Unraveling “the Daily”: A Historical Examination of Controversies and Contradictions
Key Takeaways
This article discusses the controversy surrounding the interpretation of “the daily” in early Adventist writings and Ellen G. White’s supposed endorsement of a particular view during an interview with A.G. Daniells in 1910. It highlights the lack of concrete evidence for this interview and argues that Daniells’ interpretation of “the daily” is flawed. The article also emphasizes the importance of historical accuracy and the need to base beliefs on inspired sources.
- The article addresses the controversy regarding the interpretation of “the daily” mentioned in early Adventist writings.
- It questions the validity of an interview claimed to have taken place between Ellen G. White and A.G. Daniells in 1910 regarding “the daily.”
- The article points out that there is no concrete evidence or inspired endorsement of this interview or Daniells’ interpretation of “the daily.”
- F.C. Gilbert, a prominent Adventist Hebrew scholar, had a different view and did not support Daniells’ interpretation.
- Manuscript Releases, a compilation of Ellen G. White’s writings, does not provide support for Daniells’ view.
- The article suggests that the majority view among early Adventists was different from Daniells’ interpretation.
- It highlights the importance of historical accuracy and basing beliefs on inspired sources.
- The need for repentance and purification within the Adventist church is emphasized in light of these controversies.
- The article calls for a return to a simpler and purer faith based on eternal truth and separation from worldly entanglements.
If you looked closely at the last passage in the previous article, you will have looked at the original source of the passage that is found in the book Early Writings, which A. G. Daniells claims to have taken with him in his interview on the subject of “the daily” with Sister White in 1910. Those who were working to establish the “lie” that “the daily,” represents Christ’s sanctuary ministry needed to undermine Sister White’s direct and clear endorsement of the correct view being given to those who gave the judgment hour cry. The “lie” they invented was that the only warning Sister White was being specific about was the warning of time setting. That is what Arthur White works to establish in his biography, and it is what his father, Ellen White’s son, and Daniells were trying to prove by the invented interview.
As already noted, there is no record of any interview between Sister White and Daniells on the subject of “the daily.” The supposed interview was proposed in 1931. If Sister White had endorsed Daniells fallen view of “the daily” at an interview in 1910, why would he, someone Sister White identified was zealous to promote his view, keep silent about her endorsement for twenty-one years? It wasn’t an interview, it was an invention.
The invention of the interview sought to place the context of her statement of “the daily” as if it was something that was incidental to her warning against time setting, and Arthur White placed his fingerprints on the lie in the fashion he presented the history of 1931. As a Christian he should have simply reported the history, and left historical revisionism out of the equation. We ended the last article with the passage from 1850, that the passage in Early Writings is derived from. The statement first appeared in 1850, in the Review, and then again in the book Experience and Views. The third time it appears is in the book Early Writings, but in its evolution to the book Early Writings certain changes occurred. However, we would not say that many of the Spirit of Prophecy writings have been changed as some claim in their effort to discredit her work.
“The Lord showed me that the 1843 chart was directed by his hand, and that no part of it should be altered; that the figures were as he wanted them. That his hand was over and hid a mistake in some of the figures, so that none could see it, until his hand was removed.
“Then I saw in relation to the ‘Daily,’ that the word ‘sacrifice’ was supplied by man’s wisdom, and does not belong to the text; and that the Lord gave the correct view of it to those who gave the judgment hour cry. When union existed, before 1844, nearly all were united on the correct view of the ‘Daily;’ but since 1844, in the confusion, other views have been embraced, and darkness and confusion has followed.” Review and Herald, November 1, 1850.
This passage was originally in the publication titled The Present Truth from 1849, but it was printed in the Review and Herald in November, 1850. In the original manuscript Sister White directly states that she is writing out several things which the Lord had recently showed her, and as you read the entire article you will see many subjects addressed. There are about twenty various subjects that she was shown. The point is that in the original article the subject of “the daily,” and the subject of “time setting” were two different revelations of things she was shown.
In the original manuscript they were identified in different paragraphs. When the passage was reprinted in Experience and Views the editors combined the paragraph where Sister White upholds the pioneer view of “the daily,” with the following paragraph that warns against time setting. As you read the original, take note that emphasis is placed upon some subjects through Capitalization. In the paragraph where she endorses the pioneer view of “the daily,” she Capitalizes the word Daily, and in the next paragraph she Capitalizes the word Time, thus marking a direct distinction between the two subjects she was shown.
“Dear Brethren and Sisters,
“I wish to give you a short sketch of what the Lord has recently shown to me in vision. I was shown the loveliness of Jesus, and the love that the angels have for one another. Said the angel—Can ye not behold their love?—follow it. Just so God’s people must love one another. Rather let blame fall on thyself than on a brother. I saw that the message ‘sell that ye have and give alms’ had not been given, by some, in its clear light; that the true object of the words of our Saviour had not been clearly presented. I saw that the object of selling was not to give to those who are able to labor and support themselves; but to spread the truth. It is a sin to support and indulge those who are able to labor, in idleness. Some have been zealous to attend all the meetings; not to glorify God, but for the ‘loaves and fishes.’ Such had much better been at home laboring with their hands, ‘the thing that is good,’ to supply the wants of their families, and to have something to give to sustain the precious cause of present truth.
“Some, I saw, had erred in praying for the sick to be healed before unbelievers. If any among us are sick, and call for the elders of the church to pray over them, according to James 5:14, 15, we should follow the example of Jesus. He put unbelievers out of the room, then healed the sick; so we should seek to be separated from the unbelief of those who have not faith, when we pray for the sick among us.
“Then I was pointed back to the time that Jesus took his disciples away alone, into an upper room, and first washed their feet, and then gave them to eat of the broken bread, to represent his broken body, and juice of the vine to represent his spilled blood. I saw that all should move understandingly, and follow the example of Jesus in these things, and when attending to these ordinances, should be as separate from unbelievers as possible.
“Then I was shown that the seven last plagues will be poured out, after Jesus leaves the Sanctuary. Said the angel—It is the wrath of God and the Lamb that causes the destruction or death of the wicked. At the voice of God the saints will be mighty and terrible as an army with banners; but they will not then execute the judgment written. The execution of the judgment will be at the close of the 1000 years.
“After the saints are changed to immortality, and are caught up together, and receive their harps, crowns, &c., and enter the Holy City, Jesus and the saints set in judgment. The books are opened, the book of life and the book of death; the book of life contains the good deeds of the saints, and the book of death contains the evil deeds of the wicked. These books were compared with the Statute book, the Bible, and according to that they were judged. The saints in unison with Jesus pass their judgment upon the wicked dead. Behold ye! said the angel, the saints sit in judgment, in unison with Jesus, and mete out to each of the wicked, according to the deeds done in the body, and it is set off against their names what they must receive, at the execution of the judgment. This, I saw, was the work of the saints with Jesus, in the Holy City before it descends to the earth, through the 1000 years. Then at the close of the 1000 years, Jesus, and the angels, and all the saints with him, leaves the Holy City, and while he is descending to the earth with them, the wicked dead are raised, and then the very men that ‘pierced him,’ being raised, will see him afar off in all his glory, the angels and saints with him, and will wail because of him. They will see the prints of the nails in his hands, and in his feet, and where they thrust the spear into his side. The prints of the nails and the spear will then be his glory. It is at the close of the 1000 years that Jesus stands upon the Mount of Olives, and the Mount parts asunder, and it becomes a mighty plain, and those who flee at that time are the wicked, that have just been raised. Then the Holy City comes down and settles on the plain.
“Then Satan imbues the wicked, that have been raised, with his spirit. He flatters them that the army in the City is small, and that his army is large, and that they can overcome the saints and take the City. While Satan was rallying his army, the saints were in the City, beholding the beauty and glory of the Paradise of God. Jesus was at their head, leading them. All at once the lovely Saviour was gone from our company; but soon we heard his lovely voice, saying, ‘Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’ We gathered about Jesus, and just as he closed the gates of the City, the curse was pronounced upon the wicked. The gates were shut. Then the saints used their wings and mounted to the top of the wall of the City. Jesus was also with them; his crown looked brilliant and glorious. It was a crown within a crown, seven in number. The crowns of the saints were of the most pure gold, decked with stars. Their faces shone with glory, for they were in the express image of Jesus; and as they arose, and moved all together to the top of the City, I was enraptured with the sight.
“Then the wicked saw what they had lost; and fire was breathed from God upon them, and consumed them. This was the Execution of the Judgment. The wicked then received according as the saints in unison with Jesus had meted out to them during the 1000 years. The same fire from God that consumed the wicked, purified the whole earth. The broken ragged mountains melted with fervent heat, the atmosphere, also, and all the stubble was consumed. Then our inheritance opened before us, glorious and beautiful, and we inherited the whole earth made new. We all shouted with a loud voice, Glory, Alleluia.
“I also saw that the shepherds should consult those in whom they have reason to have confidence, those who have been in all the messages, and are firm in all the present truth, before they advocate any new point of importance, which they may think the Bible sustains. Then the shepherds will be perfectly united, and the union of the shepherds will be felt by the church. Such a course I saw would prevent unhappy divisions, and then there would be no danger of the precious flock being divided, and the sheep scattered, without a shepherd.
“September 23d, the Lord showed me that he had stretched out his hand the second time to recover the remnant of his people, and that efforts must be redoubled in this gathering time. In the scattering time Israel was smitten and torn; but now in the gathering time God will heal and bind up his people. In the scattering, efforts made to spread the truth had but little effect, accomplished but little or nothing; but in the gathering when God has set his hand to gather his people, efforts to spread the truth will have their designed effect. All should be united and zealous in the work. I saw that it was a shame for any to refer to the scattering for examples to govern us now in the gathering; for if God does no more for us now than he did then, Israel would never be gathered. It is as necessary that the truth should be published in a paper, as preached.
“The Lord showed me that the 1843 chart was directed by his hand, and that no part of it should be altered; that the figures were as he wanted them. That his hand was over and hid a mistake in some of the figures, so that none could see it, until his hand was removed.
“Then I saw in relation to the “Daily,” that the word “sacrifice” was supplied by man’s wisdom, and does not belong to the text; and that the Lord gave the correct view of it to those who gave the judgment hour cry. When union existed, before 1844, nearly all were united on the correct view of the ‘Daily;’ but since 1844, in the confusion, other views have been embraced, and darkness and confusion has followed.
“The Lord showed me that Time had not been a test since 1844, and that time will never again be a test.
“Then I was pointed to some who are in the great error, that the saints are yet to go to Old Jerusalem, &c., before the Lord comes. Such a view is calculated to take the mind and interest from the present work of God, under the message of the third angel; for if we are to go to Jerusalem, then our minds will naturally be there, and our means will be withheld from other uses, to get the saints to Jerusalem. I saw that the reason why they were left to go into this great error, is because they have not confessed and forsaken their errors, that they have been in for a number of years past.” Review and Herald, November 1, 1850.
The passage begins by stating, “I wish to give you a short sketch of what the Lord has recently shown to me in vision.” There were several subjects presented, and she did not combine the paragraph addressing “the daily,” with the next paragraph. That was done later by editors who placed the passage in Experience and Views, and thereafter in Early Writings. In Experience and Views, the editors left off the first eight paragraphs, and combined the paragraphs addressing what she was shown of “the daily” and of time setting. Experience and Views was published in 1851, and then Early Writings was published in 1882.
Early Writings was essentially the same four paragraphs that had appeared in Experience and Views, but with one significant exception. In Experience and Views, the one sentence paragraph that addressed time setting was combined with the previous paragraph that addressed “the daily.” Then the paragraph that originally followed the paragraph addressing time setting was included. In Early Writings a paragraph that came from a different passage in Experience and Views, was placed between the paragraph that now addresses both “the daily,” and time setting, which was originally followed by a paragraph identifying why it was wrong to make pilgrimages to old Jerusalem.
The paragraph that was removed from a different page of Experience and Views, and then was inserted into the passage of Early Writings, only added to the confusion about “the daily” that had begun since 1844. The paragraph was not in Sister White’s original narrative of her vision.
“The Lord has shown me that the message of the third angel must go, and be proclaimed to the scattered children of the Lord, and that it should not be hung on time; for time never will be a test again. I saw that some were getting a false excitement arising from preaching time; that the third angel’s message was stronger than time can be. I saw that this message can stand on its own foundation, and that it needs not time to strengthen it, and that it will go in mighty power, and do its work, and will be cut short in righteousness.” Experience and Views, 48.
The paragraph from page forty-eight of Experience and Views, was inserted after the paragraph in Early Writings, that had been created by combining two different paragraphs, and it placed an emphasis upon time setting that did not exist in the original narrative.
In 1931, the ancient men that ruled the people of Jerusalem invented a story which claimed Daniells had interviewed Sister White in 1910, and in the testimony that Daniells provided he refers to the 1843 chart, and says he pointed to the non-existent sanctuary on the chart, as he interviewed Sister White. He supposedly had the book Early Writings with him, and as he asked her about what she meant, and based upon her responses he could only conclude that the passage endorsing the pioneer view of “the daily,” in Early Writings, was actually a warning against time setting. Twenty-one years after the invented interview and sixteen years after the death of the persons supposedly interviewed, Daniells places the testimony into the history of the third generation.
F. C. Gilbert was a Hebrew scholar and he did not simply support the correct view of the “daily” as Paganism because the pioneers and Ellen White said it was so. He defended it based upon an understanding of the Hebrew text that Daniel the prophet had employed. He was the prominent Adventist Hebrew scholar during the time period. As the controversy about “the daily” that Daniells and Prescott were pushing continued to grow, Gilbert was one of the prominent scholars who stood in defense of the pioneer position. He had an interview with Ellen White on June 8, 1910, and he later recorded what he and Sister White discussed. Daniells’ testimony is completely contrary to F. C. Gilbert’s.
In volume twenty, pages seventeen through twenty-two, of Manuscript Releases, Sister White’s addresses Daniells’ and Prescott’s position on the “daily”. The phrases that you find in F. C. Gilbert’s report of his interview with Ellen White are almost identical to what Sister White herself stated in the passage from Manuscript Releases. So, for many years before Manuscript Releases were published and released, there was no concrete inspired testimony to refute or uphold Daniells’ claim about the content of the interview he supposedly had with Sister White. More importantly, there was no inspired endorsement for his flawed view of the “daily”. Even more importantly, now that Manuscript Releases are available—there still isn’t an inspired endorsement for his flawed view of “the daily!”
And yet today, Laodicean Adventism is taught that Sister White has no position on the “daily”, except that it is not a “test question” and we should “keep quiet on this subject”. Something is reversed today, and what is reversed is that the true position of “the daily” is now in the minority opinion among God’s people. In 1910, the minority view was Conradi’s view that was being pushed by Daniells and Prescott, and the majority view was the pioneer position.
The following is F. C. Gilbert’s statement about his interview with Sister White, that should be compared with Manuscript Releases, that has been placed in its entirety, in the eighty-first article of this The Book of Daniel series.
“Daniells and Prescott . . . would not give the older brethren in the cause any chance to say anything. . . . Daniells was here to see me, and I would not see him. . . . I would not have anything to say to him about anything. About the ‘daily’ that they are trying to work up, there is nothing to it. . . . When I was in Washington there seemed to be something that just encased their minds, and I could not seem to touch them. We are to have nothing to do with this subject of the ‘daily’ . . . I knew they would work against my message, and then the people would not think there was anything to my message. I have written to him and told him that he was showing himself not fit to be president of the General Conference. . . . not the man to keep the Presidency.
“If this message of the ‘daily’ were a testing message the Lord would have shown me. These people do not see the end from the beginning in this thing. . . .I utterly refuse to see any of them who are engaged in this work.
“The light that was given me of God is that Brother Daniells has stood in the Presidency long enough. . . . and I was told not to have any more conversation with him about any of these things. I would not see Daniells about the matter, and I would not have one word with him. They pled with me to give him an interview, but I would not. . . . I was told to warn our people not to have anything to do with this thing they are teaching. . . . I was forbidden of the Lord to listen to it. I have expressed myself as not having a particle of confidence in it. . . . This whole thing they are doing is a scheme of the devil.” F. C. Gilbert’s report of an interview given him by Ellen White on June 8, 1910.
We will continue this subject in the next article.
“One who sees beneath the surface, who reads the hearts of all men, says of those who have had great light: ‘They are not afflicted and astonished because of their moral and spiritual condition.’ ‘Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before Mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.’ ‘God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie,’ because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved,’ ‘but had pleasure in unrighteousness.’ Isaiah 66:3, 4; 2 Thessalonians 2:11, 10, 12.
“The heavenly Teacher inquired: ‘What stronger delusion can beguile the mind than the pretense that you are building on the right foundation and that God accepts your works, when in reality you are working out many things according to worldly policy and are sinning against Jehovah? Oh, it is a great deception, a fascinating delusion, that takes possession of minds when men who have once known the truth, mistake the form of godliness for the spirit and power thereof; when they suppose that they are rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing, while in reality they are in need of everything.’
“God has not changed toward His faithful servants who are keeping their garments spotless. But many are crying, ‘Peace and safety,’ while sudden destruction is coming upon them. Unless there is thorough repentance, unless men humble their hearts by confession and receive the truth as it is in Jesus, they will never enter heaven. When purification shall take place in our ranks, we shall no longer rest at ease, boasting of being rich and increased with goods, in need of nothing.
“Who can truthfully say: ‘Our gold is tried in the fire; our garments are unspotted by the world’? I saw our Instructor pointing to the garments of so-called righteousness. Stripping them off, He laid bare the defilement beneath. Then He said to me: ‘Can you not see how they have pretentiously covered up their defilement and rottenness of character? “How is the faithful city become an harlot!” My Father’s house is made a house of merchandise, a place whence the divine presence and glory have departed! For this cause there is weakness, and strength is lacking.’
“Unless the church, which is now being leavened with her own backsliding, shall repent and be converted, she will eat of the fruit of her own doing, until she shall abhor herself. When she resists the evil and chooses the good, when she seeks God with all humility and reaches her high calling in Christ, standing on the platform of eternal truth and by faith laying hold upon the attainments prepared for her, she will be healed. She will appear in her God-given simplicity and purity, separate from earthly entanglements, showing that the truth has made her free indeed. Then her members will indeed be the chosen of God, His representatives.” Testimonies, volume 8, 249, 250.
Its shockingly disappointing that the GC President, A.G. Daniells, could be so dishonest, but really he’s maybe not all that different from things we hear about the current GC President TNC Wilson nowadays.