The Ballenger Teachings

Elder A. F. Ballenger, a brother of E. S. Ballenger in southern California, for a time was a minister in Great Britain. Associated with him in the work in Britain were such men as Elder E. W. Farnsworth and E. E. Andross. The latter, in a series of talks given in 1911, gave a little of the background of the Ballenger experience:5BIO 405.5

[In early 1905] A. F. Ballenger was over in Great Britain while I was there, and he had not been very thoroughly instructed in some points of the faith. He had been preaching around over the country on certain practical points of the faith, and had had considerable success in that line, but he had not been thoroughly grounded in the doctrinal points of the faith. One night while laboring with me in London, it came his turn to preach on the subject of the sanctuary. He did so, but he was very much discouraged over his effort on the subject of the sanctuary that night. And then he said, “If the Lord will help me, I will never preach again until I know what I am preaching. “I am not going to get it from our books. If our brethren could obtain it from the original sources, why can't I? ... I will go to the books or commentaries and all these various sources from which Elder Uriah Smith obtained light on the subject of the sanctuary, and I will get it from the same sources that he did. I will not know it because Elder Uriah Smith knew it, but I will know it because God is teaching it to me directly.”—DF 178, E. E. Andross, “Bible Study No. II,” July 13, 1911, pp. 13, 14.5BIO 406.1

Elder Andross then explained that Ballenger did not realize the source from which Elder Smith obtained the sanctuary truth. There was earnest Bible study by the pioneers of the Advent Movement, and with them was the messenger of the Lord. As the brethren continued their study, there was in their midst one through whom the Spirit of God was able to point out what was truth and what was error.5BIO 406.2

But as to Ballenger, Elder Andross explained in his 1911 statement:5BIO 406.3

The result was, he developed a theory with reference to the sanctuary that is very subtle, and resulted in his being disconnected from the work entirely since 1905 at the General Conference.— Ibid., 145BIO 406.4

Elder Ballenger considered his discoveries as new light and he presented them at a meeting of the British Union Conference held in London in early 1905. Elder E. W. Farnsworth reported this experience by letter to the General Conference president, who in turn conveyed the information to W. C. White on March 16, 1905.5BIO 407.1