Ellen G. White and Her Critics

6. Her Use of Hosea 5:6, 7

Mrs. White used Hosea 5:6, 7 in describing various believers and particularly teachers and leaders who had been in the Second Advent movement. Her critics declare: Her associates used this text to prove that the day of salvation had ended for all sinners. Mrs. White uses it in the same way. Therefore she believed as they did regarding probation’s close. Hosea 5:6, 7 reads as follows: EGWC 217.6

“They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them. They have dealt treacherously against the Lord: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.” EGWC 218.1

Mrs. White’s associates used this passage to describe Adventist leaders “with their flocks,” that is, their churches. Christ has “withdrawn himself from them” into the second apartment of the heavenly sanctuary. The “strange children” that “they have begotten” are their converts. “They have dealt treacherously against the Lord” because they have failed to preach to these converts the fullness of present truth, into which they as leaders should have walked as advancing light came to the Advent movement. EGWC 218.2

But not all of Mrs. White’s associates used this passage in Hosea to prove that these leaders and all their converts are outside the pale of mercy. Arnold, for example, calls them “misguided souls.” The knocking at the shut door which these misguided souls are doing he describes as a knocking at the door of the first apartment, and not a knocking at a Shut door of mercy. (See The Present Truth, December, 1849.) EGWC 218.3

Commenting on this passage, James White wrote: EGWC 218.4

“The reason why they do not find the Lord is simply this, they seek him where he is not; ‘he hath withdrawn himself’ to the Most Holy Place. The prophet of God calls their man-made converts, ‘STRANGE CHILDREN;’ ‘now shall a month devour them, and their portions.’”—The Present Truth, May, 1850, p. 79. (Emphasis his.) EGWC 218.5

These are typical illustrations of how Mrs. White’s associates used this passage in Hosea. It is plain that they are discussing those who had received the light but “had rejected the offers of salvation.” Whether they definitely believed that such “misguided souls” might find the Lord, if they were willing to look for Him where He is now ministering, is not altogether clear from their statements. But we think that Mrs. White’s statements are sufficiently explicit to permit us to reach a clear conclusion as to her teaching on this matter. EGWC 218.6

We quote the whole of a brief message from her in the The Present Truth, March, 1850: EGWC 219.1