Ellen G. White and Her Critics

Failure to Accept Further Light

The bracketed comments in the quotation from Hosea are by the editor, and are most enlightening. His comments on this text show clearly that he believes that the sorry state of “the churches and Adventists who have gone back with them,” is due to their failure to accept further light. The intercession of Christ will not benefit them, he declares, because they “seek the Lord as a Minister in the Holy, where he is not.” Then, to show a Scriptural parallel to the dangerous possibilities that reside in a failure to accept a further revelation of the plan of God for our salvation, he cites the case of the ancient Jews. EGWC 608.3

It becomes increasingly evident, as our spiritual forefathers disclose their thinking, that they believed that the ones knocking at the shut door are “those who refuse to follow down the track of Prophecy, so as to learn the present position and work of our Great High Priest.” Such persons Arnold has described as “misguided souls.” The implication is clearly resident in their reasoning, though they did not sense it at the outset, that those who first refused light might still be potential subjects of salvation. Jerusalem, representative of all Israel, had so consistently rejected light through the centuries, that it suffered the awful condemnation of Christ: “Your house is left unto you desolate.” Yet after His resurrection our Lord told His disciples to begin their preaching in Jerusalem. The glorious results are recorded in the book of Acts. Our spiritual fathers said that the “churches,” which they described as fallen Babylon, and the “Adventists who have gone back with them,” should be likened to the ancient Jews! EGWC 608.4

The implications in such statements from the pioneers as we have just quoted, go even further. The sorry state of certain Adventists is described as due to their failure to accept further light on the sanctuary. But this further light did not break forth till after October 22, 1844. In fact, the light was not clearly set forth until Crosier’s article in 1846. How, then, could all opportunity of salvation have ended for these “misguided souls” on October 22, 1844? Obviously, by the very logic of the pioneers’ statements, it could not. EGWC 609.1