Newspaper Misrepresentations of Denominational Differences
By Editor
During the past week we have received quite a number of daily papers and newspaper clippings dealing with the settlement of difficulties which it is stated have existed in this denomination for a year or more, all of which seem to agree in a general way as to the nature of the difficulties and the terms of settlement. According to articles in the Battle Creek daily papers and dispatches which have been sent out from Battle Creek, there has been carried forward for some time a factional fight between Mrs. E. G. White and “her blind followers,” on the one hand, and Dr. J. H. Kellogg and his associates, on the other hand. We do not know where to place the responsibility for this presentation of the case, but we can see plainly that there is a persistent effort to misrepresent the whole matter, and to place Mrs. E. G. White and the General Conference Committee and this paper in a false light before the public. In view of these facts, it seems proper that we should say, for the benefit of any who may be disturbed by these newspaper reports, that there has been no factional warfare against Dr. J. H. Kellogg or the Sanitarium carried on by Mrs. E. G. White or any one else, and any one who attempts to interpret the experiences of the past year on this basis is guilty of gross misrepresentation. Differences of the most vital importance to this denomination and its work, both as relates to methods of administration and to doctrines taught, have sprung up, and by the spirit of prophecy as exercised through Mrs. E. G. White, wrong principles have been pointed out, wrong teaching has been corrected, and wrong methods of administration have been dealt with. These warnings and counsels have been twisted by some persons into personal attacks upon an individual, and have been accounted for as growing out of personal antipathy against Battle Creek. Nothing could be further from the truth, as those who are really in sympathy with our denominational work well know. All this effort to misrepresent the true situation at the expense of the character and standing of Mrs. E. G. White and her work in this denomination will some time be seen in its true light, and will be estimated at its true worth. The basis upon which these difficulties are to come to an end is uniformly interpreted in such a way in these reports as to leave the impression that the whole trouble has grown out of the tendency of some persons to split theological hairs, and from a feeling of hostility against Battle Creek, and the responsibility for all the difficulty is permitted to rest upon those who have removed from that city. We can understand that this representation of the case is quite natural under all the circumstances, and we do not propose to enter upon any vindication of our course. Having made this general statement and protest, we shall go steadily forward with our work, waiting for the time when truth and justice will prevail. We know that there is a meaning in these experiences which it is not to be expected that the public can understand now, but believers in this message ought to be able to see a significance in them which they should not soon forget.