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THE INTEGRITY OF THE PROPHETIC GIFT

Lesson 9 for February 28, 2009. THE INTEGRITY OF THE PROPHETIC GIFT. ATTACKS AGAINST THE PROPHETS. John. “ I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. ” (3 John 9).

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THE INTEGRITY OF THE PROPHETIC GIFT

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  1. Lesson 9 for February 28, 2009 THE INTEGRITY OF THE PROPHETIC GIFT

  2. ATTACKS AGAINST THE PROPHETS John “I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us.” (3 John 9) “Festus said with a loud voice, ‘Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!’” (Acts 26:24) “These are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.” (Acts 17:7) “‘For his letters,’ they say, ‘are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.’” (2 Corinthians 10:10) Paul

  3. ATTACKS AGAINST THE PROPHETS “That Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men spoke, saying to Jeremiah, ‘You speak falsely! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, “Do not go to Egypt to dwell there.” But Baruch the son of Neriah has set you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death or carry us away captive to Babylon.’” (Jeremiah 43:2-3) Jeremiah “They gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, ‘You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?’”(Numbers 16:3) Moses

  4. ATTACKS AGAINST ELLEN WHITE 1 She was accused of lying and deceiving. ACCUSATION: She was accused of stating that using a wig could cause affect mental health (The Health Reformer, Octover 1, 1871). QUOTE: Ellen White wrote of "hurtful indulgences" that militate against the highest interests and happiness of women. Among these "indulgences" she included wigs that, "covering the base of the brain, heat and excite the spinal nerves centering in the brain." As a result of "following this deforming fashion," she said, "many have lost their reason, and become hopelessly insane."

  5. ATTACKS AGAINST ELLEN WHITE REPLY: In the context of today's comfortable wigs, critics tend to ridicule this statement. But Mrs. White was referring to an entirely different product. The wigs she described were "monstrous bunches of curled hair, cotton, seagrass, wool, Spanish moss, and other multitudinous abominations." One woman said that her chignon generated "an unnatural degree of heat in the back part of the head" and produced "a distracting headache just as long as it was worn." Another Health Reformer article (quoting from the Marshall Statesman and the Springfield Republican) described the perils of wearing "jute switches"--wigs made from dark, fibrous bark. Apparently these switches were often infested with "jute bugs," small insects that burrowed under the scalp. One woman reported that her head became raw, and her hair began to fall out. Her entire scalp "was perforated with the burrowing parasites." "The lady . . . is represented as nearly crazy from the terrible suffering, and from the prospect of the horrible death which physicians do not seem able to avert."(Ellen White Estate, Comments Regarding Unusual Statements Found In Ellen G. White's Writings)

  6. ATTACKS AGAINST ELLEN WHITE 2 She was accused of plagiarism. ACCUSATION: In 1970, Walter Rea critized Ellen White’s writings. He stated that Mrs. White copied other authors’ work without mentioning them or even without using quotes, but claiming those texts came from heaven. After a long investigation, Poirier reported the next results in 1986: a. The greatest amount of literary borrowing is found in The Great Controversy, 20.16 %. b. The book Sketches From the Life of Paul [preceding The Acts of the Apostles], contained 12.23 % of literary borrowing. c. The rest of her books contained 2 % or less of literary borrowing.

  7. ATTACKS AGAINST ELLEN WHITE REPLY: Did Ellen White commit fraud by copying other authors? How much content did she copy without using quotes? About 4-7 % of the book “The Life and Epistles of St. Paul” by Conybeare and Howson was copied from “The Life and Works of Paul” by Farrar. Farrar actually copied Howson texts, and both used the same biblical texts too. Ellen White used their writings and used the same biblical texts too. In 1981, the General Conference of the Adventists Church hired a lawyer specialized in intelectual property, Dr. Vincent Ramik. They wanted to have the opinión of a specialist to determine if Ellen White was guilty of such accusation. Which was his conclusión? Dr. Vincent Ramik

  8. This is a summary of his conclusions: a. According to his legal opinión, Ellen White could not be accused of plagiarism. b. “I believe that the critics have missed the boat badly by focusing upon Mrs. White’s writings, instead of focusing upon the messages in Mrs. White’s writings.” c. Ellen White used writings from other authors; nevertheless, the way she did so was unique, personal and in a ethical and legal way. Her use of those writings is within the legal patterns of the “fair use” of others’ material. d. Ellen White used “words, phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs, yes, and even pages, from the writings of those who went before her. She stayed well within the legal boundaries of “fair use,” and all he time created something that was substantially greater (and even more beautiful) than the mere sum of the component parts. And I think the ultimate tragedy is that the critics fail to see this.” e. After his investigation, he gave a personal testimony without being asked to. After Reading Ellen White’s writings he said, “I am a changed man; i will never again be the same Vince Ramik that I was.”

  9. “In some cases where a historian has so grouped together events as to afford, in brief, a comprehensive view of the subject, or has summarized details in a convenient manner, his words have been quoted; but in some instances no specific credit has been given, since the quotations are not given for the purpose of citing that writer as authority, but because his statement affords a ready and forcible presentation of the subject. In narrating the experience and views of those carrying forward the work of reform in our own time, similar use has been made of their published works.” E.G.W. (The Great Controversy, p. 14)

  10. ATTACKS AGAINST ELLEN WHITE She was accused of giving more authority to her own writings than to the Bible. 3 ACCUSATION: The Adventist Church has been accused of using the writings of Ellen White as a superior authority than the Bible. QUOTE: “The Lord has sent His people much instruction, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, and there a little. Little heed is given to the Bible, and the Lord has given a lesser light to lead men and women to the greater light. Oh, how much good would be accomplished if the books containing this light were read with a determination to carry out the principles they contain!” (Colporteur Ministry, chapter 20, pg. 125)

  11. ATTACKS AGAINST ELLEN WHITE REPLY: Ellen White called her writings “lesser light to lead men and women to the greater light,” the Bible. Both are lights but have different purposes. The Adventist Church states that: • The Bible is the message of God for all times and all people. The writings of Ellen White are the message of God for a specific period of time, the End Time, and for a specific people, the Remnant Church. • Her writings do not contain new doctrines, but help the Church in the End Time. Her writings point the reader to the Bible. They don’t replace the Bible.

  12. ATTACKS AGAINST ELLEN WHITE 4 She was accused of contradicting herself between her early and her latest writings. ACCUSATION: He taught that pork was a healthy and nutritious food. Nevertheless, she later taught that pork shouldn’t be eaten under any circumstances. 1st QUOTE: “I saw that your views concerning swine's flesh* would prove no injury if you have them to yourselves; but in your judgment and opinion you have made this question a test... If God requires His people to abstain from swine's flesh, He will convict them on the matter... If it is the duty of the church to abstain from swine's flesh, God will discover it to more than two or three. He will teach His ‘church’ their duty” (Testimonies for the Church, vol. I, pp. 206-207) 2nd QUOTE: “God never designed the swine to be eaten under any circumstances.” (Spiritual Gifts, vol. 4, p. 124).

  13. ATTACKS AGAINST ELLEN WHITE REPLY: Ellen White explained a brother that he shouldn’t abstain of pork meat as a proof of his discipleship; that is, as a requirement for salvation. She received later light about how harmful pork meat is. God gives us light progressively. This happened both in the Bible and in the writings of the prophets. An E.G.W.’s Manuscript

  14. ATTACKS AGAINST ELLEN WHITE 5 She was accused of being wrong. ACCUSATION: He confused Herod Antipas with Herod Agrippa. QUOTE: “Herod’s heart had grown still harder; and when he heard that Christ had risen, he was not much troubled. He took the life of James, and when he saw that this pleased the Jews, he took Peter also, intending to put him to death. But God had a work for Peter to do, and sent his angel to deliver him. Herod was visited with the judgments of God. While exalting himself in the presence of a great multitude, he was smitten by the angel of the Lord, and died a most horrible death.” (Early Writings, pp. 185-186)

  15. ATTACKS AGAINST ELLEN WHITE REPLY: She mentioned Christ and Herod’s worry when he heard about His resurrection, but that Herod may not be Herod Antipas. Herod Agrippa could have been younger when that happened, so he could have had the same reaction although he was not governor yet. Ellen White knew all Herods in the Bible very well, as we can see in another writing: “Did the mind of Agrippa at these words revert to the past history of his family, and their fruitless efforts against Him whom Paul was preaching?Did he think of his great-grandfather Herod, and the massacre of the innocent children of Bethlehem?of his great-uncle Antipas, and the murder of John the Baptist?of his own father, Agrippa I, and the martyrdom of the apostle James?Did he see in the disasters which speedily befell these kings an evidence of the displeasure of God in consequence of their crimes against His servants?” (Ellen White’s quotes in the SDA Bible commentary, on Acts, 26: 26-28)

  16. “Yet now when I send you a testimony of warning and reproof, many of you declare it to be merely the opinion of Sister White. You have thereby insulted the Spirit of God. You know how the Lord has manifested Himself through the Spirit of prophecy. Past, present, and future have passed before me. I have been shown faces that I had never seen, and years afterward I knew them when I saw them. I have been aroused from my sleep with a vivid sense of subjects previously presented to my mind and I have written, at midnight, letters that have gone across the continent, and arriving at a crisis, have saved great disaster to the cause of God. This has been my work for many years. A power has impelled me to reprove and rebuke wrongs that I had not thought of. Is this work of the last thirty-six years from above or from beneath?” Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 1, cp. 2, pg. 27)

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