Expert: Sal - 8/28/2010

Question
Hello Sal,

    I read your response to Gerald's question and I was wondering if I can see the info you have on the EGW's false prophecies, the list of early Christian writers who wrote that Sunday was already the Christian day of worship, and any other information you have for this response.
                              Thank you.

Answer
Dear Adri:

Some EGW's false prophecies are as follows:

PROPHECY: “Old Jerusalem would never be built up” (Early Writings, p.75).
REALITY: Since 1948, Old Jerusalem has been greatly built up by the Israelis.

PROPHECY: EGW will be alive at Jesus’ Second Coming. “Soon our eyes were drawn to the east, for a small cloud had appeared, about half as large as a man’s hand, which we all knew was the sign of the Son of Man…Then there was a mighty earthquake. The graves opened, and the dead came up clothed with immortality. The 144,000 shouted, ‘Alleluia!’ as they recognized their friends who had been torn from them by death, and in the same moment we were changed and caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air” (Early Writings, pp.15-16).
REALITY: EGW died on July 16, 1915.

PROPHECY: Some alive in 1856 will see Christ’s Second Coming. She declared that she had seen in vision that of those at a meeting with her in May of 1856 some would become “food for worms,” others would be “subjects of the seven last plagues,” and others would “remain upon the earth to be translated at the coming of Jesus”  (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, pp.131-132).
REALITY: All from 1856 have died.

PROPHECY: The Civil War is a sign that Jesus is about to return. “The signs of Christ’s coming are too plain to be doubted, and in view of these things everyone who possesses the truth should be a living preacher…All heaven is astir. The scenes of earth’s history are fast closing. We are amid the perils of the last days” (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 260).
REALITY: Jesus did not return.

PROPHECY: England will attack the U.S. during the Civil War. In 1862 she predicted that “when England does declare war, all nations will have an interest of their own to serve, and there will be general war, general confusion” (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p.259).
REALITY: England did not attack.

PROPHECY: The earth will be depopulated soon after 1864. “The human family was presented before me, enfeebled. Every generation has been growing weaker, and disease of every form visits the human race…Satan’s power upon the human family increases. If the Lord should not soon come and destroy his power, the earth would soon be depopulated” (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 8, p.94).
REALITY: The earth’s population has increased greatly.

PROPHECY: Jesus will return to the earth before the abolition of slavery. “I saw that the slave master will have to answer for the soul of his slave who he has kept in ignorance…the master must endure the seven last plagues and then come up in the second resurrection and suffer the second, most awful death. Then will the justice of God be satisfied” (Early Writings, p. 276).
REALITY: Slavery was abolished February 1, 1865. Jesus did not return.

PROPHECY: Moses Hull, an SDA, was leaving the faith. EGW warned him, “If you proceed in the way you have started, misery and woe are before you. God’s hand will arrest you in a manner that will not suit you. His wrath will not slumber” (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, pp. 430-431).
REALITY: Moses Hull left the SDA church & lived a long, happy life as a Christian (see Canright, D.M., Life of E.G. White, chapter 15).

PROPHECY: Mr. C. Carlstedt, an SDA, was seriously ill with Typhoid. EGW predicted that he would recover.
REALITY: Mr. Carlstedt died several days later (see Lee, Charles, Three Important Questions for Seventh-Day Adventists to Consider [1876]).

PROPHECY: The Fox sisters’ rapping “was not the result of human trickery or cunning” (Great Controversy p. 553).
REALITY: Margaret Fox admitted the “rapping” was a result of human trickery and cunning (New York World Newspaper, October 21, 1888).

The Bible warns against “Prophets” like EGW. “Beloved, do not trust every spirit, but put the spirits to the test to see if they belong to God, because many false prophets have appeared in the world” (1 John 4:1). For further evidence see Deuteronomy 18:20-22; Ezekiel 13:6-9, 17-23; Jeremiah 23:32; Matthew 24:24; 2 Peter 2:1-3.

Early Christians whose writings prove that Sunday was observed very early on are as follows:

“Wherefore, also we keep the 8th day with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose from the dead” (Epistle of Barnabas, 75-100 AD).

“Be not deceived with strange doctrines, nor with old fables, which are unprofitable. For if we still live according to the Jewish Law, we acknowledge that we have not received grace…If, therefore, those who brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by him and by his death” (Ignatius of Antioch, 107 AD).

"Furthermore, I do not suppose that you need to learn from me how ridiculous and unworthy of any argument are their scruples about food, their superstition about the Sabbath, their pride in circumcision, and their shame in fasting" (Letter to Diognetus, 125 AD).

“On the day called Sunday all who live in the cities or in the country gather together in one place, and the memoirs of the Apostles of the writings of the prophets are read…But Sunday is the day on which we all hold a common assembly, because it is the first day of the week on which God…made the world; and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day rose from the dead” (Justin Martyr, 145 AD).

“We solemnize the day after Saturday in contradistinction to those who call this day their Sabbath”(Tertullian, 200 AD).

“The Apostles further appointed: On the first day of the week let there be services and reading of the holy Scriptures and the oblation, because on the first day of the week our Lord rose from the place of the dead” (The Didascalia, 225 AD).

“The day of the light…was the day of his Resurrection from the dead, which they say as being the one and only truly holyday and the Lord's Day” (Eusebius of Caesarea, 319 AD).

I hope that this helps you. If I can be of further assistance please do not hesitate to ask.

God Be With You,
Sal