The Development of the Seventh-day Adventist Understanding of Ellen G. White’s Prophetic Gift, 1844-1889 by Levterov Theodore N

Author:Levterov, Theodore N.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Peter Lang AG
Published: 2015-01-28T00:00:00+00:00

Responses to Objections through General Conference Resolutions

As in the previous periods, another way through which Seventh-day Adventists responded to opposition of their belief in Ellen White’s prophetic gift was through General Conference resolutions. In the period between 1863 and 1881 we find ← 128 | 129 → General Conference resolutions affirming the Seventh-day Adventist belief in the prophetic gift at almost every General Conference session. The resolutions affirmed three major points (understandings) of Seventh-day Adventists concerning the gift of prophecy. First, the resolutions affirmed the belief in the perpetuity of the doctrine of spiritual gifts until the second coming of Jesus. In 1867, for example, the fifth annual session of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists “Resolved, That we express our continued faith in the perpetuity of Spiritual gifts [sic] during the gospel dispensation, and our gratitude to God that he has intimately connected the spirit of prophecy with the proclamation of the third angel’s message.”273 In 1870 the Seventh-day Adventists affirmed again the “doctrine of the perpetuity of Spiritual Gifts,” and “professed to believe that ‘the spirit of prophecy’ was manifested among us as ‘the remnant,’ (Rev. 12:17; 19:10).” They also warned people of the dangers of disregarding or neglecting the “testimonies” and confessed their “weakness and inability to carry on this sacred work to divine acceptance, without their [Ellen White’s testimonies’] aid.”274 A resolution from 1873 stated that “we renew our expressions of confidence in the Bible doctrine of Spiritual Gifts, and of our appreciation, in some degree, of the kindness and mercy of God in favoring this people with the Testimonies of his Spirit to the church.”275 In 1879, an appeal was made to Seventh-day Adventist ministers to consider it their duty “to teach the Scriptural view of the gift of prophecy” among believers and “the relation it sustains to the work of God in which we are engaged.”276 The General Conference in 1881 recognized again “the manifestation of spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy, as one of the distinguishing features of the work of the third angel’s message” and resolved that ministers must teach people the scriptural evidences of the perpetuity of “these gifts.”277

Second, the General Conference resolutions expressed the Seventh-day Adventist belief in the gift of prophecy as manifested through Ellen White in particular. From 1863 to 1881 the Adventists became open in their public affirmation of Ellen White and her prophetic role for the church. The 1869 General Conference resolution summarized the Seventh-day Adventist attitude towards Ellen White in the context of the Snook and Brinkerhoff separation from the movement. It stated:

Resolved, That our faith and confidence in the Gifts of the Spirit of God, so graciously vouchsafed to us in these last days, are not only unshaken by the attacks of the opposers of the truth, but greatly strengthened and increased by the warnings we have received in times of danger, the counsels and admonitions when we have erred, and the comfort in our afflictions; as well as by the purity of their teachings, and the respect and reverence they produce for the word of God.

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