EVIDENCE OF INSPIRATION by Robert W. Olson A. Why I Believe the Bible is Inspired 1. With Christ As Its Center, the Scriptures Perfectly Meet the Needs of the Human Heart. William Miller's conversion in 1816: "On the Lord's day following, it devolved on Captain Miller, as usual in the minister's absence, to read a discourse of the deacons' selection. They had chosen one on the 'importance of Parental Duties.' Soon after commencing, he was overpowered by the inward struggle of emotion, with which the entire congregation deeply sympathized, and took his seat. His deistical principles seemed an almost insurmountable difficulty with him. Soon after, 'Suddenly,' he says, 'the character of a Saviour was vividly impressed upon my mind. It seemed that there might be a Being so good and compassionate as to Himself atone for our transgressions, and thereby save us from suffering the penalty of sin. I immediately felt how lovely such a Being must be; and imagined that I could cast myself into the arms of, and trust in the mercy of, such an One. '"But the question arose, How can it be proved that such a Being does exist? Aside from the Bible, I found that I could get no evidence of the existence of such a Saviour, or even of a future state. I felt that to believe in such a Saviour without evidence would be visionary in the extreme. I saw that the Bible did bring to view just such a Saviour as I needed; and I was perplexed to find how an uninspired book should develop principles so perfectly adapted to the wants of a fallen world. I was constrained to admit that the Scriptures must be a revelation from God. They became my delight; and in Jesus I found a friend. The Saviour became to me the chiefest among ten thousand; and the Scriptures, which before were dark and contradictory, now became the lamp to my feet and light to my path.'"--Sylvester Bliss, Memoirs of William Miller, pp. 66, 67 (See also GC 318, 319). 2- Its Unity. 40 authors over 1600 years C. B. Haynes: "No collusion and yet no collision" 3. Its Fulfilled Predictions. Jer. 28:9; During World War II our evangelists often used the sermon title, "Seven Words That Spell Hitler's Doom" (Dan. 2:43). -2- 4. The Testimony of the Holy Spirit. (a) John Calvin: "Scripture, carrying its own evidence along with it, deigns not to submit to proofs and arguments, but owes the full conviction with which we ought to receive it to the testimony of the Spirit. Institutes of the Christian Religion, I, p. 72. (b) Westminster Confession: "IV. The authority of the holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God (who is truth itself), the Author thereof; and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God. "V. We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to an high and reverent esteem of the holy Scripture; and the heavenliness of the matter, and efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole (which is to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man's salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the entire perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God; yet, notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth, and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts."--Quoted by Philip Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, III, pp. 602, 603. (c) J. B. Phillips: "As the years have passed--and it is now 25 years since I began trans- lating the Epistles--my conviction has grown that the New Testament is in a quite special sense inspired. It is not magical, nor is it faultless: human beings wrote it. But by something which I would not hesitate to describe as a miracle there is a concentration upon that area of inner truth which is fundamental and ageless. That, I believe, is the reason why millions of people have heard the voice of God speaking to them through these seemingly artless pages. . . . "Although I did my utmost to preserve an emotional detachment, I found again and again that the material under my hands was strangely alive; it spoke to my condition in the most uncanny way. I say "uncanny" for want of a better word, but it was a very strange experience to sense, not occasion- ally but almost continually, the living quality of those rather strangely assorted books. To me it is the more remarkable because I had no funda- mentalist upbringing, and although as a priest of the Angelican Church I had a great respect for Holy Scripture, this very close contact of several years of translation produced an effect of "inspiration" which I have never experienced, even in the remotest degree, in any other work."--Ring of Truth, pp. 20, 25. -3- (d) E. G. White: "Why do I believe the Bible? Because I have found it to be the voice of God to my soul. We may have the witness in ourselves that the Bible is true."—SC 112. "The more he searches the Bible, the deeper is his conviction that it is the word of the living God, and human reason bows before the majesty of divine revelation."--5T 700. B. Why I Believe Ellen White Was Inspired 1. Her writings, like the Bible, are Christ-centered Uriah Smith wrote: "1. They tend to the purest morality. They discountenance every vice, and exhort to the practice of every virtue. "2. They lead to Christ. Like the Bible, they set Him forth as the only hope and Saviour of mankind. "3. They lead us to the Bible. They set forth that Book as the inspired and unalterable Word of God. "4. They have brought comfort and consolation to many hearts. They have strengthened the weak, encouraged the feeble, raised up the despondent. They have brought order out of confusion, made crooked places straight, and thrown light on what was dark and obscure."--RH June 12, 1866, p. 9. 2. The Unity of Her Writings. Her writings teach the same doctrines, whether they were written when she was 20 or 50 or 80. The EGW Index shows this harmony. 3. Fulfilled Predictions - See separate paper. 4. The Testimony of the Holy Spirit. Raymond Holmes at 1981 Michigan Camp Meeting: "Ten years ago I arrived on the campus of Andrews University as a Lutheran minister with the express purpose of investigating the theology and life-style of the Seventh-day Adventist church. My secret intention was to uncover what, at that time, I felt were obvious heresies. The year-and-a-half spent at Andrews, during which time I earned a Master of Theology degree and resigned from the Lutheran ministerium to become an Adventist, convinced me otherwise. "Of particular interest to me was the role of Ellen G. White in the history of the Adventist church and the nature of her inspiration. During my investigation I read all of her most important books, together with many books and articles published by Adventist authors dealing with her work. In addition, I read most of the major critiques of Adventism and of Mrs. White published over the years by non-Adventist writers. The impression I received was that in her writings and personal influence there existed a source of information and witness which could not be ignored by the SDA Church, that was self-authenticating and deserving deep study and application." Her Biblical Insights Raymond Cottrell, concerning the writing of the SDA Bible Commentary: "Before us verse by verse, was the text of the Bible in the original languages, and at each step of the way we asked, What did the Holy Spirit and the inspired writer intend to say? Also open before us was Ellen White's comment on each passage. . . . "Repeatedly we found Sister White making a statement about a particular passage of Scripture that reflected either an accurate knowledge of the Hebrew or the Greek text, or the writings of Biblical scholars on the subject, or the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The fact that she knew no Hebrew or Greek ruled out the first possibility, and that she rarely consulted scholarly works on the Bible from which she might have obtained such information, similarly ruled out the second. We could come to no other conclusion than that before our eyes was conclusive proof that she had been guided by the same Spirit that inspired the Bible writers. What Ellen White Has Meant To Me, p. 58. Her Knowledge of the Secrets of Men's Lives. (a) D. T. Bourdeau's testimony. Ellen White arrived in Basel September 3, 1885. The European Missionary Council, described by Elder Bourdeau, opened twelve days later: "The labors of Sister White and her son, Elder W. C. White, were highly appreciated at this general gathering. Never was the gift of prophecy more needed, and its service more timely, than on this occasion. Errors and difficulties that had baffled human wisdom and effort were pointed out, corrected, and removed, with that tenderness, plainness, faithfulness, and impartiality which have characterized this gift during the entire period of its manifestation among us, now about forty years. . . . "How interesting and wonderful it was to hear Sister White correctly delineate the peculiarities of different fields she had seen only as the Lord had shown them to her, and show how they should be met; to hear her describe case after case of persons she had never seen with her natural vision, and either point out their errors or show important relations they sustained to the cause, and how they should connect with it to better serve its interests! -5- "As I had a fair chance to test the matter, having been on the ground, and knowing that no one had informed Sister White of these things, while serving as an interpreter, I could not help exclaiming, 'It is enough. I want no further evidence of its genuineness. "'--RH 11/10/1885, p. 700. (b) N. D. Faulkhead's experience. In November,1891, Ellen White left the United States for a long period of service in Australia. While crossing the broad Pacific the Lord gave her much instruction concerning our work and workers in the Australasian field. In particular, she was shown the perilous position of Brother N. D. Faulkhead, treasurer of our publishing house in Melbourne. When Brother Faulkhead joined the church he failed to sever his connections with the various Masonic lodges in which he held membership. Unfortunately, his attachment to these lodges appeared now to be eclipsing his love for the Lord and the church. Ellen White wrote a lengthy testimony for Brother Faulkhead soon after her arrival in Melbourne in December, 1891. The document was typed--50 pages in all --but the Lord restrained her from mailing it. Instead, she put it in a drawer where it remained for the next 12 months. In December,1892, one of the brethren, distressed over the deterioration he saw in Brother Faulkhead's Christian experience, spoke to him about it. He asked him what he would do if Sister White should send him a testimony. Faulkhead, who was skeptical of the Testimonies, responded: "It would have to be a mighty strong statement that would make me believe that the Lord had given her a message for me." (Quoted by Arthur L. White, RH March 31, 1955.) Only a day or so later, on Saturday night, December 10, 1892, Brother Faulkhead dreamed that the Lord had indeed given His servant a message for him. On December 12 Ellen White sent for him. She told him that she had a message from the Lord for him and his wife and suggested that she would like to read it to them at an early date. Brother Faulkhead did not want to wait. He wanted it now. So Ellen White spent more than three hours in reading the testimony to him and talking to him about his soul. She described what the Lord had shown her about the Masonic meetings he had attended. She had seen him make his most generous gifts to the lodges rather than to the church. She had heard him called "worshipful master." He later wrote: "I thought this was getting pretty close home, when she started to talk to me in reference to what I was doing in the lodges" (Ibid.). Twice during the interview Ellen White made certain movements which Brother Faulkhead recognized as secret signs known only to the Masons. "That really put the fear of God into my heart," he commented later. "This convinced me that her testimony was from God. . . . She went on talking and reading as if nothing had happened. ... She seemed surprised that she had given me such a sign. Immediately the statement that I had made to Brother Stockton, that it would have to be mighty strong before I could believe that she had a message for me from the Lord, flashed through my mind." --Ibid. In recounting this experience in a letter to Brother Faulkhead, Ellen White wrote: "In the room were good and evil angels striving for the mastery of your mind. This intense struggle continued from one to two hours. Then I saw that an angel of God laid a hand upon your shoulder, and your face was lightened up with the glory of God. Your lips could scarcely utter the words, but you said, 'I sever from this night my connection with the Free Masons.'. . . With your eyes raised toward heaven, you said, 'Oh, Lord, I give myself unreservedly to Thee. I surrender all to Thee, to become a true Christian.'" — Ibid. 7. The Timeliness of Her Messages. (a) Saved church leaders from useless debate in Dunedin, New Zealand. Pastor Eugene Farnsworth and his associates began holding evangelistic meetings there Jan. 15, 1903. S. R. Goldstone writes: "One clergyman determined to attend a mid-week meeting and force a public debate. He was accompanied by a number of his congregation, some of whom were 'worded up' with questions to fire at Evangelist Farnsworth. Before Pastor Farnsworth had completed his address the interjections began. Sensing orchestrated opposition, the speaker chose to ignore his opposers, much to the indignation of the chief antagonist. Leaping to his feet he shouted, 'Coward! You're a coward! I challenge you, publicly, to debate.' "The meeting ended in an uproar. Some in the audience shouted their approval of the challenge, others voiced disapproval. It was a tense time. "Pastor W.L.H. Baker, the president, called his ministers together. The Secretary, W. J. Smith, stood by his side. Solemnly the men gathered. G. A. Wantzlick, G. C. Tenney, F. E. Lyndon, C. A. Paap, and W. H. Pascoe knew that something must be done. Should they accept the challenge of their arrogant antagonist? Pastor Farnsworth was loathe to do so, yet he recognized that the name of the church must be upheld. The discussion went -7- back and forward and finally the consensus of opinion favored a public debate. It was decided to pray over the matter and make a final decision prior to the early morning devotional meeting on the next day. . . . "A light flickered in Pastor Farnsworth's tent. On arrival he noted a letter lying on his table. Picking it up, his pulse quickened. It was from Ellen White, then resident in America. Opening it, he noted that it was written from Elmshaven in California, on December 17, 1902. As he read its message, a smile spread over his face. It was as if the Lord had revealed the situation."--Nothing to Fear, pp. 55, 56. She wrote: "Enter into no controversy and engage in no contention. Lift up the standard of truth, yes, lift it up. We have a Leader to whom has been promised all power--power against which the energies of earth and hell cannot prevail. Remember that the best way to combat error is to present truth. Let us shun profane and vain babblings, and hold forth the word of life. Do not dwell on the objections advanced by those who oppose the truth."--Letter 203, 1902. Goldstone writes further: "Needless to say, there was no debate. The meetings proceeded on a positive note. In frustration, the opposing minister appealed to the Ministers' Fraternal in Dunedin. At one of their meetings it was determined to unitedly work for the extermination of Adventism from Dunedin. A pamphlet was to be written exposing Adventist beliefs. However, when they began to discuss the contents of the pamphlet their ranks became hopelessly divided. They began to debate amongst themselves and the focus of their attention was removed from the Adventist Church. "This incident had a marked effect upon the morale of Seventh- day Adventists in New Zealand. As the campers returned to their home churches they told and retold the story of the timely letter. God was seen to be guiding in His church."--Nothing to Fear, p. 56. (b) The church saved from being split over pantheism. A. G. Daniel Is" letter to E. G. White, October 20, 1903: "We are in the midst of our council, and I am terribly pressed with work, but I must take a minute this morning to tell you what a wonderful blessing your communications have been to our council. Never were messages from God more needed than at this very time; and never were messages sent from Him to His people more to the point than those you have sent us. They have been exactly what we have needed, and have come at just the right time from day to day in our council. You can never know, unless the Lord Himself causes you to know it, what a great blessing your communication regarding The Living Temple has been to us. It came at just the right time exactly. The conflict was severe, and we knew not how things would turn. But your -8- clear, clean-cut, beautiful message came and settled the controversy. I do not say that all parties came into perfect harmony, but it gave those who stood on the right side strength to stand, and hold their ground. . . . "These messages you are sending are so clear* so pointed, so applicable, that everyone can see that God has revealed the situation clearly to your mind. Great confidence is being established in the hearts of our workers in the Spirit of Prophecy. This is true not only of our ministers, but of all our people."—The Abiding Gift of Prophecy, p. 342. (c) J. N. Loughborough and M. E. Cornell, Jan. 27, 1872. CONCLUSION Her writings are self-authenticating. They are like a fountain that never runs dry. There is something rewarding, spiritually stimulating, every time you read them. I know of no author, ancient or modern, outside the Bible, whose works are so Christ-centered, so deeply spiritual, and so practical, and that so consistently breathe the atmosphere of heaven as do the writings of Ellen G. White. Problems? Yes, there are some. But I believe in Ellen White in spite of these problems, as the evidence of inspiration is so overwhelming. Spurgeon: "The Bible needs no defense. Let it loose and it will defend itself." The same is true of the E. G. White writings. Ellen G. White Estate Washington, D. C. July 7, 1986