The Reaction Against the Message
A basic "enmity against
God" was the underlying factor of "the opposition
manifested at Minneapolis against the Lord’s message through
Brethren [E. J.] Waggoner and [A. T.] Jones." Ellen White
statements are so clear and forceful that it is impossible not to
grasp their import:
I can never forget the
experience which we had at Minneapolis, or the things which
were there revealed to me in regard to the spirit that
controlled men. … They were moved at the meeting by another
spirit, and they knew not that God had sent these young men to
bear a special message to them which they treated with
ridicule and contempt. … I know that at that time the Spirit
of God was insulted.60
How long will you hate and
despise the messengers of God’s righteousness? … If you
reject Christ’s delegated messengers, you reject Christ.61
They began this satanic work at
Minneapolis. … Yet these men have been holding positions of
trust, and have been molding the work after their own
similitude, as far as they possibly could.62
Since the time of the
Minneapolis meeting, I have seen the state of the Laodicean
church as never before. … Like the Jews, many have closed
their eyes to light, and in walking apart from Christ, feeling
need of nothing, as there was when He was upon earth.63
If God spares their lives and
they nourish the same spirit that marked their course of
action before and after the Minneapolis meeting, they will
fill up to the full the deeds of those whom Christ condemned
when He was upon the earth.64
So strong was the opposition to the
1888 message and so enthusiastic was Ellen White’s endorsement
of it, that our brethren indulged serious doubts about Ellen White’s
inspiration. In fact, she was openly "defied" and in
1891 was exiled to Australia.65
All the universe of heaven
witnessed the disgraceful treatment of Jesus Christ,
represented by the Holy Spirit. Had Christ been before them,
they would have treated Him in a manner similar to that in
which the Jews treated Christ.66
Has our wandering in the wilderness
been long enough? Should we not recognize the truth that
"enmity against God" has indeed been our basic sin of
Laodicea, the root of our self-sufficient pride that we are
"rich and increased with goods, and in need of nothing?"
The
1901 General Conference Session
NOTES:
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Letter S-24, 1892.
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TM 96, 97 (1896).
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TM 80 (1895).
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RH Aug. 26, 1890.
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TM 79, (1895).
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See Spalding, p. 300, "The
fact that [Jones and Waggoner] … had the support of Mrs.
White intensified the animosity of their critics"; A.T.
Jones, GCB 1893, p. 183, "When the prophet told
them what they were doing [at the 1888 Conference] they simply
set the prophet aside with all the rest"; RH July
18, 1893; GCB 1893, p. 419; Letter W-32,1890; Letter
D-237 1903; Letter to O.A. Olsen, Oct. 7, 1890, quoted in R.J.
Hammond thesis at Andrews University, "Life and Work of
Uriah Smith," pp. 112, 113; TCV 292 (MS 9,1888).
Robert W. Olson, Adventist Review, Oct. 30,1986; EGW Letter
127, 1896. [Return to text]
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Special Testimonies, Series
A, No. 6, p. 20. [Return to text]
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