We do not question the sincerity of those who condemn this book as "satanic," nor do we wish to create alienation where brotherly harmony should prevail. But we do question the accuracy of their statements. No one should be stampeded to condemn something until he/she has carefully examined its actual content. We find that opponents have generally on a massive scale misunderstood, distorted, and misconstrued the message of this book. We find no evidence of satanic inspiration, of "a masterpiece of deception," of "most deadly heresy." Instead, we find evidence that after decades of "famine in the land ... the Lord [may have] visited His people in giving them bread."
We are encouraged that there is hope for this organized church that repentance and reformation can come through the sunlit, genial message of the gospel of Christ's righteousness, rather than by the dark thunders and terrors of Sinai. This presentation of the gospel as Good News can appeal to candid readers in all levels of the "pluralism" that now prevails in the world Seventh-day Adventist Church. It uses modern terminology and vocabulary in order to reach confused people.
It's encouraging to believe that Ellen White's prediction does make sense when she speaks of God's work in the last days: "One interest will prevail, one subject will swallow up every other, —CHRIST OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Review and Herald Extra, Dec. 23, 1890). This, we believe, is the true reason for the phenomenal success of this new book. Could it also account for the phenomenal opposition to it? If so, that is a very sobering thought!
Ellen White counseled her brethren who thought that Jones's and Waggoner s message was a masterpiece of deception. They too superficially assumed that her Testimonies condemned it:
"When I have been made to pass over the history of the Jewish nation and have seen where they stumbled because they did not walk in the light, I have been led to realize where we as a people would be led if we refuse the light God would give us... Now brethren, light has come to us and we want to be where we can grasp it... ." (MS 9, October 24, 1888; The Ellen G White 1888 Materials, p. 152).
"If [Dr. Waggoner] is in error, you should, in a calm, rational, Christlike manner, seek to show him from the Word of God where he is out of harmony with its teachings. If you cannot do this, you have no right as Christians to pick flaws, to criticize, to work in the dark, to prejudice minds with your objections. This is Satan's way of working.
"You are not now calm; there are many who do not know what they believe. It is perilous to make decisions upon any controverted point without dispassionately considering all sides of the question. Excited feelings will lead to rash movements.... Many ... have imaginings that have no foundation in truth. ... If there are any among us who become stirred up because ideas contrary from what they have believed are presented in this meeting, then stop your unsanctified criticisms and candidly investigate the subject, and it will sanctify the soul.... There are but few, even of those who claim to believe it, that comprehend the third angel's message, and yet this is the message for this time... .
"Those who have not been in the habit of thinking and investigating for themselves, believe certain doctrines because their associates with them in the work believe them. They resist the truth without going to the Scriptures for themselves to learn what is truth. Because those in whom they have confidence oppose the light, they oppose it.... We should not reject or oppose the views of our fellow laborers because they do not agree with our ideas until we have used every means in our power to find out whether or not they are truth, comparing scripture with scripture" (MS 15, November 1, 1888; The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, p. 163).
Can we see the possibility of a providence? Could the Lord have sent us a "missionary" from the once-Dark Continent to wield a razor-sharp "sword of the Spirit," to cut the Gordian knot of confusion with legalism and antinomianism that for decades has fettered Seventh-day Adventist thought? We believe that readers who give this book a careful reading will not see it as deception. We believe it is an evidence of re-awakening spiritual vitality within the Seventh-day Adventist Church.