WAR ON WAR

Historians tell that Ellen was smitten with a stone at the age of thirteen in 1840 which left her unable to complete her education at the elementary level of school; however, she was surrounded by family members who were well versed along academic lines - they were educators, preachers, politicians, scholars, etc., who helped her to develop her rich background by dedicated academic influences that they shared. They were teachers, bishops and educators in the African Methodist Church who taught her on a daily basis through special attentions in instruction and by precept and example. Later when she began writing the prophecies given to her from God, the words were human words, but the inspiration was from God Himself.

     William Seraile in his book Voice of Dissent, pp. 2, 3, wrote of the Gouldtown families: "They were honest people who prized physical and moral strength. The Goulds believed that luck might provide men material comforts, but life's ultimate rewards came from fearing God. They encouraged their children to live according to the Ten Commandments. Their homes were cold, their food plain, and sanitation was almost nonexistent. Family historians stressed the residents' love of literature. They were familiar with English history, Robert Burn's poetry, Milton, Shakespeare, Pilgrim's Progress, and Robinson Crusoe. Highly prized was Baxter's Saints' Rest. Why were these poor people so attracted to books usually found in the elegant libraries of the gentry? Their poverty was due to geographical bad luck, not to laziness. It was not a sin to be a victim of circumstance. God rewarded men of faith, but man's mind was a gift from Him, that needed to be developed to its utmost." And God rewarded Ellen's mind with this gift. During her lifetime, she was inspired to write many books, tracts, articles, etc., which has led the Seventh-day Adventist believers from the bitter disappointment in 1844 until the present time and will continue to be a guide for the church until the coming of the Lord. And the end of the Great Controversy between Christ and Satan.

    "It is not the words of the Bible that are inspired, but the men that were inspired. Inspiration acts not on the man's words or his expressions but on the man himself, who under the influence of the Holy Ghost, is imbued with thoughts. But the words receive the impression and the individual mind. The divine mind is diffused. The divine mind and will is combined with the human mind and will; thus the utterances of the man are the word of God." - Selected Messages Book 1, p. 21

     Ellen constantly kept before the church the sinfulness of prejudice and slavery along with challenging the church of its duty to help the Colored people in America. Her urging was so strongly promoted until, in 1890, the church leaders voted for her to go to Australia for ten years to help with the development of the work there. Edson, her son, continued to carry the burden and began working for the Colored people who were of the ethnic background.

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