Vahvaa ruokaa

Light, how important it is for us! In the beginning God said, "Let there be light." [1] A few days later He created Adam and Eve, 'cloth[ing] them with a covering of light and glory.' [2] Many years later in the wilderness He led Israel by the pillar of cloud by day and light by night. [3] God has employed light in its many formsCreal and symbolicCfor the benefit of His people.

Ellen White unhesitatingly declared that "Christ loves His church." (SD 13) [4] Is it any wonder then that exactly as foretold at the same time as God called our church into existence in His love and wisdom He gave us another special gift of light by renewing the gift of prophecy in our midst? As Revelation 19:10 so beautifully describes it,

"The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

Speaking about that unfathomable love that Jesus has for His church, Ellen White wrote,

AThe church, enfeebled and defective though it be, is the only object on earth on which Christ bestows His supreme regard. He is constantly watching it with solicitude, and is strengthening it by his Holy Spirit. Will we, as members of His church, allow Him to impress our minds and to work through us to His glory?@BSD 13. [5]

Little wonder then that in His love and concern for us, Jesus would choose to bring light directly to His end time people. Consequently, since our earliest days, Seventh-day Adventists have believed that Ellen White was the recipient of the gift of prophecy. Our pioneers witnessed for themselves God=s leading in the founding of our movement, experiencing first hand His blessing through the messages He gave Ellen White. They soon learned that when they followed the Spirit of prophecy counsels, they prospered and were blessed; but when they did not, they faltered and stumbled.

Today, various voices both within and without Adventism are urging that we take another look at Ellen White. Some are now saying that, like eccentric old Uncle Homer and Aunt Hortense who everyone in the family know but all hope will not show up at the next family reunion, it is time for the church to consign Ellen White to the denomination=s attic. She was O. K. in her time, but, they claim, that time has now long passed.

Another reason I find Ellen White=s counsels still relevant has to do with her impact on the church=s institutions, both in establishing them and in administering them.

We’re not just a preaching ministry; Adventists sponsor both a world-wide education system, and a world-wide publishing work. In addition, our medical program is internationally known, all largely the product of Ellen White=s nurturing.

The fact is that these worldwide programs would never have reached their present achievements without the foresight and principles set forth by Ellen White. But it=s not their worldwide scope that makes them special, but rather it is their unique objectives. Adventist schools, publishing houses, and medical facilities are not distinctive merely because they are run by religious people, but because of carefully guided principles outlined by God through Ellen White.

Some non-Adventists have conjectured that without Ellen White, Adventists would not have survived as we are known today. Kenneth L. Woodward, Newsweek magazine=s religion editor, observed:

AIf it [the Seventh-day Adventist denomination] loses its founding mother, the church may find that it has also lost its distinctive visionary soul.