ELLEN WHITE
AND THE APOCRYPHA

"I then saw the Word of God, pure and unadulterated, and that we must answer for the way we received the truth proclaimed from that Word. I saw that it had been a manner to break the flinty heart in pieces, and a fire to consume the dross and tin, that the heart might be pure and holy. I saw that the Apocrypha was the hidden book, and that the wise of these last days should understand it. I saw that the Bible was the standard Book, that will judge us at the last day.
16 Manuscript Release Page 34

People have used this passage to tell us Ellen White believes the Apocrypha is part of the Bible. But is this the case? Who are the truly wise in this situation?

First, with the help of Mary Walsh, and her book on the Apocrypha, let me share a few things.

Ellen White referred to the Apocrypha as the hidden book. The Apocrypha, from the Greek, means "hidden". These are books which were rejected as a part of the King James Version. These writings and others were regarded as pseudepigrapha because of the false names given the authors. And they contain teachings that are in direct opposition to the Inspired Canon.

The Jews rejected the Apocrypha all along because the books lacked divine inspiration and were written after the time of Ezra. Yet now, even modern Jewish scholars are showing a growing interest in these writings. Why this modern interest? The apocrypha fails the test of agreement with doctrines and testimonies which the Biblical prophets have written. That's why they were not included in the Old Testament by the Jews or by the early Christians. Neither Christ, nor the apostles quoted these books. The early reformers separated the apocrypha from the rest of the Bible and placed them in a separate category. Some, like Carlstadt, a contempory of Luther, took a definite stand in total opposition against them.

Protestants have the shorter Bible with sixty-six books, while the Roman Catholic Church makes the assertion that she alone has the complete Bible. The Catholic Church is eager to uphold the decision made at the Council of Trent, held from 1545 to 1563 regarding the inspiration of the apocryphal books, and she therefore keeps the subject of the larger canon before the Protestant world with a well-defined plan, with which Bible students must eventually reckon.

On April 8, 1546, in the Fourth Session, the Catholic Church, in the Council of Trent, passed this declaration concerning the Apocrypha:
"Whoever shall not receive, as sacred and canonical, all these books and every part of them, as they are commonly read in the Catholic Church, and are contained in the Old Vulgate Latin edition, or shall knowingly and deliberately despise the aforesaid traditions: Let him be accursed."

As to the Protestant world, they never accepted these books as inspired. In earlier centuries the books were placed more as an appendix, between the Old and New Testament with clear statements that they are for historical purposes not to be considered as inspired.

We find many statements indicting this position:

The Westminster Confession, which was written in England between 1643-48, only a few years after the publication of the King James Bible, says, "The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of the Scripture; and therefore are of no authority in the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved, or made use of, than other human writings."

Martin Luther, whose original German Bible version included the Apocrypha between the Testaments, just like the early King James Bible, said in a note on the Apocrypha: "These are books not to be held in equal esteem with those of Holy Scripture..."

Unlike the Catholic Bibles the Apocryphal books in the early King James Bibles were placed between the Old and New Testaments rather than intermingled within the O.T. itself. The translators were careful to set these spurious books apart from the inspired text

Long before the 1800's some Protestants publishing the Bible omitted the Apocrypha altogether from their King James Bibles.

May 3, 1827, the British and Foreign Bible Society decided to completely exclude the Apocrypha from the Bible. And as we will see below, the Bible EGW held while making her statement did NOT have the apocrypha within.

Some twenty years ago Mary Walsh was discussing with a Roman Catholic clergyman some of the doctrines of his church. The King James Bible, used as the standard by which the doctrine under discussion was to be judged, condemned the teachings of the Catholic Church on these doctrines. When the scholarly Jesuit saw that his doctrines and the Word of God were irreconcilable, he said, with a degree of triumph, that the complete Bible, which was being produced would be innocuous to Protestants, Catholics, and Jews.

Will the Apocrypha be presented to the world, by the Catholic Church, as part of the accepted Biblical Canon? Should this happen, the Council of Trent would be vindicated! At this council a decree was issued placing the uncanonical books on par with the Inspired Word. In my own discussions with Catholic minded people on the inter-net, they have told me it was the Catholic church which gave the world the Bible and therefore has full authority to tell the world what books belong to the Bible. ( A position that distorts truth and will be dealt with at How the Bible Came to Us.
If these apocryphal books were incorporated into the canon, we would have no safeguard against Roman Catholic false teachings. As the present canon and the apocrypha do not agree, we therefore would have a Bible with conflicting evidence.

We already see plenty of evidence that the Catholic Church is demanding top authority in the sought after ecumenical union of the churches. The Declaratio Dominus Iesus, reaffirms the church's historic position that they alone have the fullness of truth and the authority to define what that truth is.

If this happens, what will happen to the Protestant Reformation?
What will happen to the ability to search for and understand the pure doctrines of the Bible, a freedom which the Reformers bought for us, at such great cost to their own lives?

What do we find in the Apocrypha?

We will have the doctrine of purgatory from the Book of Wisdom.
We have the doctrine of the preexistence of the soul in the Book of Wisdom.
We will have angels who were at one time human beings from the book of Tobias.
We will have the doctrine of almsgiving to purge sin — buying of indulgences also from Tobias
We will have magic instead of miracles. That sounds like something straight from the occult, in glaring contrast to Christ's miracles.

The book of Judith teaches monasticism.
The book of Ecclesiasticus teaches that much prayer will bring pardon.
The book of Baruch tells us the dead can pray to God.

Is this enough to tell us the truth about the apocrypha!

To now try and link a misunderstood statement by Ellen White and declare that she is promoting the apocrypha as the missing link to the last day understanding is nothing short of TOTAL misunderstanding of what God was telling Ellen White.

WE NEED TO SEE WHERE ALL THIS IS LEADING?
In the light of current events on the authority of the pope and the Catholic church in regards to the ecumenical movement, the apocrypha will be pushed to validate Catholic doctrines.

Let us now look at the context of Ellen White's statement.

This is from the White Estate:

"A report signed by three early believers where reference is made to the HIDDEN BOOK as ELLEN WHITE uttered certain words in vision. HERE IS THE ACCOUNT:
Chapter Title: Ellen G. White and the Apocrypha

"At another time at a meeting held at brother Curtis' home in Topsham, Maine, she was taken off in vision, and arose to her feet, took the large family bible from the table, and held it on her hand some time at an angle of forty-five degrees, and said the hidden book was not there.
When some one asked if the Apocrypha was not in the Bible, brother Curtis remarked it was not. She talked sometime about the hidden book. No one knew but brother Curtis' family that the apocrypha [apocrypha] was not there.
In the report of the vision given to Ellen White at Oswego, New York on January 11, 1850,

In a manuscript carrying a copying date of January 28, 1850. Ellen White makes a reference to the hidden book. Her description of what was shown to her in the vision contains many items and the manuscript, as on file comprises four and a quarter type-written pages. Near the close of her lengthy statement we find this reference to the hidden book:

"All, all who keep the commandments of God, will enter in through the gates into the city and have right to the tree of life and ever be in the presence of that lovely Jesus whose countenance shines brighter than the sun at noon day. I then saw the word of God pure and unadulterated, and that we must answer for the way we received the truth proclaimed from that word. I saw that it had been a hammer to break the flinty heart in pieces, and a fire to consume the dross and tin, that the heart might be pure and holy. I saw that the Apocrypha was the hidden book, and that the wise of these last days should understand it. I saw that the Bible was the standard book, that will judge us at the last day. I saw that heaven would be cheap enough, and that nothing was too dear to sacrifice for Jesus, and that we must give all to enter the kingdom."-- Manuscript 4,

1850 , (A copy of E. G. White's Vision which she had at Oswego, N.Y.)"

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NOTE THIS CAREFULLY NOW:
Ellen White lifts up the Bible and declares:
1) The hidden book is not there! The people present understand this to mean the apocrypha was not part of that Bible.
2) She then declares THE BIBLE to "be word of God pure and unadulterated, and that we must answer for the way we received the truth proclaimed from that word."
3) She then says the apocrypha is a hidden book that the wise will have some kind of understanding about!
_______

It would seem much more conclusive to understand this to be a warning,
A WARNING AGAINST,
not a recommendation for, the apocrypha.
The Bible, as she held it there in her hands --a Bible —WITHOUT the "hidden book", the apocrypha, — is the sure, pure word, the standard book, that will judge us at the last day, therefore let the wise understand about this hidden book.

LET THE WISE UNDERSTAND ABOUT THIS APOCRYPHA which has been known as the "hidden book" for millennia. The whole apocrypha is known as the "hidden book" apocrypha means "hidden".

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IS THERE ANY DOUBT AS ONE LOOKS CLOSELY AT THIS WHAT THE WISE WILL UNDERSTAND IN THE LAST DAYS.

Can we see that the apocrypha is the very tool in the hand of the false doctrines, to deceive!

It is very reasonable to believe that Ellen White may well have used some lines from the apocrypha when she first began the difficult task of penning out the visions of God at the age of seventeen. Remember at that time she was sickly and had only grade three education. The apocrypha was part of the family Bible in her parents home. Some of the pictures revealed to her by God in vision were readily described by a few things written in Esdras.

This brings into focus and explains why several things, when later edited, were changed in her writings as God more fully revealed His truth to Ellen.

As Ellen White stood there in vision in Oswego in 1850 God told her something about the "hidden book". In her hand was the pure Bible which alone was to be the standard! The Pure Bible, without the hidden book.

What was her response to this message from God?
WHAT WAS HER RESPONSE?

She realized the truth on this matter. She began to understand about "the hidden" book. She became wise!
AND STOPPED using it.
Not only did she stop using it, but her messages clearly outline the errors which are promoted as doctrines by others, but have roots in the apocrypha.

If God really told her the apocrypha had important messages, why did it fade away in importance in SDA Bible study? The truth is that the opposite was revealed — The Apocrypha is NOT part of the pure Bible. Those who would withstand the deceptions of the last days will be wise about the apocrypha and it's unbiblical doctrines.

The Word of God, pure and unadulterated, WITHOUT THE Apocrypha, is the Bible, which is the standard Book, that will judge us at the last day. The wise will understand this.

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