'THE ALPHA OF APOSTASY'

 SECTION ONE
RETURNING TO THE ALPHA

For years now, the eyes of many have been focused on the predicted "Omega" of apostasy. With surprisingly rapid growth we have witnessed a setting aside of the Spirit of Prophecy, and the special messages it contains, as of little importance to the Church or in the individual lives of its members. A denial that the writings of Ellen G. White are needed, or a denial that they are even inspired of God, this appears to be the heart of the Omega apostasy.

But some among us are, knowingly or unknowingly, returning to the Alpha of apostasy. They are imbibing its concepts and voicing its sentiments. In order to do this the more decidedly, they are carefully studying the erroneous sentiments and lying reports of the outstanding leader of the Alpha-John Harvey Kellogg. These deceived individuals have decided that, after all, John Kellogg must surely have been correct in his assertions about Ellen White. And as proof, they cite Kellogg's own words, as if they are to be trusted.

But John Harvey Kellogg, from at least 1895 and onward, was not a man to be trusted. This present documentary contains one of the most complete biographies of John Harvey Kellogg currently available in print. Read it and learn for yourself, from his own words and actions, the words and actions of others, and, most important, from the words and actions of Ellen G. White -that John H. Kellogg was, clearly, after the turn of the century,-not a man whose words could be relied upon as truthful.

We have already said that the Omega of apostasy is keyed to a setting aside or denial of the Spirit of Prophecy writings as either unnecessary or uninspired.

In comparative contrast, the Alpha of apostasy had a different approach, and there are individuals today who are zealously spreading its message. They are returning to the Alpha, even though they may not realize it. Some openly take their stand with Kellogg's deceitful attack; others do not realize they are doing so. Their teaching goes like this: The Spirit of Prophecy may indeed be inspired of God, at least her earlier writings were. But, later on, other men began writing statements, articles, -even books,-and get her to sign them.

So we cannot be certain which of her later writings (after the mid-1880s) were inspired and which were not. It takes study and careful thought to figure it out, but there are now Spirit of Prophecy "experts" doing it, and you do welt to heed their speculative conclusions because they have studied the matter longer than you have. The problem is that these other men would frequently write letters and then get her to sign her name to the letters. Now, of course, you need to understand that she was just an old woman and did not have enough sense to understand what they were doing, and God never warned her as to what was going on (although He warned her about hundreds and hundreds of other matters).

Why, other men even wrote entire books, such as the Testimonies, parts of Desire of Ages, Great Controversy, etc., and then brought them to Ellen to sign and henceforth claim as of her authorship! And she would go along with this fraud because she wasn't too smart anyway, and, you know, God never talks to His prophets about such matters. His prophets can be repeatedly deluded by others and God will never enlighten His special messengers as to what is taking place. They can commit fraudulent transactions with others and God cares not for such matters.

And THAT is the heart of the Alpha of apostasy. It sounds ridiculous when you lay it all out in one paragraph as we have done above, but the men now actively promoting the Alpha never quite come to grips with the full implications of their theory, as we have done in the above paragraph. Only a small part is given at a time. "Oh, yes, didn't you know that others wrote some of her books for her?" "We know that it is true because we have studied it out." "Oh, I don't believe she wrote that!" "Well, I know she didn't because that looks like something that Willie would write." And on it goes. If you protest that it would be wrong for her to do that, you may be told, "Well, she was getting older and didn't know what was going on." Upon further inquiry, you will be told that such things had gone on since the early 1880s. In 1885, Ellen White was only 58 years of age, and lived for 29 more years, and yet all that time she was supposed to have been too weak-minded to know much of what was taking place, and too weak-willed to care about the rest.

"Weak-minded" is the phrase for some of it: too weak-minded to know that many books and lots of letters and "Review" articles were written by "others," who then stuffed the sheets under her pen for her to sign. "Weak-willed" is the phrase for yet others of the allegations: too weak-willed to resist most any denominational worker or leader that wanted her to sign his writings; and then henceforth keep her mouth shut to what she had done.

THIS is the Alpha of apostasy. It is the repeating in our own time, the 21^st century, of the tortured twistings that John Harvey Kellogg spoke 75 to 100 years ago. Men in our own time began reading the accusations of Kellogg and decided to start repeating them as gospel truth. This has brought the Alpha of apostasy back into Adventism-at a time when the Omega is flourishing and doing very well for itself.

For it was about the year 1885, that John Kellogg began systematically backbiting Ellen White. Kellogg was determined to have the highest place in the denomination, and by 1885 there were only two people in the Church that had more influence: the General Conference president and Ellen G. White. So Kellogg began making his comments, and that is why you will be told that it was the mid-1880s when "others began writing things for Sister White to sign;"-for that is when John Kellogg began making his cutting comments about Ellen White.

It is for reasons such as this that people will tell you that it is safe to read the 1884 Edition of "Great Controversy," but that there are dangerous errors (which no one can ever seem to point out) in the 1888 Edition, etc.

Keep in mind some history: John Kellogg became the operating manager of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in 1876. Four brief years later, we know he was already carrying on a systematic program of disparagement against James White. It was generally considered at that time by Church leadership that it must be James that provided the unyielding positions that Ellen would take on every important issue. Surely, when James died, little Ellen would be easy to handle. She seemed too kindly and small-statured to have that much back-bone all by herself!

James passed to his rest in 1881, and everyone was shocked to discover that Ellen, suddenly without any counsellor, -was just as decided and unyielding as ever. By 1885, Kellogg had no further doubts about the matter. He was not going to be able to influence her decisions. Poor John had only discovered that which many others were also learning. None of the General Conference or "Review" leaders could influence her either. Standing grandly aloof from all the politics of Battle Creek, she always seemed to stand for principle, when so many around her desired her to assent to their respective policies. The classic proof of this fact is the intense war she carried on with them all, first at Minneapolis in 1888 when she sided with two young upstarts from out west (Jones and Waggoner), and then how she battled with the leaders in Battle Creek because they did not want to print or circulate her 1888 Edition of "Great Controversy." (The whole story of that two year fight is to be found in our "The Circulation of Great Controversy"

From 1888 to 1891 she traveled through the field and defended the correct view of Righteousness by Faith, much to the chagrin of the leaders in Battle Creek. Then from 1891 onward until 1900, she was half-way around the world in Australia writing books and papers, and working to start the kind of model educational and related institutions in Australia that the brethren in America always managed to block. And as she did it, her son, W. C. White, was extremely busy traveling from place to place. It cannot be said that Ellen White was influenced by anyone in those years. She did what she considered to be right and she would not back down for anyone.

Then, upon her return to the States in 1900, she settled in Elmshaven, Napa County, California, and while her son continued on with his administrative duties, traveling from meeting to meeting all over the West Coast and in the East as well, she would write letters to General Conference, "Review," and Sanitarium leaders back in Michigan, and work on her books.

At the heart of the matter, the Alpha is identical to the Omega. Both are a denial of the Spirit of Prophecy.

But, let us for a moment consider the larger issues in the Alpha and Omega. The entire Alpha-through-Omega apostasy is based on an error so terrible that few understand what it is. If they could but grasp its essential nature, perhaps many would draw back in horror at its malignityand flee to the Rock of Scripture.

The basic issue in the Alpha and the Omega is this: You are god. You can sit in judgment on the words of God. You can decide which of those words you will accept. You can take the writings of John Kellogg and place them above the writings of Ellen White. You can take the writings of contemporary theologians, trained in worldly universities, and. place them above the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy. You can toss the books of Ellen White aside, with all their marvellous principles, and pompously declare that she was "not canonical." You are greater than all the prophets.

The Alpha taught that you are as fully god and as fully divine as that of any other object in the universe. You are all the god you will ever be. The Omega is now quietly advocating Evolutionary Theory. You are god, for you made yourself. You evolved from worms and amoebas, and ultimately from a "big bang" out there somewhere. (It is now known that a growing number of our Adventist scientists and science teachers quietly reject Creationism in favor of Evolution. All this is part of the Omega.)

Above everything, you stand and look down. You sit in judgment on the works of God. You decide how He will save you. And you have decided that it will be in your sins. It will be in a manner convenient to your pleasures and your pastimes.

Only one above God can safely reinterpret His Word. You are the one that can do it. You can read His requirements and His commands and that they need not be obeyed.

But you are a very little god. The days when you used to stand in awe of the Sacred Writings and carefully obeyed them are now past. You have since figured out an easier way. You have decided that your own words and thoughts are more valid and trustworthy. You are your own god.

Now you are stumbling down the road of speculation and rationalization. The truth is that you hardly obey anything any more. You are fast becoming a law unto yourself. Having decided that the Spirit of Prophecy and its standards are of little worth, you are now ready to turn your attention to the doctrines and pick them to pieces.

This is the heart of the Alpha and Omega.

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