Ellen G. White and Her Critics

What Mrs. White Criticized

But when Mrs. White wrote in criticism of the Government in January, 1862, it was because the Government had taken no stand against slavery. She notes the fact that prominent men in the Northern Army are “pro-slavery men” and that “some of our leading men in Congress also are constantly working to favor the South.” Then she follows immediately with her withering comment on the proclamations for national fasts that God will bring this war to a speedy and favorable termination. “I saw that these national fasts were an insult to Jehovah. He accepts of no such fasts.”—Testimonies for the Church 1:257. EGWC 116.2

Then she goes on to tell about how some slaves escaping from their masters have been cruelly treated by men in the North, and adds: EGWC 116.3

“And yet a national fast is proclaimed! Saith the Lord, ‘Is not this the fast that I have chosen, to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?’ [Isaiah 58:6]. When our nation observes the fast which God has chosen, then will he accept their prayers as far as the war is concerned: but now they enter not into his ear.”—Testimonies for the Church 1:258. EGWC 116.4

The whole force of this charge disappears when the context is given. EGWC 116.5