1900 Pentecostal Indiana Camp Meeting

It was on the backdrop of the Holiness movement and the emerging Pentecostalism that the Holy Flesh movement arose in 1899-1900 in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Pentecostalism arose in the early 20^th century, largely due to the influence of the Holiness movement of the 19^th century.⁵⁹ Pentecostalism adopted and intensified Holiness emphasis on physical manifestations of the Spirit – for example, they introduced speaking in tongues as the initial physical evidence of baptism of the Holy Spirit. Though the Holy Flesh movement is an experience unique to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, it is an important lesson for all denominations.

S. S. Davis, an Indiana Seventh-day Adventist worker, came in contact with Pentecostal Christians and was convinced that if the ‘spirit’ of the Pentecostals could be combined with the truth of the Adventist movement, then great things could be achieved. He won the support of the conference president, R. S. Donnell. Soon the whole conference had converted.⁶⁰ Many new members were added to the church under their influence^{9 (p47)} and the ‘holy flesh’ ideas were threatening to spread into adjoining conferences. They used musical instruments to heighten the emotional appeal.⁶⁰ Accounts of the Adventist camp meeting in Muncie, Indiana of 1900 describe frenzied physical manifestations similar to that of some other denominations. This camp meeting was well attended with the Muncie Daily Herald reporting attendance of 3500 people at one of the meetings. There was space behind the pulpit for a choir of 225 voices.^{9 (p46)} S. N. Haskell and A. J. Breed, attended the 1900 Indiana camp meeting as Seventh-day Adventist General Conference representatives to observe the Holy Flesh movement. They were shocked by what they found, as S. N. Haskell reported:

“There is a great power that goes with the movement… They are as much trained in their musical line as any Salvation Army choir that you ever heard. In fact, their revival effort is simply a complete copy of the Salvation Army method, and when they get on a high key, you cannot hear a word from the congregation in their singing, nor hear anything, unless it be shrieks of those who are half insane. After an appeal to come forward for prayers, a few of the leading ones would always come forward, to lead others to come; and then they would begin to play on the musical instruments, until you could not hear yourself think; and under the excitement of this strain, they get a large proportion of the congregation forward over and over again.”⁶¹

Haskell’s wife wrote to Mrs White concerning the Holy Flesh movement as follows:

“They have ‘Garden of Spices’ as the songbook and play dance tunes to sacred words. They have never used our own hymn books, except when Elders Breed or Haskell speak, then they open and close with a hymn from our book, but all the other songs are from the other book. They shout ‘Amens’, and ‘Praise the Lord,’ ‘Glory to God,’ just like a Salvation Army service. It is distressing to one’s soul. The doctrines preached correspond to the rest. The poor sheep are truly confused.”⁶¹

Garden of Spices was a song book produced by Pentecost Band Publishing Company in 1899.

Another eyewitness describes how they “worked themselves up to a high pitch of excitement by the use of musical instruments… They shouted and sang their lively songs with the aid of musical instruments until they became really hysterical.”⁶¹In response to these eyewitness accounts, Mrs White deals immediately with the styles of worship used by the Holy Flesh movement. She drew on inspiration that she received through vision, which she claimed was from God:

“The things you have described as taking place in Indiana, the Lord has shown me would take place just before the close of probation. Every uncouth thing will be demonstrated. There will be shouting, with drums, music, and dancing. The senses of rational beings will become so confused that they cannot be trusted to make right decisions. And this is called the moving of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit never reveals itself in such methods, in such a bedlam of noise. This is an invention of Satan to cover up his ingenious methods for making of none effect the pure, sincere, elevating, ennobling, sanctifying truth for this time. Better never have the worship of God blended with music than to use musical instruments to do the work which last January was represented to me would be brought into our camp meetings. The truth for this time needs nothing of this kind in its work of converting souls. A bedlam of noise shocks the senses and perverts that which if conducted aright might be a blessing. The powers of satanic agencies blend with the din and noise, to have a carnival, and this is termed the Holy Spirit’s working.

When the camp meeting is ended, the good which ought to have been done and which might have been done by the presentation of sacred truth is not accomplished. Those participating in the supposed revival receive impressions which lead them adrift. They cannot tell what they formerly knew regarding Bible principles.

No encouragement should be given to this kind of worship. The same kind of influence came in after the passing of the time in 1844. The same kind of representations were made. Men became excited, and were worked by a power thought to be the power of God”^{12 (pp36-37)}

Despite these comments, Mrs White was not against praising God with music. She had much to say about what is good praise. Paul Hamel, a professional musician and music instructor, recognised that, though Mrs White lacked a formal education, she wrote authoritatively and professionally on the topic of music. He felt that in her writings there were inexhaustible treasures on the subject of church music,⁹ which he was able to apply to his work as music department chair at Andrews University. Like Martin Luther, who severely criticised mediocre musical performance,⁸ Mrs White spoke of the importance of quality music in worship:

“Music can be a great power for good; yet we do not make the most of this branch of worship. The singing is generally done from impulse or to meet special cases, and at other times those who sing are left to blunder along, and the music loses its proper effect upon the minds of those present. Music should have beauty, pathos, and power. Let the voices be lifted in songs of praise and devotion. Call to your aid, if practicable, instrumental music, and let the glorious harmony ascend to God, an acceptable offering.”^{62 (p71)}

Elsewhere she spoke of the motive of our praise:

“Then as you meet from Sabbath to Sabbath, sing praises to Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvellous light. ‘Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood’ let the heart’s adoration be given. Let the love of Christ be the burden of the speaker’s utterance. Let it be expressed in simple language in every song of praise.”^{16 (p367)}

She also spoke of the importance of praise:

“There would be much more power in our camp meetings if we had a true sense of the goodness, mercy, and long-suffering of God, and if more praise flowed forth from our lips to the honor and glory of His name. We need to cultivate more fervor of soul. The Lord says: ‘Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me.’ Psalm 50:23.”^{16 (p62)}

Though she stressed the importance of singing, she also urged balance. Speaking of a camp meeting on another occasion in 1883, Mrs White wrote in the Review and Herald:

“In some instances, much time was devoted to singing. There was a long hymn before prayer, a long hymn after prayer, and much singing interspersed all through the meeting. Thus, golden moments were used unwisely, and not one-half the good was done that might have been realized had these precious seasons been properly managed.”⁶³

Several months after the Indiana camp meeting, Mrs White addressed the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church concerning the false doctrines of the Holy Flesh movement. She declared that by accepting Christ’s sacrifice and surrendering to Him, we could have ‘holy hearts’ but not ‘holy flesh.’ It wasn’t only false doctrine and its peculiar manifestations of falling to the ground and shouting and clapping for the anointing of the Holy Spirit that Mrs White had a problem with. As outlined above, she first spoke out against the type of music that the Holy Flesh movement used to create the excitement that brought on such manifestations.

Assessing Mrs White’s Claims

Church leaders had to decide if they would side with Mrs White and those who opposed the Holy Flesh movement or accept the Pentecostal-style Holy Flesh doctrine and practices. By this point in time, a majority of the Adventist Church leadership believed that Mrs White fit the Biblical criteria of a genuine prophet and that there was harmony between Scripture and her visions and teachings. The physical phenomena demonstrated during her visions, they argued, correlated with dreams and visions of Biblical prophets, as recorded in Daniel 10:16-19; Numbers 24:3,4; 2 Samuel 23:2 and 2 Corinthians 12:2-4. For example, like Daniel (Dan 10:17), Mrs White stopped breathing during her visions. There is an abundance of documented eyewitness accounts of her visions. J. N. Loughborough, a notable pioneer of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, claimed to have witnessed 50 of her visions.⁶⁴ Below is a description given in 1874 by George Butler, General Conference president, of the physical phenomena accompanying Mrs White’s visions:

“All we ask is that people shall be reasonable. We are prepared to support by hundreds of living truthful witnesses all that we shall claim, so far as facts are concerned, of the manifestation itself, for this thing has not been done in a corner. For nearly thirty years past these visions have been given with greater or less frequency, and have been witnessed by many, oftentimes by unbelievers as well as those believing them. They generally, but not always, occur in the midst of earnest seasons of religious interest while the Spirit of God is specially present, if those can tell who are in attendance. The time Mrs White is in this condition has varied from fifteen minutes to one hundred and eighty. During this time the heart and pulse continue to beat, the eyes are always wide open, and seem to be gazing at some far-distant object, and are never fixed on any person or thing in the room. They are always directed upward. They exhibit a pleasant expression. There is no ghastly look or any resemblance of fainting. The brightest light may be suddenly brought near her eyes, or feints made as if to thrust something into the eye, and there is never the slightest wink or change of expression on that account; and it is sometimes hours and even days after she comes out of this condition before she recovers her natural sight. She says it seems to her that she comes back into a dark world, yet her eyesight is in nowise injured by her visions.

While she is in vision, her breathing entirely ceases. No breath ever escapes her nostrils or lips when in this condition. This has been proved by many witnesses, among them physicians of skill, and themselves unbelievers in the visions, on some occasions being appointed by a public congregation for the purpose. It has been proved many times by tightly holding the nostrils and mouth with the hand, and by putting a looking-glass before them so close that any escape of the moisture of the breath would be detected. In this condition she often speaks words and short sentences, yet not the slightest breath escapes. When she goes into this condition, there is no appearance of swooning or faintness, her face retains its natural color, and the blood circulates as usual. Often, she loses her strength temporarily and reclines or sits; but at other times she stands up. She moves her arms gracefully, and often her face is lighted up with radiance as though the glory of Heaven rested upon her. She is utterly unconscious of everything going on around her, while she is in vision, having no knowledge whatever of what is said and done in her presence. A person may pinch her flesh, and do things which would cause great and sudden pain in her ordinary condition, and she will not notice it by the slightest tremor.

There are none of the disgusting grimaces or contortions which usually attend spiritualist mediums, but calm, dignified, and impressive, her very appearance strikes the beholder with reverence and solemnity. There is nothing fanatical in her appearance. When she comes out of this condition she speaks and writes from time to time what she has seen while in vision; and the supernatural character of these visions is seen even more clearly in what she thus reveals than in her appearance and condition while in vision, for many things have thus been related which it was impossible for her to know in any other way.”⁶⁵

Apart from these physical phenomena, Seventh-day Adventists became convinced that Mrs White met other essential Biblical criteria for a true prophet. For example, they said that her words and actions were in harmony with the Bible, her predictions came true, they claim, she uplifted and strengthened the church, she always upheld Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Saviour and she demonstrated good habits and character.⁶⁶ Based on these criteria, church leadership largely accepted that Mrs White had the gift of the spirit of prophecy.

In opposition to this claim, some have argued that Ellen White’s head injury in her early childhood led to temporal lobe epilepsy, which can involve visual hallucinations as well as trigger religious or mystical experiences. It is a highly speculative claim since her manifestations are not easily attributable to seizures and there are no medical records to help substantiate the claims – such as electroencephalography, brain imaging or videorecordings. Head injury only leads to epilepsy in a small number of cases. Therefore, there is no substantial evidence that Mrs White’s manifestations were due to seizures. Other neurological and mental disorders have also been proposed, but there is no way of proving or disproving that Mrs White suffered from a brain disorder.^67–70 In that sense, it is a moot point. Even if she did not have a head injury in her childhood, one could still make the argument that she was suffering seizures, since epilepsy often occurs without a history of head trauma. There are innumerable reasons that could be used to explain away Mrs White’s visions, but no known medical condition can explain how Mrs White could have stopped breathing for the duration of her visions.

Jesus performed miracles so that we could believe in Him (Jn 20:30-31). However, Jesus also acknowledged that people would continue to disbelieve despite His miraculous works (Jn 10:25-26). He goes on to explain that His sheep know Him by His voice (v27). Though miracles can strengthen our belief, we ultimately recognise God’s voice when it harmonises with His Word. Sceptics in Jesus’ time tried to explain away His miracles. For example, when Jesus healed the blind man, those who knew him disputed amongst themselves whether it was really him: “Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, ‘Is not this he who sat and begged?’ Some said, ‘This is he.’ Others said, ‘He is like him’ (Jn 9:8-9).” Even after proving the blind man’s identity by calling his parents in, the Pharisees still refused to believe that Jesus was of God (Jn 9:18-34). In fact, Jesus performed many miraculous signs throughout His life, but most Jews rejected Him. The manifestation of the gift of tongues at Pentecost was attributed to drunkenness by sceptical bystanders (Acts 2:13). Many witnesses attested to Mrs White’s supernatural manifestations, but these can just as readily be reasoned away. Maybe Mrs White was lying or perhaps the witnesses were lying or were simply misguided. The same could be said of the witnesses of the resurrected Christ (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). Therefore, the most important proof of someone’s prophetic gift is their fruits and their harmony with God’s Word – we recognise God’s voice in their words. This requires that the observer is also in tune with God’s voice.

Few of those who knew Mrs White, even her opponents, denied the sincerity of her convictions. In the communities where she lived, she was known as a godly woman who loved Jesus, and those who were close to her attested to her exemplary life of service to her church and community. Therefore, should we reject Mrs White based on speculative reasoning, such as the epilepsy claim? We owe it to God to seriously consider the words of any godly person who claims to have messages from God. Many arguments have been made against the Bible, but we must draw conclusions based on our own study of the Bible and history. This same principle should be applied when assessing the claims of professed prophets.

Critics of Mrs White produced other counterevidence to refute her prophetic gift. Pre-eminent amongst these counterarguments was the plagiarism charge. It must be noted that Mrs White and the copyright holders of her written materials have never been legally prosecuted, nor threatened with legal proceedings;⁷¹ therefore, the plagiarism accusations were never legally proven. Copyright infringement and literary piracy are legal categories which change over time therefore, plagiarism accusations need to be viewed in the context of the law at the time of publishing. In 1981, the Seventh-day Adventist Church employed the services of attorney Vincent Ramik, a Roman Catholic and senior partner in a Washington, DC-based law firm specialising in patent, trademark, and copyright law. In his investigation, he studied her writings as well as more than 1000 cases in American literary law from 1790-1915. In conclusion, he flatly denied that there was any case for prosecuting a plagiarism charge, including copyright infringement and literary theft.⁷¹ Therefore, from a legal standpoint, the accusations were not strong.

Some still contended that, from a practical, Biblical and moral standpoint, Mrs White was still guilty of dishonestly borrowing from other authors. Critics questioned why she would need to borrow from other authors if she was a prophet. If she was inspired, what was she doing copying from humans – should she not have been getting all of her content from the Holy Spirit? Seventh-day Adventists refer to forms of inspiration to explain why borrowing from other authors does not disqualify a prophet. Adventists believe in thought inspiration, in which the Holy Spirit transmits thoughts to the writer, who then chooses appropriate words to express those thoughts. The inspired writer may draw on other sources to help articulate what has been revealed to them by the Holy Spirit. For example, Biblical authors often quoted from Biblical and extra-Biblical sources, often without acknowledging the sources. For example, many of Solomon’s wise sayings came from extra-Biblical sources. Even the golden rule, “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you (Matt 7:12 NLT),” as given by Jesus, is not original. Its origin goes further back than Christianity and has been cited in the literature of other ancient cultures, including Egyptian and Chinese philosophy.^72,73

Some also question Mrs White’s honesty in borrowing from others without acknowledgement. Having only a primary school education, Mrs White was not a scholarly writer; therefore, her method of borrowing was not highly sophisticated from a scholarly standpoint. However, Adventists argue that she did borrow from other authors according to acceptable conventions of her day. Ethical and academic standards concerning plagiarism have changed with time. One of the primary reasons a writer might have quoted from other authors, it is reasoned, was to bolster the credibility of their own claims. However, if the author was merely looking for ways to edify the reader, they might have quoted from another author without adding quotes to avoid detracting from the impact of the statement. For example, the great revivalist, John Wesley, borrowed in a similar fashion to Mrs White. In the preface of his book, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament, Wesley explains why he did not give credit to other authors in his book:

“It was a doubt with me for some time, whether I should not subjoin to every note I received from them the name of the author from whom it was taken especially considering I had transcribed some, and abridged many more, almost in the words of the author. But upon farther consideration, I resolved to name none, that nothing might divert the mind of the reader from keeping close to the point in view, and receiving what was spoken only according to its own intrinsic value.”⁷⁴

Those who believe she is a prophet point out that Mrs White was open and honest about her use of other sources. For example, similar to Wesley, in the introduction to her book, The Great Controversy, she acknowledges using materials from other authors, sometimes without direct credit, because their statements afford “a ready and forcible presentation on the subject.” She stated plainly that the historians she referenced were “not quoted for the purpose of citing that writer as authority.”^{75 (ph)}

Critics have often cited Mrs White’s book, Acts of the Apostles, as heavily borrowing from The Life and Epistles of St. Paul by W. J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson. However, those defending Mrs White have pointed out that, leading up to the publishing of her book, she publicly endorsed and recommended The Life and Epistles of St. Paul as a good read for church members.⁷⁴ If she was trying to hide the fact that she borrowed from their book, why would she have recommended her readers also read the book that she borrowed from?

It is argued that much of Mrs White’s inspiration was given by vision, and she then had to put this into writing in her own words. Defenders of Mrs White say that she relied on known historical and scientific facts of her time to put a coherent discourse together. She also had to find the words and structure to effectively communicate what she had seen in vision. Her extensive reading of other sources helped her to achieve this, but it did not detract from the unique message that she had to give. It is admitted that the scientific and historical details which she got from other authors were not always accurate in hindsight, but the spiritual and instructive content of her writings remained consistent and reliable throughout.

What does this mean for Adventists? It is officially stated that Seventh-day Adventists “believe that Scripture is the foundation of faith and the final authority in all matters of doctrine and practice.” They believe that scriptural references, such as Rev 19:10, 12:17, Eph 4:11 and 1 Cor 12:28, affirm that the gift of prophecy would continue to be manifest after New Testament times. Seventh-day Adventists:

“…believe that the purposes of Ellen White writings include guidance in understanding the teaching of Scripture and application of these teachings with prophetic urgency to the spiritual and moral life” and “that the acceptance of the prophetic gift of Ellen White, while not a requirement for continuing church membership, is important to the nurture and unity of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.”

While Seventh-day Adventists “do not believe that the quality or degree of inspiration in the writings of Ellen White is different from that of Scripture,” they also “do not believe that the writings of Ellen White serve the same purpose as does Scripture, which is the sole foundation and final authority of Christian faith.” They also officially state that they do not believe that her writings may be used for establishing doctrine or that Scripture can only be understood through her writings.⁷⁶

Going by these official statements, Seventh-day Adventists are not to rely on Mrs White’s writings to establish a doctrine on music, but her writings can help to highlight what Scripture says about music. She wrote extensively on music and, if she was a true prophet, her statements must harmonise with Scripture. Also, any predictions she made about the future must come true. Fascinatingly, Mrs White predicted that shouting, with drums, music and dancing would come into the church at the closing stages of earth’s history.^{12 (p36)} Certainly, this style of worship is becoming widespread today, coinciding with many signs that we are living in the end times. Outside the church, society is increasingly resembling Sodom and Gomorrah. Even many secular people are filled with the sense of impending doom on earth.

Partly due to the influence of Mrs White, who claimed Holy Flesh doctrine and methods were unbiblical, the general conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church discouraged support for the Holy Flesh movement. Church leaders involved in the Holy Flesh movement in Indiana accepted the reproof, and the entire Indiana executive committee resigned and was replaced by men who had not been involved in the movement. Emotionally driven worship in the Seventh-day Adventist Church abruptly came to an end. Music does not become a major issue in the Seventh-day Adventist Church again until the music wars, which began with the Jesus Movement in the 1960s.

Today, there is still widespread acceptance of Mrs White’s prophet claims amongst Seventh-day Adventist leadership. A worldwide survey of Seventh-day Adventist pastors in 2013 revealed that 84-97% of pastors (varying by Division) wholeheartedly accept Mrs White as an inspired messenger. However, a small percentage (0-7%) do have questions or major doubts about her inspiration.⁷⁷

Timeline:
From the Holiness Movement to Charismatic Megachurches

To summarise what has been discussed so far, there was much opposition to the Salvation Army in its early years in the late 19^th century. The Salvation Army belonged to the Holiness movement, whose origin can be traced back to John Wesley, the founder of Methodism.⁴¹ The Salvation Army grew rapidly with the help of exciting preaching and popular music and entertainment. Many opposed their methods and doctrinal teachings, including Mrs White, who referred to their doctrine as cheap Christianity. By the 1880s, Holiness was the most powerful doctrinal movement in America. It rapidly spread to other denominations transatlantically, significantly influencing the direction of theology and practice in Britain and the United States,⁷⁸as highlighted by Chris Armstrong in Christian History Magazine:

“Thus the holiness movement absorbed and contributed to the ecumenism of the 19th-century revivals—culminating in the ‘layman’s revival’ or ‘prayer revival’ of 1858—which drew together Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Methodists, Baptists, some Lutherans, a few Episcopalians, and even the occasional Unitarian…

In Europe, a series of visits by American evangelists helped the Alliance’s ecumenical cause. Many of these American preachers brought some form of holiness teaching with them. Phoebe Palmer and her husband visited Britain several times, contributing to an evangelical awakening that by one estimate added a million members to British evangelical churches.”⁷⁹

The opposition to The Salvation Army was not only to their doctrine but to their style of worship. For example, Mrs White spoke out against the Salvation Army’s Holiness band as well as the use of the drum to create a sensation, stating that excitement is not favourable to growth in grace. Commentators from other church denominations used terms such as, ‘over excitement,’ ‘nonsensical rhymes,’ ‘confused noise of brass instruments, drums and tambourines’ and ‘screams, dancing and gesticulations… to please and excite the flesh.’ In the late 1800s, the majority of Christendom was opposed to emotionalism in worship, but that changed with time.

Two decades after the founding of the Salvation Army, the Pentecostal movement emerged. Charles Parham, father of the Pentecostal movement, took the Holiness teachings to another level. Pentecostalism combined Holiness theology with supernatural signs of the Spirit, such as tongue speaking.⁸⁰ The Holy Flesh movement was a Seventh-day Adventist movement influenced by emerging Pentecostal methods and theology. Eyewitnesses of Holy Flesh worship services stated that their music was an exact copy of the Salvation Army method. Mrs White had repeatedly spoken out against the Salvation Army style of worship and music and, likewise, the methods of the Holy Flesh movement. She stated that “No encouragement should be given to this kind of worship.”^{12 (p37)} She also stated that it is better never to have “the worship of God blended with music” than to use musical instruments to do the work of the Holy Flesh movement.^{12 (p36)} The late Paul Hamel, former music department chair at Andrews University, recognised the significance of Mrs White’s concern regarding music at the 1900 Indiana camp meeting and devoted much attention to this topic in his book, Ellen White and Music, Background and Principles.

During the 1940s and 50s a new emphasis on healing and miracles appeared in the Pentecostal movement which gave birth to the Charismatic movement. Pr. Gary Gilley of Think on These Things Ministries (TOTT), speaking of Pentecostal, Charismatic, Word of Faith and other similar movements, said:

 “All of these 20th century movements can trace their ancestors to the Holiness Movement of the 1800s. They all have in common the desire for some form of instantaneous perfection, or power, that comes through a subsequent work of the Spirit in the lives of believers… rather than a lifetime process.”⁸⁰

As with William Booth, who openly used music as a primary means to lead people to conviction, Pentecostal and Charismatic organisations have also heavily relied on music to create a sense of the presence of God and to bring about conviction and, what they believe to be, physical manifestations of the spirit.

From the inception of the Salvation Army to the Charismatic megachurches of our time with their rock and pop bands, there has always been opposition to sensational worship. The Charismatic movement has had a huge influence on us, including their method of reaching the youth.⁴⁶ As we will discuss later, they are one of the biggest producers of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) and other producers of CCM have copied their methods. They have also flavoured our understanding of salvation.⁸¹ Is that a bad thing? Is there anything wrong with loud and exciting music, drums and dancing in church? After all, didn’t David and the Israelites shout, dance and blow the trumpet with all their might before the ark of God (2 Sam 6:14-15) and did not the Psalmist advise to praise God with loud instruments and dance (Ps 150)? Or is this type of music of the world? Have we joined Babylon? If you have not made up your mind about the answers to these questions, you likely will have by the end of this book. Or, if you have already decided one way or the other, this book may prompt you to think again.

Mrs White repeatedly opposed these methods. The prophetic gift is a big claim and, if true, would give her greater authority than others, including William and Catherine Booth. She was a contemporary of General Booth and also had widespread influence across society. Smithsonian Magazine named Mrs White among the 100 most significant Americans of all time.⁸² As with the Booths, she also co-founded a church denomination. She is considered one of the most prolific female authors of all time. One of her books, The Desire of Ages, some Adventist sources have claimed, was endorsed by the Library of Congress as the best book on the life of Christ. She helped to establish a number of educational and medical institutions which are still operating today, including Andrews University in Michigan and Loma Linda University Medical Center in California.⁸³ Recently, Heritage Films released a movie called The Hopeful, featuring the early work and ministry of Mrs White and the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

General Booth claimed to be led by the Holy Spirit, while Mrs White, who claimed to receive visions from God, opposed the method of music and worship used by the Salvation Army. Was it even necessary for God to send someone visions on this matter? Has He not given us the Bible to provide us with all of the guidance we need? Besides, Mrs White said herself that she was given no new light but that everything she was shown was in harmony with Scripture and points us back to Scripture. Why would she have even been needed?

Adventists have argued that even after being taught by Jesus throughout His ministry, His disciples still did not understand Jesus’ role as Messiah. Even though they knew Scripture well, after His death and resurrection, Jesus still had to point His disciples back to Scripture to reveal how He had fulfilled all of Scripture. Because their understanding of Scripture had been distorted by human tradition, He had to make it plain to them before they could understand. Alberto R. Timm, a supporter of Ellen White’s prophetic gift, provides the following explanation in a Ministry Magazine article:

“Some have asked, since we have the Bible, why do we need additional revelation in the writings of Ellen White? If contemporary Christianity manifested itself as a homogeneous whole, all its followers interpreting the Bible in much the same way, there would be more reason to doubt the necessity of such an additional revelation. But the fact of the matter is that Christianity has become more divided today in its interpretation of the Bible than ever before…

… If the Bible is its own interpreter, why do we need additional aid in understanding the Bible? This specific need derives from the fact that Christianity is divided today into many conflicting schools of biblical interpretation, each of them claiming hermeneutical faithfulness to the Scriptures. God gave us a modern manifestation of the gift of prophecy through the writings of Ellen White to help us break away from the human traditions that conspire against the Word of God (see Matt. 15:6-9).

Those writings are a divine prophetic filter that helps us to remove all the human rubble that tradition has artificially imposed on the Bible, so that the divine message of the Scriptures can flow pure and clean into our hearts.”⁸⁴

The remainder of this book will put the claims of Mrs White and other opponents of the Holiness movement and charismatic worship to the test. Why do they oppose ecstatic worship, loud music, drums and dance when Psalm 150 calls us to praise God with excitement, dance, tambourine and loud clashing cymbals? Are opponents biblical in their opposition to contemporary Christian music and worship, and does science support their views? This book will explore the effects of emotions, music, instruments, loud noise and dance on us, both physically and spiritually. Most importantly, we will look at what God teaches us in Scripture concerning music.