4. How to Read:

To the “honest” man the writer will be able to “convey his meaning for all practical purposes.” We are to understand that the Bible was given “not in a continuous chain,” but “through successive generations.” Bible truths must be “searched, dug out, by painstaking effort.” We must search “with a heart prepared to receive divine impressions.” Truths should be traced out with “patience, thought, and prayer.”HPEGWW 4.1

It seems clear that Ellen White saw as a major problem human unwillingness to accept and understand truth for one reason or another. She urges readers: “Cling to your Bible as it reads, and stop your criticisms in regard to its validity, and obey the Word, and not one of you will be lost” (Selected Messages 1:18.).HPEGWW 4.2

In The Great Controversy Ellen White says it in still another way:HPEGWW 4.3

The truths most plainly revealed in the Bible have been involved in doubt and darkness by learned men, who, with a pretense of great wisdom, teach that the Scriptures have a mystical, a secret, spiritual meaning not apparent in the language employed. These men are false teachers. It was to such a class that Jesus declared: “Ye know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God.”

The language of the Bible should be explained according to its obvious meaning, unless a symbol or figure is employed. Christ has given the promise: “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine.”

If men would but take the Bible as it reads, if there were no false teachers to mislead and confuse their minds, a work would be accomplished that would make angels glad and that would bring into the fold of Christ thousands upon thousands who are now wandering in error.—The Great Controversy, 598-599.

Note three statements from Ellen White on how she was instructed regarding getting the message across to those who would read:HPEGWW 4.4