Simply put; Ellen White passes the test of a prophet!
May I ask which test you are referring?
1) Her doctrinal teachings are supported by the Bible. Namely, the Ten Commandments are still valid, the mortality of the soul, the sanctuary message, just to name a few.
2) The fruits of her life. (Kingdom of the Cults by Dr. Walter Martin)
3) Deuteronomy 13:1-5 and 18:22.
And any other tests you may think of.
I appreciate the answer. In respond to your 3 points in respective order :
1)I agree that some of Ellen comments is point on scriptures however some other are not. As we have seen in some discussion here that even some writings conflicts with earlier writings. We have also seen here too many times in discussions that both sides of an argument are using EGW to support their position.
There's many reason for these.
One major one that I now understand is that we do not understand what is a prophet. Prophets are people just like us that needs to grow into their calling. Meaning that at time prophets misunderstand the word given to them. For the norm, interpretation is absent from the prophetic word given; so the interpretation of the word is a mystery until the Lord provides the interpretation which often is later to the generation that the prophesy applies to.
Also like any of us, they have their own misconception of who is the Lord. They do not see the Lord face to face yet or as He is yet. Prophetic words needs to be refined or defined by the Lord who will use other members of His body and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Like Abraham(see link), young prophets in training often mis-understood the word given to them.
Interpretation of prophecies are often given and reserve for later generation that it applies to. So for most prophets in training, the first lesson to understand is they may not get the interpretation of the prophetic word and to shut their mouth and not treat their speculative interpretation as truth.
Another major problem I see is to know which writings came from EGW's actual pen from those that are not. As I have expressed in "
Should we quote EGW? --The Lord Canonized OT & NT -- shouldn't EGW's writings also? " discussion.... until this canonizing is done, I think no one is in position to quote any of EGW writings as we do not know if it came from her pen at all, or from her large team, or from an extraction from another writer's book.
2)I do agree that Ellen life was a life of dedication. However I don't believe character or "the fruit of her life" is a Biblical test of a prophet. Mat 7 doesn't say that. I was trying to find the post where we had studied this in the past and I haven't still found it. When I'll find it, I'll get back to this point.
3)We have already discussed Deut 13 in "
Should we quote EGW?. I think you need to re-read Deut 13. As I have said in that discussion, Deut 13 is about the Lord sending a prophet to test us(see link) if we will just take whatever the prophet says without testing it. Even those that comes to us with “[i]sign and wonder come to pass”(Deut 13:2), all their words still needs to be tested also. Fulfilled sign and wonder are
not a test of a true prophet either according to Deut 13:2. Basically my understanding is no one should assume that at anytime that everything a certain person says is the word of God. Even Paul, whose testimony, conversion, work, miracles … were all quite amazing --- despite all his words needed to be tested by whom the Bereans were praised for doing so. In our Church, we should be praising anyone who test any of EGW’s writings or Church interpretations. But that is not the case, persecution is more the norm.
So basically the Lord tells
US in Deut 13 to test all things. The “US” is the individuals’ responsibility or as Ellen and James rightly puts it “our Christian’s duty”. Here's an example of it -- where yourself, kland and Prodigalone
have failed the Deut 13 test in believing in a "shaking out" theory that was not shown in the past by the Lord.
Am I saying that Ellen failed the Deut 13 test? No not at all. The Lord is not testing the prophet He has sent, but He is testing
US if we are going to buy whatever they say without testing them. Verse 3 says “
For the Lord your God proveth YOU” (not the prophet He has sent for the purpose to prove YOU).
