Month: January 2009

This book is an apologetic for Ellen White being a true prophet of God. The author, an associate secretary for the Ellen G. White Estate, explains what a prophet does, how Ellen White was chosen, gives several direct examples from the life of Ellen White showing that she must have been inspired from God, and ends with several examples of non-SDAs who admitted that Ellen White had more than human inspiration to arrive at some of her writings.

It is interesting, and probably well-suited for someone who desires to learn about Ellen White to know if they can believe what she wrote is from God or not.

God’s first choice for choosing a prophet to carry his words in the 1840’s was not Ellen White. First was William Foy, then second was Hazen Foss. But both of these men refused to carry the message, having some idea it seems of the super-responsibility involved. So God chose the “weakest of the weak”, the better to display his mighty power.

One of the experiences quoted is a first-hand account. This young unbelieving man in Australia went to listen to Ellen White speak. She got up on the platform, and opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She looked around the room, and then again the same thing happened. This time she looked intently at everyone, and then turned to look at those seated on the platform behind her. She saw one man and said “What is this man doing on the platform with me?” He hurriedly left. The young man in the audience later learned that the man who left had problems with money, spiritualism, and loose morals. The Holy Spirit had not allowed her to speak until this man’s presence was off the platform and out of the meeting place. The young man who went to listen was convicted forever of the truth that she was a prophet from God, and happy to say, the man who was rebuked also later repented.

The only problem with the book is the same as in nearly all works regarding inspiration: Almost nobody believes that the prophet gets the words from God. The author here lists 3 options to communicate the message (parentheses in original): “She could quote the divine messenger; she might use the writings of another author (the Bible writers often resorted to this method); or she might phrase the message of God in words of her own composition.” Perhaps i could suggest a 4th option? – that would be – The Holy Spirit so infilled her that the words she wrote were exactly the words that God had for her. This is why she can truthfully say (2SG): “I am just as dependent upon the Spirit of the Lord in relating or writing a vision, as in having the vision.”

What struck me most in reading this small book(let), is how greatly the example of the leaders affects the whole organization. With humble, self-denying leaders, the movement will be strong in the truth and God can work mightily for it. But when the leaders are self-serving and indulgent, you can expect the members to display similar traits. This is what has happened to the Seventh-day Adventist church – the pioneer leaders were very close with God, but more recent leaders are more and more like the world, until now (2009) we have a General Conference President who even got one of his degrees from the same university that pope Benedict XVI did! No wonder that the Spirit of God is mostly helpless to work in God’s own church now.

I’ve known about this book for a long time, but only recently read it. It is purported to be written by Enoch, and in fact, fragrements of it were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, attesting to the age of the writing.

However, this book is not included in the Biblical canon for very good reasons – it is very strange. Probably i would not believe the Bible if this book was included. Listed below are just a few of the more egregious errors – angels impregnating humans, eternal punishing, astronomical foolishness like windows for the sun and moon to come out of and go into and punishment for certain stars who “transgressed”, winter before the flood, Noah blessing the Lord when just born etc. etc.

Yes, there are many good things written – about how righteousness will be rewarded in the future life, and unrighteousness will be punished in the great day of judgment. Also, there is a fascinating prophecy given around chapters 86-90. Here is one passage that is obviously a prophecy about the coming of Jesus: “All who dwell on earth shall fall down and worship before him, And will praise and bless and celebrate with song the Lord of Hosts. And for this reason hath he been chosen and hidden before Him, Before the creation of the world and for evermore.”

But for all this, the only reason not to give it a “F”, is because parts of this book were actually quoted in the Bible.

Quotes
Observe and see how (in the winter) all the trees seem as though they had withered and shed all their leaves, except fourteen trees, which do not lose their foliage but retain the old foliage from two to three years till the new comes.

And Enoch went and said: ‘Azazel, thou shalt have no peace: a severe sentence has gone forth against thee to put thee in bonds: And thou shalt not have toleration nor request granted to thee, because of the unrighteousness which thou hast taught, and because of all the works of godlessness and unrighteousness and sin which thou hast shown to men.’
Then I went and spoke to them all together, and they were all afraid, and fear and trembling seized them.
And they besought me to draw up a petition for them that they might find forgiveness, and to read their petition in the presence of the Lord of heaven. For from thenceforward they could not speak(with Him) nor lift up their eyes to heaven for shame of their sins for which they had been condemned.
Then I wrote out their petition, and the prayer in regard to their spirits and their deeds individually and in regard to their requests that they should have forgiveness and length.

I saw there seven stars like great burning mountains, and to me, when I inquired regarding them, The angel said: ‘This place is the end of heaven and earth: this has become a prison for the stars and the host of heaven. And the stars which roll over the fire are they which have transgressed the commandment of the Lord in the beginning of their rising, because they did not come forth at their appointed times. And He was wroth with them, and bound them till the time when their guilt should be consummated (even) for ten thousand years.’

Also another phenomenon I saw in regard to the lightnings: how some of the stars arise and become lightnings and cannot part with their new form.

In the year 500, in the seventh month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the life of Enoch.

And on that day were two monsters parted, a female monster named Leviathan, to dwell in the abysses of the ocean over the fountains of the waters. But the male is named Behemoth, who occupied with his breast a waste wilderness named Duidain, on the east of the garden where the elect and righteous dwell, where my grandfather was taken up, the seventh from Adam, the first man whom the Lord of Hosts created.

And the spirit of the hoar-frost is his own angel, and the spirit of the hail is a good angel. And the spirit of the snow has forsaken his chambers on account of his strength -There is a special spirit therein, and that which ascends from it is like smoke, and its name is frost.

And now the angels are making a wooden {ark} (building),

And in proportion as the burning of their bodies becomes severe, a corresponding change shall take place in their spirit for ever and ever;

And those same waters will undergo a change in those days; for when those angels are punished in these waters, these water-springs shall change their temperature, and when the angels ascend, this water of the springs shall change and become cold.

For men were not created for such a purpose, to give confirmation to their good faith with pen and ink.

And the sun rises from that portal and sets in the west, and returns to the east and rises thirty mornings in the third portal and sets in the west in the third portal. And on that day the night becomes longer than the day, and night becomes longer than night, and day shorter than day till the thirtieth morning, and the night amounts exactly to ten parts and the day to eight parts.

(Regarding the sun) As he rises, so he sets and decreases not, and rests not, but runs day and night, and his light is sevenfold brighter than that of the moon; but as regards size they are both equal.

And at the ends of the earth I saw twelve portals open to all the quarters (of the heaven), from which the winds go forth and blow over the earth.

(Speaking of Noah’s birth) unto Lamech my son there hath been born a son, the like of whom there is none, and his nature is not like man’s nature, and the colour of his body is whiter than snow and redder than the bloom of a rose, and the hair of his head is whiter than white wool, and his eyes are like the rays of the sun, and he opened his eyes and thereupon lighted up the whole house. And he arose in the hands of the midwife, and opened his mouth and blessed the Lord of heaven.

This book is very hefty, with lots of beautiful color pictures. The graphs get a little old after a while, but there are plenty of nice pictures to keep the attention, and the mind stayed on ancient historical things related to those people and places in the times when the Bible was written.

Unfortunately, the author shows his disregard for the words contained in the Bible many times, giving the impression that he doesn’t care whatever God says in it, but thinks it is an interesting book, something to be dissected by modern-day scholars to prove how untrustworthy the Bible is. Laughingly, for all his doctorate and such, there are numerous English grammatical errors.

He writes: “When the Hebrews became farmers, after the occupation of Canaan, the Canaanite harvest festivals were celebrated as manifestations of the same power of God which had brought the people safely out of Egypt.”

“Some of the contradictory information (in the Bible about the Exodus) becomes much clearer if it is accepted that the biblical accounts of the journey combine traditions about several waves of Hebrew penetration into Canaan, with at least two distinct journeys.”

“… the Ten Commandments have no known parallels in the ancient Near East and could well go back to Moses himself.”

“(The spies were sent to Canaan and told of fierce people) But the lure of the land was irresistible.”

“However, extensive archaeological work on the site of Jericho reveals no walled city appropriate to the period of the Hebrew conquest. … Perhaps the Jericho stories were handed down and woven into the Biblical epic when the Hebrew conquest stories began to take shape.”

“The design of such temples (Canaanite) influenced the Hebrew Temple in Jerusalem and other cities.”

“(when the captured ark was returned) The Ark was then transported to Kiriath-jearim where it remained for 20 years, doubtless under watchful Philistine eyes.”

“… Zadok … marks a distinct movement towards the Canaanite expression of religious beliefs.”

“The influence of Greek dramatic traditions may be seen in the structure of the Old Testament Book of Job.”

All of the above examples shows how the author puts his thinking above the words in the Bible.

Some examples of sloppy English:
“In this mosaic from the Arian Baptistry in Ravenna dates from the 5th century A.D.”

“… Lazarus raised for death”

“… Herod conquered his kingdom”

The question for me has been settled a long time ago – Is the Bible the words of God and thus inerrant, or is it the words of humans with their tendency to make mistakes? This is the absolute most important question us humans will ever have to answer – and our answer will definitely determine our eternal destiny. Yes, i know that to know the only true God and Jesus Christ who he sent is eternal life, but how can we know that? – thru the Bible. And if the Bible has mistakes in some areas, how can we be sure it doesn’t have mistakes in this area too? If there are some mistakes/errors in the Bible, then it all becomes a great guessing game about what is true and what is not, and the end result will be a class of highly educated skeptics who will assert that they are the only ones to determine what in the Bible is true, and what is not. Sad to say, we as Seventh-day Adventists have been moving slowly down the latter path for several generations now, and it is getting harder and harder to find people who really believe all the Bible is from God and thus completely true.

For most all SDAs, and i’ve written on this before, the question of inerrancy arises when they find discrepancies or outright contradictions in the books that have Ellen White’s name on the cover. This is true. You can find many such places. The problem resolved itself for me a long time ago when i realized that almost no one, including her husband, really believed that what Ellen White wrote was from God himself. In 1883 the General Conference formed a committee with the express intention to “correct the imperfections in the books”. The year before that they came out with “Early Writings”. In comparing the part in that book that corresponds to the 1858 Great Controversy, i became alarmed because there were so many changes and additions and deletions. Also, on the official Ellen .G. White Estate web site, you can find an article regarding the changes made to the Great Controversy in 1911. Basically, they formed a committee and asked for opinions from many people and made the changes. Now wait a minute – God never gives his prophetic word by committee. Also, he never gives his words, and then a few years later takes them back and/or gives completely contradicting words. With this information, i knew that there was something rotten at the core of what has been done to the writings of Ellen White.

William (Willie) White was Ellen’s son, and entrusted with overseeing the book work. As far as i can tell, he was very unfaithful. Then Arthur White, Ellen’s grandson, became the White Estate director. He wrote the book reviewed here, showing that he was unfaithful also.

This book review is based on its reading in the Northern Luzon Adventist College’s (Philippines) library in early 2007. One reason i was interested in this book, is that the only person in Japan printing and actively promoting the printing of Ellen White’s books recently had this book translated and printed, trying to bolster his position of there being small mistakes in the Bible.
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Favorably quoting William White’s words in 1912:
“If it had been essential to the salvation of man that he should have a clear and harmonious understanding of the chronology of the world, the Lord would not have permitted the disagreements and discrepancies which we find in the writings of the Bible historians…” (p.37)

Page 26 quotes Henry Alford favorably: “the highly appreciated British theologian — admits of much variety in points of minor consequence.”.