Seventh-day Adventism—The Spirit Behind the Church

Chapter 26—Ellen White denied the assurance given believers in the Gospel. She taught that one should never say “I am saved.”

Answer:

In context, Ellen White is not warning against the believer’s certainty of one’s present standing with God. She is speaking against the presumptuous “once saved, always saved” teaching of eternal security by those who claim “I am saved” while continuing to transgress God’s law. Here is Ellen White’s statement quoted in the video by Mr. Martin, with the words he omitted italicized: SDASBC 9.4

“Those who are teaching this doctrine today [the doctrine that “by ‘believing’ we are released from the necessity of being doers of the word”] have much to say in regard to faith and the righteousness of Christ; but they pervert the truth, and make it serve the cause of error. They declare that we have only to believe on Jesus Christ, and that faith is all-sufficient; that the righteousness of Christ is to be the sinner’s credentials; that this imputed righteousness fulfils the law for us, and that we are under no obligation to obey the law of God. This class claim that Christ came to save sinners, and that he has saved them. ‘I am saved,’ they will repeat over and over again. But are they saved while transgressing the law of Jehovah?—No; for the garments of Christ’s righteousness are not a cloak for iniquity.”—The Signs of the Times, February 25, 1897. [The reference cited on the video (February 8, 1897) is incorrect.]