Ellen White's Bible Omissions
By , last updated Mar.
Ellen White, Great Controversy, 521
Critics of Ellen White have observed that she occasionally omitted or altered portions of biblical texts, potentially influencing their original meaning. This analysis explores several instances of this behavior in her writings and how these omissions have affected SDA theology.
Omission #1 - Desolation of the Earth
In the Great Controversy, Mrs. White describes the destruction of the wicked at the Second Coming of Christ as follows:
At the coming of Christ the wicked are blotted from the face of the whole earth--consumed with the spirit of His mouth and destroyed by the brightness of His glory. Christ takes His people to the City of God, and the earth is emptied of its inhabitants. 'Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.' 'The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word.' 'Because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned.' Isaiah 24:1, 3, 5, 6.1
In the above quote, Isaiah 24:6 has been highlighted in bold. Notice below how the verse reads in the KJV Bible:
Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
Ellen White omitted a very important part of the verse: "and few men left." The reason it was omitted is because it contradicts the Seventh-day Adventist [SDA] doctrine that the entire earth is depopulated of all humans during the Millennium.
On the very same page, Mrs. White makes another omission:
'And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold everyone on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor.' Zechariah 14:12, 13.
Mrs. White is using these verses in Zechariah as proof that the earth is totally depopulated after the return of Christ. However, three verses later, the passage says that the nations of the earth are not totally annihilated. Zechariah explicitly teaches that there will be people alive upon the earth during the Millennium:
And it shall come to pass, [that] every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles (Zech. 14:16).
These examples demonstrate that Ellen White cunningly quoted partial verses to prove twisted SDA theology regarding the Millennium. Quoting the remaining portion would shown the meaning to be quite the opposite.
Omission #2 - SDAs Cannot Eat Animal Fat
Mrs. White wrote in one testimony:
You have used the fat of animals which God in his word expressly forbids. 'It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.' 'Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast in any of your dwellings. Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood even that soul shall be cut off from among his people.'2
In the above testimony, Mrs. White attempted to persuade a follower that the Bible forbids the eating of all animal fat. The first part of her quote is from Leviticus 3:17, which is a passage giving directions to the Hebrew priests on how to treat the fat from sacrificed animals. The full Bible passage is as follows:
And he shall offer thereof his offering, [even] an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that [is] upon the inwards, And the two kidneys, and the fat that [is] upon them, which [is] by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: [it is] the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat [is] the LORD'S. [It shall be] a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood (Lev. 3:14-17).
The Bible prohibits the priests from eating of the fat and blood of the sacrificed animals, but this prohibition only applies to sacrificed animals. H.C. Blanchard explains:
...neither the Jews, nor any other people, were ever prohibited from eating fat of animals, in a general sense. This verse clearly shows that it is the fat of the beasts of which men offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. It is also clear that this prohibition did not extend to all animals, but only to such as were offered in sacrifice, and then only certain parts of the fat which was to be burned on the altar. To see that they were permitted to eat fat let us turn to Deut. 32:14, 'Butter of kine and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.' Again, Neh. 8:10: 'Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet,' &c. So it is clearly proved that the command that is here referred to as being violated is false, and the spirit that dictated this Testimony is false, and such as our Lord told us to beware of.3
Thus, Ellen White perverted the Word of God by seizing upon a passage of Scripture separated from its context.
Omission #3 - False Teachers Forbid Marriage and Eating Meat
In 1st Timothy 4:1-5, Paul gives a strong warning about end-time delusions:
1 - Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 - Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
3 - Forbidding to marry, [and commanding] to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
4 - For every creature of God [is] good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
5 - For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
Mrs. White quotes from verses 1 and 2 in her writings.4 However, she never quotes verses 3-5 anywhere in her writings. As an example, in Patriarchs and Prophets she quotes verse 1, but omits the rest of the passage:
Paul warns us that we may look for wickedness to increase as the end draws near: 'The Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.' 1 Timothy 4:1.5
In verse 4, Paul writes that "every creature" is "good" for food and those who teach otherwise are departing from the faith and following "seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." It should come as no surprise that Ellen White omitted verses 3-5 of this passage because she frequently told her followers to abstain from eating meat:
Vegetables, fruits, and grains should compose our diet. Not an ounce of flesh meat should enter our stomachs. The eating of flesh is unnatural. We are to return to God's original purpose in the creation of man.6It has been clearly presented to me that God's people are to take a firm stand against meat eating.7
Furthermore, although Mrs. White never outright banned marriage, there were many times when she discouraged it.
According to the White Estate, "Ellen White’s literary output totals approximately 25 million words."8 Amazingly, in those 25 million words, many of which deal with end-time events and end-time delusions, she never quotes verses 3-5 of this important end-time passage. One would think that a prophet of God would want to draw attention to the end-time delusion of false teachers who would arise in the last days forbidding people from eating meats. Not so with Mrs. White. Paul's statement so closely identified her teachings as false that she probably did not want the spotlight focused on her. Therefore, although she quoted from 1st Timothy 4 verse 1 at least 85 times in her published writings, the rest of the passage was cunningly omitted from her 25 million words.9
Omission #4 - Judgment Began in the First Century A.D.
In the Great Controversy, Mrs. White describes the judgment and quotes from 1 Peter 4:17:
So in the great day of final atonement and investigative judgment the only cases considered are those of the professed people of God. The judgment of the wicked is a distinct and separate work, and takes place at a later period. "Judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel?" 1 Peter 4:17.10
Compare this with 1 Peter 4:17 (KJV) and notice (highlighted in yellow) what is missing:
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
Mrs. White excluded the words: "For the time is come that." These words indicate that the judgment Peter is talking about had already begun in the first century. This is clarified in other versions:
For the time has come for judgment to begin... (NKJV)For it is time for judgment to begin... (NIV)
For it is time for judgment to begin... (ESV)
For the time has come for judgment... (RSV)
The context of this passage (1 Peter 4:12-19) is describing the "trials" and "sufferings" that are to come upon believers. This passage is most likely referring to the various persecutions unleashed against Christians during the first century. In particular, this could apply to Christian Jews living in Palestine during the period of 66 - 70 AD. During this time period, a state of hostility towards Jews existed not only in Palestine but throughout the whole Roman Empire. In the early years of Christianity, persecutors did not carefully distinguish between Jews and Christians, and they sometimes suffered together.
Peter uses the terminology "House of the God," which is used almost universally in the Bible to refer to the Temple of God.11 Jesus also warned of a coming judgment, in His Olivet discourse, of the destruction of the Jewish temple and the city of Jerusalem (Matt. 24). Many Christian Jews suffered alongside their fellow non-Christian Jews during this time of judgment. This firmly places the "judgment" in the first century, not in 1844.
There can be no doubt that Peter was not referring to an "investigative judgment" that supposedly began some eighteen centuries in the future. Mrs. White's omission of the first part of the verse allowed her to wrest the meaning of the passage and project it into a completely different era and a completely different event. She did this to make the passage conform to her own preconceived ideas about the SDA Investigative Judgment.
Omission #5: Do not Deprive Your Spouse
In the devotional book In Heavenly Places, in the daily passage for July 19 (page 207), the compilers of Ellen White's book added a daily Scripture that she never quoted in her writings:
Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. 1 Corinthians 7:3
The likely reason she never quoted this passage is because the Greek word for the KJV "benevolence" is eunoia which is euphemism for "conjugal duty."12 Some versions, such as the ESV and RSV, use the words "conjugal rights," while more modern versions use "marital duty" (NIV), "sexual needs" (NLT), or "sexual rights" (NET). Historically, "conjugal duty/rights" explicitly included the obligation of spouses to engage in sexual relations upon the reasonable demand of the other. That Paul had this intent in mind is confirmed by himself two verses later in another verse that Ellen White never quoted:
Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control (1 Cor. 7:5 NIV).
These Biblical teachings are diametrically opposed to the false teachings of Ellen White, which is no doubt why she never quoted them. Although she had plenty of "marital activity" in her younger years, after she adopted the demonic doctrine of vital force in the early 1860s, she expressed terror at the thought of sexual activity draining vital energy from the bodies of her flock. She wrote extensively about "marital excess," warning her followers to limit their sexual activity and encouraging wives to do whatever possible to distract their husbands from desiring sex.
Conclusion
Mrs. White said it best:
Many study the Scriptures for the purpose of proving their own ideas to be correct. They change the meaning of God’s Word to suit their own opinions. ... They quote half a sentence, leaving out the other half, which, if quoted, would show their reasoning to be false. God has a controversy with those who wrest the Scriptures, making them conform to their preconceived ideas.13
This is the real "Great Controversy" in Ellen White's writings. If the shoe fits, wear it.