Reason 5: Just because a Pioneer taught something doesn’t make it true​

I’ve heard many declare that our pioneers already gave us an understanding of prophecy, therefore we have no need to veer away from what’s already been established.

This is an understandable position, considering the Adventist Church has a rich history. From the Millerite Movement, the Great Disappointment, Ellen White’s visions, and then to the forming of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, many of us are proud of our Christian heritage and safeguard its integrity as if it’s our own family.

However, we must understand that only Ellen White was under inspiration from a prophetic standpoint. The other pioneers were clearly used by God, but that doesn’t mean everything they wrote was just as inspired by Ellen White.

Our Pioneers were inspired, but they weren’t INSPIRED.

Yes, Stephen Haskell, AT Jones, EJ Waggoner, Joseph Bates, Uriah Smith, and even James White were all used by God at certain times and in certain books and sermons, but we must stop placing them on the same stage as Ellen White.

Ellen White was the only Messenger to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. And while I believe many of our pioneers were inspired in one way or another to help form our belief system, we must test them the same way we would test any other Adventist preacher, teacher, or author.