1980 . . .

Selected Messages, book three, was released by the Ellen G. White Publications containing a supplied 33-page editorial account of the Minneapolis Conference. As was done in the 1962 edition of Testimonies to Ministers, the compilers inserted seven pages of their ideas to condition the reader. The section is introduced by “A Statement Presenting the Historical Backgrounds.” Twice, reference is made to a vote not being taken on the issues. “No conference actions were taken” (p. 159), yet the 1893 General Conference Bulletin indicates that a vote was taken (p. 244) and Ellen White supports the statement. 

We are told that A. V. Olson’s Through Crisis to Victory “documents the gradual change for the better that ensued in the five or six years after Minneapolis” (p. 162). The amazing statement is made, “Ellen White recognized this and at times mentioned it, usually in incidental statements. At no time, however, did she intimate or declare that there was an official rejection by the church leaders of the precious message brought to the attention of the General Conference in 1888.” An “official rejection” or an “unofficial rejection” does not change the fact of rejection.

The Minneapolis Session was her deep concern for over a decade following 1888, as her writings show. The actual rejection of the Latter Rain was repeatedly confirmed by her, which establishes a de facto “official rejection” verified by the record. What she said has no hidden meaning and requires no “interpretation.”

To read her words is to know her intent, which could not be stated more specifically than when she declared, “Satan succeeded in shutting away from our people, in a great measure, the special power of the Holy Spirit that God longed to impart to them.” She goes on to say in this profound 1896 statement: “The light that is to lighten the whole earth with its glory was resisted, and by the action of our own brethren has been kept away from the world” (1SM 234, 235). The compilers’ “Historical Background” compels the reader to sense that efforts were made to re-write Adventist history.

(Quoted from article: "Do We Love the Truth About "1888"? by Donald K. Short, September / October 2004).