Ellen G. White and Her Critics

Quotation Number 3

Then note her words in another testimony in the same volume, in which she discusses certain basic principles that governed her course in the matter of giving testimonies to individuals and to church institutions; EGWC 488.5

“In some cases it has been represented that in giving a testimony for churches or individuals, I have been influenced to write as I did by letters received from members of the church. There have been those who claimed that testimonies purporting to be given by the Spirit of God were merely the expression of my own judgment, based upon information gathered from human sources. This statement is utterly false. If, however, in response to some question, statement, or appeal from churches or individuals, a testimony is written presenting the light which God has given concerning them, the fact that it has been called forth in this manner in no wise detracts from its validity or importance.... EGWC 489.1

“The Lord does not give a vision to meet each emergency which may arise in the different attitudes of his people in the development of his work. But he has shown me that it has been his way of dealing with his church in past ages, to impress the minds of his chosen servants with the needs and dangers of his cause and of individuals, and to lay upon them the burden of counsel and warning. EGWC 489.2

“So in many cases God has given me light in regard to peculiar defects of character in members of the church, and the dangers to the individual and the cause if these defects are not removed. Under certain circumstances, wrong tendencies are liable to become strongly developed and confirmed, and to work injury to the cause of God, and ruin to the individual. Sometimes, when special dangers threaten the cause of God or particular individuals, a communication comes to me from the Lord, either in a dream or a vision of the night, and these cases are brought vividly to my mind. I hear a voice saying to me, ‘Arise and write; these souls are in peril.’ I obey the movings of the Spirit of God, and my pen traces their true condition. As I travel, and stand before the people in different places, the Spirit of the Lord brings before me clearly the cases I have been shown, reviving the matter previously given me. EGWC 489.3

“For the last forty-five years the Lord has been revealing to me the needs of his cause, and the cases of individuals in every phase of experience, showing where and how they have failed to perfect Christian character. The history of hundreds of cases has been presented to me, and that which God approves, and that which he condemns, has been plainly set before me. God has shown me that a certain course, if followed, or certain traits of character, if indulged, would produce certain results. He has thus been training and disciplining me in order that I might see the dangers which threaten souls, and instruct and warn his people.... EGWC 489.4

“When I see men and women taking the very course, or cherishing the very traits, which have imperiled other souls and wounded the cause of God, and which the Lord has reproved again and again, how can I but be alarmed? When I see timid souls, burdened with a sense of their imperfections, yet conscientiously striving to do what God has said is right, and know that the Lord looks down and smiles on their faithful efforts, shall I not speak a word of encouragement to these poor trembling hearts? Shall I hold my peace because each individual case has not been pointed out to me in direct vision?”—Pages 683-687. EGWC 489.5