A.L.F.
Library P. 0. March, 2007
Moving the operation of the
Adventist Laymen's Foundation from
One of the two bedrooms of the old home is now my
study, in which are the biblical linguistic books; the
Writings, and other key books of the Adventist "travail" of the last half of the past century. On a shelf near the
desk are five two inch, 8 by 10 metal hinged,
cloth bound note books which contain my Sabbath sermon outlines. I believed that if the Holy Spirit guided my mind in
the thoughts developed for a particular
Sabbath presentation, He would recall the same thoughts for another Sabbath
when there was a need again. One sermon was always used over again. It was
the first sermon I would preach as I began my new assignment. From it, I wish to draw the "thought
for the month." The "text" I took from the Writings: We have nothing to fear for the future,
except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us (Testimonies to
Ministers, p. 31). In another
location of the Writings an additional thought is added - "and His teachings in our past history" (Life
Sketches, p. 196). I was aware that in our college
class in homeletics we were cautioned not to use the
Writings as "Scripture," much less as a text for a sermon; however,
the reference served as an introductory message well and let
the congregation know where I stood in regard to Ellen
G. White. The first "way" emphasized that conviction, for the first
biblical "text" I used was Hosea 12:13 - "By a prophet the Lord brought And
Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders
that overlived Joshua,
and which had known all the works of the Lord that He had done for Israel
(Joshua 24:31; Judges 2:7). The record continues: And
Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord died. ... and
also all that generation were gathered
unto their fathers: and there rose another generation after them, which knew
not the Lord, nor yet the works which He had done for Within a generation In 1915, the "messenger to the Remnant"
died. In 1919, just four years later, a Bible Conference was held in Last year, Graeme Bradford, a retired professor of
Bible at Avondale College in Australia
copyrighted his manuscript, More Than a Prophet in which he discusses
"how we lost and found again the real Ellen G. White." The Foreword
is written by Dr. Samuel Bacchiocchi,
who also publishes the book through his own publications' venture -
"Biblical Perspectives." It is less expensive through the Pacific
Press. Bacciocchi quotes in his
foreword The White Estate seems not to
accept 1.
The book expresses the view that the prophets in the New Testament and beyond generally
carry less authority than Old Testament prophets, and that the individual
and/or congregation must separate the wheat
from the chaff in the messages even of genuine prophets. Such a view confirms people in the human tendency to accept
what they like in inspired writings and reject as "chaff" the
things with which they disagree.
3 While the White Estate
staff recognizes that Ellen White was fallible and subject to human frailties - not unlike the biblical prophets - we
maintain that certain positions taken in the book do not fairly reflect the understanding of
Ellen White and her associates regarding
her prophetic ministry, and fail to represent fully Ellen White's prophetic contributions
to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. |