Prophecies and a Prophet
This woman, co-founder of the SDA Church, claimed to receive more than 2,000 visions and dreams beginning at age 17.
Who is Ellen G. White?
SDA members keep this day of the week as the biblical Sabbath, from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.
What is Saturday / the seventh day?
This failed prediction by William Miller that Jesus would return in 1843–1844 is known as the Great __________.
What is the Great Disappointment?
In 1851 Ellen White wrote that “Old Jerusalem never would be __________.”
What is built up?
Critics often point to extensive uncredited copying in her books as evidence of this practice.
What is plagiarism?
Ellen White taught that this archangel is actually Jesus Christ.
Who is Michael?
This unique SDA doctrine teaches that since 1844 Christ has been investigating the lives of professed believers in the heavenly sanctuary.
What is the investigative judgment?
The SDA Church was formally organized in this U.S. state in 1863.
What is Michigan?
Ellen White predicted in 1856 that some people then alive would still be living when Jesus returned.
What is the Second Coming / translation without seeing death?
Early Adventists (including Ellen White for a time) taught that the door of mercy had closed in 1844; this belief is called the __________ doctrine.
What is the shut-door?
She claimed that in vision she was taken to other planets and saw beings who had never sinned.
What is sinless / unfallen worlds?
SDAs teach that the dead are unconscious until the resurrection; this view is sometimes called “soul __________.”
What is sleep?
This former Millerite sea captain helped introduce the Sabbath doctrine to the early Adventist group
Who is Joseph Bates?
In the 1860s Ellen White linked the American Civil War to the nearness of the end and suggested England might become involved against the United States.
What is the end of the world / Second Coming?
Many former members and scholars argue that the 1844 “cleansing of the sanctuary” interpretation of Daniel 8:14 is this kind of reinterpretation after a failed prediction.
What is a face-saving / post-hoc reinterpretation?
Ellen White stated that the sins of the righteous will ultimately be placed on this being, who then bears them into the wilderness (the “scapegoat”).
Who is Satan?
The SDA health message strongly emphasizes this diet, which many members still follow.
What is vegetarianism / plant-based?
This 1888 General Conference session in Minneapolis is remembered for a major debate over righteousness by faith versus law-keeping.
What is the 1888 Minneapolis session?
Despite the “old Jerusalem never would be built up” statement, this modern political entity and its capital city have grown dramatically since 1948.
What is the modern State of Israel / Jerusalem?
Critics note that Ellen White’s early time-setting expectations and specific predictions (including about people then living) failed, raising questions under this biblical test of a prophet (Deuteronomy 18).
What is the test that a true prophet’s predictions must come to pass?
She wrote that she was shown in vision that the figures on the 1843 and 1851 prophetic charts were directed by the hand of the Lord and should not be altered.
What is “should not be changed / directed by the Lord”?
Official SDA belief holds that Ellen White’s writings are a continuing and authoritative source of truth that the church must heed (often called the “Spirit of __________”).
What is Prophecy?
The church’s name “Seventh-day Adventist” was chosen in 1860 partly to distinguish the group from other Adventists who did not keep the seventh-day Sabbath.
What is to identify Sabbath-keeping Adventists?
The “old Jerusalem” statement was made in the context of opposing “age-to-come” teachings that expected a restored Jewish kingdom and temple in Palestine before the Second Coming.
What is opposition to a restored earthly Jewish kingdom / temple?
Some scholars and former Adventists argue that the combination of failed time predictions, the shut-door period, heavy literary dependence, and unique doctrines such as the investigative judgment and scapegoat theology collectively suggest Ellen White was this rather than a true prophet.
What is a false prophet?