Ellen G White on indepepdent ministries part 2

The Lord has blessed the work that J.E. White has tried to do in The South. God grant that the voices which have been so quickly raised to say that all the money invested in the work must go through the appointed channel at Battle Creek, shall not be heard. The people to

whom God has given his means are amenable to him alone. It is their privilege to give direct aid and assistance to missions. It is because of the misappropriation of means that the Southern field has no better showing than it has today. SpM 176.7

My Guide said, “This work will be sowing seed for time and for eternity.” And then the instruction was given, “The angels of the Lord will go before him. He will be accounted out of line. But many ought to be out of the lines that have been maintained to be the regular routine, and unless they themselves come into line, they will say, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we.’ Unless that temple is purified, cleansed, sanctified, God will not give them His presence in the temple of which they boast.” . . . 3MR 264.2

God forbids you to put yokes on the necks of His servants. Brethren Sutherland and Magan have a right to solicit means for the support of the Madison school. This wonderful burden to restrict their work, which some suppose God has bestowed upon them with their official position, has never been laid upon them. If they were standing free on the high platform of truth, they would never accept the responsibility of framing rules and regulations that will hinder and cramp the laborers in their work for this time.

When they learn the lesson that “All ye are brethren,” and realize that their fellow workers

sometimes know just as well as they do how to use in the wisest way the talents and capabilities entrusted to them, they will remove the yokes that they are now binding upon them, and will give them credit for love for souls and a desire to labor unselfishly to promote the interests of the cause. 20MR 103.1

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Did God approve of the independent self-supporting work of Madison?The Lord does not require that the educational work at Madison shall be changed all about before it can receive the hearty support of our people. The work that has been done there is approved of God, and He forbids that this line of work shall be broken up. The Lord will continue to bless and sustain the workers so long as they follow His counsel. SpTB11 32.2

The Lord has instructed me that, from the first, the work in Huntsville and Madison should have received adequate help. But instead of this help being rendered promptly there has been long delay. And in the matter of the Madison school, there has been a standing off from them

because they were not under the ownership and control of some Conference.

This is a question that should sometimes be considered, but it is not the Lord’s plan that means should be withheld from Madison, because they are not bound to the conference. The attitude which some of our brethren have assumed toward this enterprise shows that it is not wise for every working agency to be under the dictation of conference officers. There are some enterprises under certain conditions, that will produce better results if standing alone. 8MR 202.3

The situation was again presented, and the urgency of occupying the fields that were presented to me, then being worked under the supervision of God, using Edson White as His agency to open the field. But there were no others that would think of touching that portion of the field or would engage in working it. Those who should have rejoiced to see something done were determined to give no recognition to Edson White or the work, because he did not work in the regular lines. God has presented before you how He regarded the regular lines. The regular lines had need to be broken as a potter’s vessel is broken, and reconstructed.–Ms 29, 1903, pp. 1, 3. (General manuscript, “The Southern Work,” Undated.) 3MR 264.3

“While it is not your own property that you are handling yet you are made responsible for its wise investment, for its use or abuse. God does not lay upon you the burden of asking the Conference or any council of men whether you shall use your means as you see fit to advance the work of God in destitute towns and cities, and impoverished localities. If the right plan had been followed, so much means would not have been used in some localities, and so little in other places where the banner of truth has not been raised. We are Not to Merge Our Individuality of Judgment Into Any Institution IN OUR WORLD. We are to look to God for wisdom, as did Daniel.” PH146 45.3

There are fearful woes for those who preach the truth, but are not sanctified by it, and also for those who consent to receive and maintain the unsanctified to minister to them in word and doctrine. 1T 261.3

As there are woes for those who preach the truth while they are unsanctified in heart and life, so there are woes for those who receive and maintain the unsanctified in the position which they cannot fill. Chicago, Illinois, Massasoit House, July 6, 1870. 2T 552.1

When we built our meetinghouse in Cooranbong, Sister McEnterfer and I went through the district where the carpenters lived, asking them how much they would charge to work for us by the day. Many of them promised to work for much less than the ordinary wage. A few promised to give some time; others with families to support, being too poor to work for nothing, offered to work for six shillings – a dollar and a half – a day.

The meeting-house was built, and stands today as a monument for God, a miracle wrought by his power. Many of the believers had just begun to keep the Sabbath. Some of them were very poor, and at first we had to help them. Now they are all self-supporting. They keep up the church expenses, and pay a faithful tithe. This is the way we worked to build our meeting-houses in many places in Australia. SpM 246.1

The spirit of liberality came into our meetings, and the offerings in the San Francisco church amounted to between two [hundred] and three hundred dollars. I feel very thankful to our heavenly Father for this evidence of the working of His Spirit upon hearts.

The mission in San Francisco is self-supporting. Many calls are made upon the people for means to sustain the work in their own borders, yet they do not complain but willingly unite in giving for other parts of the field. 17MR 45.1

Ellen G. White Estate Washington, D. C. April 6, 1987. Entire Manuscript. 17MR 45.4

“Prescott thought that we traveled too much; so did Daniells. Bland thought other teachers would envy our independence and would like to do likewise.”

August 9, 1904, one day later: “Talk with Mrs. E. G. and W. C. White regarding our plan for organization. She said we were not to go under the dominion of the Southern Union Conference.” April 14, 1906: “Spent forenoon with Daniells . . . Told him why our school was independent and would have to eat shewbread.”

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May 7, 1907, Paradise Valley: “Talked with Sister White regarding attitude of General Conference toward us. Mrs. Sara McEnterfer and Lillian present. Told Sister White that the administration held we had no right to go and get money unless we were owned by the conference. She replied: ‘You are doing double what they are. Take all the donations you can get. The money belongs to the Lord and not to these men. The position they take is not of God. The Southern Union Conference is not to own or control you. You cannot turn things over to them.’”

Why? Because when things were turned over to them, they forced people to go against their conscience and not follow the counsels.’” May 14,1907: “I talked to her [E. G. White] about the General Conference position that concerns non-conference owned [institutions] should have no money. She answered: ‘Daniells and those with him are taking a position on this matter that is not of God.’ She said she had something written on this and would try to find it.” We have just referred to it in the Spalding-Magan Collection, 411.

May 23, 1907, St. Helena. “Spent the forenoon with W. C. White. He gave me Sister White’s letters to Daniells regarding us. He told me he did not agree with the administration at Washington in insisting that all monies pass through their hands. Said that he would not agree to our going under conference domination.”

Ellen White wrote on January 19, 1907: “Today I have been carrying a heavy burden on my heart . . . You have a work to do to encourage the school work in Madison, Tennessee . . . all in their power to hold up the hands of these workers

by encouraging and supporting the work at the Madison school. Means should be appropriated to the needs of the work in Madison—that the labor of the teachers may not be so hard in the future.” Spalding-Magan Collection, 395, 396.

The Lord does not set limits about His workers in some lines as men are wont to set. In their work, Brethren Magan and Sutherland have been hindered unnecessarily. Means have been withheld from them because in the organization and management of the Madison school, it was not placed under the control of the conference. But the reasons why this school was not owned and controlled by the conference have not been duly considered. SpTB11 31.3

Some have entertained the idea that because the school at Madison is not owned by a conference organization, those who are in charge of the school should not be permitted to call upon our people for the means that is greatly needed to carry on their work.

This idea needs to be corrected. In the distribution of the money that comes into the Lord’s treasury, you are entitled to a portion just as verily as are those connected with other needy enterprises that are carried forward in harmony with the Lord’s instruction. SpM 411.4

NotesBecause of the difficulties that we were experiencing as a church. People could not follow the dictates of their conscience and follow the counsels of the Lord, because their brethren would not let them do so within the organization. That was the precise problem.

“The work that has been done there is approved of God, and He forbids that this line of work shall be broken up.”

Much precious time has been lost because man-made rules and restrictions have been sometimes placed above the plans and purposes of God. In the name of the Lord I appeal to our conference workers to strengthen and support and labor in harmony with our brethren at Madison, who are carrying forward a work that God has appointed them.

(Signed) Ellen G. White. SpM 412.1

Do not worry lest some means shall go to those who are trying to do missionary work in a quiet way. All the means is not to be handled by one organization or one party. The Lord works through various agencies. If there are those who desire to step into new fields and take up new lines of labor, forbid them not, but encourage them to do so. 20MR 102.6

Seventh-day Adventists are doing a good work; let no brother’s hand be raised to hinder it. Those who have had experience in the work of God should be encouraged to follow the guiding and counsel of the Lord. God is being faithfully served by these whom you are watching and criticizing. You should discern that they fear and honor the Lord; they are laborers together with Him. 20MR 102.7

The Morning Star – Southern WorkThere was the work among the blacks in the South in which her son James Edson White was leading out. In 1894 he had built the Morning Star, a missionary riverboat, which in early 1895 he had sailed down the Mississippi River, and had pioneered a work, establishing schools and churches.

This work was now under the direction of the Southern Missionary Society, an organization he headed and one that was recognized by the General Conference as the agency largely responsible for the work of the church among the blacks. This was almost entirely a self-supporting work, carried on with approval of church leaders and with minimal financial assistance. 5BIO 39.2

When Edson’s letters presented the work that he was doing in the Southern field by his boat, used as a meetinghouse, when he told of the gathering of the children for Sunday school, of the invitations he received to hold meetings, of the souls who were becoming interested in these meetings, of the naked to be clothed and the sick to be helped–and nothing in

the way of means to carry forward the work–the work that should be done was presented to me in the night season.

Not only was there presented to me the field in which he was at work, but several places

where, in the providence of God, he would be called to work. The eager faces, the earnest desire, the hunger of soul expressed, were before me, and I said, “What can we do for this people that are now so interested, when the situation is so discouraging?” 3MR 264.1

Recently some work has been done in the Southern field. Some schools have been established. But I am talking about the field when nothing was done, when my son and Brother Palmer began to work. From the commencement of their work their efforts should have been encouraged by the prayer and counsel of their brethren. But was this done? 2SAT 157.4

It was understood that the Gospel Primer was to be published to help the work in the Southern field. The way in which this book was handled has brought the reproach of God upon those who took part in this matter. In the place of taking hold to do what they might have done to help the Southern field, men allowed the selfishness which God abhors to enter because they saw that there was money to be made through the sale of the Primer. Every scheme that could be laid was laid to divert the proceeds of this book from the Southern field. I have not said this before, even to Edson, but I felt that it ought to be presented this morning. An underhand work was done. 2SAT 157.5

God desires everyone to realize that He hates and despises underhand work. He will never give prosperity to those who engage in it. But work of this kind has been done. Things were brought to bear upon Edson and Brother Palmer in such a way that it was too much for them. If I

had been on the grounds, I could have told them what to do. I could have stood with them. And I would have stood with them to the last, had I been here. But I was not here, and no one dared to say to the men at the heart of the work, Why do ye thus? 2SAT 157.6

There are among our church members faithful souls who feel a burden for those who know not the truth for this time. But one will say to such, The conference will not support you if you go here or there. To such souls I would say, “Pray to God for guidance as to where you shall go; follow the directions of the

Holy Spirit, and go, whether the conference will pay your expenses or not. “Go work today in My vineyard,” Christ commands. When you have done your work in one place, go to another. Angels of God will go with you, if you follow the leadings of the Spirit. 8MR 206.4

Speaking of the Southern Work led by Edson WhiteYou ask me what you shall do, for so little help is given to that portion of the field where you are working. Trust it all to the Lord. There is a way opened for you in regard to the Southern field. Appeal to the people.

This is the only course you can pursue under the circumstances. Send no statement of the situation through our religious papers because it will not be honored. Send direct to the people. God’s ways are not to be counter worked by man’s ways. There are those who have means and will give, some small sums and some large sums, but have it come direct to your destitute portion of the vineyard. The Lord has not specified any regular channel through which means should pass. 21MR 266.4

ELLEN G WHITE WRITINGS

Should tithe only go to the Conference? Did sister White pay her tithes to the Conference?My brother, I wish to say to you, Be careful how you move. You are not moving wisely. The least you have to speak about the tithe that has been appropriated to the most needy and the most discouraging field in the world, the more sensible you will be. 2MR 99.2

It has been presented to me for years that my tithe was to be appropriated by myself to aid the white and colored ministers who were neglected and did not receive sufficient properly to support their families. When my attention was called to aged ministers, white or black, it was my special duty to investigate into their necessities and supply their needs. This was to be my special work, and I have done this in a number of cases. No man should give notoriety to the fact that in special cases the tithe is used in that way. 2MR 99.3

In regard to the colored work in the South, that field has been and is still being robbed of the means that should come to the workers in that field. If there have been cases where our sisters have appropriated their tithe to the support of the ministers working for the colored people in the South, let every man, if he is wise, hold his peace. 2MR 99.4

I have myself appropriated my tithe to the most needy cases brought to my notice. I have been instructed to do this, and as the money is not withheld from the Lord’s treasury, it is not a matter that should be commented upon, for it will necessitate my making known these matters, which I do not desire to do, because it is not best. 2MR 99.5

NotesThe Lord’s treasury is not the General Conference, but to the most needy cases.

Some cases have been kept before me for years, and I have supplied their needs from the tithe, as God has instructed me to do. And if any person shall say to me, Sister White, will you appropriate my tithe where you know it is most needed, I shall say, Yes, I will; and I have done so. I commend those sisters who have placed their tithe where it is most needed to help to do a work that is being left undone. If this matter is given publicity, it will create a knowledge which would better be left as it is. I do not care to give publicity to this work which the Lord has appointed me to do, and others to do. 2MR 100.1

I send this matter to you so that you shall not make a mistake. Circumstances alter cases. I would not advise that anyone should make a practice of gathering up tithe money. But for years there have now and then been persons who have lost confidence in the appropriation of the tithe, who have placed their tithe in my hands, and said that if I did not take it they would themselves appropriate it to the families of the most needy ministers they could find. I have taken the money, given a receipt for it, and told them how it was appropriated. 2MR 100.2

I write this to you so that you shall keep cool and not become stirred up and give publicity to this matter, lest many more shall follow their example. –Letter 267, 1905, pp. 1, 2. (To Elder Watson, Jan. 22, 1905.) 2MR 100.3

NotesIf you give this publicity then many more will follow their example.

I have seventy-five dollars from Brother , tithe money, and we thought that it would be best to send it along to the Southern field to help colored ministers. . . . I want it specially applied to the colored ministers to help them in their salaries.–Letter 262, 1902, p. 1. (To Elder and Mrs. J. E. White, Oct. 23, 1902; Biography Vol. 5, p. 396.) 2MR 100.4

“Judas was treasurer for the disciples, and from their little store he had secretly drawn for his own use, thus narrowing down their resources to a meager pittance. He was eager to put into the bag all that he could obtain. The treasure in the bag was often drawn upon to relieve the poor…” DA 559.2

“As with Ananias and Sapphira, so it was with Judas. His covetousness led him to steal from the Lord’s treasury. He carried the bag containing the gifts made by Christ’s followers to sustain the work, and he appropriated sums of money which he never allowed to appear on the account…” 13MR 189.2

“The word “storehouse” is equivalent to the word ‘treasury.’“If all the tithes were brought into the storehouse, God’s treasury would not be empty.”

Mrs. E. G. White. PUR, October 10, 1901 par. 10

You ask if I will accept tithe from you and use it in the cause of God where most needed. In reply I will say that I shall not refuse to do this, but at the same time I will tell you that there is a better way. It is better to put confidence in the ministers of the conference where you live and in the officers of the church where you worship. Draw nigh to your brethren. Love them with a true heart fervently, and encourage them to bear their responsibilities faithfully in the fear of God. “Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity” [1 Timothy 4:12].–Letter 96, 1911 (Published in The Early Elmshaven Years, p. 397.) 2MR 101.1

Did Sister White pay her tithes to the conference?There are ministers’ wives, Sisters Starr, Haskell, Wilson and Robinson, who have been devoted, earnest, whole-souled workers, giving Bible readings and praying with families, helping along by personal efforts just as successfully as their husbands. These women give their whole time, and are told that they receive nothing for their labors because their husbands receive their wages. I tell them to go forward and all such decisions shall be reversed. The Word says,

 “The laborer is worthy of his hire.” When any such decision as this is made, I will in the name of the Lord, protest. I will feel it in my duty to create a fund from my tithe money, to pay these women who are accomplishing just as essential work as the ministers are doing, and this tithe I will reserve for work in the same line as that of the ministers, hunting for souls, fishing

for souls. I know that the faithful women should be paid wages proportionate to the pay received by ministers. They carry the burden of souls, and should not be treated unjustly. These sisters are giving their time to educating those newly come to the faith, and hire their own work done, and pay those who work

for them. All these things must be adjusted and set in order, and justice be done to all. Proof-readers in the office receive their wages, two dollars and a half and three dollars a week. This I have had to pay, and others have to pay. But ministers’ wives, who carry a tremendous responsibility, devoting their entire time, have nothing for their labor. This will give you an idea of how matters are in this conference. There are seventy-five souls organized into a church, who are paying their tithe into the conference, and as a saving plan it has been deemed essential to let these poor souls labor for nothing! But this does not trouble me, for I will not allow it to go thus. SpM 117.3

It has been presented to me for years that my tithe was to be appropriated by myself to aid the white and colored ministers who were neglected and did not receive sufficient properly to support their families. When my attention was called to aged ministers, white or black, it was my special duty to investigate into their necessities and supply their needs. This was to be my special work, and I have done this in a number of cases. No man should give notoriety to the fact that in special cases the tithe is used in that way. SpM 215.2

In regard to the colored work in the South, that field has been and is still being robbed of the means that should come to the workers of that field. If there has been cases where our sisters have appropriated their tithe to the support of the ministers working for the colored people in the South, let every man, if he is wise, hold his peace. SpM 215.3

Some cases have been kept before me for years, and I have supplied their needs from the tithe, as God has instructed me to do. And if any person shall say to me, Sister White, will you appropriate my tithe where you know it is most needed, I shall say, Yes, I will; and I have done so. I commend those sisters who have placed their tithe where it is most needed to help to do a work that is being left undone; and if this matter is given publicity, it will create knowledge which would better be left as it is. I do not care to give publicity to this work which the Lord has appointed me to do, and others to do. SpM 215.5

In Ellen White’s writings, “means” include tithe.Every soul who is honored in being a steward of God is to carefully guard the tithe money. This is sacred means. 1MR 185.2

Of the means which is entrusted to man, God claims a certain portion–a tithe. 5T 149.1

Pharisaism in the Christian world today is not extinct. The Lord desires to break up the course of precision which has become so firmly established, which has hindered instead of advancing his work. He desires his people to remember that there is a large space over which the light of present truth is to be shed. Divine wisdom must have abundant room in which to work.

It is to advance without asking permission or support from those who have taken to themselves a kingly power. In the past one set of men have tried to keep in their own hands the control of all the means coming from the churches, and have used this means in a most disproportionate manner, erecting expensive buildings where such large buildings were unnecessary and uncalled for, and leaving needy places without help or encouragement.

They have taken upon themselves the grave responsibility of retarding the work where the work should have been advanced. It has been left to a few supposed kindly minds to say what fields should be worked and what fields should be left unworked. A few men have kept the truth in circumscribed channels, because to open new fields would call for money. Only in those places in which they were interested have they been willing to invest means. And at the same time, in a few places, five times as much money as was necessary has been invested in buildings. The same amount of money used in establishing plants in places where the truth has never been introduced would have brought many souls to a saving knowledge of Christ. SpM 174.3

NotesNashville is where the self-supporting Madison college was which she was referring to here. There are only two places in the world where we can deposit our treasures–in God’s storehouse or in Satan’s, and all that is not devoted to Christ’s service is counted on Satan’s side and goes to strengthen his cause. 6T 447.2

“…There is to be no man that has the right to put his hand out and say, No, you can not go there; we won’t support you if you go there. Why, what have you to do with supporting? Did they create the means? The means come from the people, and those who are destitute fields. The voice of God has told me to instruct them to go the people and to tell them their necessities, and to draw all the people to work just where they can find a place to work, to build up the work in every place they can. SpM 168.1

“I call upon God’s people to open their eyes. When you sanction or carry out the decisions of men who, as you know, are not in harmony with truth and righteousness, you weaken your own faith and lose your relish for communion with God…” TM 91.1

When efforts were made to urge writers to return to the conference or publishing house all of the profits derived from their writing, Sister White counseled,

“It is not our property that is entrusted to us for investment. If it had been, we might claim discretionary power; we might shift the responsibility upon others, and leave our stewardship with others.

But This Can Not be, because the Lord is testing us Individually. If we act wisely in trading upon our Lord’s goods and multiplying the talents given us, we shall invest this gain for the Master, praying for wisdom that we may be divested of all selfishness, and laboring most earnestly to advance the precious truth in our world. PH146 44.6

“Some men or councils may say, ‘That is just what we wish you to do. The Conference Committee will take your capital, and will appropriate it for this very object.’ But the Lord has made us Individually his stewards. We Each hold a solemn responsibility to invest this means Ourselves.

A portion it is right to place in the treasury to advance the general interests of the work; but the steward of means will not be guiltless before God, unless, so far as he is able to do this, he shall use that means as circumstances shall reveal the necessity. We should be ready to help the suffering, and to set in operation plans to advance the truth in various ways. It is not in the province of the Conference or Any Other Organization to relieve us of this stewardship. If you lack wisdom, go to God; ask him for yourself, then work with an eye single to his glory. PH146 45.1

“By exercising your judgment, by giving where you see there is need in any line of the work, you are putting out your money to the exchangers. If you see in any locality

that the truth is gaining a foothold, and there is no place of worship, then do something to meet the necessity. By your own action encourage others to act, in building a humble house for the worship of God. Have an interest in the work in all parts of the field. PH146 45.2

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