Ellen G. White and Her Critics

Charge Number 5

Mrs. White wrote: “Had our nation remained united, it would have had strength; but divided it must fall.”—Testimonies for the Church 1:260. EGWC 118.4

“No such thing happened. It was not divided, nor did it fall. Did not the Lord know better than that? Yes, but she did not.” EGWC 118.5

We discussed in the preceding chapter the subject of conditional predictions, and showed that some Bible prophecies were not fulfilled, and for the simple reason that the conditions changed, because of the free will of man. As a warning to the United States, no statement probably was more true than that, “Divided it must fall.” But why did not the critic, in connection with this charge and the four already considered, quote another statement by Mrs. White in the same context? EGWC 118.6

“When our nation observes the fast which God has chosen, ^* then will he accept their prayers as far as the war is concerned.”—Testimonies for the Church 1:258. EGWC 118.7

Did Mrs. White consign the Government to defeat and collapse? Are her statements, quoted so briefly and out of context, to be understood as making predictions that have not come true? We think this last quotation from her provides a sufficient answer, and is strictly in line with the principles discussed in the chapter that dealt with conditional predictions. She sets forth a procedure by which the Government may have its prayers answered “as far as the war is concerned.” Prayer for what? For victory. EGWC 119.1

Nor is this the only statement made by Mrs. White during the dark days of the war that goes counter to the charge of the critics that she was predicting defeat for the North, and thus victory for the South, and that, in fact, she expressed only what was current thinking in all she said about the war. Few onlookers would have ventured to predict in January, 1863, that the war would end as it did. But here is what Mrs. White published at that time: EGWC 119.2

“I saw that both the South and the North were being punished. In regard to the South, I was referred to Deuteronomy 32:35-37: ‘To me belongeth vengeance and recompense: their foot shall slide in due time; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants; when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left, and he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted?’”—Testimonies for the Church 1:368. EGWC 119.3

Six months later came Gettysburg, the high tide of Southern power, and then the steady ebb. But before the ebb appears, Mrs. White says, “I was referred to Deuteronomy 32:35-37.” Who referred her to that passage of Scripture? One who knew more than the wise men of the world! And she was so calmly confident of the Source of her counsel that she wrote as she did while the North was experiencing anything but victory. EGWC 119.4