June 2020

As many of us know, here’s a quick recap of recent events:

“Nashville is marked as being destroyed by a nuclear weapon,” warned a full-page “paid advertisement” posted in the Nashville Tennessean last Sunday, June 21, 2020. The ad claimed that the destruction would be caused by “Muslims” detonating a nuclear device on July 18, 2020. How do the sponsors of the ad know this? Shockingly, they claimed it was predicted in “Bible prophecy” and by the prophetess “Ellen G. White” whose warnings are being ignored by “the backslidden Seventh-day Adventist Church.”

Pretty dismal PR for Adventism, don’t you think?

The ad-sponsoring group calls itself “Future for America” and is led by Jeff Pippenger, who was previously disfellowshipped by a Seventh-day Adventist Church in Arkansas for his radical views.

On June 22 (the day after the ad), response was swift. Multiple news outlets picked up the story, including the Religion News Service. Thankfully, most reports focused on the “Future for America” group without mentioning Seventh-day Adventists. In Tennessee, the advertisement was quickly labelled “hate speech,” and the unfortunate Tennessean employee who accepted it for publication lost his job.

The Religion News Service reported:

Bible prophecy teacher Jeff Pippenger of Future for America told Religion News Service in an email that he wrote one version of the ad and a friend from Ireland wrote a different version of the ad, which ran earlier in the week.
Pippenger said the ministry paid for the ad, which he said was inspired by the work of Ellen White, one of the co-founders of the Seventh-day Adventist church.

Really?

Did “the work of Ellen White” truly inspire the underlying information reflected in this ad?

First of all, there are so many statements in Mrs. White’s writings that do not support this type of evangelism. For instance, date-setting. Notice carefully:

There will always be false and fanatical movements made by persons in the church who claim to be led of God—those who will run before they are sent and will give day and date for the occurrence of unfulfilled prophecy. The enemy is pleased to have them do this, for their successive failures and leading into false lines cause confusion and unbelief. Last Day Events, p. 35 (emphasis added)

I sincerely hope the leaders of “Future for America” will read this Fulcrum 7 article, and Last Day Events, p. 35, and will take heed to this inspired counsel in “the work of Ellen White.” Based on her published statements, she would never sanction pinpointing a July 18 detonation. For more information on date-setting, the reader is encouraged to read my previous Fulcrum 7 article, “A Warning To The Church About Date-Setting And Reapplying The Time Prophecies.”

Next, the “Future for America” ad referred to “the backslidden Seventh-day Adventist Church.” Again, this type of verbiage—especially when used publicly—would never be approved by Ellen White. Is our church perfect? No. Are some of its members backslidden? Yes. But when you read Section 1 in Testimonies to Ministers entitled, “The Church of Christ,” her high regard for the organized Seventh-day Adventist Church is crystal clear—in spite of its faults. In 1892, EGW wrote:

Dear Brethren of the General Conference, I testify to my brethren and sisters that the church of Christ, enfeebled and defective as it may be, is the only object on earth on which He bestows His supreme regard. TM, p. 15

In 1913, she also wrote:

To Those Assembled in General Conference of Nineteen Hundred Thirteen, My dear Brethren, It is the privilege of our representative men in attendance at the General Conference to cherish a spirit of hopefulness and courage. TM, p. 513

Again:

For years I have borne my testimony to the effect that when any arise claiming to have great light, and yet advocating the tearing down of that which the Lord through His human agents has been building up, they are greatly deceived, and are not working along the lines where Christ is working. TM, p. 36 (emphasis added).

Again, I sincerely hope the leaders of “Future for America” will begin following this counsel, too.

Next, fireballs. Yes, it’s true, that Ellen White did have two prophetic dreams where she saw huge fireballs striking cities in the end-times. Her first dream occurred on Friday night, July 1, 1904. The second, on or about August 23, 1906. Both dreams impressed her deeply. Altogether, Ellen White made 11 references to these two dreams. About the first dream, she reflected:

The Lord is soon coming in the clouds of heaven with power and with great glory. His terrible judgments are soon to fall upon our world. Are we doing all we can to warn earth’s inhabitants of these things? While I was in the South [she was in Nashville but left out that detail] a few months ago, I had a very impressive dream. I seemed to see a great ball of fire come from heaven and strike the earth. Great houses were in flames, and many were looking on in great distress. Someone said, “I knew that this was coming. I knew that God’s judgments were soon to fall.” “You knew that these things were coming?” said another. “Why did you not tell us? Why did you not warn us, and show us the prophecies, that we might also know?” Ms 158-1904 (September 10, 1904) par. 30

Although she was in Nashville at the time of this first dream [on July 1, 1904], this particular recollection didn’t mention Nashville specifically, and the fireball was described as simply striking “the earth.” Five months after that first dream—after referring to it multiple times—on January 21, 1905, she referred to it again. This time, it was during a sermon she delivered on a Sabbath morning in Mountain View, California. During that message—for the first and only time—she mentioned a fireball landing on “Nashville” specifically:

When I was at Nashville, I had been speaking to the people, and in the night season, there was an immense ball of fire that came right from heaven and settled in Nashville. There were flames going out like arrows from that ball; houses were being consumed; houses were tottering and falling. Some of our people were standing there. “It is just as we expected,” they said, “we expected this.” Others were wringing their hands in agony and crying unto God for mercy. “You knew it,” said they, “you knew that this was coming, and never said a word to warn us!” They seemed as though they would almost tear them to pieces, to think they had never told them or given them any warning at all. Ms188-1905 (January 21, 1905) par. 13 (emphasis added).

As we can see, this recollection is similar to her previous one. The part, “settled in Nashville,” along with other details, have stirred Adventists far and wide, including those of us at White Horse Media. Significantly, in a recent conversation between myself and a friend from the White Estate, I learned something new, which was this: In Ellen White’s 11 references to these two dreams, she never specifically wrote, “settled in Nashville,” but rather only spoke that part in her January 21 sermon, as reported by a stenographer. As I’ve pondered this, these points have impressed me:

1. The primary purpose of those two dreams, and of Ellen White’s communication of them, was to impress Seventh-day Adventists with the work that we must do now to warn the world of “God’s judgments” that are “soon to fall.”

2. That warning involves our responsibility to communicate “the prophecies” of the Bible with the world, before it’s too late.

3. The fact that Ellen White referred to these two similar dreams 11 times, but never actually wrote, “settled in Nashville,” reveals that she herself didn’t feel that that specific, three-word detail was all-important. Nor did she have a passion to share those three words with the world.

4. In order for Seventh-day Adventists to fulfill our calling to warn wicked cities of God’s coming judgments, and of the necessity of leaving them, we are not dependent on those three words, “settled in Nashville.” Instead, our messages should be based on the Bible itself and “the prophecies.”

At White Horse Media, we strongly believe this solemn warning should be given. Our popular sharing pocketbook, The Coming Judgments of God, based on the Bible alone, is available for wide distribution. That booklet is balanced, biblical, Christ-centered, and reveals the deep love of Jesus Christ for us all. Of additional note, Ellen White also wrote:

Not many years ago, a brother laboring in New York City published some very startling notices regarding the destruction of that city. I wrote immediately to the ones in charge of the work there, saying that it was not wise to publish such notices; that thus an excitement might be aroused which would result in a fanatical movement, hurting the cause of God. It is enough to present the truth of the Word of God to the people. Startling notices are detrimental to the progress of the work.
How comes the word that I have declared that New York is to be swept away by a tidal wave? This I have never said. I have said, as I looked at the great buildings going up there, story after story [see 9T, 11], 'What terrible scenes will take place when the Lord shall arise to shake terribly the earth!...But I have no light in particular in regard to what is coming on New York, only that I know that one day the great buildings there will be thrown down by the turning and overturning of God's power. From the light given me, I know that destruction is in the world. One word from the Lord, one touch of his mighty power, and these massive structures will fall. Scenes will take place the fearfulness of which we cannot imagine. But I have sent cautions to the brethren working in New York, saying that these flaming, terrifying notices should not be published. When my brethren go to extremes, it reacts on me, and I have to bear the reproach of being called a false prophet. RH, July 5, 1906 (emphasis added).

Based on this counsel, it is clear that we should avoid publicizing to the world what will happen to this location, or that location, based on her writings. Again, “these flaming, terrifying notices should not be published,” for they are “extreme,” and will result in Mrs. White being quickly labelled as a “false prophet”—mainly because people are not familiar with her ministry. Notice this additional warning about the dangers of fanaticism:

In every age Satan has sought to impair the efforts of God's servants by introducing into the church a spirit of fanaticism. Thus, it was in Paul's day, and thus it was in later centuries during the time of the Reformation. Wycliffe, Luther, and many others who blessed the world by their influence and their faith, encountered the wiles by which the enemy seeks to lead into fanaticism overzealous, unbalanced, and unsanctified minds.” Acts of the Apostles, p. 348 (emphasis added)

In the spring of 1844, as the last message of Revelation 14:6-12 was growing:

About this time, fanaticism began to appear…The prince of evil was losing his subjects; and in order to bring reproach upon the cause of God, he sought to deceive some who professed the faith and to drive them to extremes. Then his agents stood ready to seize upon every error…and hold it up before the people in the most exaggerated light, to render Adventists and their faith odious. Thus the greater the number whom he could crowd in [extremists]…the greater advantage would he gain by calling attention to them [extremists] as representatives of the whole body of believers.” The Great Controversy, p. 395 (emphasis added).

Summary

In the 1840s, Satan deceived some Adventists and led them to extremes, which reflected badly upon “the whole body of believers.” Dear friends, the recent paid advertisement in the Tennessean reveals that the devil is up to his old tricks. A new date has been set (July 18), which will soon come and go. And once again, “Adventists and their faith” have mistakenly become “odious” to some. God’s messenger has also been labelled “a false prophet”—which is exactly what Lucifer wants.

Let’s learn our lessons.

Now is the time to share God’s warning.

But let’s do it sensibly, from the Word of God.