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“Fannie Bolton was
28 years old when Ellen White first met her
in 1887. Miss Bolton’s newspaper reports of
the Illinois camp meeting had impressed Mrs.
White, who soon hired the younger woman as a
literary assistant.
For most of the
next decade, Miss Bolton worked for Mrs.
White. As these documents make clear, from
the very beginning Mrs. White sensed a
certain instability and spiritual immaturity
in Miss Bolton. Several times in the years
to come Fannie voiced criticisms of Ellen
White and dissatisfaction with the fact that
the literary assistants did not get more
public recognition for their work.”
[1]
During a
campmeeting in January of 1894, Fannie said,
“she was "writing all the time for Sister
White." Furthermore, she said that most of
what she wrote was "published in the Review
and Herald...as having been written by
Sister White under inspiration of God...I am
greatly distressed over this matter, for I
feel that I am acting a deceptive part. The
people are being deceived about the
inspiration of what I write. I feel that it
is a great wrong that anything which I write
should go out under Sister White's name as
an article specially inspired of God. What I
write should go out over my own signature;
then credit would be given where credit
belongs." [2]
"Fannie had been destroyed for trying to
tell the truth, and was shown no mercy or
grace by the people who destroyed her."
[3]
“As her health declined, she had little
strength to deal with the attacks of Ellen
and her supporters. And yet, the attacks
continued because Fannie embodied by far the
most serious threat to exposing Ellen’s well
concealed secrets of plagiarism and fraud.
In an attempt to make peace with her critics
and enemies, Fannie issued the following
statement in 1901 that brought Ellen and her
followers great relief, and to which they
latched on to as Fannie’s official
confession.” [4]
Did God change his mind where
Ellen White was concerned? Fannie wrote, "I
thank God that He has kept Sister White from
following my supposed superior wisdom and
righteousness, and has kept her from
acknowledging editors or authors; but has
given to the people the unadulterated
expression of God’s mind. Had she done as I
wished her to do, the gift would have been
degraded to a common authorship, its
importance lost, its authority undermined,
and its blessing lost to the world."
[5]
God has told his people in Jeremiah that
stealing the words from others is a clear
sign that the person doing so was a false
prophet. Has God changed? Would God condemn
stealing words for all the other prophets
and exclude Ellen White from that
restriction?
Fannie was a broken
person. Her entire life was intertwined with
the Adventist people. She had seen her
friend Marian die at an early age and Fannie
herself was isolated and alone, working for
a woman who would discredit her any chance
she got. I can understand how a person would
do and say things to hopefully restore her
place among her people. Fannie had lived
much of her latter life with Ellen White and
with her mental and physical health failing,
it is understandable how she could want the
whole controversy to be over.
Whatever her reasons, she was wrong to think
it was now okay to stop “acknowledging
editors or authors”. The Seventh-day
Adventist Church was wrong to cover-up all
of the literary fraud of Ellen White and
bury the evidence away in a vault somewhere.
Jeremiah’s words still stand, “I have heard
what the prophets have said who prophesy
lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I
have dreamed!’… Therefore, behold, I am
against the prophets, declares the LORD, who
steal my words from one another.” (Jeremiah 23:25, 30)
This is a
statement from Adventist.org about prophets.
“Are There…Bad Prophets?
So far
we’ve talked about prophets in a positive
light, but the Bible also tells us to be
wary of “false prophets.”
“Beware of
false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s
clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves”
(Matthew 7:15, ESV).
Hold on, though.
If a prophet is someone playing the part of
God’s mouthpiece, what would a false prophet
be?
You can probably deduce that
false prophets would be acting against
prophets of God, wanting people to believe
something opposite or irrelevant to the
messages God sends through His prophets.”
Then the article goes on to list “the
ways you can test a prophet to see if they
are really speaking for God:
1. Their
prophecies should honor God, not themselves
or any other human being.
2. Prophecies
should always be in line with what has
already been written as Scripture.
3.
Prophecies should never add anything to
Scripture, but only refer back to it for the
purpose of reminding or expounding upon it.
4. If they do make predictions, they must
come to pass as spoken (Jeremiah 28:9;
Deuteronomy 18:22).
5. Prophecies often
point out the sins of the people and tell
them how to change.
6. What they prophesy
must never contradict that Jesus is the Son
of God and the Savior of the earth (1 John 4:1-3).
7. A person’s “fruits” are what
they repeatedly do. When working for God,
prophets should generally demonstrate a
Christ-like character.”
[6]
Do you notice what “test of a prophet”
is missing from the official Adventist list
of tests?
The Seventh-day Adventist
Church will never acknowledge the literary
theft and fraud of Ellen White. If the
Seventh-day Adventist Church was honest, they would
acknowledge what Ellen White did and
renounce her as a thief, a false prophet,
and a “wolf in sheep’s
clothing”.
“A wolf in sheep's
clothing is symbolic for someone who
outwardly looks harmless and kind with good
intentions but inwardly is full of hate,
evil and deceit. We are warned of this false
teacher in the book of Matthew in the Bible.
This person seeks to twist truth and
Scripture to fit their own agenda. They
deceive their audience with false prophecy
and teachings. Wolves teach false doctrine
while appearing attractive.
Sometimes
the truth can get twisted in this life.
Blurred. Manipulated. Lines get crossed.
Things once seen as black and white may
start to appear grayer. It may seem harder
to recognize what’s true or what’s false.
What’s light and what’s dark? At the heart
of the battle, we face every day, is a real
enemy who prowls around seeking someone to
devour. (1 Peter 5:8) He’ll stop at nothing
to gain new ground. He and his forces have
quoted God’s words since the beginning of
time, twisting it, trying their best to
manipulate the truth, their main goal only
to deceive and lead astray. They know who
God is and the Bible says they “shudder” in
fear at His name. (James 2:19) They know
that God alone will be victorious and no
matter what traps are used today to try to
distract us away from Him, in the end, they
will not win.
Many times, the wolf
disguised in sheep’s clothing knows God’s
Word better than we thought, crafting and
twisting it so much, we might even find
ourselves feeling confused over what real
truth is anymore."
[7]
It is time for those people in the
Seventh-day Adventist Church who see how the
Seventh-day Adventist Church has allowed
Ellen White to destroy people’s lives, twist
scripture and defraud their people to leave.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church cannot be
reformed.
References:
1. The Fannie Bolton Story: A Collection of
Source Documents, Introduction (https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/698.2)
2. See:
https://www.nonsda.org/egw/fannie1.shtml
quoting “Merritt G. Kellogg statement [March
1908], The Story, p. 107. Citation 20”
3.
Steve Daily. Ellen G. White A
Psychobiography (Kindle Locations
3200-3201). Page Publishing, Inc. Kindle
Edition.
4. ibid.
5. ibid.
6. What
Does it Mean to Be a Prophet? (https://www.adventist.org/holy-scriptures/what-is-a-prophet)
7. What Does 'Wolf in Sheep's Clothing' Mean
& How to Spot One? (https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/5-ways-to-recognize-a-wolf-in-sheep-s-clothing.html)
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