Thank God Ellen White Was an Alcoholic

Seventh Day Adventist ^ | 01/27/2023 | by Stephen Ferguson | 27 January 2023 |

[Responsibility2nd]

I was conversing with some ex-Adventist the other day when I came across a claim that Seventh-day Adventist pioneer and prophetess Ellen White was an alcoholic. It seemed farfetched to me. However, after doing my own research, I was able to find Mrs. White’s own words on the subject, as recorded in Counsels on Diet and Foods (p.54):

“I have just read your letter. You seem to have an earnest desire to work out your salvation with fear and trembling…. There was a time when I was in a situation similar in some respects to yours. I had indulged the desire for vinegar. But I resolved with the help of God to overcome this appetite. I fought the temptation, determined not to be mastered by this habit…. For weeks I was very sick; but I kept saying over and over, The Lord knows all about it. If I die, I die; but I will not yield to this desire. The struggle continued, and I was sorely afflicted for many weeks. I relate this experience to you for your help and encouragement…. As long as you acknowledge this habit by indulging it, Satan will retain his hold on your will, and bring it into obedience to himself.”

Note Mrs. White’s own admissions here:

1. She indulged in a desire for vinegar. Many know vinegar is made from alcohol-fermentation.

2. The vinegar in question was probably not the condiment you might put on your salad or fish-and-chips. Rather, Mrs. White was probably talking about a vinegar switchel made from apple cider. This was a popular drink originating from 17^th-century New England, an area where Mrs. White grew up.

3. She was drinking vinegar in such quantities and on such repeated occasions it had become a habit. In fact, Mrs. White uses the word “habit” twice. A habit is not a once-off slip.

4. When trying to stop this habit, she suffered chronic physiological effects, which she says lasted for “many weeks”. Mrs. White said she was very sick and thought she might even die, which sounds like a serious addiction. Today, we would probably recognise these as classic withdrawal symptoms.

5. This counsel comes from a letter written in 1911, when Mrs. White was 83 years old. While she doesn’t say exactly when she became a vinegar addict, noting Ellen White began to have visions at age 17, we are probably talking about an addiction that arose during her time in the prophetic office. We are not likely talking about some pre-conversion period of her life.

I am not a physician or drug rehabilitation specialist, so I am happy to be corrected by any readers who are experts. Nonetheless, noting the most obvious and straightforward explanation is often the correct one, even if we cannot identify the substance with exacting precision, it seems reasonable to conclude Ellen White was most likely suffering from some sort of alcohol addiction, even if she would not have identified it in those terms.

[Bikkuri]

"I repeat what you said"

Yeah, 3 times!
😆

[Bikkuri]

I think it’s a counter to all of the catholic spam.

[BipolarBob]

What is all this Ellen White stuff even about?

It's an opportunity to dogpile the Adventists. C'mon Milt, it's fun. They're different and anybody different needs the business. Just make up some stuff.

/sarcasm

[spintreebob]

I am not an Adventist. I am not a Baptist or Pentecostal or Presbyterian or Methodist...of any stripe.

But I see Hamas terrorists and aetheists who believe in a climate armagedon. They are the enemy.

Probably my theology has a hole in it somewhere also. Who am I to throw stones and make enemies for no good reason?

[spintreebob]

The Trump coalition is a very large coalition. Trump brought in non-Christian Tulsi Gabbard and Hindu Indians.

Previously FR was a small coalition of 2A, right-to-life and libertarians. Now we are a much larger coalition. That is what winning is all about.

[Glad2bnuts]

I don’t think there is one congregation that is the perfect representation of Christ. My walk with Christ..Yeshua or Joshua, or Father Yehovah, Jehovah or Yahuah is individual. I love those who present teachings for my ears and eyes, but the ultimate authority is in my Heart and written in the Books.

One thing I know is that the 10 commandments were never done away with, including the Sabbath worship. The other Holy Days and convocations that Moses and Aaron taught are how time is counted and the days are to be observed. The Birth of Christ was on a date certain, the final sacrifice was also on a date certain. Easter and Christmas are invented by fallen humans.

[vespa300]

____I don’t think there is one congregation that is the perfect representation of Christ. My walk with Christ..Yeshua or Joshua, or Father Yehovah, Jehovah or Yahuah is individual. I love those who present teachings for my ears and eyes, but the ultimate authority is in my Heart and written in the Books.

One thing I know is that the 10 commandments were never done away with, including the Sabbath worship. The other Holy Days and convocations that Moses and Aaron taught are how time is counted and the days are to be observed. The Birth of Christ was on a date certain, the final sacrifice was also on a date certain. Easter and Christmas are invented by fallen humans.___

You seem to have an excellent understanding of scripture, the gospel, our condition, the law of God, the value and purpose of the holy seventh day Sabbath, and it’s refreshing to see here.

I can always tell even by the tone of a post, the sincere Christian who longs for truth and is humble, and meek and graceful.

Thank you and God bless you and happy Sabbath!

[Preachin']

It also tells us we are not required to place one day over another, and that the foods we eat have nothing to do with our salvation.

[Preachin']

Am I required to marry the wife of my deceased brother so that I csn give her offspring?

[BipolarBob]

Yeah, if you read it OUT OF CONTEXT to what the writer was saying. Go back to your slumber. You’re out of your depth here.

[BipolarBob]

You are annoying when you ask questions like that. If you don't know the Mosaic laws are abolished, go take a Bible correspondence course from a reputable source.

[Glad2bnuts]

One way to the truth is trying to disprove another. It is how I learn. The Truth is easiest to find with an open mind and heart.

I have been guilty of disparaging the RCC. They are off course, and have been for a very long time.

The thread seems to have died down now, but my Great great.... I am not sure how many is between the 1600’s and now... grandfather. Was murdered for failure to renounce his faith. He was a Protestant Pastor/Priest in the British Empire of the British Isles. He told his sons to flee to America. He was torn asunder for refusing to renounce what he believed. My family was founded by the survivors.

[vespa300]

____I have been guilty of disparaging the RCC. They are off course, and have been for a very long time.___

We never disparage or judge individuals. We can judge a system. And can identify a system that is clearly described in scripture as an apostate system. Judgement of individuals is God’s business alone.

As for your great great grandfather......he sleeps safely tucked into the arms of his Savior. Daniel was told in Chapter 12 of Daniel....that he would go to his rest. And then he would awake to this alloted inheritance in the end.

Your courageous great grandfather is in a sweet dreamless sleep.........when he awakes, he will think he had just gone to sleep......and he will awake to his alloted inheritance. Hopefully those who murdered him....and did so in God’s name......thinking they were doing the will of God.....repented. If they did.....God will take them home too. And they will probably apologize with tears to your grandfather. And then....God wipes away the tears....forever.

God bless you and Sabbath blessings.

Daniel 12 verse 13:

Notice Daniel didn’t go to heaven as some kind of disembodied soul. It says he goes to his rest and will arise to his inheritance....at the end of the days, when Christ returns.

Amen:

13 “But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.”

[delchiante]

We can judge a system. And can identify a system that is clearly described in scripture as an apostate system.
.....

The Roman Beast system is the one system you clearly haven’t pinpointed as an apostate system...

And neither has Islam, Judaism or any other part of the religious orgs trapped in Babylon..

That’s your problem Vespa.

You shill for the Beast system without even realizing you are doing it.

That sort of hypocrisy can be on display for those led out of the Beast system.
Not from those trapped within.

But the good news is the Beast system SDA is trapped in doesn’t survive His Kingdom Come.

And from New Month to another, and one Sabbath to another, all flesh will come and worship Him.

The New month didn’t begin May 1, Vespa. That’s the Roman Beast system seeking to lead its followers astray..

[vespa300]

_____The Roman Beast system is the one system you clearly haven’t pinpointed as an apostate system...____

I guess you haven’t seen how the radical Catholics are treating me here. Your statement above could not be more in error if you tried.

[delchiante]

You are being reprimanded by your Mother Church here.

That’s harlot daughter and Mother fighting over the Beast System that eventually Falls..

The Roman Beast system has created a false Christ, false Mary and false Gospel..

Mother is going to fight any and all who dare take her authority away from her.

The Mother is going to have the biggest L in the history of history at the end..

I’m going to enjoy it.
Her daughters will not.

Because it won’t feel like Mother is the only losing.

[ANKE69]

I like how you reply, totally in surprise
and awe to your own posts.

[vespa300]

____I like how you reply, totally in surprise
and awe to your own posts.___

And I Like how you read them!

Thank you and Sabbath blessings!

[TheBattman]

Rather misguided and bent interpretation of history (based on very little reality).

Christians are not a “spinoff Jewish sect.” - that was a false belief by both the Jewish leadership of the First Century and even more so - by the Roman authorities. But it is a dramatic mischaracterization of the reality.

“Protestants” are not a spin-off of Catholics (Catholics more rightly would be an apostate political/religious group that coopted the term “Christian”).

And Methodism, which I am uncertain why you bring that group up independently of “Protestant” as they firmly claim to be a product of the Reformation (unlike some who are labeled as Protestant, but deny being a product of the reformation).

As to Adventists - how, exactly, are you measuring “best”? When they directly deny the Jesus found in the Bible - they, by their own doctrine, deny the Bible itself. That pretty well crushes any claim to being “Bible Believing”. Their works-based gospel is as false a gospel as addressed in Scripture.

Relative (to culture) morality does not = “Christian” or “Biblical”. It is a product of that works-based effort to be good enough to not suffer annihilation of their soul (which is utterly unbiblical).

I never suggested any “organization” is saved. Indeed - no denominational title saves. Only faith in the completed work of the Jesus Christ, whom the entirety of Scripture points to, saves - via grace, not of yourself.

[BipolarBob]

As to Adventists - how, exactly, are you measuring “best”? When they directly deny the Jesus found in the Bible - they, by their own doctrine, deny the Bible itself. That pretty well crushes any claim to being “Bible Believing”. Their works-based gospel is as false a gospel as addressed in Scripture.

All lies Battman. They love the Jesus in the Bible. The Bible is their standard for any belief.It is not a works-based gospel but one which conforms to what God has commanded and which the rebellious and stiff-necked people of the world refuse to bow to.
It is easier for people to be scammed than for them to believe they have been scammed by their Church leaders. Our salvation lies in our trust in Jesus to forgive our sins if we believe and follow Him. Paul and James both state faith without works is no good. You can read that in your Bible.