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In Times Like These

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Even before the American nation lurched toward Civil War, Ellen White saw what was coming and raised her voice in warning. Seeing the crisis approaching in a vision three months before Fort Sumter was attacked, she told the church members at Parkville, Michigan, “There is not a person in this house who has even dreamed of the trouble that is coming upon this land.” At that time most thought that any kind of danger was a joke, and they laughed at ideas of secession. But Ellen White warned that the crisis was very real: “There are those in this house who will lose sons in that war.”

These words recorded by John Loughborough, pioneer evangelist to the

West, brought the Adventist Church to a greater realization of the worst crisis faced by the U.S. and how to respond to it. On that day, Sabbath, January 12, 1861, Loughborough wrote, “Mrs. White further stated that Seventh-day

Adventists ‘would be brought into strait places in consequence of the war, and that it was the duty of all to earnestly pray that wisdom might be given them to know what to do in the trying times before them.’”1

From the Editors

In the current time of crisis, those words are just as relevant. While the country grapples with the tension of division, we as Adventists need to be reminded of our message and mission. While we certainly need to be aware of what’s happening around us, and to address the issues, we have to recognize our true calling. Ellen White thought about the Civil War, discussed it, and wrote about it. She recognized that Adventists did not live in a vacuum, and she sought to help them deal wisely with the issues that this national conflict brought upon all families. But most of all, she directed thinking to the gospel mission, the methods of Jesus, and His soon return.2 Before the Civil War broke out, Ellen White was sharing the great controversy perspective. Beginning in 1858, she wrote about this cosmic conflict and the role of Christians to represent God in His answers to Satan’s rebellion.

Other Adventist pioneers picked up this overarching theme. Uriah Smith, writing in the Review and Herald, referenced the Southern secession, and commented, “History presents us with instances more extended and atrocious than this. This was the crime, so far as we have any account, that first introduced discord into the universe of God. The prime mover and the first seceder was Satan; and the first secession movement was that which resulted in his fall and expulsion from heaven. From that time onward, so far as he has had influence in the affairs of this world, this has been one of the acts in his programme. He effected the most notable secession movement which this world has ever seen, in the garden of Eden, when Adam, as the representative of the race and lord of the world, seceded, taking along with him this whole province into separation and revolt from the just government of God.”3

In this way, the time of crisis was brought into prophetic and theological perspective. Church members came to realize that though the Civil War was tragic and catastrophic, it was part of the ongoing sweep of time that would eventually end in God’s resolution of the conflict. During a later crisis, Ellen White wrote, “Let us all bear in mind the fact that we are fast approaching that crisis in human iniquity when it will be necessary for God to interfere.”4

That did not mean that she counseled church members to ignore the events of the time. She wrote in condemnation of slavery and that the North had not initially fought to remove slavery from the Union: “I was shown… that the war is not to do away slavery, but merely to preserve the Union.”5 Only after the Emancipation Proclamation did Ellen White believe the North had right on its side. Even after the war was over, she still took issue with both the government and church members, stating that: “The Lord is grieved at the indifference manifested by His professed followers toward the ignorant and oppressed colored people. If our people had taken up this work at the close of the civil war, their faithful labor would have done much to prevent the present condition of suffering and sin.”6

So it can never be argued that Adventists should not be concerned with social issues and government policies. We are to see things from God’s perspective, trying to alleviate the impact of suffering and sin, while eagerly looking forward to the day when all these different times of crisis will be over.

Ellen White has the final word from the time of the Civil War: “I was shown that the perplexed state of our nation calls for deep humility upon the part of God’s people. One most important subject should now engross the minds of every one: Am I prepared for the day of God?”7

1The whole experience can be found in John Loughborough’s book, The Great Second Advent Movement, pp. 338-339. 2For a more expansive perspective, read Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1., pp. 260-263. 3Uriah Smith, “Secession,” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, May 28, 1861, p. 12. 4Ellen G. White, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, May 2, 1893, par. 7. 5Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1., p. 258. 6Ellen G. White, Letter 37a, 1900, in Manuscript Releases vol. 4, p. 17. 7Ellen G. White, Manuscript Releases vol. 7., p. 111.

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