Book: General Conference Committee, A Statement Refuting Charges Made by A. T. Jones Against the Spirit of Prophecy and the Plan of Organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Denomination (Washington, DC: General Conference Committee, 1906). HTML, Scan.
Contents: Refutes charges made by A. T. Jones after he had united with J. H. Kellogg in undermining the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Chapter 15: “I Am Not a Prophet”
The report has been widely circulated that Sister White has openly stated that she is not a prophet. Elder Jones claims to have heard her make this statement, and makes the following argument regarding it:
“There is another thing in this connection. You know that Sister White herself has said publicly, ‘I am not a prophet, I never made any such claim.’
“I myself heard her say those words three times to the largest audiences that hear her—once at College View in September, 1904, and afterward twice in the Tabernacle at Battle Creek, when the Tabernacle was full of people, many of them outsiders. The statement was published in the Review; and if I remember rightly, was also sent from Washington to be published in the public paper of Battle Creek—the Journal.
“Now, how can you expect me in the face of this her own publicly repeated statement, to insist to all the people that she is a prophet, and put her writings on a level with those of Jeremiah and others of the Bible? I know that she said that. You know that she has said it. I can not assume to know more about that than she herself does. Nor am I prepared to say that she lied in saying it. And since I heard her repeatedly say it, and since she said it in print under her own name, I believe it. And since I believe it, how can you expect me to stultify myself, either by declaring, and preaching, and urging upon the people, that she is a prophet and that they must believe that she is; or by throwing my influence and personality in with those who do declare and preach and urge that?
“Other people, both at College View and in Battle Creek, who heard her say it, asked me at the time, ‘What are we to do? We have believed all this time that she [p. 82] was a prophet; that is what has been preached to us over and over; and now she says that she is not a prophet. What are we to do? What does she mean? ’ I told them that as for what she meant other than what she said, they would have to ask her. But as for what she had said, that was plain enough. She said, ‘I am not a prophet.’ I believe it.
“I know that the editor of the Review, against her own words that she is ‘not a prophet,’ undertook to prove that she is one; and either grossly misquoted, or else produced a strange translation, of the Scripture to sustain his contention. He had Amos to say, ‘I am no prophet, neither am I a prophet’s son,’ etc. Amos 7:14. I knew when I read it in the Review, that that was not the reading in the King James’ Version; but I thought that possibly it might be the new way in the Revised Version. I therefore turned to the Revised, only to find that it emphasized the King James’ Version. For whereas in the King James’ Version the word ‘was’ is in italics in both places, in the Revised the ‘was’ is emphasized by being printed in Roman as the rest of the text. And this is manifestly correct; because in that place Amos is giving the contrast between what he was and what he is—‘I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was an herdman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit; and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.’
“But how does the editor of the Review know that she is a prophet, when she says she is not? Could not she herself have said that she is a prophet, just as easily as she did say that she is not? Could she not even have kept silence on the subject, if it were not true? What possible call was there for her to say, so repeatedly, and so publicly, ‘I am not a prophet,’ if it is not true?
“However, please bear in mind that I am not trying to prove that she is not a prophet: It is nothing to me one way or the other; and I have nothing to prove one [p. 83] way or, the other. I am only asking that I be allowed to believe what I heard her publicly and repeatedly say; and that I shall not be made a condemned heretic because I will not insist that she lied, or at least that she did not know what she was talking about.
“She said, ‘I am not a prophet. I never made any such claim. I am a messenger with a message. And the message you will find in the books.’ And she named ‘Patriarchs and Prophets,’ ‘Great Controversy,’ ‘Christian Education,’ as illustration.”
Elder Jones states that he heard Sister White say the words: “I am, not a prophet, I never made any such claim.” Furthermore, he says “the statement was published in the Review.” In order that the reader may have the exact statements for himself, and may thus know exactly what was said, and not take what somebody thinks was said or assumes was said, we herewith submit original documents that will make the matter clear.
What Sister White said in Battle Creek, Mich., was taken in shorthand. Here are her exact words as taken from the original verbatim shorthand notes of her talk in the Tabernacle, October 1, 1904:—
“I want to tell you the light has been given me, and many know what my work is. They say, She is a prophetess. I claim to be no such thing. I tell you what I want you all to know, that I am a messenger.”
“I want to tell you that Mrs. White does not call herself a prophetess or a leader of this people. She calls herself simply a messenger. You have listened to Mrs. White, and you know what my testimony has been, and the same testimony has been borne to the people. I have not gone back on one sentence.”
Elder Jones says he heard her say the words: “I am not a prophet, I never made any such claim.” Those words can not be found in consecutive order at any place in her talk, and four of the eleven words which the quotes can not be found at any place whatsoever in all her talk [p. 84] upon this matter. Then he did not hear those words spoken by Sister White in Battle Creek.
He claims that the words “I am not a prophet, I never made any such claim,” were published in the Review. Here is what was published in the Review and Herald of January 26, 1905:—
“I said that I did not claim to be a prophetess. I have not stood before the people claiming this title, though many called me thus. I have been instructed to say, ‘I am God’s messenger, sent to bear a message of reproof to the erring and of encouragement to the meek and lowly.’ With pen and with voice I am to bear the messages given me. The word given me is, ‘You are faithfully to reprove those who would mar the faith of the people of God. Write out the things which I shall give you, that they may stand as a witness to the truth till the end of time.’”
So the, words which Elder Jones claims were spoken in his hearing, and published in the Review and Herald, are not to be found. Thus it is again shown that his statement is not justified by the facts.
In corroboration and explanation of what Sister White did say in her discourse given at Battle Creek, Mich., October 1, 1904, the following, taken from a letter written to Elder O. A. Olsen, and dated January 30, 1905, will be pertinent, and helpful to the reader:—
“During the discourse, I said that I did not claim to be a prophetess. Some were surprised at this statement, and as much is being said in regard to it, I will make an explanation. Others have called me a prophetess, but I have never assumed that title. I have not felt that it was my duty to thus designate myself. Those who boldly assume that they are prophets in this day are often a reproach to the cause of Christ.
“My work includes much more than this word signifies. I regard myself as a messenger, entrusted by the Lord with messages for his people. . . .
[p. 85]
“To claim to be a prophetess is something that I have never done. If others call me by that name, I have no controversy With them. But my work has covered so many lines that I can not call myself other than a messenger, sent to bear a message from the Lord to his people, and to take up work in any line that he points out.”
The statements here made remind one very forcibly of the Bible account regarding an experience of John the Baptist. To him there came at one time some Pharisees who asked, Art thou that Prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees.”
But regarding this same John and his work the Saviour says:—
“But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.”
Elder Jones says that the editor of the Review, “against her own words that she is ‘not a prophet,’ undertook to prove that she is one; and either grossly misquoted, or else produced a strange translation” of Amos 7:14. This “strange” translation, this gross misquotation, is simply the marginal reading, taken from the American Standard Revised Version, of Amos 7:14.
Whether Mrs. White is a prophet or not maybe determined from her writings, regardless of anything she may have said concerning names or titles. This is indeed a strange question for any one at all well acquainted with her writings to raise at this late day. It is utter folly for any one to argue that she is not a prophet. She is either a true or a false prophet; and the evidences are numerous and overwhelming that she is the former.
[p. 86]