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

Her Predictions and Views

#42 & #43: "Some of her so-called visions reflected her own racist views. For example, she believed that certain races of people [blacks are shown in the picture] were the result of sexual relations between man and animal, which she referred to as an amalgamation. 'Every species of animal which God had created were preserved in the ark. The confused species which God did not create, which were the result of amalgamation, were destroyed by the flood. Since the flood there has been amalgamation of man and beast, as may be seen in the almost endless varieties of species of animals, and in certain races of men.' Spiritual Gifts vol. 3 p. 75"—Narrator.

#42: She said that animals and people crossed sexually. She said no such thing. She never said that the amalgamation was through sexual relations.

Scientists today routinely mix the genes of various species, even putting animal genes into plants through genetic engineering. Since the Bible portrays man becoming more degenerate over time instead of more advanced, why could not ancient man have had such technology? It is evolution, not the Bible, that says that man is smarter today than he was back [p. 39] then.

While Mrs. White indicates that it was man doing the amalgamation before the Flood, she does not say who did it after the Flood. Elsewhere she does speak of Satan altering plants through some sort of process: "All tares are sown by the evil one. Every noxious herb is of his sowing, and by his ingenious methods of amalgamation he has corrupted the earth with tares."—Selected Messages, bk. 2, p. 288. So it is possible that it was Satan doing the post-Flood amalgamation instead of man.

As F. D. Nichol pointed out in his book Ellen G. White and Her Critics, she did not specifically say "amalgamation of man with beast." Thus there is room for his idea of there being amalgamation of man with man and beast with beast (pp. 308, 309).

What does this mean? Many interpret Genesis 6:2, which speaks of the sons of God marrying the daughters of men, to mean the same as what Mrs. White writes of in the August 23, 1892, issue of the Review and Herald:

Those who profess to be followers of Christ, should be living agencies, co-operating with heavenly intelligences; but by union with the world, the character of God's people becomes tarnished, and through amalgamation with the corrupt, the fine gold becomes dim.

So amalgamation of man before the Flood could possibly mean intermarriage of believers with unbelievers, of the sons of God with the daughters of men.

Under "Point 25" the documentation package gives the identical quotation found on the video. It also gives another quotation that speaks of witnessing to "white people" in the South as well as for the "higher class." The compiler of the documentation package, being unacquainted with Mrs. White's writings, must have equated the terms "white people" with "higher class," when in fact they mean something totally different. "Higher class" refers to economic and social status, not race (Desire of Ages, p. 550).

Mrs. White repeatedly encouraged witnessing to the wealthy class. Since the poor often seem more receptive than the wealthy, the latter are often neglected, but they need the gospel too, whether they be black or white.

Here are a few statements from her pen which were quite anti-racist:

How little of the spirit of Christ has been manifested in the treatment given to the colored race in this so-called Christian country!—Manuscript Releases, vol. 4, p. 8.

God has marked out no color line, and men should move very guardedly, lest we offend God. The Lord has not made two heavens, one for white people and one for colored people. There is but one heaven for the saved.—Ibid., p. 33.

When the Holy Spirit moves upon human minds, all petty complaints and accusations between man and his fellow man will be put away. . . . In our worship of God there will be no distinction between rich and poor, white and black. All prejudice will be melted away. When we approach God, it will be as one brotherhood.—Selected Messages, bk. 2, p. 487.

#43: As the picture illustrates, she taught that amalgamation produced the black race. Regardless of what she meant by "amalgamation," whether genetic engineering or intermarriage with unbelievers, she never said what races of men she was talking about. She never said "amalgamation" produced the black race. Why didn't the video use a picture of whites or Asians instead? Is it because it would not have been as inflammatory as a picture of blacks?

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