Ellen G. White and Her Critics

God Is Sparing of Miracles

If Mrs. White had been given a knowledge of all hidden sins, and revealed that knowledge by routinely exposing all such sins whenever she met people, in private or in public, what a singular state of affairs would soon have developed. That she should know of any hidden sins is an evidence of the miraculous. And do not most students of the Scriptures believe that the Lord is sparing of miracles? He allows a display of the supernatural only occasionally, and then because it best suits His divine plans. For example, occasionally it may please God to work a miracle and suddenly raise up a sick man. Most times the Lord sees fit to allow him to recover by means of what we call the “natural processes.” But this does not cause us to doubt God, or to doubt the spiritual relationship to God of those who have prayed for the sick who were not miraculously healed. Then why not think of the matter of revealing “hidden sins” in the same way? EGWC 506.6

Occasionally, and very particularly at the outset of the movement, when hypocritical pretenders sought to wreck churches, God saw fit to work a miracle by revealing to Mrs. White certain hidden sins. Other times He permitted those sins to come to light by the “natural processes.” And may we not see the great wisdom of God in this? Many sins come to light by confession on the part of a conscience-smitten chief offender or by confession on the part of someone drawn into evil by him. And is there not a great spiritual value in the act of confession? EGWC 507.1

Now, Mrs. White wrote continuously from 1845 to 1915, a period of seventy years. Her books, her articles in journals, and her personal testimonies to individuals that were never published, represent many thousands of pages. She discussed persons and principles, gave counsel on numerous matters. Yet when her chief critic, who posed as having intimate knowledge of the Seventh-day Adventist Church for long years, set out, in 1919, to prove that her testimonies merely reflected what others had told her, and were not revelations, he presented nothing more impressive than we have here been considering! Singular, is it not! EGWC 507.2