The Plagiarism Charge Refuted: A Response to 'Testing the Adventist Prophet' - Part 2

This next video finalizes what we call the "Laying the Foundation" aspect of our series. Here, Pastor Morgan discusses various important details that seemed to have been missed by the creator of "Testing the Adventist Prophet." According to Morgan's research, there are many reasons for not supplying the names of sources, including, but not limited to, the following:

1. Authors in those days believed that a "well-versed reader" would recognize where those sources came from, without being told.

3. To avoid making the authority of the prophetic gift to be degraded to a "common authorship (see quote from Fannie Bolton).

4. To show that the truth can speak for itself, rather then because so and so taught it. Pastor Morgan quotes John Wesley and William Hanna making this same point.

Our remaining videos will get more specific. We will be dealing head-on with the specific accusations made by the creator of "Testing the Adventist Prophet." Please share this video around, and feel free to comment respectfully, after watching the entire episode of course!

Enjoy :)

___________________________________________________________________
REFUTATIONS BY PASTOR KEVIN MORGAN:

Chapter 7 of White Lie Soap: Affirming Ellen White's Integrity, by Pastor Kevin Morgan

Chapter 8 of White Lie Soap: Cleaning Up the Friendly Fire, by Pastor Kevin Morgan

Plagiarism: A Historical and Cultural Survey, by Pastor Kevin Morgan

Was Ellen White a Plagiarist? by Pastor Kevin Morgan

Please see our Introduction video for more resources.
__________________________________________________


CREDITS

_Pastor Kevin Morgan, author of White Lie Soap.
_Tim Poirier, Vice-Director of the White Estate Inc.
_THE CONFLICT BEAUTIFUL podcast.
_Edwin M. Cotto, Director of the Advent Defense League.
_Arnold Famini, video editor for the Advent Defense League

[jules]

For me it’s not so much the plagiarism aspect, who cares if she borrowed from other writers, but how do you reconcile when you claim a direct revelation of God pertaining to a specific group of people, and that being copied word for word from another author, trust me brother I want to believe that she has the authority to guide the end time church but this is a very big concern to me.

[Dr.Ez.ANewLivingWay]

You cannot use the lies from a plagiarizing author to defend or to make sense of any truth from the said authors own confession. She has dug her own grave with her own pen from her uninspired mind. This said author has consistently lied on God.

She said the blood of Christ did NOT cancel sin….. pause and think! That statement is not from God.

See below:

CONTRADICTION:
"The blood of Christ, while it was to release the repentant sinner from the condemnation of the law, was Not to cancel sin ... it will stand in the sanctuary until the final atonement" (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 357).

BIBLE: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. I John 1:7

1 John 1:9
If you confess your sins HE is FAITHFUL and JUST to forgive and CLEANSE (G2511. Katharizo) which means to REMOVE, purify, consecrate, make clean… etc.

Thank God for His Word!!

[barryford]

My wife knew when she was presented Ellen Whites book early writings she was reading Paradise Lost by John Milton. It doesn't take a great scholar to find copying

[blueticks]

Anybody familiar with the facts knows that the amount of spin and smoke and mirrors in this video is off the charts.

[robking]

I think my real issue is that Ive read some of EGW words and ive had a hard time understanding, or I feel as if it speaks against me. Ive only read short excerpts about things like Marital excess, the amalgamation of man in certain races... Im still studying. I found you all after Test the Prophet and Answering adventistism, so its so good to hear some real reasons that support Adventism

[wordoftruthchannel]

Non of the authors cited so far claimed to be a prophet.

Why at the 1919 bible conference the church than decided, not to inform the church members that she used sources,

The book on the life of Paul, ctied the enter outline of the book.

Stealing among prophets condemned: Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. -- Jeremiah 23:30.
God's law condemns stealing, which applies to everything: Thou shalt not steal.
What Ellen White said about stealing, and whether she practiced what she preached:
“The eighth commandment is to barricade the soul, and hedge man in, so that he shall make no injurious encroachment – which his self love and desire for gain would make – from his neighbor’s rights. It forbids every species of dishonesty, injustice, or fraud, however prevalent, however palliated by plausible pretenses. The ninth commandment requires of us an inviolable regard for exact truth in every declaration by which the character of our fellow men may be affected. The tongue which is kept so little under the control of human agent is to be bridled by strong conscientious principles, by the law of love toward God and man. The last commandment condemns covetousness. Every selfish desire, every degree of discontent, every act of over-reaching, every selfish gratification works to the strengthening and developing of a character which will destroy the Christlikeness of the human agent, and close the gates of the city of God against him” (Lt15, 1895.19, 20).
“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”
False speaking in any matter, every attempt or purpose to deceive our neighbor, is here included. An intention to deceive is what constitutes falsehood. By a glance of the eye, a motion of the hand, an expression of the countenance, a falsehood may be told as effectually as by words. All intentional overstatement, every hint or insinuation calculated to convey an erroneous or exaggerated impression, even the statement of facts in such a manner as to mislead, is falsehood. This precept forbids every effort to injure our neighbor’s reputation by misrepresentation or evil surmising, by slander or tale bearing. Even the intentional suppression of truth, by which injury may result to others, is a violation of the ninth commandment” (PP, p. 309, 1890).
Covetousness:
“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.”
“The tenth commandment strikes at the very root of all sins, prohibiting the selfish desire, from which springs the sinful act. He who in obedience to God’s law refrains from indulging even a sinful desire for that which belongs to another will not be guilty of an act of wrong toward his fellow creatures” (PP, p. 309, 1890).
A man who will overreach his neighbor on a small scale:
“A man who will overreach his neighbor on a small scale will overreach in a larger scale if the temptation is brought to bear upon him. A false representation in a small matter is as much dishonesty in the sight of God as falsity in a larger matter” (Lt3, 1878.8).
Willful violation of one of His commands:
“While they refuse to believe and obey some requirement of the Lord, they persevere in offering up to God their formal services of religion. There is no response of the Spirit of God to such service. No matter how zealous men may be in their observance of religious ceremonies, the Lord cannot accept them if they persist in willful violation of one of His commands” (Patriarchs and Prophets, 631, 634, 1890; Conflict and Courage, p. 158, 1970).
“Oh, that a right impression be made upon the minds of young and old in regard to the exceeding sinfulness of sin! … The word of truth declares, “Be sure your sin will find you out” (RH, march 27, 1888).
Good counsel but hardly practiced by the preacher.

[henryhondo]

If it's really true that Bible writers plagiarized, then it brings the whole Christian belief system into question.

[kevinmorgan_truth]

A colleague who does not share my view of Ellen White's giftedness, sent me a thoughtful private message, noting that he thought there was nothing new in this presentation. To which I replied: "No one that I know has linked all of her uses of sources to W.C. White's frank comments, and no one has ever described her use of 'storyline guides, ' so I think you missed some of the new."

He also noted that my explanation about Ellen White's gathering of thought gems was not convincing to him. To which I replied: "Adapting good wording from others is what preachers and poets do all the time. Somehow, you don't think that is acceptable for prophets--even though we know that the biblical prophets did the same thing." In fact, Solomon declares that he did so.

He also called my attention to James White's statement (written in 1880): "Mrs. W. has written and spoken a hundred things, as truthful as they are beautiful and harmonious, which cannot be found in the writings of others, they are new to the most intelligent readers and hearers. And if they are not to be found in print, and are not brought out in sermons from the pulpit, where did Mrs. W. find them? From what source has she received the new and rich thoughts which are to be found in her writings and oral addresses? She could not have learned them from books, from the fact that they do not contain such thoughts. And, certainly, she did not learn them from those ministers who had not thought of them" (James White, Life Sketches p. 328). To which I replied: "James didn't claim that she never borrowed from others. You need to look more carefully at his statement." I would add that a careful comparison of her writings before James White's death in 1881 shows far fewer adapted thought gems, so certainly there were at least "a hundred things" in her extemporaneous sermons that were not adapted from others. Here is the literary indebtedness in her books, in chronological order prior to 1881:

Experience and Views and Supplement (1851/1854) 0.14%
Testimonies for the Church, volume 1 (1855–1868) 0.60%
Testimonies for the Church, volume 2 (1868–1871) 0.20%
Testimonies for the Church, volume 3 (1872–1875) 0.96%
Testimonies for the Church, volume 4 (1876–1881) 1.88%

[yd]

I appreciate Pastor Morgan ending on such a note as it makes for easy discussion. The question is why do we hold Ellen White to a different standard than biblical writers? Frankly, it’s because of her own testimony. To claim to be God’s messenger and that her words are her own (as she frequently writes), it puts into question the degree of her inspiration when she adapts the words of others. If she is merely a mirror for other contemporary writers, she is offering no new light of herself and her position as prophet comes into question. Her correction on doctrine and her authority become that of Sproul and Spurgeon—certainly lead by God, but not receiving new, special revelation from Him and CERTAINLY not to be held to such a high extent as we are doing so now in the SDA church. On the contrary, because her ministry does not exist in a vacuum, we find many predictions made by her that have proven to be outright false, compared to that of the biblical prophets that either have been fulfilled (preterist) or yet to be (historicist/futurist). Either way, no biblical prophet has been definitively proven wrong as Ellen White has when she said that some of those alive in her time would not pass away before the return of Christ.

[benjaminparadise]

Plagiarism doesn't recognize the author. Defending plagiarism is either unwise or evil. I can't copy Psalms or Proverbs or Abraham Lincoln and put my name on what I find valuable.

[mpattilo]

To all you sincere SDA believers, you need to research the writings and doctrines of Joseph Smith and the LDS church and Jehovah's Witnesses. SDA shares many of the same false doctrines as both LDS and JW. Your apologists and scholars use the exact same arguments to justify your false prophet as both the LDS and JW apologists and scholars and use the exact same arguments to justify their failed prophecies/predictions as SDA uses for EGW. It is startling the similarities and there are many writings between EGW and Joseph Smith that are almost verbatim. How do I know this? I was raised JW and then joined the LD, s church as a young adult and was a .ember many years. Because I was JW I could flip through and quote scripture but my understanding was tainted by false doctrine of men just like SDA and LDS. When you look a scepture ali e without the writings of false prophets a few things happen. Scripture becomes so much more clear and your understanding and ability to share the gospel.becomr so much better. When you realize that even a child can understand the plain and simple truths in the bible that are essential to salvation and that it only becomes complicated and works based when you view it through the lens of false prophets and false manmade doctrines, it is very liberating and you find joy and peace with no spirit of fear. You realize that the apprehension and spirit of fear that you aren't sealed to God disappear and you know that once you are sealed by God that Satan has no power over you. My friend gave me several of EGW's books and when I read some of them, I could immediately see the similar errors between her writings and Joseph Smith and the watchtower society. All promote the same works based righteousness that directly contradicts Jesus and the bible and make Jesus sacrfice not all you need for salvation. It cheapens the blood he shed. Not to mention all the illogical doctrines like the lesser light illuminates and clarifies the greater light, just nonsense. That anything in heaven needs to be cleansed when nothing in heaven has ever been defiled and there is no death in heaven and no sacrificial alter in the beavenly sanctuary which is why Jesus had to become cloth le in a human body to be the sacrifice. Then then there is the investigative judgment doctrine that is no where found in scripture that tries to conflatecthe judgement of the unrighteous and put it on those who have accepted jesus and bern sealed by God. The scape goat doctrine which say s the glawed and blemished Satan is the scapegoat when we know from levitical law the scapegoat has to be without blemish and only jesus fulfills that purity. The conflation of human law (levitical) with God's eternal law (ten commandments) and Jesus' priesthood with the levitical priest priesthood. Jesus has a higher priesthood and was of the line of Judah not Levi. I could go on with all the illogical and blasphemous comparisons SDa make of earthly carnal things to heavenly things because the bible is crystal clear that there is no comparison and false doctrine that you can only arrive at when viewd through the writings of EGW. Without her interpretation of scripture, you simple can't arrive at those erroneous and blasphemous doctrines and that is just a fact.

[mpattilo]

You failed to do your research. There are several occasions in her plagerized writings where EGW actually claims she received something in vision that was directly plagerized. She also made statements that everything she wrote was true and directly inspired by God. By plagerizing and not giving credit to her sources, she is in fact lying about the source of her inspiration. Ou can't wist ourself into a pretzel trying to explain away or justify her "literary borrowing" but the fact remains she was trying to pass off other people's work as her own original thoughts and ideas and is a liar. And by not giving credit to all the stuff she copied she is deceiving, either directly or indirectly, the reader into thinking the ideas are her own or inspired by God which is absolutely not the case. Just saying she never stated that all ideas are her own is a bald face lie as there are many quotes where she says exactly that and that to question anything she wrote was questioning God. That I'd how she keeps anyone in the SDA church from acknowled8ng the pagerism and decei she perpetrated and SDA "scholars" and apologists then have to lie to mane her deceit not seem Mike what it is. EGW used the exact same tactic as Joseph Smith. I came out of mormonism and can say that she even copied from false prophet Joseph Smith and her vision of heaven is almost exactly the same as a vision recorded by Joseph Smith that predates her " vision" and she even copied s9me of the very same false doctrines of the LDS church. I pray that God takes the blinders and scales from your eyes so you can see how deceived you and everyone in the SDA church is about EGW. She is a provably false prophet and has copied many of the core doctrine of the SDA church from men who later denounced these false doctrines. It is painful to watch so called scholars twist themselves. 8nto knots trying to justify and defend what is so obviously and provably false.

[austinadventure]

@AdventDefenseLeague I don't want to come across as rude but i was hoping this would be a lot more in depth and help counter "test the prophet"'s videos. I only wish it matched the standard o his videos but to be honest it doesn't really answer the problems. I watched both series and was hoping or a stronger rebuttal from this side to be honest.
Thanks you for the video either way.

[PastorShayne]

If you know the Bible, it really doesn’t matter either way.

Material for many of her personal letters, including a letter to O.A.Olsen, and her son were drawn from Cunningham Geikie. The church deliberately calls them inspired!

[EricTirado]

I was listening critically, but I think he nailed this one.