Distinctive Theological System

In other words, if puzzled believers have not understood that one of the primary contributions of Ellen White lies in her distinctive theological system, they enter the slippery road that leads to a sense of betrayal and spiritual confusion. It is as if the well-ordered universe has suddenly lost its center with all its stars no longer in their traditional places in the night sky.MOL 519.2

But with a calm and reasoned understanding of how the Great Controversy Theme transcends all the divisions and errors within Christianity, the believer is not disturbed by occasional factual errors and a prophet’s literary indebtedness. Whenever Adventists allow other theological paradigms, or organizing themes, to determine the direction of any doctrine, division within the church is inevitable. Whenever Adventists prefer other theological systems to the Biblical framework found in Ellen White’s writings, division within the church is predictable. Whenever Adventists downgrade Ellen White from being a theological authority to merely a nurturing mother, they reveal their own myopia, and mislead others.MOL 519.3

Not to acknowledge what Mrs. White’s contemporaries acknowledged through personal experience denies the facts of history. Further, such denials cut off the roots of coherency and distinctiveness in the Adventist message and its reason for existence. It leaves the Seventh-day Adventist Church without a chart or compass regarding its significance and purpose.MOL 519.4

When Ellen White is kept in proper focus as God’s messenger who has provided the world with the clearest understanding of the cosmic dimensions of the plan of salvation, the Adventist Church will be preserved from internal schism organizationally, and from confusion and disillusionment individually.MOL 519.5

Keeping Mrs. White in focus will help church members navigate troubled theological waters so that a coherent, consistent Biblical picture of salvation can be offered to the world—a simple, clear, coherent Biblical message that will usher in the final test of these last days. John the Revelator referred to this last-day message as the “everlasting gospel” (14:6).MOL 519.6

Understanding Ellen White’s greatest contribution to the Adventist Church, as well as to the world, will give believers their strongest, safest, reasons for continuing to trust her as God’s messenger. ^{31For an anthology of what prominent Seventh-day Adventists, past and present, have said about Ellen White’s contribution to their lives, read Herbert E. Douglass, What Ellen White Has Meant to Me (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1973).}MOL 519.7