Walter Rea Letter
By Walter Rea, September 1, 2004
Dear Friends:
Twenty-five years have come and gone since a meeting was called to examine the material that had been covered up by the SDA Church for over one hundred years concerning the work of Ellen G. White, the Adventist so-called Spirit of Prophecy. Because many of the new membership of the Church have not been given the facts of results of that meeting, it was thought that those interested should be brought up to date. Therefore, in this material the different numbers will show:
- It had been known by many for over one hundred years that
the books and writings of Ellen White were taken from the works of other
authors. The Jan. 1980 [Glendale] meeting proved that such was true.
- Because the Church leaders did not keep their word as they
promised, I released the material and was terminated for that reason.
After two years without pay or medical, the Church settled for a small
amount for back pay with some conditions.
- Records of that time will show that I was trying to work
within the system but did not realize that the system could and would be
dishonest.
- Study will show that even Fred Veltman’s study did not
show the large amounts of other material that was used, such as chapter five
found in Desire of Ages, which was not included in his study. This
chapter alone showed that perhaps as much as 80 to 90 percent was copy
work.
- President Neal Wilson denied that I was going to be fired,
but said the concern was that I was telling others what I had found. The
committee that had reviewed the material had said it was startling. I
thought that the purpose of the meeting was to inform the membership.
- I was never allowed to defend my actions or have a fair hearing;
was never given a written statement which explained why I was fired.
- After I was fired, Ron Graybill, associate secretary of the
E.G. White Estate, in a morning worship service at the General Conference
revealed much, much more than was shown in the Glendale 1980 meeting,
proving once and for all time that my research was correct and that I was
fired for telling the truth about Ellen White. The leaders even to this
day do not want the people that pay their bills to know the true facts,
which is that Ellen White was human and got her information from other
humans, but wanted all to believe that God told her where to find those facts
and ideas and inspiration from others.
Only the future life will tell us
how many men have been marked and destroyed by the Church leaders because they
could not believe the White lie. If I have made mistakes, it was not that the
facts and material that was discovered by others were wrong, but that I
committed two great errors, one that you never question or go against the
devines in any religious system and two, you never question the system or its
promoted ‘truth’. History will show that more have been destroyed one way or
another for these two reasons than for any other. It is very hard to teach
people that the thought that the foundation of any religion is not men or
prophets or ‘truth’ but living and showing that love to one another.
Sincerely,
Walter T. Rea