Introduction
By most Adventist terms, the title of this article makes me an apostate, someone who has rejected the Holy Spirit, and has broken faith. This is to say, I would be prevented from entering heaven under these terms if God sees it the same way.
To the contrary, I am about to share how we should do as the Adventists say, but not as they do. Be careful of the leaven of Seventh-day Adventism.
… they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Matthew 16:11-12
We are told by the SDA church to follow the bible and use the bible to interpret everything, and I am with them when it comes to the commandments and testimony of Jesus. We should be. The problem is that the same rule is not consistently applied to her own self.
How I Found Out
Back in 2023 when I first found a failed prophecy of Ellen G White (EGW), it happened while studying her writings in a project to help a church in Colombia answer questions their youth had written down anonymously. I was shocked. I didn’t want it to be a failed prophecy, but it was.
Years earlier, an Adventist pastor had told me that quite frankly that he didn’t trust EGW. I hadn’t asked questions, but instead –went the way we are supposed to as Adventists– and started wondering how this man ended up rejecting the Holy Spirit.
I didn’t even need to think about it:
“Satan is … constantly pressing in the spurious—to lead away from the truth. The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God. Satan will work ingeniously, in different ways and through different agencies, to unsettle the confidence of God’s remnant people in the true testimony.” —Letter 12, 1890.[1]
EGW, Selected Messages, Book 1 (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1958), 48.
”There will be a hatred kindled against the testimonies which is satanic. The workings of Satan will be to unsettle the faith of the churches in them (her writings), for this reason: Satan cannot have so clear a track to bring in his deceptions and bind up souls in his delusions if the warnings and reproofs and counsels of the Spirit of God are heeded.” —Letter 40, 1890.[2]
EGW, Selected Messages, Book 1 (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1958), 48.
Looking back, I feel I had been primed for this moment, psychologically manipulated, held captive by the teachings that would obligate me have me this view of my pastor the moment he said it.
The day I found the particular passages, I began to think about what my pastor had said many years before. And, I also began to think about the sermon on 3-Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN) that had convinced me to become a Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) again after returning to Christ. The pastor on 3ABN focused on other people who some have believed to be a prophet, like Nostradamus, and then contrasted EGW as a prophet with verified 100% accuracy about the future.
My Honest Adventist Background
I grew up in a household where I was home schooled. My step-grandmother read EGW books to us up to 4 hours a day between the ages of 9 and 12. She felt there was no better education for children. I knew the writings well, and had a conservative family.
We lived a 5 minute drive from Auburn Adventist Academy, an Adventist boarding school, surrounded by an Adventist utopia of sorts. Things were pretty awkward in an Adventist utopia considering my mother was born due to my grandmother cheating on her husband with the Adventist conference treasurer.
**My grandmother, God bless her soul, returned to Christ shortly before she died.
Women in the church had sought to prove there was cheating involved, and in the 1960’s, tape recorders were cutting edge technology. They placed one behind the couch and talked to her, seeking for her to tell the truth. She ended up confiding in them, and they showed everyone the recording afterwards.
My mother was still living that moment when she attended the Auburn Adventist Schools, since the children knew her father wasn’t her daddy more than a decade later. The effects of that were hard for someone who didn’t even know. Her father, the man who had been cheated on, he took her under his wing, and even helped raise her after the divorce when she was around 6.
Skip ahead to when I was about 7 years old. There was a court battle over custody of my little sister, and an abuse case that reached the front page of the Settle times. The mans parents were elders at the home church of Auburn Adventist Academy, so no matter how one looked at it, everybody kept on knowing about us.
We belonged to the downtown city church, as did many of those those living around the academy. I remember my mothers conversations with us about even if we went further, people would still know.
I never wanted to be an outsider, I was born an outsider. The children in my class wouldn’t even speak to me for the most part, and especially those who’s now grandmothers had been involved in the tape recording scandal –which constituted most of them.
But there we were, reading through Ellen White on an almost daily basis, eating vegan, going to church, and fitting the image of a loving honest Adventist life. I had a hard time processing it how the two worlds made sense.
My step-grandmother explained to me how Ellen White wrote about how many within the church are not saved, and that they were going to behave accordingly. She re-assured me that we were part of that group who was saved.
It is a solemn statement that I make to the church, that not one in twenty whose names are registered upon the church books are prepared to close their earthly history, and would be as verily without God and without hope in the world as the common sinner.—
Ellen G. White – Christian Service, 41 (1893). – {LDE 172.1}
Lost and Found
By my late teens I couldn’t take how much people argued or pointed fingers at each other in the church and in some parts of my family. I didn’t know it yet but my step-grandmother had schizophrenia running in their family. She was the most reasonable, but there was a problem with her son, and her sister –a medical practitioner with her own clinic– was always telling us she was a prophet like Ellen White.
I learned early, that just because someone says something that seems prophetic, doesn’t mean they actually are a prophet. But before that even happened, at just 16 years old I fell sick-with-disdain for the EGW quotes being used by Adventists during moments of strife, both in and outside of the church. When I was young, I ended up with a thirst for the bible, but I wasn’t getting it.
I often openly commented that “if only people would throw in a bible quote instead of, ‘EGW said..'” She had become the lens by which I learned about the Bible, including about Christ.
It was the strife that I couldn’t understand, and perhaps that’s the reason I left. I stayed away for almost 20 years, and stopped believing in God about half way through it. It didn’t make sense that my experience was from God, let alone others who’ve had it worse –but now I’m seeing clearly.
I returned to Christianity in 2014, and resolved to read the entire bible for myself before making any decisions, and in the next 8 years I would read it through more than 12 times over. By the time my first pass was about 80% complete I knew I was going to continue as in my youth –I was going to be a Sabbath keeper. God willing, I will always be a Sabbath keeper. After all, so was Jesus.
By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5but whoever follows His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6the one who says that he remains in Him ought, himself also, walk just as He walked.
1 John 2:3-6
I returned to the Seventh-day Adventist church in late 2014 because that pastor on 3ABN had convinced me that the SDA culture had thoroughly tested EGWs writings. I remember the day clearly. I resolved to humble myself and accept without question anything she said –and I learned a lot of good things during those years. She has a lot of profitable teachings.
But then, there I was in 2023 facing a new found reality — the pastor on TV had been a bit of a salesman. And there was still yet another passage I knew about that my step-grandmother had pushed on me around 14 years of age. It was scientifically unsound –but I had been willing to overlook it when I decided to accept EGWs writings again.
Mind you even doctors from Loma Linda (an Adventist university) teach classes where they show how statistically sound EGWs scientific statements are –scoring very high in the “what”, but much lower when she explains the “how”. Dr. Seheult also gives a statement of faith, saying that without a formal education, he believes her high “what” score is a sign of divine influence.
The passage that was pushed on me when I was younger was a “how” statement, and I stand by my assessment confidently. It will be in the book I have been writing on this.
Remember My Step-Auntie
I had reached a crossroads in 2023. I have hundreds of bookmarks in EGW books, even had in that moment. For example I have around 80 folders containing bookmark collections I have amassed through study in the Ellen White book collection Android app.
Regardless of anything I had read about not questioning her for a second, and regardless of what I had been taught in church, I knew that I needed to go and look at what EGWs critics had to say. I could do this with an honest heart after growing up around a confirmed schizophrenic that was deeply effected by EGWs experiences, feeling he had them too, and my auntie who secretly within the family was often trying to tell her thoughts as actual future. I needed to know for the right reasons.
I can tell you that doing the research on EGWs critics was not a fun experience. It was negative. It felt like a curse, and usually I didn’t agree with the theology behind what the EGW critics were saying; but I did find some additional starting points that I needed to assess for myself. I studied the issues biblically for two years, on this specifically almost every day, and certainly during free time on the Sabbath. In fact Hispattern.com had almost no activity during that period while I figured out what I did and didn’t know.
Reaffirmation
The result was my dissertation through 7 separate threads (4 currently public, 3 additions for my book), each of which any Adventist, ex-Adventist, or person fulfilling curiosities should become aware of. Aside from what I have to say, there is a lot of great work coming out from within the SDA church through scholars in Adventist universities, as well as occasionally Spectrum Magazine, but these are from those who have likely found the SDA church to be generally a nice place to be.
The analysis of each of these following linked articles is my original work and not focusing on what others have said about each category specifically. These descriptions are short. Please read the full articles before quoting me on anything. I can reassure you I have spoken with respect, the evidence will be strong, and my scriptural basis has been found sound.
- Ellen G White is an unfaithful prophet (willing to speak from herself): The bible is clear that not even Christ knows the time of his return, and he told us to look to the signs of the times rather than an individual to know what time it is. EGWs claim that Christ was due to return within their lifetime (with details so specific nobody could take it back) –as told to her by an angel, and in other visions– was then a test to see whether EGW and the Adventists were faithful. It is my conviction that this was the essence of “even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light”. My dissertation shows that the Adventists don’t want to apply the bible faithfully in this debate.
- The EGW estate defends this particular point of contention by stating that many prophets reneged on potential events. But the SDA leaders who wrote this missed the point. The angel couldn’t have had this information in the first place. In the same chapter where Jesus tells us false prophets will have signs to convince others, he also specifies that neither angels nor the Son of God now about the time, but the Father only. –I’ve only scratched the surface in this short explanation.
- The confirmation bias in 1844: While 1844 props up the Seventh-day Adventist church as some special group, the bible is far less esoteric when reading the passages as they are intended to be used. The prophecy in Daniel 12 (regardless to a shared time pattern with Revelation) particularly pertained to the time of the disciples from the death of Christ through to the stoning of Stephen, persecution, bringing the gospel to the gentiles (setting up the abomination of desolation, and finally, the conversion of Paul -a perfect overlay with the end of Acts 7 through the beginning of Acts 9. Understanding Daniel 12 first pertains to the time of the disciples is reinforced by the testimony of Jesus (Matthew 24:34).
- The EGW Estate nor SDA church has not had an opportunity to defend this interpretation since I released it in late 2025: Ten years ago when I was taught that to change a word “daily” to “paganism” in Daniel chapters 8 and 12 to achieve SDA prophetic interpretation, I reluctantly accepted it. I did however already see that the word pointed to the removal of the daily sacrifice at the death of Christ, instead of “paganism”. It took another 10 years of spare study to circl back enough times to fully unlock this deeper understanding behind Daniel chapter 12.
- I think the Adventists would have seen it themselves had they not settled on endorsement.
- Inconsistent testimony: Ellen White’s testimony was so dissimilar to a court case she was implicated in that one must ask –if she told the truth, then why did not even the believers who testified have noting even close to what she said? and why did the prosecution not say anything? Both prosecution and defense could have been made out to be liars by the other side had her testimony happened. While this is not enough on it’s own, she gave another pass at the testimony more than 40 years later and it was so dissimilar to her first that she obviously hadn’t told the truth the first time. I witnessed a miracle with others 40 years ago this year, and my testimony is exactly the same today as it was then.
- This particular argument has not yet been defended, as it is my own analysis, but I did learn about the second testimony of EGW from the pamphlet defending other debates over the same event. It’s available through the EGW Estate “Another Look at Israel Damman” by James R Nix.
- Caught in a lie while in vision: One of EGWs early visions when she convinced other early Adventists that she was a prophet was taken directly from scientific materials in print at that time, INCLUDING THEIR SCIENTIFIC INACCURACIES which would be proven to not be incorrect several months later. Even her accurate testimony from another scientific press release uses the same words and phrases (IE: an “an opening” and “a region more enlightened” referencing Orion) in print from a famous astronomer at the time.
A witness and author, as well as life long friend of EGW, and Seventh-day Adventist, John Norton Loughborough, wrote about the vision in one of his earlier books. The Adventist printing house Review & Harald (R&H) changed his testimony in the book to match the scientific understanding of the time instead of what EGW really said. Loughborough complains about this in another later book.- only the moon count discrepancy has been defended by the EGW estate, who claim EGW never intended to have the planets be associated with Jupiter and Saturn, even though those present expressed this understanding with each other as she spoke with them. Here’s why I see this as a coverup:
- The whole basis of the amazement of Elder Bates and Loughborough was because they were already aware of the scientific descriptions written about the Orion Nebula by Christiaan Huygens. Her testimony overlapped with his scientific description, even saying the same exact phrase, “a region more enlightened”. I’m surprised no-one else has said this.
- If she was not seeing the planets of our solar system, then:
- Why did the moon counts match the exact count currently known to science?
- What happened to the people including a Mrs. Truesdail who signed an affidavit stating she witnessed everything? Did she not tell them they were making a mistake in assuming it was Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn? All had access to EGW. She was not famous. They all spoke about these planets in front of EGW, even calling them out by name as EGW spoke.
- Why did the R&H update the book text from Loughborough’s book “Rise in Progress” more than 40 years after the event happened? Perhaps the change in book text was a mistake, but why had EGW not clarified that it wasn’t Jupiter yet, if people were still talking about it 40 years later?
- There was still one more chance for her to say something. Loughborough’s book Rise In Progress was released in late 1892, and the text was not correct, which Loughborough obviously took office to –having an explanation printed in the footer of his next book.
Was EGW not aware of this happening to a close family friend, and at the printing house her husband founded? As if she had no idea about the belief that it was this solar system she was speaking about. More than a decade would go by after the printing of Rise In Progress before Loughborough would release The Great Second Advent Movement where he makes known the truth around the update of the moon count. Why did EGW not take it upon herself as a servant of the Lord to lead Gods people to the truth concerning the identity of the planets?
- only the moon count discrepancy has been defended by the EGW estate, who claim EGW never intended to have the planets be associated with Jupiter and Saturn, even though those present expressed this understanding with each other as she spoke with them. Here’s why I see this as a coverup:
- Several other failed prophecies: will be in my book. This is what I found while reading the pages in 2023, and not looking up problems.
- Other stark contradictions in prophetic visions about the same historical event across time.
Hispattern.com isn’t going to become an SDA correction site, we’ll be moving beyond this and actually try to help people who don’t understand or know about Jesus yet. For that, the book is what is necessary to finish my work on this.
I’d like to remain a friend to Adventism, to see her like a faithful sister to the wider body of the Christian remnant –should she be loving enough not to keep spiritual prisoners. It’s not personal. God can use anyone, even king Saul prophesied full of the Holy Sprint. I know he has used Ellen White too.
Deuteronomy tells us that if a prophet is unfaithful (not necessarily a false prophet, but a prophet) then we are not obligated to fear them –and reasonably because we don’t know when the Holy Spirit spoke through them- unless we have discernment, time, and the drive to clean out the muck.
Another SDA pastor told me, the biggest problem is that the SDA church has already told the world she’s the one who has correctness, so to take it back and say she’s been unfaithful wouldn’t work. Beyond that, some would never agree based on the fact that the testimonies of EGW prepare them to expect it this to happen.
Odd thing, is they expect it to happen by people who don’t want to keep the 10 commandments, and that’s not what has been happening with a lot of people. Yet still, the second people hear it, the fear of punishment overrules sound judgement.
It’s a real challenge, almost like trying to undo brainwashing. For that I don’t blame the pastors who know the truth and are continuing to help make a gentle culture change from the inside. I don’t envy them, but they’ve also found love and success, and they still shepherd a part of the body of Christ. These insiders as it turns out, aren’t exactly the guilty ones, they aren’t the ones arguing that their part of the body of Christ is superior to the others.
Ironing Out the Wrinkles
Those comments my grandmother used to make to console me, ones about EGW seeing lost people in the pews in her visions, and less than one in twenty within the SDA church being saved. –after 2014, I came to find that this phrase is common within the church. In Sabbath school, in conversation with friends. I don’t speak for all Adventists, but, these are quotes we’re all pretty much used to hearing float around.
I believe the bible is clear, if one repents of their sin and admits it to Jesus, then this one is saved. They are saved today, and even can stand before God if they do it. Anyone who want’s it can be saved today, lest we forget the thief on the cross. God knows the heart, if there’s love, there’s love.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
Being saved today keeps with the teachings of Christ, who said, “don’t worry about tomorrow.” But how can I not worry about tomorrow if I am not saved today? So then the error is in how many works the sinner has –which as it turns out, doesn’t end up applying 1-for-1 to the saved factor”
However, If we have not reflected on our sin and it’s unloving nature, then we have not repented of it. We haven’t admitted it is in our nature, and we won’t be able to admit it to him. God knows, this happens to those who want love in the first place, the thief on the cross included.
What we want to be careful of is foregoing love in it’s many forms, for then we’ll symbolically say we’re spiritually rich, wealthy, and in need of nothing. Even tomorrow, if we skip that day and are not mindful and admitting of our sin, then there is a real danger that our time will come, and we’ll not have the opportunity to get right with God.
I’d be a fool to say Adventists don’t recognize they are sinners too, but somehow the tax collecors prayer is far from our hearts when we gloat over proof we were chosen over other churches because we have a prophet, or that other churches are full of demons –I speak from my own experience, but not from my own position.
This is a slippery subject to pin down in literature, but I’ve left church early during times like these. I think Paul said it best while pointing out that God doesn’t just work with meat eaters or vegetarians. He points out it’s just that the latter is weaker…
Wait, I’m a vegetarian myself… 🤔 Guess we know what that means…
I think we can all relate. Everyone has their thing that makes their faithful efforts feel polished, or possibly even fashionable. But to the wider body of Christ, one thing is a sin, and to another it is not a sin. Ellen White included.
For example, for one, a strictly biblical interpretation would include time for a lot of different music styles, but for others, something more in tune with the Victorian era seems more appropriate. These debates are outside Gods law of love.
Are we to gain faith, speaking in the tongues of angels, and prophecy, or are we to gain love? Have we forgotten that in the Holy Spirit is freedom, and that the ways in which we can remain loving are a lot less restrictive than sin?
I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad.
Psalm 119:96
Then again, adhering to something restrictive might help prepare a world class athlete to run the race. We’ll come back to this.
My Petition to Seventh-day Adventist Individuals
Perhaps Seventh-day Adventism has a thorn in her midst, one –that like Paul– could be unveiled through admission. I perceive that God is willing to even to say “my grace is sufficient for you too”, but make good and sure it’s not because it was permitted to stay though spiritual abuse of the rest of the body of Christ.
Should spiritual prejudice continue, then it’s going to be because you have been willing to look the other way. I don’t think I need to explain to you how to identify when a racist speaks during a time they can’t tell that you they’re a racist. If you don’t know what it looks like, I’ve added this PDF where a large language model has shown parallels between people hiding racial prejudice and Christians who have spiritual prejudice. Movement. In the second half of the document, it only describes people who hid racial prejudice. There are real parallels between Adventist on other Christians. Spiritually speaking, they go hand in hand.
Should you wear that hat, you know what to do.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2 Corinthians 3:17
The answer relies on grace.
I truly understand that for most Adventists this sort of unbecoming behavior is a simple matter of, “sin not leading to death” (1 John 5)
Sin not leading to death is when we we’re committing a sin and simultaneously thinking it is the right thing to do. For example: the solders during their moment of casting lots over the garments of Christ, a criminal condemned by the Roman justice system (thinking they were doing what was right) were actually killing the innocent Son of God. Jesus asked for their forgiveness for them, as an example to what we should be doing. Another example is God asked Job to petition forgiveness for his friends because they thought they were doing the right thing by badgering him about being unrighteous.
Wrapping Up
In the story of the Tortoise and the Hare, the hare told the tortoise that he was the going to be the winner. Did you know that the hare was a Laodicean? Its true. We can all learn a good lesson in the parallels, Laodicea as a sore winner, or well, an almost winner, but caught sleeping, assuming that he was rich and in need of nothing.
Elitism is something athletes take very serious. Every Christians should take this very serious. but we must save all elitism for spiritual battles with darkness and not flesh and blood.
I know what someone will say, “but, we battle with systems, corruption in belief”, but if corruption of forms of belief exist within our own system, then what have we accomplished by fixing it in others? That’s an elitism mindset that causes it.
Jesus said not to take the best seat at the wedding feast. Maybe we should also not be a wise virgin who says that the most chosen seat belongs to us before the bridegroom arrives. We should ensure we have enough oil, a white garment, and that we are ready.
If not, perhaps our lamps have already gone out while we were fast asleep
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
Matthew 23:13
Are you right with God?
Just a few months ago a friend of ours died while sleeping in an Adventist university dorm room. Dialogue from another friend afterwards contained, “well, I sure hope he goes to heaven, but I don’t know.”
I personally expect our friend died in Christ. If he had sins, he was working on them with God. He seemed like the type who knew when he sinned.
On one hand this is exactly why Christ said, “be ready, for you know not the day and hour” — yet on the other hand, Jesus said that nobody who belonged to him could be snatched from his hand (John 10:29). What was Christ saying? Think on this…
Are you his today? The paradox of perfection and grace is real. The closer to perfect, having been tested–the safer an individual may feel, but true perfection is to recognize our need for grace is even greater than we expected when we started our walk with God. Any Christian can have that experience, and
Do what you know to be right, and may nobody be able to deceive you [whether for or against righteousness]. Just don’t try to game God, because he’ll behave shrewdly in return.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body, but have not love, I gain nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
We are sinners sometimes even when we didn’t mean to be –even Job ended up realizing he still needed a Savior. Christ and Him crucified, it’s good medicine (1 Corinthians 2:1–2). There’s surety in that.
May we both be led by the scriptures, and find love –else we have gained, and have become nothing.
Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all!
2 Thessalonians 3:16
