"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 they 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:
As to the Protestant world: May 3, 1827, the British and Foreign Bible Society decided to completely exclude the Apocrypha from the Bible.
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.
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 do we find in the Apocrypha?
We will have the doctrine of purgatory from the Book of Wisdom.
The book of Judith teaches monasticism.
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?
"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.
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.)"
______
It would seem much more conclusive to understand this to be a warning,
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".
----
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?
She realized
the truth on this matter. She began to understand about "the hidden" book.
She became wise!
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.
"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."
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.
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?
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 Ecclesiasticus teaches that much prayer will bring pardon.
The book of Baruch tells us the dead can pray to God.
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.
Chapter Title: Ellen G. White and the Apocrypha
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,
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!
_______
A WARNING AGAINST,
not a recommendation for, the apocrypha.
The Bible, as she held it there
in her hands —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.
WHAT WAS HER RESPONSE?
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.
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