A Response to the Video:
Seventh-day Adventism, the Spirit Behind the Church

by Bob Pickle

Answers to Questions Raised by:
Mark Martin, Sydney Cleveland
Dale Ratzlaff, The White Lie
. . . and Others

Discern Fact from Fiction

Wrapping Up the Case

#195 & #196: " 'Point 1: Cults or false religions usually have a single powerful human leader who becomes the cult's "messiah." ' "—Narrator. "Who can deny the total reliance of the group on the teachings of Ellen G. White. She may not be called their messiah, but is certainly their messenger of God, revered by all."—Steve Cannon.

#195: They totally rely on her teachings. As presented under #21, #23-#26, and #45, the Adventist Church uses the Scriptures as their ultimate and final authority. It proves its doctrines from the Bible, not Mrs. White.

Second to the Bible, Mrs. White is officially viewed by the church as having more authority than the average person. This, however, does not mean that there is a "total reliance" on her.

By the way, it is because of the respect shown to the counsel of Mrs. White that there is no single, powerful human leader at the helm of the Adventist Church. She advocated spreading the responsibilities around, not centering all power in a few (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 8, p. 236).

#196: She is revered by all. It simply isn't true, as Sydney Cleveland makes clear toward the end of the video under #231.

One of the sources referred to earlier by the video was Walter Rea's The White Lie. The situation is not as bad as he describes it, but consider carefully what he has to say:

Perhaps one of the strangest twists of the white lie is that in many respects few in or out of the Adventist Church seem to be greatly affected anyway by the specific details of Ellen and her instruction, counsels, and reproofs. . . . In actuality not a great many pay much attention to the church's "spirit of prophecy," no matter where Ellen's ideas came from. . . .

There is not overwhelming evidence that the members of the Adventist Church follow the solemn nineteenth-century counsel of Ellen . . . . Neither Adventist ministers nor Adventist lay people practice or promote to any serious degree certain legalisms they claim came from God by the inspiration and authority of their prophet. . . .

That Adventists really believe that all the instructions of Ellen's pen came from God has to be doubted—because they have chosen to ignore a great deal of that instruction.—pp. 250, 251.

Thus wrote two decades ago one of the primary sources for information for this video. [p. 130]

A minority of Seventh-day Adventists who are theologically liberal openly deny the authority of both the Bible and the writings of Mrs. White. Among many of those who do profess to believe in the authority of inspired writings, many things just aren't followed or are explained away. Some seek to put into practice the counsel offered, but it definitely isn't as unanimous as Mr. Cannon thinks. Mrs. White is not "revered by all."

The documentation package identifies this item as "Point 93," but when one turns to "Point 93," no citation relevant to this item can be seen.

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