Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 9 (1894)

Ms 114, 1894

Diary/Regarding O. A. Olsen

Granville, Australia

July 1894

Previously unpublished.

I have had conversation with W. C. White. He was presenting before me the necessity of our people heeding the voice of the General Conference. Then I said, “WCW, it is time you should understand that, [notwithstanding] the opinion that has prevailed, the General Conference so-called is no longer the voice of God. It has become a strange voice, and they are building strange fire. God does not speak through them. The work that is being done in the General Conference is a strange work. Elder Olsen is not in the light. Had he stood in the light, he would not have allowed us to be separated from him and come to this country. He has stood in a divided position in reference to the spirit brought from Minneapolis. He let the burdens fall upon me that never should have come upon me. Had he stood to his post of duty like a man after God's own heart, the clouds would have broken and light would have come in clear and bright. But his half-and-half position was acting out the Aaron, and God was displeased. We were needed at the heart of the work all the years that we have been away from America. 9LtMs, Ms 114, 1894, par. 1

“There is being done in America, by the General Conference, that which the churches in the conferences know nothing about. You were not wanted in their councils. They wanted to get you out of the way. Elder Olsen was not fully in all their projects at first, but they—Harmon Lindsay and A. R. Henry—deceived him. Elder Olsen has betrayed the cause of God. He is not in union with Elder Ellet Waggoner, neither is he in harmony with A. T. Jones. He is yoked up and united with the men who are working at cross-purposes with God, and the churches are becoming leavened with the spirit that prevails at Battle Creek.” 9LtMs, Ms 114, 1894, par. 2

W. C. White appeared astonished when I told him that he was not wanted in Battle Creek councils and was crowded out, and meetings were held that he should have been notified to attend. But they took special pains that he should not know of these meetings. Elder Olsen could have wholly changed these things if he had stood free in God, bravely opposed to wrong, but he yoked up as a true yoke-fellow with A. R. Henry, who has carried things with a high hand. [They] would control everything upon the Pacific Coast if they could get their grasp upon it. I am instructed that the Lord will let these men have all they have worked for, and then will He punish them and mark their future. 9LtMs, Ms 114, 1894, par. 3

At Battle Creek they would expend means largely as they chose, for had they not the power to do so? Were they not the voice which would control all matters in every conference? The wicked course being pursued must be brought to light. Honesty was not practiced in dealing with others, and there was robbery against their fellow men. Their methods in the book concern was a sham. Men were placed there, to pronounce upon the merits of books, who had far better been engaged in secular business that had no definite relation in reference to the work of God. And what will be the end of these things? The people will be left in uncertainty until their faith in their supposed representatives is gone. Some of these men, like Captain Eldridge, may recover after they see their own course of action in the light [as] they might have seen it. 9LtMs, Ms 114, 1894, par. 4