The White Lie

by Walter T. Rea

"Ellen Gould White in the mid 1800s began a career that led to her becoming the acknowledged "personage" of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. A century and a quarter afterward, in the mid-1970s, one of her longtime devotees began to disclose evidence from his research that raised sobering questions as to the official church position on Ellen White.... This book grew out of the author's own quest for answers to compelling questions concerning this woman.... The White Lie reveals a portion of Walter Rea's evidence that much of what several generations have been taught concerning Ellen White's writings simply is not true -- or at the minimum, it is enormously overstated. The books of numerous writers of her time, and earlier, are known to have been accessible to her. The large number of them that were in personal collection at her death in 1915 were inventoried and have been available to the White Estate Staff. " -- From the Foreward "This book seeks to trace the birth, growth, and full bloom of the white lie in Adventism. It cannot explain all the strings that bind us, Gulliver-like, on our travel -- because access is thus far denied to many sources of the facts. It can only point the reader to certain sources so that he can see for himself what is there to be seen." --From the Prologue

Genres: Christianity

Hardcover

First published April 1, 1982

Reviews

[Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very thorough analysis supported by facts which has been absolutely devastating implications for those that have had unquestioning confidence in Ellen G White. Much credit is due Walter Rae for his persistent quest for the truth about the so called prophetess to the Seventh-day Adventist church.

[Lynette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rea’s research is compelling – too bad he didn’t have a better proof-reader/editor. This book is riddled with typos, and he repeats himself – using the same quotes and sources to repetitively make the same points in multiple chapters, which in my opinion dilutes the effectiveness of his argument. It’s almost as though he’s assuming that nobody is going to read the whole thing straight through, and in the case of potential cherry-picking, he wants to make sure that the salient arguments are present where they might be picked up. I find that sloppy and insecure. Also he is SO ANGRY! Now… I understand that, having been beaten to death with EGW all through my childhood to the point where I abandoned the whole enterprise (pretty much the day I was old enough to get out, even before I knew of this plagiarism accusation and associated cover-ups) – Rea was a minister in this church for many years so his disillusionment and embarrassment at having been taken in by this blah blah blah has to be extreme; particularly in light of the fact that he was fired for questioning the party line. His snarky presentation does dilute his scholarly endeavors – rather than just letting his research speak for itself (which it would have), he cannot help but draw your conclusions for you. He also (and maybe this is a preacher thing) coined a few cute-sie phrases that he over-uses to the extreme which is also non-scholarly and off-putting. The first 2/3s of the book is a harangue on the plagiarism situation then he devolves into outing all the dirt he has on anybody in the administration of the SDA church which has the effect of losing the thread of the premise of the book. Too bad – this had potential…

[Darwin Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

A polemic against Ellen White by an erstwhile devoté, who had seen her as a prophetess of nearly canonical proportions; to the point that he had committed her works to memory, much as one might do with the Scriptures - until, after having exhausted all of her printed works, he resorted to study of books within her personal library. After all, were Ellen White to have been blessed by these books, he ought to be, as well.

Then, BAM! Walter Rea discovered that she had plagiarized from them (rather than having been inspired by the Holy Spirit) and his whole world came crashing down. To the degree that he had previously idolized her, he came similarly to detest her. Read this book knowing that it is written by the equivalent of "a betrayed lover!"

(View my review of Steve Daily's book, Ellen G. White: A Psychobiography and Prophetess of Health: A Study of Ellen G. White by Ronald L. Numbers)

[Nathan Wilder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was originally directed towards this book as a byproduct of discussions and reading around Ellen G. White's The Great Controversy. Rea's story about wrestling through the history and theology of the Seventh Day Adventist denomination reads with tones of biography, evidence based research, artful polemics, and theological appeals. The more you know about Rea's story, the more meaningful the tone in which he presents it becomes.
Rea is caught in the logical dilemma of discovering that Ellen G. White's writings, supposedly produced under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, were actually heavily dependent on and quoted directly from other authors, without giving any citation, reference, or credit to the original authors. The problem is only complicated by Ellen White's claims, and the SDA denominations claims, about her writings. She claimed that all her writings were her original work, and that she hadn't read any of the apparently connected materials (of which Rea gives examples at length) until after her works were published. Her claim is challenging when she is directly quoting authors (written prior) that she claims to have never read. Eyewitness accounts and subsequent generations, as well as library examinations from the White estate reveal that plagiarizing of material was occurring. Thus the primary argument of Rea's work stands to prove that Ellen G. White was in fact lying when she claimed originality in all her materials. This he accomplishes with page after page of examples, quotations, and even facsimiles, demonstrating dependence, if not quotation by Ellen G. White and her associates.
In his work, Rea argues against those who profit from religion, those promoting works salvation, legalist church practice, and those who believe they must approach God through any person other than Jesus Christ. Rea's frustration is that the SDA church's believe is internally and historically inconsistent, putting up barriers and preventing people from coming to Christ and growing in their faith. Rea documents the history of silencing and terminating dissenting voices from within the Adventist church. He is only one in a long line of those who questioned the unquestionable and faced the consequences.
Rea does not spend much time demonstrating theological inconsistencies, misinterpretation of scriptures, misquoting authors, or factual misrepresentations of history. While he alludes to these problems throughout his book, the bulk of his argument remains to prove that Ellen G. White lied about the origin of her work.
At the end of the book he extends a gracious hand to the SDA church, that if they would abandon the worship of Ellen G. White, they could worship Christ and remain his true church. He appeals for their submission to the scriptures above all other writings as the true test of faith and practice. Lastly he appeals that they trust in the finished work of Christ alone for salvation, rather than trusting in their own works, or closing the door of salvation in the face of people.

[Chandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a must-read for anyone who wants to know the truth about Ellen G. White.