Ellen White's Bible Omissions

By Brother Anderson

"In order to sustain erroneous doctrines or unchristian practices, some will seize upon passages of Scripture separated from the context, perhaps quoting half of a single verse as proving their point, when the remaining portion would show the meaning to be quite the opposite. With the cunning of the serpent they entrench themselves behind disconnected utterances construed to suit their carnal desires. Thus do many willfully pervert the word of God." --Ellen White, The Great Controversy, p. 521

Omission #1 - Desolation of the Earth

In the Great Controversy Mrs. White describes the destruction of the wicked at the Second Coming of Christ:

"At the coming of Christ the wicked are blotted from the face of the whole earth--consumed with the spirit of His mouth and destroyed by the brightness of His glory. Christ takes His people to the City of God, and the earth is emptied of its inhabitants. 'Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.' 'The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word.' 'Because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned.' Isaiah 24:1, 3, 5, 6."1

In the above quote Isaiah 24:6 has been highlighted in bold. Notice below how the verse reads in the KJV Bible:

"Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left."

Ellen White omitted a very important part of the verse: "and few men left." The reason it was omitted is because it contradicts the Adventist doctrine that the entire earth is depopulated of all humans during the Millennium.

On the very same page Mrs. White makes another omission:

"'And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold everyone on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor.' Zechariah 14:12, 13."1

Mrs. White is using these verses as proof that the earth is totally depopulated after the return of Christ. However, three verses later in Zechariah 14, we find that the nations of the earth are not totally annihilated. The Bible explicitly teaches that there will be people alive upon the earth during the Millennium:

"And it shall come to pass, [that] every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles." (Zech. 14:16)

These examples demonstrate the Ellen White quoted partial verses deceptively to prove a point, when quoting the entire verse would have contradicted her point.

Omission #2 - Adventists Cannot Eat Animal Fat

Mrs. White wrote in one testimony:

"You have used the fat of animals which God in his word expressly forbids. 'It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.' 'Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast in any of your dwellings. Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood even that soul shall be cut off from among his people.'"2

Mrs. White attempts in the above testimony to persuade a follower that the Bible forbid the eating of all animal fat. The first part of her quote is from Leviticus 3:17 which is a passage giving directions to the priests on how to treat the fat from sacrificed animals. The Bible passage is as follows:

"And he shall offer thereof his offering, [even] an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that [is] upon the inwards, And the two kidneys, and the fat that [is] upon them, which [is] by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: [it is] the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat [is] the LORD'S. [It shall be] a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood." (Lev. 3:14-17)

The Bible prohibits the priests from eating of the fat and blood of the sacrificed animals, but this prohibition only applies to sacrificed animals. H.C. Blanchard writes:

"...neither the Jews, nor any other people, were ever prohibited from eating fat of animals, in a general sense. This verse clearly shows that it is the fat of the beasts of which men offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. It is also clear that this prohibition did not extend to all animals, but only to such as were offered in sacrifice, and then only certain parts of the fat which was to be burned on the altar. To see that they were permitted to eat fat let us turn to Deut. 32:14, 'Butter of kine and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.' Again, Neh. 8:10: 'Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet,' &c. So it is clearly proved that the command that is here referred to as being violated is false, and the spirit that dictated this Testimony is false, and such as our Lord told us to beware of."3

Omission #3 - False Teachers Forbid Marriage and Eating Meat

In 1st Timothy 4:1-5, Paul gives a strong warning about end-time delusions:

1 - Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 - Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
3 - Forbidding to marry, [and commanding] to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
4 - For every creature of God [is] good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
5 - For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

Mrs. White quotes from verses 1 and 2 in her writings4 but never quotes verses 3-5 anywhere in her writings. As an example, in Patriarchs and Prophets she quotes verse 1, but omits the rest of the passage:

"Paul warns us that we may look for wickedness to increase as the end draws near: 'The Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.' 1 Timothy 4:1."5

Paul says that "every creature" is "good" for food and those who teach otherwise are deaprting from the faith and following "seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." It should come as no surprise that Ellen White omitted verses 3-5 of this passage because she frequently told her followers to abstain from eating meat:

"Vegetables, fruits, and grains should compose our diet. Not an ounce of flesh meat should enter our stomachs. The eating of flesh is unnatural. We are to return to God's original purpose in the creation of man."6

"It has been clearly presented to me that God's people are to take a firm stand against meat eating."7

Furthermore, although Mrs. White never explicitly forbid marriage, there were times when she discouraged it.

According to the White Estate, "Ellen White’s literary output totals approximately 25 million words."8 Amazingly, in those 25 million words, many of which deal with end-time events and end-time delusions, she never quotes verses 3-5 of this important end-time passage. One would think that a prophet of God would want to draw attention to the end-time delusion of false teachers who would arise in the last days forbidding people from eating meats. Not so with Mrs. White. Paul's statement so closely identified her teachings as false that she probably did not want the spot-light focused on her. Therefore, although she quoted from 1st Timothy 4 verse 1 at least 85 times in her published writings, the rest of the passage was conveniently omitted from her 25 million words.9

Omission #4 - Judgment began in first century A.D.

In the Great Controversy Mrs. White describes the judgment and quotes 1 Peter 4:17:

So in the great day of final atonement and investigative judgment the only cases considered are those of the professed people of God. The judgment of the wicked is a distinct and separate work, and takes place at a later period. "Judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel?" 1 Peter 4:17.10

Compare this with 1 Peter 4:17 (KJV) and notice what is missing:

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Mrs. White excluded the words "For the time is come that." These words indicate that the judgment Peter is talking about had already begun in the first century. This is clarified in other versions:

For the time has come for judgment to begin... (NKJV)

For it is time for judgment to begin... (NIV)

For it is time for judgment to begin... (ESV)

For the time has come for judgment... (RSV)

The context of this passage (1 Peter 4:12-19) is describing the "trials" and "sufferings" that are to come upon believers. This passage is most likely referring to the various persecutions unleashed against Christians during the first century. In particular, this could apply to Christian Jews living in Palestine during the period of 66 - 70 AD. During this time period there was a general hostility towards Jews, not only in Palestine, but throughout the Roman empire. In the early years of Christianity, persecutors did not necessarily distinguish between Jews and Christians, and they sometimes suffered together. The terminology "House of the God" is used almost universally in the Bible to refer to the Temple of God.11 Jesus also warned, in His Olivet discourse, of the destruction of the Jewish temple and the city of Jerusalam (Matt. 24). Many Christian Jews suffered alongside their fellow non-Christian Jews during this time of judgment.

There can be no doubt that Peter was not referring to an "investigative judgment" that supposedly began some 18 centuries in the future. Mrs. White's omission of the first part of the verse allowed her to change the meaning of the passage and project it into a completely different era and a completely different event.

 

Do you know of a Bible omission made by Mrs. White? e-mail us

Citations

1. Ellen G. White, Great Controversy, p. 657, emphasis supplied.

2. Ellen White, Testimonies, vol. 2, p. 64.

3. H.C. Blanchard, The Testimonies of Mrs. E. G. White Compared With the Bible, http://www.ex-sda.com/newpage24.htm.

4. The only instance where Ellen White quotes both verses 1 and 2 is in her writings is in Manuscript Releases Vol. 21 (1993), p. 175. She quotes from verse 1 in DA 257; GC 444; PP 102,686; 8T 75.

5. Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets (1890), p. 103.

6. Ellen G. White, Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 380.

7. Ibid., p. 383.

8. Herbert E. Douglass, Messenger of the Lord, chapter 39, as found on the Ellen G. White Estate's web site, http://www.whiteestate.org/books/mol/Chapt39.html#Understanding How the Books Were Written, as of Jan. 12, 2008.

9. Using the search engine on the White Estate web site, a search for the following words "depart faith heed seducing spirits doctrines devils" returns 85 references to books written by Ellen White or compiled from her writings. In addition, she quotes verses 1 and 2 in a letter (see footnote #4)

10. Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 480.

11. Of the 87 Bible references to "House of God", there is a single reference to it being the church (1 Tim. 3:5). There is one reference in Genesis 28:17 referring to the place of Jacob's ladder as the "house of God". All other references, including those in the NT, refer to the tabernacle or temple of God.

Category: Bible vs. Mrs. White
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