Before we launch into today’s topic, I’d like to read a short quotation from The Great Controversy, page 593, but first let’s pray. “The people of God are directed to the scriptures as their safeguard against the influence of false teachers and the delusive power of spirits of darkness.  Satan employs every possible device to prevent men from obtaining a knowledge of the Bible; for its plain utterances reveal his deceptions. . . Antichrist is to perform his marvelous works in our sight. So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures. By their testimony every statement and every miracle must be tested.”

Now, I’m fairly certain that every person listening today would agree with this statement; but in spite of this clear counsel there are many people who are following some minister or ministry leader as their “safeguard” against the influence of false teachers who are themselves false teachers! In 1 Corinthians 11:1 the apostle Paul had the right idea when he wrote, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”

And so, very clearly here, we are to follow man only as far as he follows Christ. It’s not safe for us to follow another human being one step farther than where he himself steps out of the footprints of Jesus. Nineteen times in the New Testament Jesus said, “Follow Me”, and we should take Him at His word because there is great danger in relying upon the arm of flesh. Even if you have the utmost confidence in a person’s integrity; even if you like them as a person; even if you’ve been a friend and supporter for a long time; even if you are convinced that they have always taught the truth, guess what? there is no guaranty that they always will!

I have known several independent ministry leaders over the past 25 years who once rejoiced in the present truth, but are today mixed up in some fanatical view, have gone back to the church they left, or have left the great Advent movement altogether and are today proving 2 Peter 2:22 true, where it says, “It is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire”, and it’s a very sad thing to witness, but it happens all too often.

Back in the early 2000s when Cindy and I lived in Idaho, we had a couple come to our small independent church to give a musical program, which we enjoyed very much. This couple, who had their own ministry, traveled extensively and had a large following. Well, we lost track of them for close to 20 years and recently decided to try to make contact, because we were curious, since they were older than us, to see if they were still alive and still involved in ministry.

After searching around we finally did make contact through email, but were saddened to find out that they had left Adventism because they lost faith in the Spirit of Prophecy, particularly in regard to the doctrines of the atonement and the investigative judgment. They concluded that Christ’s atonement, as they believed the Spirit of Prophecy taught it, was causing people not to be able to have lasting victory over sin in their lives, because they were fearful their salvation was in jeopardy if they believed there was more to the atonement than what happened at the cross.

And as far as the investigative judgment is concerned, this was another teaching they believed was causing people to have fear, because the idea that a judgment that could possibly remove ones name from the book of life if found unfaithful when their name came up in review before God, was just not something that instilled confidence in the life of the believer, and therefore that teaching had to be given up as well so people could have the assurance of their acceptance with God, regardless of whether or not they had sin in their lives, and of course this all leads to the false idea of salvation in sin, or once saved always saved, or known by some as eternal security. A very comforting thought to be sure, but one that will give comfort only until the person who believes it finds themselves on the outside of the Holy City when it comes down from God out of heaven.

I could go on and on with similar stories. I know of an independent minister that began to doubt the trustworthiness of the Spirit of Prophecy writings, and it wasn’t very long after that, that he lost his marriage, lost his ministry, and finally completely lost his way. And so, it’s clear that we must not look to man or some ministry for a knowledge of the truth but know the Scriptures well enough for ourselves to be able to detect error when we hear it and when we see it, and that’s why the Scriptures are our only safeguard against the influence of false teachers. And when I say “Scriptures” I refer also to the Spirit of Prophecy, because the word scripture means, “a document of holy writ.” And surely, for those of us who understand that the Bible itself, in Revelation 12:17 and 19:10 declares that God’s last day people would have the gift of prophecy restored to them; aren’t we able, after comparing it with the Bible, to place as much confidence in the Spirit of Prophecy as we do in the Old and New Testaments themselves?

This may be a shock to some of you, but there are no degrees of inspiration! The same Spirit that inspired holy men of old, either inspired Ellen White or He didn’t! And if He did, then He has also looked after her writings and preserved them as He has done with all 66 books of the Bible. Is that a fair assumption? And when I say Bible, I’m not talking about the King James version: I’m referring to the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts that the King James version was translated from. In Letter 32, 1899 the prophet says, “The manuscripts of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures have been preserved through the ages by a miracle of God.” And so, the King James Bible we have today is reliable only because it has been translated from those manuscripts that have been preserved by a miracle of God; does that make sense? Many translations today have not been translated from the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts and that’s why we can’t depend on them for something as important as eternal life.

And let me share one more experience. Several years ago, at a campmeeting in Tennessee, the minister I referred to a moment ago who has lost his way, mentioned during his sermon that some portions of the Spirit of Prophecy had been tampered with and couldn’t be trusted after a certain date. And so, when the meeting closed a woman came up to this certain minister and wanted to know more. Well, to make a long story short, after he got done with her, she rejected the truth about the Holy Spirit being the third person of the Godhead, because the Spirit of Prophecy doesn’t make any clear statements about the personality of the Holy Spirit until the mid to late 1890s, and all statements from 1881 and afterward are supposed to be questionable, and I know this unfortunate story to be true, because this woman contacted me afterward and tried to convince me that the book tampering charges were true and that the Holy Spirit was only an essence that proceeded from the Father and the Son and that the Son was birthed out of the Father sometime in eternity past and didn’t always exist.

You may not know this, but as you read the Spirit of Prophecy you will find that it’s true, sister White did not start making clear statements about the personality of the Holy Spirit until the mid to late 1890s, and the reason this woman believed these statements couldn’t be trusted was because she was told by this minister, who she had confidence in, that all the statements  about the Holy Spirit being the third person of the Godhead were written during a time when the Spirt of Prophecy had been tampered with, and I’ll explain further in a minute. But I share these things with you today, so you won’t fall into the same trap that this woman, and many others like her, have fallen into.

Now, when you consider how the sacred Scriptures have been miraculously protected and preserved for some 3500 years, don’t you think God has had the ability to preserve the Spirit of Prophecy writings for a little over 170 years? Even to ask the question sounds absurd, doesn’t it? But there are those who doubt that this is true. There are some who would say, “Yes, God is able, but what Spirit of Prophecy are you referring to? What she wrote prior to 1881 when James White, the guardian of her writing, died? Or what was changed by the brethren after this godly man fell asleep in Jesus?” You may have heard these or similar arguments in the past, or perhaps you haven’t, but we’ll talk more about this as we go along.

Approximately 20 years ago, I heard for the first time about alleged unauthorized book changes; about the Spirit of Prophecy being tampered with; about unscrupulous men taking it upon themselves to add, delete, interpolate (which is to add something false to the original), and rearrange what God intended should remain unchanged as His prophet originally wrote it. And thus we have the term “The Original Writings” and a little booklet titled “The Revival of the True Spirit of Prophecy Writings”, which title itself implies there’s something false about the Spirit of Prophecy writings. This is something that has been promoted by one man in particular for many years, but who has now passed away, and he’ll have to answer for what he has done to cause people to question what’s inspired and what isn’t. And let me just say this, when we, as shortsighted fallible human beings start questioning what’s inspired and what isn’t, we’re in a heap of trouble whether we realize it or not.

In Testimonies for the Church, volume 5, page 98, sister White is writing to her ministering brethren, and she says, “I know your danger. If you lose confidence in the testimonies you will drift away from Bible truth.”

You see, whenever suspicions are raised about the trustworthiness of the Spirit of Prophecy, there will be some who will end up eventually throwing out all her writings along with the Bible, and yes, I know of some who have done that as well.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:20 the apostle Paul says, “Despise not prophesyings.” The word “despise” in the Greek means “to set at naught”, and that’s exactly what the “original writings” people are doing when they say there has to be a revival of the “true” Spirit of Prophecy writings, because according to them, some of it can’t be trusted.

And so, because I have firsthand knowledge of people who have promoted the idea that the books have been tampered with and how this notion has affected them personally and in turn how they have affected others, I thought it would be a good idea to examine these things just in case there may be someone listening today who may have doubts about what has been written for our benefit in these last days.

Now, to be honest, when I first heard about potential problems with the Spirit of Prophecy writings, I didn’t know what to think about this new information that came to me, and I myself began to become suspicious about what I had heretofore accepted with complete confidence. However, after receiving this information about book tampering allegations, and as the next few years rolled by, I began to see the fruit and the false teachings and the hate and the fanaticism that was developing in the lives of those who came to believe these allegations, and I determined, after much study, that this was none other than the very last deception of Satan, specifically for Adventists, that we were warned about over 100 years ago.

In Selected Messages, book 1, page 48 it says, “The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God. Where there is no vision, the people perish. Satan will work ingeniously, in different ways and through different agencies, to unsettle the confidence of God’s remnant people in the true testimony.” So, we shouldn’t be surprised when we hear about these things, because we’ve been warned.

Also, in Letter 40, 1890 it says, “There will be a hatred kindled against the testimonies which is satanic. The workings of Satan will be to unsettle the faith of the churches in them, for this reason: Satan cannot have so clear a track to bring in his deceptions and bind up souls in his delusions if the warnings and reproofs and counsels of the Spirit of God are heeded.”

And one more from Selected Messages, book 1, pages 41, 42. “Soon every possible effort will be made to discount and pervert the truth of the testimonies of God’s Spirit. We must have in readiness the clear, straight messages that since 1846 have been coming to God’s people. There will be those once united with us in the faith who will search for new, strange doctrines, for something odd and sensational to present to the people. . . There are those who will misinterpret the messages that God has given, in accordance with their spiritual blindness. Some will yield their faith, and will deny the truth of the messages, pointing to them as falsehoods. Some will hold them up to ridicule, working against the light that God has been giving for years, and some who are weak in the faith will thus be led astray.”

Let me tell you something; when we begin to doubt and reject even part of the Spirit of Prophecy, saying this over here is inspired and this over here isn’t, we will become deluded by Satan’s deceptions just like what happened to the musical ministry couple and the others I referred to earlier. And so, when it comes to inspiration, we pick and choose at the peril of our own souls.

Well, what about alleged book changes? First of all, let me give you a partial list of positions held by the promoters of the “original writings.” #1: Since the Holy Spirit “dictated” the words that Ellen White wrote, they cannot be changed in any way once written down, even by the prophet herself. #2: The Spirit of Prophecy cannot be trusted after James White died in 1881. #3: Because things have been tampered with there are many contradictions which prove the tampering theory correct. #4: There were things added and omitted without Ellen White’s approval, and evidently without her knowledge. And #5: W. C. White, Ellen’s youngest son, was one of the foremost scoundrels responsible for changing his own mother’s writings.

So, let’s back up and examine these charges one at a time. #1: Were the words that Ellen White wrote dictated to her by the Holy Spirit, and if so, what does it mean to be dictated to? Usually when we think of dictation, we get a mental image of one person speaking, and another person writing down exactly what was said. Or perhaps sitting at a dictation machine and transcribing what was spoken. Or maybe of a courtroom stenographer who types out exactly what is being said by each witness. But is this the way it happened with Ellen White and the Bible prophets?

Well, first of all let me read you a statement from Testimonies for the Church, volume 4, page 19, because this is the statement used to support the idea that Ellen White had no control over what she wrote, but that she was merely God’s dictation machine. “The scribes of God wrote as they were dictated by the Holy Spirit, having no control of the work themselves.” Now, at first reading it seems as though the “original writings” proponents could have a good point here. That Ellen wrote word for word exactly what God told her to write and not what the Holy Spirit inspired her to write in her own words. But is that the meaning of what we just read? If not, how are we going to know the truth?

Haven’t we always been taught that we are to compare scripture with scripture if we want to know the truth? Well, the same holds true with the Spirit of Prophecy. In Selected Messages, book 1, page 42 it says, “The testimonies themselves will be the key that will explain the messages given, as scripture is explained by scripture.” And so, let’s let the testimonies themselves explain what it means to be dictated to by the Holy Spirit.

Testimonies for the Church, volume 5, page 101, “Messages of warning, dictated by the Holy Spirit, are borne by the servants of God.” Borne by who? “The servants of God”, or His ministers. Does this mean then that ministers are like a dictation machine and can only speak the exact words that are given by the Holy Spirit, or does the Holy Spirit inspire men with thoughts and then those men put in their own words what the Spirit gives them?

Here’s another statement from Testimonies for the Church, volume 6, page 472, “I speak to the workers, young and old, who are handling our books, and especially to those who are canvassing for the book that is now doing its errand of mercy: (she’s referring to Christ’s Object Lessons here) . . . You may not be able to speak eloquently to those you desire to help; but if you speak modestly, hiding self in Christ, your words will be dictated by the Holy Spirit; and Christ, with whom you are cooperating, will impress the heart.”

Again, are we to believe from this statement that colporteurs are like a dictation machine and can only speak the exact words the Holy Spirit whispers in their ears and then repeat those exact words, or are their words chosen by themselves as the Holy Spirit inspires their thoughts?

This next statement is addressed to everyone of God’s stewards, which would be every single one of us. Review and Herald, June 21, 1898, “The Lord has need of your words, dictated by his Holy Spirit.”

Now let me ask you, as a steward of God, have you ever had the Holy Spirit tell you exactly what words to speak before you spoke them, or did you choose what words to use to convey to someone else what the Holy Spirit was encouraging you to say? I can’t speak for you, but I have never had the Holy Spirit speak words to me and then tell me to repeat those exact words. And I’m pretty sure that’s the way it happens to most folks. There might be certain times when God would do this, but they would be very rare.

So, we see here that to be under the dictation of the Holy Spirit means to be under the control, or under the authority, or to be instructed of the Holy Spirit when one speaks or writes. It’s obvious from the statements we just read that the dictation of the Holy Spirit does not bypass man’s intellect and make him a machine in the hands of God, but impresses the mind, and man then speaks or writes it out in his own words. And when you think about it, the four gospels are a good illustration of this very thing. Four different men telling the same story, but in different words as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Prophets were not automatons or robots with no mental input of their own. They were not machines that could only write each word as God spoke it to them. They were not zombies with no free will. God doesn’t work that way. Over several decades the meaning of words tend to change. In other words, it wouldn’t be unusual for the word dictation, as Ellen White used it, to have a different connotation in her day than it does today.

As I mentioned earlier, today we might think of being dictated to as writing down exactly, word for word, what someone says. That’s the way it’s done in court cases for legal purposes. But in Ellen White’s day, the 1828 Noah Websters dictionary would be more accurate where it gives the meaning of dictation as being “directed.” And the word “control” as being under the “authority” of another.

In fact, let me do something the book change people would frown upon, and change some words in the quote we already read from Testimonies for the Church, volume 4, page 9, “The scribes of God wrote as they were dictated (or directed) by the Holy Spirit, having no control (or authority) of the work themselves.” Of course, they didn’t control the work themselves. If they had, then it would have been a complete failure. Just as the Bible is a work of divine and human effort combined, so is the Spirit of Prophecy, and I’ll read that to you in a few minutes. The only part of the Bible that is not composed of human and divine effort is Ten Commandments, which God wrote with His own finger, and this is another evidence that the Holy Spirit works upon the mind of the prophet and not that he or she writes what they’re told word for word. If that were the case, why didn’t God just write the whole Bible like He wrote the Ten Commandments? But no, God allows His prophets to write or speak the words of their own choosing and how to convey the messages the Holy Spirit inspires them to give.

In Testimonies for the Church, volume 3, page 255 it says, “God does not propose to remove all occasion for unbelief. He gives evidence, which must be carefully investigated with a humble mind and a teachable spirit, and all should decide from the weight of evidence.”

And so, we discover a rule in the way we should study and understand inspiration. When you have one statement that is ambiguous or unclear, such as what we just read in Testimonies for the Church, volume 4, page 9, and three other statements that are clear and harmonious, you always take the weight of evidence. And the weight of evidence teaches that “holy men of old spake (in their own words) as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

Now let me read that to you from the Selected Messages, book 1, pages 25, 26, “The Bible points to God as its author; yet it was written by human hands; and in the varied style of its different books, it presents the characteristics of the several writers. The truths revealed are all ‘given by inspiration of God’ (2 Tim. 3:16); yet they are expressed in the words of men. The Infinite One by His Holy Spirit has shed light into the minds and hearts of His servants. He has given dreams and visions, symbols and figures; and those to whom the truth was thus revealed, have themselves embodied the thought in human language. ‘The Ten Commandments were spoken by God Himself, and were written by His own hand. They are of divine, and not human composition. But the Bible, with its God-given truths expressed in the language of men, presents a union of the divine and the human.”

Also, on page 37 of the same volume she writes, “Although I am as dependent upon the Spirit of the Lord in writing my views as I am in receiving them, yet the words I employ in describing what I have seen are my own, unless they be those spoken to me by an angel, which I always enclose in marks of quotation.” That was originally written in the Review and Herald, Oct. 8, 1867, which was 14 years before James White died. If he was the guardian of her dictated writings as is claimed, then he must have allowed that one to slip in unnoticed. And this teaches us something else. If sister White was just like a dictation machine, then all of her writings would have had to have been in marks of quotation, because how much more important are God’s words than the words of angels?

In Selected Messages, book 1, page 21 it makes it even more clear where she writes the following, “It is not the words of the Bible that are inspired, but the men that were inspired. Inspiration acts not on the man’s words or his expressions but on the man himself, who, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, is imbued with thoughts. But the words receive the impress of the individual mind. The divine mind is diffused. The divine mind and will is combined with the human mind and will; thus the utterances of the man are the word of God.”

By the way, Testimonies for the Church, volume 4, page 9, written in 1876 and Review and Herald January 22, 1880, which was taken from volume 4 page 9, do not read the same, and both were written before James White died, and yet when we compare the two there are 43 word changes and seven paragraphs omitted. How do you account for that if nothing was supposed to have been changed, omitted, or rearranged before James died in 1881? Hmm!

And that brings us to the next point: was James White the guardian of the Spirit of Prophecy writings as is claimed? It is true that it was God’s plan to unite James and Ellen together because He saw strengths and weaknesses that would complement each other, but did God leave it up to fallible man to be the guardian of the Spirit of Prophecy?  Did God choose James to keep the brethren from monkeying with his wife’s writings? If not, then what was James White’s roll?

Selected Messages, book 1, page 50, “While my husband lived, he acted as a helper and counselor in the sending out of the messages that were given to me. We traveled extensively. Sometimes light would be given to me in the night season, sometimes in the daytime before large congregations. The instruction I received in vision was faithfully written out by me, as I had time and strength for the work. Afterward we examined the matter together, my husband correcting grammatical errors and eliminating needless repetition. Then it was carefully copied for the persons addressed, or for the printer.”

Also, in Selected Messages, book 3, page 89 she writes, “This morning I take into candid consideration my writings. My husband is too feeble to help me prepare them for the printer, therefore I shall do no more with them at present. I am not a scholar. I cannot prepare my own writings for the press. Until I can do this I shall write no more.” And besides don’t you suppose God knew that James White was going to die many years before Ellen White would die? And having this knowledge He would have had to appoint someone else other than James, or He would have had to take care of it Himself, and that is exactly what He did.

That was written in her diary January 10, 1873, again, long before James died in 1881. And so, James wasn’t the guardian of her writings, but the teacher that corrected the papers as it were. God has always been the guardian of His own word and He always will be.

Now what about the claim that there are contradictions in the Spirit of Prophecy, which is supposed to be proof that someone messed with her writings? We don’t have time to look at all the supposed contradictions today, but I would suggest this thought to you: have you ever run across things in the Bible that seem contradictory? I have, many times, but what do we do about it? Tell people it’s not inspired? Of course not! When we read something that seems contradictory, it’s not because there’s something wrong with the Bible, it’s because there’s something wrong with our thinking. Many times, I have read things that seemed contradictory, but I have learned to put it in the back of my mind until God sees fit to give me an understanding. I might be reading something, and it will finally click in my mind, or I might be listening to a sermon and I say, “oh yeah, that’s what it means, now I see.” And so, sometimes we need to have the patience of the saints, and besides, there are some things we’re not going to understand till we get to heaven.

Let me read you something regarding the Bible that would also apply to the Spirit of Prophecy. This is from Selected Messages, book 1, page 20, “There is not always perfect order or apparent unity in the Scriptures. . . The truths of the Bible are as pearls hidden. They must be searched, dug out by painstaking effort. Those who take only a surface view of the Scriptures will, with their superficial knowledge, which they think is very deep, talk of the contradictions of the Bible, and question the authority of the Scriptures. But those whose hearts are in harmony with truth and duty will search the Scriptures with a heart prepared to receive divine impressions. The illuminated soul sees a spiritual unity, one grand golden thread running through the whole, but it requires patience, thought, and prayer to trace out the precious golden thread.”

Perhaps she got these thoughts from Solomon in Proverbs 2:1-6 where the wise man, who was inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote the following in his own words, “My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.”

Notice what it says in Selected Messages, book 3, page 349, “Those who have chosen to follow their own way, have begun to publish the discrepancies and contradictions, so-called, that they claim to find in connection with the Testimonies; and they are misstating some matters by using their own words instead of the words found in my writings. These charges will have to be met, that truth may take the place of falsehood.” And that’s what we’re doing today.  Meeting the false charges of those who are misstating the words of the prophet.

The fourth accusation is that there were additions, omissions, and changes of various kinds without Ellen’s approval or without her knowledge. Well, it’s true, there were omissions made in the Spirit of Prophecy. In some cases, information was withheld so others could not use it to do injury to the one it was written about. You have probably noticed as you have read the testimonies that the ones written about most often were brother and sister_____. There was good reason for this.

In Selected Messages, book 3, page 98 there’s a section dealing with this very thing. She writes, “I must select the most important matters for the Testimony and then look over everything prepared for it, and be my own critic; for I would not be willing to have some things which are all truth to be published; because I fear that some would take advantage of them to hurt others. After the matter for the Testimony is prepared, every article must be read by me. I have to read them myself; for the sound of the voice in reading or singing is almost unendurable to me. I try to bring out general principles, and if I see a sentence which I fear would give someone excuse to injure someone else, I feel at perfect liberty to keep back the sentence, even though it is all perfectly true.”

And so yes, there were omissions. And did you notice when she said she had to read them all herself, because the sound of the voice of those who might read them to her was almost unendurable? I believe that was God’s plan so she would be forced to read them herself, that way no one else could slip in words or thoughts that didn’t belong in the Testimony.

Now what about changes or additions? Did God authorize Ellen White to add or to change what she had written originally? Selected Messages, book 3, pages 96, 97, “I was shown that I should present before the people in the best manner possible the light received; then as I received greater light, and as I used the talent God had given me, I should have increased ability to use in writing and in speaking. I was to improve everything, as far as possible bringing it to perfection, that it might be accepted by intelligent minds.”

Recently I started reading all the unpublished letters and manuscripts that the White Estates released in 2015, that I highly recommend by the way, especially if you want to get a picture of Ellen as a person. They start in 1847 and go through to 1915 when she died. As of now I’ve made it only to 1861 and I’ve hardly scratched the surface, but just in that short space of time I’ve noticed that her writing and expression have definitely improved, and as they improved, she says she felt at perfect liberty to change things so that her writings would be accepted by intelligent minds, and that makes perfect sense to me.

As Selected Messages, book 3, pages 97, 98 continues she’s writing to Uriah Smith, who I believe was editor of the Review and Herald at the time. She says, “Now, Brother Smith, I have been making a careful, critical examination of the work that has been done on the Testimonies, and I see a few things that I think should be corrected in the matter brought before you and others at the General Conference [November 1883]. . . . Where the language used is not the best, I want it made correct and grammatical, as I believe it should be in every case where it can be without destroying the sense. This work is delayed, which does not please me. . . . My mind has been exercised upon the question of the Testimonies that have been revised. We have looked them over more critically. I cannot see the matter as my brethren see it. I think the changes will improve the book. (You see, there were some even in her day that thought it wrong for her to change what she originally wrote, but she says) If our enemies handle it, let them do so. . . . I think that anything that shall go forth will be criticized, twisted, turned, and boggled, but we are to go forward with a clear conscience, doing what we can and leaving the result with God.”

As we all know, many times there are texts in the New Testament that quote something from the old, and when you compare them, guess what? We find word changes, omissions, and additions. Are we to consider therefore that the Old Testament are the “original writings” and reject the New Testament on the charge of book tampering? I think you can see how ridiculous this becomes.

And what about Willie White? Was he the terrible person he’s accused of being by the “original writings” advocates? Listen to what Ellen says about her son’s role in the preparation of her writings.

Selected Messages, book 1, page 50, “As the work grew, others assisted me in the preparation of matter for publication. After my husband’s death, faithful helpers joined me, who labored untiringly in the work of copying the testimonies and preparing articles for publication. But the reports that are circulated, that any of my helpers are permitted to add matter or change the meaning of the messages I write out, are not true. While we were in Australia the Lord instructed me that W. C. White should be relieved from the many burdens his brethren would lay upon him, that he might be more free to assist me in the work the Lord has laid upon me. The promise had been given, ‘I will put My Spirit upon him, and give him wisdom.’ Since my return to America I have several times received instruction that the Lord has given me W. C. White to be my helper, and that in this work the Lord will give him of His Spirit.”

And you know what? there are those who would have you believe that Willie White wrote these words himself to try to cover up what he was doing right under his mother’s nose and she didn’t even know it. I reject that accusation, because my Bible says, “there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets.” If anyone tried to pull the wool over the prophet’s eyes, God would have told her plainly.

In fact, we have several examples in the Bible where God revealed things to His prophets that they would not have otherwise known, and to begin with I’d like to take the time to read a few verses from 1 Kings 14:1-6 where we’ll read about king Jeroboam and his wife who tried to trick God’s prophet. “At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick. And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people. And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels (biscuits), and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the child. And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age. And the LORD said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shalt thou say unto her: for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman. And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.” And those heavy tiding were that her son was going to die. The point is, God would not allow his prophet to be deceived, and since God never changes, don’t you think he would have done the same for Ellen White if need be?

Also in 2 Kings 5 there’s the story of Naaman, and the prophet Elijah told him to go wash in the Jordan to be cleansed of his leprosy, and after he was cleansed he wanted to give Elijah some gifts, but Elijah wouldn’t take anything from him, but afterward Gehazi, Elijah’s servant, went after Naaman and lied and said his master had sent him to ask for some silver and clothing and Naaman was glad to oblige, in fact he gave Gehazi double what he asked. Then Gehazi went back home and hid them in the house and afterward when he came to Elijah, notice what it says in 2 Kings 5:25-27, “But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither (I didn’t go anywhere. Do you think he was getting a little nervous about now?). And he said unto him, went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? (In other words, Elijah said, don’t you realize I was there in spirit when Naaman got out of his chariot to meet you? And Gehazi must have thought oh, oh, and he knew he was had, and that God revealed to Elijah what he had done) Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants? The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed forever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.”

Then there’s the story in Acts 5 about Ananias and Sapphira where we’re told a very interesting story. They sold some land and kept back part of the price and lied about it to Peter. But Peter knew about it, didn’t he? How did he know? God revealed it to him! And when Peter told him he lied to the Holy Spirit, he fell down dead, and later on his wife suffered the same fate. Was Peter a prophet? Yes, he was. Did God reveal to His prophet that there was deception going on in the early church? Yes, He did.

All these examples make it clear that God always lets His prophets know when deception is being practiced. And so, to say that Ellen White was unaware that someone was tampering with her writings, and that she didn’t know what was going on right under her own nose, then what would that make her? That would make her a false prophet if she didn’t know, and that is exactly what the devil would like us to believe. Don’t fall for it! And don’t fall for the false idea that there are portions of the Spirit of Prophecy that are unreliable, because God has had His hand over it to protect it from finite human beings who are just looking for something to pick at, because there’s something they don’t agree with or because it cuts across some pet Idea or a particular sin they’re unwilling to give up.

I have all the “original writings” in paperback form that were copied from the originals, they were given to me some years ago, and Cindy and I have compared many of them with the later hardbound volumes that edited out errors and made corrections and so forth, as we read earlier, and here’s what we found. When comparing the original testimonies, numbers 1-30, which takes you about halfway through the fifth hardbound volume of the testimonies that came later, we found nothing that changed the sense or the meaning. However, we did notice changes that made the statements clearer, and we found some omissions for the reasons stated previously. Also, when we compared the original Redemption series numbers 1-8 with Spirit of Prophecy volumes 2 and 3, which were all written in the 1870s and taken from the same manuscripts, we found numerous additions, omissions, and rearranging of sentences and paragraphs.

Since all of these volumes were published before James White died, we naturally wondered how anyone could claim that James White, being the guardian of Ellen’s writings, could have allowed these changes to slip through, if they were indeed “dictated” word for word from God. So we sent the following email to the main proponent of the original writings for an explanation. Here’s what I wrote to him. “Greetings, I was comparing several chapters in the Redemption series with Spirit of Prophecy volumes 2 and 3 and I’m finding changes even among the original writings which are obviously written from the same manuscripts.  Can you explain to me how this can be if not a word is to be changed, not a paragraph deleted, and no sentences rearranged? Your reply would be much appreciated. P.S. I sent you this message a couple weeks ago and would really appreciate a response, Thanks.” The response I got was four paragraphs long but nothing relative to my question except one sentence, and here it is, “I have noticed the things in the Spirit of Prophecy books, but cannot explain why they changed them.”

Friends, we already know why the changes, and omissions, and editing occurred. It was by the permission and urging of Ellen White herself. That is clear from her own pen. So please don’t be one of those Adventists that will fall for the very last deception of Satan to make of none effect the testimonies of the Spirit of God. Your eternal life is too important to entertain the thought that God is not able to take care and protect what the Holy Spirit inspired Ellen White to write for our benefit in these last days. There’s no need for us to have any doubts about reading and studying and ordering our lives after what she wrote over her lifetime ministry of 70 years. Just like the Bible, the Spirit of Prophecy has come down to us at great cost, and what a shame it would be not to take advantage of all that we can while we sojourn here in this very dark world.

In closing let me give you just a small sampling of the writings of the prophet that were written after James White died in 1881. According to the “Original Writings” advocates, the following is questionable and can’t be relied upon: All the conflict series from Patriarchs and Prophets to the Great Controversy, Christ’s Object Lessons, Early Writings, The Desire of Ages, Education, Gospel Workers, Ministry of Healing, most of Testimonies for the Church, volume 5, and all of volumes 6-9, Mount of Blessing, Steps to Christ, and most of the Periodicals, Pamphlets, and Manuscripts, along with most of the Signs of the Times and the Review and Herald articles. Do you really want to throw all those out the window? Because that’s what you’d have to do if there is anything in those writings that are unreliable, because who can know what is and isn’t inspired by the Holy Spirit. Once you start questioning, it’s all a downhill slide from there.

And so, may God bless you as you think about these things and study these things for yourself and choose to walk the straight and narrow path that has been very clearly marked out for us in all the writings of God’s last day prophet. If you do, you will never go wrong.

Sermon Notes in pdf CAN THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY BE TRUSTED