WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE BOOK “THE DESIRE OF AGES”?

Prof. William Warren Prescott (1855-1944), as one of the main leaders of the apostasy, was also the bearer of the falsifications in this book

Did Ellen White announce any manipulations or falsifications of her testimonies? Of course, she did, because as a prophet of God, she saw in advance what would happen to her writings. She put an end to uncoordinated quotes that completely deviate from all her other writings and from the Bible:

  • “If the Testimonies (writings) speak not according to the word of God, reject them.” {Ellen White: 5T, p. 691} 
  • “Whatever wrong construction may be placed upon my testimony by those who profess righteousness, yet know not God, I shall in humility go forward with my work”.  {Ellen White: 1SM, p. 73, Ms 4, 1883} 
  • “There will be those once united with us in the faith who will search for new, strange doctrines, for something odd and sensational to present to the people. They will bring in all conceivable fallacies, and will present them as coming from Mrs. White, that they may beguile souls“ {Ellen White: 1SM 41.3} 
  • “There are those who will misinterpret the messages that God has given, in accordance with their spiritual blindness.“ {Ellen White: 1SM 41.5} 
  • “But the reports that are circulated, that any of my helpers are permitted to add matter or change the meaning of the messages I write out, are not true.“ {Ellen White: 1SM 50.4}
  • “The Lord has said to me: “Bear the testimonies. Your work is not to settle difficulties; your work is to reprove, and to present the righteousness of Christ.”  {Ellen White: 1SM 52.5} 

The book “Desire of Ages” is also used as one of the “main proofs” for the Trinity. 

Is this “evidence” solid, given that the few quotes there don’t align with the rest of the Bible and all other texts of the Spirit of Prophecy? Ellen White has written 54 books, 4,000 articles for the “Review and Herald” and “Signs of the Times”, as well as about 500 other contributions to our church’s literature. 

Her literary legacy contains about 100,000 pages, in which other than a few isolated quotes, there is no evidence in favour of the Trinity. Ellen White was sent to Australia against her will from 1891 to 1900 so that the bearers of the apostasy could carry out the falsification of the Spirit of Prophecy without her resistance.

  • “I have not, I think, revealed the entire workings that led me here to Australia. Perhaps you may never fully understand the matter. The Lord was not in our leaving America. He did not reveal that it was His will that I should leave Battle Creek. The Lord did not plan this, but He let you all move after your own imaginings. The Lord would have had W. C. White, his mother, and her workers remain in America, we were needed at the heart of the work, and had your spiritual perception discerned the true situation, you would never have consented to the movements made. But the Lord read the hearts of all. There was so great a willingness to have us leave that the Lord permitted this thing to take place. Those who were weary of the testimonies borne were left without the persons who bore them. Our separation from Battle Creek was to let men have their own will and way, which they thought superior to the way of the Lord.” {Ellen White: 11LtMs, Lt 127, 1896, par. 4} 

In 1888, just before leaving, Ellen White finished the original book “Spirit of Prophecy – The Lord Jesus Christ“. During her absence from the US, EGW’s secretary, MARIAN DAVIS, supplemented the book without asking for EGW’s approval. According to her own statement, she “only” found suitable quotes from EGW and compiled them. 

Marian Davis was then surrounded by the apostasy carriers, like Professor PRESCOTT, and under their influence she was taken away from the old truth. In a letter to Dr. Froom, H. C. Lacey made it clear that prof Prescott, by emphasising true teachings, managed to turn them in the wrong direction, influencing Marian Davis during Ellen White’s absence. 

  • “At that time, Professor PRESCOTT was tremendously interested in presenting Christ as THE GREAT “I Am” and in emphasising the eternity of His existence, using frequently the expression “The Eternal Son”. Also he connected the “I AM” of Exodus 3:14, which of course was Christ the Second Person of the Godhead, with the fulfillment of Jesus in John 8:58, which we all agree to; but then linked it up with other “I ams” in that Gospel – 7 of them, such as “I am the Bread of life” “I am the Light of the world’ “I am the door of the Sheep” etc. all very rich in their spiritual teaching – but which seemed a little far fetched to me especially as the “I am” in all those latter cases is merely in the copula in the Greek, as well as in English. But he insisted on his interpretation. Miss Marian Davis seemed to fall for it, and lo and behold, when “Desire of Ages” came out, there appeared that identical teaching on pages 24 and 25, which, I think, can be looked for IN VAIN in any of Mrs. White’s published works prior to that time.“ {H. C. Lacey letter to Dr. LeRoy Froom Aug. 30, 1945} 
  • “In this connection, of course you know that Miss Marian Davis was entrusted with the preparation of “Desire of Ages“ and that she gathered her material from every available source – from MrsWhite’s books already in print, from unpublished manuscripts, from private letters, stenographical reports of her talks etc. – but perhaps you may not know that she (Miss Davis) was greatly worried about finding material for the first chapter. She appealed to me personally many times as she was arranging that chapter (and other chapters too for that matter) and I did what I could to help her; I have good reason to believe that she also appealed to Professor Prescott for similar aid, and got it too in far richer and more abundant measure than I could render.” (H.C. Lacey letter to L.E. Froom Aug. 30, 1945) 

After reading “Ellen White’s” 1898 book “Desire of Ages”, many theologians of the time asked the question, did EGW suddenly change her beliefs, accepting the Trinity?

  • “This was greatly displeasing to the Lord. The APPRENTICES were being EDUCATED in the FALSE DOCTRINES contained in the matter brought in. And the Review and Herald presses were sending these false doctrines out to the world.“ {Ellen White: MS 20, 1903, April 3, par. 8} 

Example of “addition”:

Here is a quote from Ellen White’s book, “The Great Controversy between the Lord Jesus Christ and Satan”, from 1877:

  • “…answered that she knew he would arise in the resurrection, at the last day. But Jesus, seeking to give a true direction to her faith, said, “I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me, shell never die. Believest thou this?“ {Ellen White, The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan, 1877, p. 362-363} 

In 1898, when Ellen White was in Australia against her will, the Leaders of apostasy added the words (red color) below to the book “Desire of Ages“ (1898) in an attempt to support the doctrine of the 3 equivalent “Gods“.

  • “Martha answered, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.“ Still seeking to give a true direction to her faith, Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection, and the life.“ In Christ is LIFE, ORIGINAL, UNBORROWED, UNDERIVED. “He that hath the Son hath life.“ 1 John 5:12. The Divinity of Christ is the believer’s ass urance of eternal life. “He that believeth in Me,” said Jesus, “though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?“ {Ellen White, Desire of Ages, 1898, p. 530} 

We can see below that this sentence is not by Ellen White at all:

  • ´IN HIM was LIFE,´- that is, ORIGINAL, UNBORROWED, UNDERIVED. In us there is a streamlet from the Fountain of Life. Our life is something we receive, something that the Giver takes back again to himself, – over which we have no control, and for which we must give God the account and the praise. But in Jesus was life UNDERIVED, UNBORROWED;“ {John Cumming, „Sabbath Evening Readings on the New Testament – St. John“, 1856, page 5}

The above quote was the basis for the further falsification that came from Dr. LeRoy Froom:

  • “Before Abraham existed, I was here as God’ (I Am). “Christ is the pre-existent, self-existent Son of God. … In speaking of His pre-existence, Christ carries the mind back through dateless ages. He assures us that there never was a time when He was not in close fellowship with the eternal God. He to whose voice the Jews were then listening had been with God as one brought up with Him.“ {„Ellen White“: ST, August 29. 1900. + Evangelism, p. 615}

Even after Ellen White’s death, the “corrections” continued: 

We all know of the case of Ellen White’s 1934 statement “Desire of Ages”, which previously stated that the Dove at Jesus’ baptism symbolised His love and humility, which shows that the holy Spirit was not an “independent” Being. This statement was “accidentally” removed during the time of Dr. Froom, who, according to his statement, “harmonised” our standard literature with the beliefs of the rest of “Christianity”, so that we could finally be ecumenically accepted by other churches. Dr. Fred Veltman researched the sources of the book “Desire of Ages” in the area of GC from 1982 to 1990 and concluded that today there are no handwritten original manuscripts of that book!

Marian Davis (1847-1904)

This Text is part of the book First Commandment OR Trinity? – Encyclopedia of Evidences of the Old Trampled Truths of All Areas