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 17: A Plain Contradiction
On page 43 Elder Jones says: “And when I have not changed in a single item of principle or of the truth, and yet I can not now preach these same things without being counted ‘disloyal to the General Conference,’ and ‘disloyal to organized work,’ then is it not perfectly plain that the change has been somewhere else than in me or in my teaching?”
Note that Elder Jones here positively states that he has “not changed in a single item of principle or of the truth,” but that whatever change there has been is “somewhere else than in me or in my teaching.” Thus he plainly asserts that he both believes and teaches just as he has believed and taught in the past.
But compare this statement with the following taken from page 53 of the same leaflet:—
“The brethren and the people know well that whenever I was advocating a matter and some one produced a Testimony to the contrary, instead of explaining it away I [p. 89] stopped instantly and changed my course accordingly. And that was because of my loyalty to the Testimonies. And that loyalty to the Testimonies was because I believed honestly and truly believed—that everything that was written and sent out as Testimony was Testimony from the Lord. To that belief and that confidence I was as true as it is possible for a man to be. But that trust and that confidence have been betrayed. And by that betrayal I have been compelled—most reluctantly compelled, I assure you—yet literally compelled to yield that position.”
Here Elder Jones confesses that he had changed his position concerning the Testimonies. Once he “honestly and truly” believed “that everything that was written and sent out as Testimony was Testimony from the Lord.” Now he does not believe this, having been compelled, as he claims, “to yield that position.” How a man can change his faith, yield his position concerning a fundamental doctrine, and yet not have “changed in a single item,” he does not explain.
On page 67 he further says:—
“I will not pretend to stand for a thing as straight and true, and what people think that it is, that I personally know not to be so. I was as honest as a man can be in believing that everything that was issued in writing by Sister White was Testimony and from the Lord. And now I am not going to be dishonest in believing it, when by the evidence of immutable facts I have been compelled to recognize that it is not true.”
Here again he makes the direct statement that what he once believed concerning the Testimonies, he does not believe now. Once he honestly believed that “everything that was issued in writing by Sister White was Testimony.” Now he claims that he has been “compelled to recognize that it is not true.” We readily concede his right to change his belief concerning the Testimonies or anything else, if he chooses to do so. A man is responsible [p. 90] to the Lord alone for what he believes. But when a man tells us that what he once believed he now no longer believes, and at the same time says he has “not changed in a single item,” we can not understand his position. It is a plain contradiction. Both statements can not be true. His leaflet is itself clear evidence that he has changed his belief concerning the spirit of prophecy at least, and that what he once believed, he is now working to destroy.