Ellen G. White and Her Critics

The Critic’s “Proof” Regarding “Hidden Sins”

Mrs. White says, “The unpleasant duty has been laid upon me to reprove wrongs and reveal hidden sins.” (Testimonies for the Church 3:314.) Numbers of instances could be cited when she failed to reveal such sins. Thus is “exposed the falsity” of her claim that God revealed to her “hidden sins.” EGWC 505.3

The critic calls attention to the fact that sometimes flagrant sin in the life of a prominent individual was exposed by confession or in some similar way, and that following such exposure Mrs. White wrote a testimony regarding the sin and the sinner. He reasons, therefore, that she had no revelations, she knew nothing more than could be known by others. EGWC 505.4

To show the weakness of his charge we need only to set forth his reasoning in this formal style: Mrs. White claimed that God had called on her to “reveal hidden sins.” That means that she sweepingly claimed to reveal always and without exception, all hidden sins. Therefore, her failure to reveal certain sins proves her whole claim false. EGWC 506.1

But that reasoning is patently false, for Mrs. White made no such sweeping claim. When she spoke as she did about the duty that had been laid upon her to reveal hidden sins, she was speaking of actual experiences through which she had been called to pass, particularly in the early years of the movement. Her own words show clearly that she made no sweeping claim: EGWC 506.2

“The unpleasant duty has been laid upon me to reprove wrongs and to reveal hidden sins. When I have been compelled by the Spirit of God to reprove sins that others did not know existed, it has stirred up the natural feelings in the hearts of the unsanctified.”—Testimonies for the Church 3:314. EGWC 506.3

The natural meaning of her words is that at times, not necessarily always, the Spirit revealed hidden sins to her. EGWC 506.4

We are really dealing here with a variant of the argument that unless Mrs. White knew all truth about everything, she knew nothing about anything, and that indeed her confession that she did not know some certain things self-condemns her claims to the prophetic gift. We believe that the fallacy of that argument has been too clearly revealed to need further elaboration here. EGWC 506.5