101 Questions - About Ellen White and Her Writings

Question 72: Did Mrs. White say the Adventist Church “will go through”? (“The Church Will Go Through”)

I am looking for references for Mrs. White’s comment that “the church will go through.” Is she referring specifically to the Seventh-day Adventist Church or the church in general? 101Q 160.1

When I think of Mrs. White’s comments along these lines, I think of her statement that it will appear that the church is about to fall, but it does not fall; it remains. I’ll quote it for you here, with the paragraph before it for context: 101Q 160.2

We are to be ready and waiting for the orders of God. Nations will be stirred to their very center. Support will be withdrawn from those who proclaim God’s only standard of righteousness, the only sure test of character. And all who will not bow to the decree of the national councils and obey the national laws to exalt the sabbath instituted by the man of sin, to the disregard of God’s holy day, will feel, not the oppressive power of popery alone, but of the Protestant world, the image of the beast. 101Q 160.3

Satan will work his miracles to deceive; he will set up his power as supreme. The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. 101Q 160.4

It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out—the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place. None but those who have been overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony will be found with the loyal and true, without spot or stain of sin, without guile in their mouths. We must be divested of our self-righteousness and arrayed in the righteousness of Christ (Selected Messages, 2:380). 101Q 160.5

In this statement, it should be clear that she has in mind the church that keeps the commandments of God. 101Q 160.6