid to the church by the members. I thought a long time before I was ready to cash that check. That feeling of awe, as a minister of the gospel supported by the tithe of other Christians, is still present after thirty-seven years in the ministry. Ellen White’s writings humbled me as I reflected on the sacredness of my work, and helped me to develop a high concept of my ministry:WEWMM 106.5

“The minister stands as God’s mouthpiece to the people, and in thought, in word, in act, he is to represent his Lord.”—Gospel Workers, 20.WEWMM 106.6

I soon found that the work of the minister is exciting. It often leaves a person with a sense of unworthiness. When under tremendous pressure and uncertain which way to turn, I learned to search the writings of Ellen White for guidance. I have enjoyed my work, nevertheless, and though at times it has been difficult, her counsel has lifted a weary spirit: “Workers for Christ are never to think, much less to speak, of failure in their work.”—Gospel Workers, 19.WEWMM 107.1

When I entered the gospel ministry I owned only a few books by Ellen White. I had been hard pressed financially while working my way through college, and the $14 a week I received for my services as a minister didn’t enable me to purchase more of them. By the time Christmas arrived I had reread all the books I owned.WEWMM 107.2

Before Christmas all of the conference workers gathered for a workers’ meeting. As the last item on the agenda for the day the conference president, M. L. Rice, handed to each of the workers an envelope containing a check, which he said was a Christmas bonus. I was not expecting a bonus, and was pleased, upon opening the envelope, to see a check for about the amount I needed to purchase a set of Ellen G. White’s nine-volume set, Testimonies for the Church. I had been looking at them that very morning in the Book and Bible House but not having the money had put the thought away. I hastened to the Book and Bible House, before it closed, and purchased the set.WEWMM 107.3

A nine-volume set of books is a formidable undertaking to read. I set myself a standard allotment of ten pages a day, a plan I followed undeviatingly until I had read the full set. These volumes gave me an excellent grasp of the development of the Adventist Church from its beginning. I understood better the purpose and role of the church. They presented a kaleidoscopic cross section of the human experience. Composed as they are with personal testimonies to individuals and to leaders, they helped me to see men and women striving, failing, rising again, giving, living their lives in an effort to advance the cause of the kingdom. I don’t believe that anyone who has not read through the nine volumes of the Testimonies can really understand what the Adventist Church is.WEWMM 107.4

Those books gave me my first true concept of the place of healthful living in the life of a Christian. From earliest infancy I had not been blessed with the best of health. At one time I had been forced to drop out of grade school because of tuberculosis. I recuperated through outdoor living, which I had learned to love. The writings of Ellen White helped me to know how to live in harmony with the laws of my physical being.WEWMM 107.5

It was also from the Testimonies that I learned the real meaning of the seventh-day Sabbath and how to relate to it in order to derive the greatest blessing from it. For me, these writings were not only an instrument of grace but the voice of God speaking to my soul. Chapters describing ideal home life, Christian education, dress, or warning against covetousness and close dealing, or making God’s presence a reality in the daily life, have helped me to grow as a stable, steadfast, Seventh-day Adventist Christian.WEWMM 108.1

As I write these lines late Friday afternoon, alone in the administration building of Andrews University, I glance up to the most prominent shelf at the entrance to my office where, in a place of honor, rest the last seven volumes of that precious set of Testimonies for the Church that I purchased with my Christmas bonus in 1936. The first two volumes are missing; I lost them at the end of World War II upon being rescued from a prisoner of war camp early one morning by a battalion of U.S. paratroopers. Those two volumes burned up in the holocaust that followed, but the other seven, worn and tattered with years of use, I keep where I see them every time I glance up from my desk; they serve as a reminder of the important contribution the writings of Ellen G. White have made to my life.WEWMM 108.2

Following several years in the ministry and a period of mission service, I was asked to enter the teaching ministry of the Adventist Church.WEWMM 108.3

Space does not permit mention of every way in which the writings of Ellen White have helped me in my chosen work of Biblical scholarship. I mention only one aspect, that of the inspiration of the Bible. A scholar’s concept of the Bible will naturally shape all of his conclusions and concepts.WEWMM 108.4

After years of careful study of the Word of God I have not been able to define its authorship and inspiration as well as Ellen White did in these words:WEWMM 108.5

“‘The Bible points to God as its author; yet it was written by human hands; and in the varied style of its different books it presents the characteristics of the several writers. The truths revealed are all “given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16); yet they are expressed in the words of men. The Infinite One by His Holy Spirit has shed light into the minds and hearts of His servants. He has given dreams and visions, symbols and figures; and those to whom the truth was thus revealed, have themselves embodied the thought in human language....WEWMM 109.1

“‘God has been pleased to communicate His truth to the world by human agencies, and He Himself, by His Holy Spirit, qualified men and enabled them to do His work. He guided the mind in the selection of what to speak and what to write. The treasure was entrusted to earthen vessels, yet it is, none the less, from Heaven. The testimony is conveyed through the imperfect expression of human language, yet it is the testimony of God; and the obedient, believing child of God beholds in it the glory of a divine power, full of grace and truth.’”—Selected Messages 1:25, 26.WEWMM 109.2

As the years passed, my church asked me to serve as an educational administrator. Upon taking up these responsibilities, for which I had had no specialized training, again I turned to the writings of Ellen White for instruction and guidance. I have been much impressed by the breadth of her educational philosophy and her insistence on the highest scholastic standards. She has stated that the literary requirements and standards held in our schools should be of the highest of any educational institution in the land. (See Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 220.) She has said that advanced science is to be taught in our schools. (See Fundamentals of Christian Education, 186.) Yet at the same time, she has pointed out that ample provisions should be made for those students who are not inclined toward scientific and literary vocations. All the children of the church are to have the benefits of a Christian education, she says, for who can tell which one has the ability, or the interest, or the call to serve as ministers, or teachers, or physicians? (See Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 44.) Those who labor in trades and nonliterary vocations need the benefit of Christian education as they prepare for life and a successful career:WEWMM 109.3

“The sturdy mechanic taxed muscle and sinew, manifesting his love to God in the toil for His honor....WEWMM 110.1

“There is science in the humblest kind of work, and if all would thus regard it, they would see nobility in labor.... In agricultural or mechanical occupations men may give evidence to God that they appreciate His gift in the physical powers, and the mental faculties as well.... There is honor in any class of work that is essential to be done.”—Fundamentals of Christian Education, 315.WEWMM 110.2

Such concepts as these have helped me guide an institution of higher education within the Adventist Church.WEWMM 110.3

In these perplexing times, with changing concepts about standards of dress, appearance, and relationship to authority pressing hard upon individuals and institutions, I have been grateful, even more than ever, for the counsel and guidance given by Ellen White. She wrote that “the youth who enter our schools and colleges will find there every class of mind. If they desire sport and folly, if they seek to shun the good and unite with the evil, they have the opportunity. Sin and righteousness are before them, and they are to choose for themselves.”—Conflict and Courage, 135. We will never be able to build a wall around our schools high enough to keep all evil out. However, we are to build an atmosphere in which the Word of God is honored, and where the principles of His kingdom permeate the instruction and the way of life on the campus. Such an atmosphere helps youth to choose the good.WEWMM 110.4

Ellen White counsels us that students who are “determined to have their own will and their own way” are to be advised “to return to their homes and to the guardianship of their parents,” for a “few leading spirits in wrongdoing” will demoralize the other students. Principals or teachers who permit this to happen will be held responsible by God “as if they had committed it themselves.”—Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 102.WEWMM 110.5

Through these many interesting and varied years I have found wisdom in her writings; through them I have heard the voice of God speaking. Not only have they helped by serving as a guide, but they have been a source of solace to me under heavy pressure, and when feelings of loneliness press in. Her writings will be an invaluable aid to every Christian who desires to be of use to the Master Teacher, as he travels the way to the heavenly city.WEWMM 110.6

Berrien Springs, Michigan
May 1972