Interviews and Special Questions

Different persons have at various times gone to Mrs. White with specific questions on which they felt the need of divine guidance. Some of them went away satisfied and helped, some disappointed. One instructive feature of these interviews was that the questioner never could get the Lord’s messenger to give him the answer he was determined to have. If he tried to influence her to say thus and so as he wanted, he never succeeded. Very often the reply was directly the opposite of what he expected, and many times her answers broke up his own more or less selfish plans. It happened that people went away and reported things said that she had never said. This occurred oftener in the earlier years; later there was always a stenographer present to take everything down. However, at their best some of these so-called interviews never carried too much weight.FSG 414.1

Now and then some extreme person would make a great deal out of some little peculiar notion of his own that he wanted to impose on others or on the entire church. Many, many years ago a few began to preach that all church officers should be chosen by lot. Overseas and also in America they brought this question to the servant of the Lord and claimed that not only church elections but many other matters should be settled by the casting of lots. Mrs. White gave them a negative reply. She urged strongly that we should not depend on some device of chance to know the will of the Lord. There might be times when casting lots would be proper, but it was not to be adopted as a general policy. She wrote, “I have no faith in casting lots....To cast lots for the officers of the church is not in God’s order.”—Letter 37, 1900. A certain man wanted to decide all business questions by tossing up a silver coin to see which side came down on top. Of this, too, Mrs. White strongly disapproved. (Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 17, pages 16-29; Ministry, August, 1944.)FSG 414.2

When we observe this guidance of the prophetic gift through the years and think of the wise answers and spiritual instruction which always came from the messenger of God, we cannot but thank our heavenly Father for His watch care over His church. And these lessons given in the past should be remembered for the future. Sometimes people make incorrect statements about the writings of Mrs. White because they have not read them all. Thus it has been said by some who love gaudy clothing that she never mentioned “artificial flowers” or rings at baptism. These people have failed to read Testimonies for the Church 1:20.FSG 415.1