Ellen G. White and Her Critics

Charge Number 9

Mrs. White wrote: “The scenes of earth’s history are fast closing.”—Testimonies for the Church 1:260. EGWC 125.2

“Mrs. White interpreted the Civil War as a sign of the end of the world, just as Adventists have been interpreting the European war.” [The critic wrote at the end of the first world war. Then he quotes Mrs. White:] “The one all-important inquiry which should now engross the mind of everyone is, Am I prepared for the day of God? Time will last a little longer. [p. 363.]” ^† EGWC 125.3

Why should anyone feel that Mrs. White is unworthy of confidence because she saw in the dreadful Civil War an appropriate text for exhorting the children of God to make ready for a soon-coming better world. The prophecies of the book of Daniel and Christ’s prophecy in Matthew 24 enable us to know when Christ’s coming is near, even at the door. One of the signs of the last days is the anger of the nations, the wars and upheavals. And we are to be aware of this sign in order to be protected against the “peace and safety” cry with which so many in the world will be lulled to sleep. EGWC 125.4

What this particular critic could not see, because the full effects of the first world war had not made themselves felt when he wrote his book of charges, were the dimensions of the mighty upheavals in the first half of the twentieth century, upheavals that no one had dreamed of except, of course, those who were trusting enough to believe the prophecies of the Bible. What the critic apparently did not see, either, was that the great military conscripting of the masses of the people in the lands of Europe, which broke forth finally in a world war in 1914, began in earnest in the last half of the nineteenth century. And the wisest of statesmen, scientists, and others express fear that indeed we are about ready to blow ourselves asunder in a third world war. Yet Mrs. White is ridiculed because she saw in the Civil War one of the omens of the last days. EGWC 125.5

In exhorting believers in the 1860’s to make ready for the day of the Lord, Mrs. White was doing no more than holy prophets and apostles are on record as doing. God gave neither to them nor to Mrs. White the day and the hour of His return. He instructed all who love Him on this earth to be waiting and watching and in readiness against an unknown hour. That is why the apostles exhorted men to be ready for the day of God. Because certain prophecies are now fulfilled we can know more definitely the time of the nearness of the Advent, yes, when it is even at the door, but still we cannot know the day or the hour. Hence, Mrs. White would have been remiss in her solemn duty, and would have failed to follow in the tradition of all the holy prophets and apostles, if she had not used the occasion of that dreadful Civil War to exhort believers to make ready for the day of God. EGWC 126.1