1888-Ellen White and the Church Leaders

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he controversial meeting took place in the year 1888 at the General Conference session held in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This meeting marked the beginning of a heated theological debate that continued publicly for three years without resolution. By 1891, however, the three individuals most responsible for the doctrinal innovations introduced at the Conference found themselves separated by distant continents.

Ellen G. White played an active role in the Minneapolis meetings and the many events that followed. Ellen White witnessed the events of Minneapolis firsthand, and she spoke and wrote much during the 1888 period. Shortly after the Minneapolis meeting, Mrs. White wrote a 26-page manuscript entitled, "Looking Back at Minneapolis"[ Ellen White, Manuscript 24, 1888.] to ensure that the actions of the Denominational leaders would be preserved accurately.

From the onset of the 1888 Minneapolis Conference, Ellen White perceived that a battle over truth was erupting within the denomination. At first, Ellen White rejoiced that the spirit of God was at the meeting and commented that the leaders "heard as it were God speaking to them through his Son. They saw, they felt the divine influence of the Spirit of God and all witnessed to the gracious words that proceeded from His mouth [Ellen White, Manuscript 24, 1888.]." Ellen White soon discovered, however, that other forces were deliberately at work planning to disrupt and confuse the mission and message of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Ellen White was convinced that God had "raised up" two young ministers, E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones, to give a message to the delegates at the conference.

Ellen White initially saw the conflict as a diversionary topic that was counter-productive to the real issue of the fulfillment of Adventist prophecy and she tried valiantly to resolve the uncomfortable situation. Notwithstanding Ellen White's considerable influence to assist Waggoner and Jones, the debate over the law in Galatians soon became heated. Even Ellen White could not stay the negative tide that had enveloped the Conference, and she concluded, "it is evident that a delusion was upon our brethren." Although she supported and protected Waggoner and Jones as much as possible, Ellen White realized that their theological positions were being resisted by the church's leaders.

Ellen White felt that Satan had won a decided victory at Minneapolis as an unholy influence now controlled the church leadership--an influence that she had "never met in them before [Ibid., p. 20.]." Ellen White believed that the immediate significance of the 1888 meeting was that God had been "testing and proving His people who had great light, whether they would walk in it or turn from it under temptation...[Ibid., p. 23.]"

As a direct result of the Minneapolis meeting, Ellen White relationship with many of the denomination's leaders was strained. She lamented this fact by writing: "They had lost confidence in Sister White, not because Sister White had changed but because another spirit had taken possession and control of them [Ibid., p. 23.]." Ellen White's statements regarding the significance of the 1888 meeting continued in both her private and public communications. By the Spring of 1890, she was still actively supporting the "fresh light" that had been delivered at Minneapolis by Waggoner and Jones, and she even went so far as to publicly connect Waggoner's 1888 message with the loud cry of the fourth angel of Revelation 18 in an article in the Review [Ellen G. White, "Repentence, the Gift of God," Review & Herald (April 1890).]. In this article, Ellen White challenged the church to receive the new message that would empower the denomination to break out of their Laodician condition. But the church leaders were still resisting.

Because of Ellen White's support of Waggoner and Jones, church leaders at Battle Creek decided to send her and Waggoner out of the country in an attempt to cool down the divisive situation [George Knight, Angry Saints (Hagerstown, MD: Review & Herald Publishing Association, 1989), pp. 94-95.]. Thus, in 1891, Ellen White was transferred to Australia and Waggoner to Great Britain.

In spite of this, Ellen White would not be silenced and continued the dialoge. In a two-part article appearing in the Review entitled, "The Perils and Privileges of the Last Days," she earnestly warned the Denomination to beware of Satan's deceptions and to prepare for the time of trouble approaching. She linked the Minneapolis message of Christ's righteousness with the loud cry, and made the strong statement that the loud cry of the fourth angel had already begun with Waggoner's 1888 message. "The time of test is just upon us," she wrote, "for the loud cry of the third angel has already begun in the revelation of the righteousness of Christ, the sin pardoning redeemer. This is the beginning of the light of the angel whose glory shall fill the whole earth [Ellen G. White, Review & Herald, volume 69, No. 46, p. 615.] ."

Clearly, Ellen White connected the new message of Waggoner and Jones with the fourth angel of Revelation 18 and she linked the 1888 message directly to the prophetic events of the last days. Notwithstanding, the denomination's leadership stubbornly rejected Ellen White's plea to openly embrace the new 1888 theology.

By the mid 1890s, Ellen White, who was still in Australia, directed sharp remarks about the Minneapolis conflict to the church leadership in Battle Creek. She warned the leaders that grave consequences would ensue if they continued to reject the 1888 message. Ellen White wrote "The Lord in his great mercy sent a most precious message to His people through Elders Waggoner and Jones. This message was to bring more prominently before the world the uplifted Savior, the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It presented justification through faith in the surety; it invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God. Many had lost sight of Jesus. They needed to have their eyes directed to His divine person, His merits, and His changeless love for the human family.... This is the message that God commanded to be given to the world. It is the third angel's message, which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of his Spirit in a large measure [Testimonies to Ministers, pp. 91,92]."

Ellen White warned the church leaders that those who had stood their ground ever since 1888 and had "for years" resisted the light of the Minneapolis theology were in grave danger. She had "no smooth message" for those who had confused the theological issues in an attempt to protect their previous positions, refusing to admit error [Ibid., p. 97].

In 1896, Ellen White wrote another communication to Battle Creek entitled, "The Danger of Rejecting Truth." She was very concerned about the denomination for she knew they were in great "peril." "The church needs to be converted," she wrote, again making reference to the denomination's refusal to accept the 1888 message. She reminded them about the history of the Jewish nation and compared their rejection of Christ with the denomination's recent rejection of the new light from Minneapolis [Ibid., p. 64.]. In a reference to the Galatian controversy, she scolded the church by saying, Seventh-day Adventists "are in danger" of rejecting truth "because it contradicts something which they have taken for granted" but which is not really truth at all. Ellen White also wrote of the danger the institution face for its rejection and its publication the Review which had been influential against the Minneapolis message, "That men should keep alive the spirit which ran riot at Minneapolis is an offense to God. All heaven is indignant at the spirit that for years has been revealed in our publishing institution at Battle Creek. Unrighteousness is practiced that God will not tolerate. He will visit for these things [Ibid., pp. 76-77.]."

Because the vast majority of the Battle Creek hierarchy continued to reject the 1888 message, the results of their rejection began to surface. This in turn lead to the fulfillment of Ellen White's predictions that the judgments of God would be poured out upon the denomination's institutions.

By February, 1902, the world-famous sanitarium burned to the ground and ten months later, the Review and Herald building was also completely destroyed. Within one hour, the flames had reduced the Review's four-story, 80,000-square foot building to a heap of smoldering ruins [SDA Bible Commentary, p. 213.], never again to be rebuilt in Battle Creek.

Ellen White was not surprised by these events. It was Ellen White's position that the denomination's 14-year history from 1888 through 1902 culminated in tragic loss as a direct result of not accepting the original 1888 message delivered by Waggoner and Jones. Her statement in 1902 summarizes her viewpoint of this episode quite succinctly: "I have been instructed," she wrote, "that the terrible experience at the Minneapolis conference is one of the saddest chapters in the history of the believers in present truth [EGW letter 179, 1902]."

Following the "fiery indignation," as Ellen White called it, the church leadership, under her direction, left Battle Creek chastised and rebuked, but she was again to face another challenge later, this time led by A. G Daniels and W. W. Prescott.