PICKING AND CHOOSING INSPIRATION?
HEADS -- IT IS FALSE
TAILS -- IT IS TRUE?
PICKING AND CHOOSING
By Brother Martin

1st Thessalonians 5: 19-22   “Do not put out the light of the Spirit; Do not make little of the words of the prophets; Let all things be tested; keep to what is good; Keep from every form of evil. (BBE)

Since several books have been published which reveal that Ellen White plagiarized great amounts of her materials, and that her writings contain a great number of errors many Seventh Day Adventists have adopted the philosophy of “pick and choose”. They attempt to ‘pick’ the parts of Ellen White’s writings that do not contradict the bible or common knowledge and they ‘choose’ to ignore the statements of Ellen White that contradict the bible or are simply illogical and untrue. They try to base this new philosophy on the words of Paul found in 1st Thessalonians which tells us not to despise prophesying, but test all things and hold fast to that which is good.

Clearly Paul was not telling the Christians to listen to a prophet that prophesied lies sometimes and attempt to ‘pick’ out the truth in his error filled messages. The bible teaches that if a prophet prophesies a single word in the name of GOD, which GOD didn’t tell the prophet to speak, that we are to reject that prophet. GOD tells us that if a prophet makes a prediction and it does not come to pass that we are not to fear that prophet. In fact that prophet was put to death during the days of Moses.

Isaiah 8:20  To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

Deuteronomy 18:22  When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

“Picking and Choosing The Word of GOD”

In the days of the bible certain prophets were told to write out their prophecies. These writings constitute the majority of the bible we have today. Their writings were called “scripture”, and was considered the Word of GOD because they were ‘God-breathed’, which means they were inspired directly by the holy Spirit. Jesus told us that this word was ‘truth’ (John 17:17). And Paul taught Timothy that the scriptures furnished everything the man of God needs to have a complete knowledge of salvation. The word of GOD is perfect, because God is perfect. It is truth because GOD is truth. It is the word of GOD and not the opinion of men.

1st Peter 1:21  For these words did not ever come through the impulse of men: but the prophets had them from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit. (BBE)

Most of these Seventh Day Adventists who sift through the many words of Ellen White, attempting to separate truth from error, would not dare skim through the book of Isaiah and attempt to discard whole passages.  I must ask “Why not? If Ellen White’s testimonies and the testimony of Isaiah are both truly from the same author, why have respect of person”?

"The Holy Ghost is the Author of the Scriptures and of the Spirit of Prophecy." (Selected Messages, Vol. 3, p. 30)

"I am thankful that the instruction contained in my books establishes present truth for this time. These books were written under the demonstration of the Holy Spirit." (Letter 50, 1906)

Ellen White taught that the Author of the scriptures is also the author of her books and testimonies. According to Ellen White, the disregarding of any section of the bible or of her writings as mere opinion was a work of Satan.

“You have talked over matters as you viewed them, that the communications from Sister White are not all from the Lord, but a portion is her own mind, her own judgment, which is no better than anybody else's judgment and ideas. This is one of Satan's hooks to hang your doubts upon to deceive your soul and the souls of others who will dare to draw the line in this matter. . . .  {3SM 68.3}

"Many times in my experience I have been called upon to meet the attitude of a certain class, who acknowledged that the testimonies were from God, but took the position that this matter and that matter were Sister White's opinion and judgment… they have a burden at once to make plain their position to discriminate between the testimonies, defining what is Sister White's human judgment, and what is the word of the Lord. Everything that sustains their cherished ideas is divine, and the testimonies to correct their errors are human--Sister White's opinions." (Ms. 16, 1889)

This statement identifies the principle that must be seriously taken. If we say that her messages did come from God, but that mixed in with these messages are Ellen White's opinions and judgments, that means we become the final arbiter of what is inspired and what is not inspired in the writings of Ellen White; we define what is her human judgment and what is the word of the Lord. We are determining which parts of Ellen White's writings are authoritative because they are messages from God, and which parts of Ellen White's writings are not authoritative because they are simply her own opinions. If a man attempted this with the Bible, he would quickly be accused of making it of non-effect. For if it all isn’t inspired, then we would not know which section to put our trust in. And Ellen White concerning her words explained this same principal, warning it is a deception of Satan.

"They [those making these distinctions] make of none effect the counsel of God by their tradition." (MS 16, 1889)

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." Prov. 29:18..  {FLB 296.6}
                        
    “Those who have helped souls to feel at liberty to specify what is of God in the Testimonies and what are the uninspired words of Sister White, will find that they were helping the devil in his work of deception. Please read Testimony No. 33, page 211 [Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 682]  also see {3SM 70.3}

Some will argue, “Sister White did not claim infallibility!” Of course Ellen White did not claim to be ‘infallible’, as the bible prophets never claimed to be ‘infallible’, but the truths that they prophesied were not their own fallible prophecies, but the testimony of the INFALLIBLE WORD OF GOD. The Spirit of Prophecy is the testimony of Jesus, and my friend Jesus is not a liar. Thus if Ellen White’s words are truly the ‘Spirit of Prophecy’, they should contain nothing but truth. And she admits as much.

"In my books [PP, GC, DA] the truth is stated, barricaded by a 'Thus saith the Lord.' The Holy Spirit traced these truths upon my heart and mind as indelibly as the law was traced by the finger of God upon the tables of stone." (3 SM 122) She also says, "There is one straight chain of truth, without one heretical sentence, in that which I have written." (3 SM 52)

“There is One back of me which is the Lord, who has prompted the message which you now reject and disregard and dishonor. By tempting God you have unnerved yourselves, and confusion and blindness of mind has been the result.--Letter 16, 1888.  {3SM 69.1}

Now my dear Adventist friend what will you do with the many contradictions that are in Ellen White’s writings? What will you do with the statements that are simply not truthful? You cannot deny that they are not there, because they are there for all to see. If you believe she was a prophet then you can no longer honestly “pick and choose” from her words. It is either 100% truth, or it is not inspired by GOD.

“Do not feel that you can dissect them to suit your own ideas, claiming that God has given you ability to discern what is light from heaven and what is the expression of mere human wisdom. If the Testimonies speak not according to the Word of God, reject them.--Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 691.  {3SM 46.3}

If you believe Ellen was a prophet, then you dare not make distinctions between messages from heaven and her opinions. But if her opinions are mixed into these writings, if in fact she does present her own ideas as the word of God, then her counsel is very clear. We are to reject the testimonies, not just those parts which we feel are her own opinions, but all of the testimonies, because Christ and Satan cannot be united.

"God is either teaching His church, reproving their wrongs and strengthening their faith, or He is not. This work is of God, or it is not. God does nothing in partnership with Satan. My work... bears the stamp of God or the stamp of the enemy. There is no halfway work in the matter. The Testimonies are of the Spirit of God, or of the devil." (4T 230)

I hope dear reader that you tired of playing the ‘picking and choosing’ game, that you will take Ellen White’s advice and disregard her writings (for you know they contain many errors), and learn to trust in the infallible word of the one true God, his holy bible ALONE.

1st Corinthians 4:6  My brothers, it is because of you that I have taken Apollos and myself as examples of these things, so that in us you might see that it is not wise to go farther than what is in the holy Writings, so that no one of you may be lifted up against his brother.

To view her errors, contradictions and false hoods go here:

For proof that she plagiarized go here:

Sincerely
Bro. Martin
www.babylonforsaken.com