For many years, Ellen G. White occupied a place of enormous importance in our spiritual journey. We did not merely read her books occasionally. We devoured them. We studied them, quoted them, distributed them, and passionately promoted their message around the world.

From the beginning of the ministry until December 25, 2018, we were among the most passionate, generous, and aggressive distributors of Ellen White’s books. We sent her writings across nations because we sincerely believed that they contained a precious light that the world desperately needed.

This was not something we did casually.

Our roots in the Seventh-day Adventist Church went back several generations. Ellen White was therefore not simply an author whose books we happened to appreciate. She was deeply woven into the religious heritage from which we came. Her writings had influenced generations of our families and had helped shape our understanding of Christianity, prophecy, salvation, and the end times.

Consequently, turning away from her writings was one of the most painful decisions we had ever made.

Yet truth has a price.

And when truth and loyalty to a religious tradition come into conflict, truth must prevail.

When Tradition Collides with Scripture

We could not honestly tell people to search the Scriptures while simultaneously asking them to accept teachings because Ellen White had endorsed them. That contradiction eventually became unbearable.

We had reached a point where we could no longer ignore what our studies were revealing.

Our love for truth eventually became stronger than our devotion to any religious leader, no matter how respected that leader might be.

That principle applies to Ellen White just as surely as it applies to every other religious teacher.

We had been willing to tolerate what we considered relatively minor disagreements between her writings and Scripture. We could have continued distributing her books while explaining away difficult statements or placing them into categories of lesser importance.

But two subjects made that approach impossible for us:

the divinity of Yahushua and the investigative judgment.

These were not peripheral doctrines.

They were foundational questions involving the identity of the Messiah and the nature of the work of salvation.

We could not honestly tell people to search the Scriptures while simultaneously asking them to accept teachings because Ellen White had endorsed them.

That contradiction eventually became unbearable.

The Divinity of Yahushua

The identity of Yahushua is not a minor theological question.

Who is the Son of Yahuwah?

What did the apostles actually teach about Him?

What did Yahushua Himself teach concerning His relationship with the Father?

These questions demand that we go directly to Scripture.

The more carefully we examined the biblical testimony, the more convinced we became that Scripture presents Yahushua as the uniquely begotten Son of Yahuwah and consistently distinguishes the Father from His Son.

Yahushua repeatedly directed attention to His Father.

He prayed to His Father.

He received authority from His Father.

He declared that the Father was greater than He.

He identified the Father as the only true Elohim.

And after His resurrection, He continued to speak of His Father as “my God.”

These statements could not simply be pushed aside because they conflicted with a theological system we had inherited.

The question became painfully simple:

Would we submit our understanding to Scripture, or would we make Scripture conform to an inherited theological framework?

We chose Scripture.

That decision had enormous consequences.

The Investigative Judgment

The investigative judgment presented another fundamental problem.

For decades, this doctrine had occupied an important place within the Adventist theological system. We had accepted it because it was part of the framework we had inherited.

But eventually we were compelled to ask a question that should always be asked of every doctrine:

Where does the Bible actually teach this?

Not, “Can we construct an argument for it?”

Not, “Can we find language that resembles it?”

Not, “Did Ellen White teach it?”

But:

Does Scripture teach it?

The more we examined the biblical evidence, the less comfortable we became with the investigative-judgment framework.

This was especially troubling because the doctrine is not merely an interesting interpretation of prophecy. It touches the very heart of the gospel and the believer’s confidence in the completed work of Yahushua.

The New Testament repeatedly emphasizes the sufficiency and completion of Yahushua’s sacrificial work.

His sacrifice was not an unfinished transaction awaiting a later determination of whether His followers could ultimately benefit from it.

The biblical message of salvation directs our faith toward Yahushua Himself.

That realization forced us to reconsider the theological structure we had inherited.

The Moment of Crisis

There comes a point in every sincere search for truth when a person must decide whether truth is more important than belonging.

That moment came for us.

We had invested enormous amounts of time, money, energy, and reputation in distributing Ellen White’s writings.

We had encouraged people to read them.

We had considered ourselves servants of a cause that we believed was advancing divine truth.

To abandon that work meant acknowledging that something we had passionately promoted for years could no longer be promoted by us.

That was deeply humbling.

It was also deeply painful.

But humility before truth is better than confidence in error.

We eventually realized that our previous investment could not determine our future obedience.

The fact that we had spent years distributing these books did not make them true.

The fact that generations of our families had respected Ellen White did not make her writings inspired.

The fact that millions of people considered her a prophet did not place her writings on the same level as Scripture.

And the fact that we had personally benefited from portions of her writings did not authorize us to overlook teachings that we believed contradicted the Bible.

Truth does not become truth because we have invested heavily in it.

Nor does error become truth because we have defended it for decades.

December 25, 2018

Therefore, December 25, 2018, became a watershed moment for us.

It marked the end of our active distribution of Ellen White’s books.

We did not arrive at this decision lightly.

We arrived there because our conscience would no longer permit us to do otherwise.

There is something profoundly liberating about finally being willing to release something that once seemed indispensable.

At first, letting go felt like losing a spiritual treasure.

But gradually we discovered that we had not lost truth.

We had gained freedom.

The Stranglehold Was Broken

For years, Ellen White’s writings had functioned in our minds as an additional interpretive authority.

Even when we wanted to study the Bible independently, her books were always present in the background.

What did Ellen White say about this passage?

How did she interpret this prophecy?

What did she teach concerning this doctrine?

What did she say Yahushua meant?

Those questions can subtly change the entire character of Bible study.

Instead of asking, “What does Scripture say?”, we begin asking, “What does Scripture say according to this particular interpreter?”

That is a dangerous shift.

The Bible becomes the primary source, but the writings of the religious authority become the lens through which the Bible must be understood.

We eventually recognized that we needed to break free from that pattern completely.

And when we did, something extraordinary happened.

The Bible opened before us in a new way.

We could read Scripture without constantly checking it against another authority.

We could examine passages according to their immediate context.

We could compare Scripture with Scripture.

We could follow the biblical evidence wherever it led—even when it led somewhere uncomfortable.

That was freedom.

Scripture Alone

Our decision did not mean that we suddenly believed that everything Ellen White ever wrote was false.

That was never the issue.

There may be many statements in her writings that contain sound moral counsel, useful historical observations, or thoughts that harmonize with Scripture. But the presence of truth in a person’s writings does not establish that person as an inspired authority.

There may be many statements in her writings that contain sound moral counsel, useful historical observations, or thoughts that harmonize with Scripture.

But the presence of truth in a person’s writings does not establish that person as an inspired authority.

A human teacher can say many true things without possessing prophetic authority.

Therefore, the question was not whether Ellen White occasionally said things that were true.

The question was whether her writings should govern our understanding of biblical truth.

Our answer became no.

The Bible had to stand alone as the final authority.

That conviction transformed our ministry.

We no longer wanted people to become dependent upon our interpretations.

We wanted them to open their Bibles.

We wanted them to test what we teach.

We wanted them to ask questions.

We wanted them to search.

We wanted them to challenge us when our conclusions did not withstand Scripture.

That is a much healthier relationship between a ministry and the people it serves.

No Human Leader Is Above Examination

One of the most important lessons we learned was that sincere people can become so attached to a religious leader that questioning that leader begins to feel like questioning Yahuwah Himself.

That is precisely where danger begins.

Scripture never instructs believers to surrender their capacity for examination to a human teacher.

The Bereans were commended because they examined the apostolic preaching against Scripture to determine whether what they were being taught was true.

If the Bereans examined even the teaching of apostles against Scripture, how much more should we examine the writings of later religious leaders?

Our loyalty must therefore never be to Ellen White.

Nor should it ultimately be to any ministry, denomination, theologian, preacher, or religious movement.

Our loyalty must be to Yahuwah and His revealed Word.

What We Gained

Looking back, we can now see that abandoning Ellen White’s writings did not impoverish our ministry.

It liberated it.

We were liberated from constantly defending statements simply because a respected religious authority had made them.

We were liberated from the fear that questioning a religious tradition meant betraying our spiritual heritage.

We were liberated from the pressure to harmonize Scripture with an inherited theological system.

We were liberated to follow evidence.

We were liberated to admit mistakes.

We were liberated to change our conclusions when Scripture demanded it.

And perhaps most importantly, we were liberated to point people directly to the Bible rather than to another human being.

That freedom has been priceless.

Truth Must Always Trump Loyalty

Our journey taught us a lesson that extends far beyond Ellen White or Adventism. Every believer must eventually confront the temptation to place loyalty to people above loyalty to truth.

Our journey taught us a lesson that extends far beyond Ellen White or Adventism.

Every believer must eventually confront the temptation to place loyalty to people above loyalty to truth.

It can happen with pastors.

It can happen with denominations.

It can happen with authors.

It can happen with ministries.

It can even happen with our own cherished interpretations.

But Yahushua said that truth would make His followers free.

Freedom therefore requires courage.

Sometimes truth demands that we abandon something we once loved.

Sometimes it requires us to admit that something we passionately defended was mistaken.

Sometimes it requires us to disappoint people we respect.

Sometimes it requires us to walk away from a theological system that shaped our entire spiritual identity.

But the cost of truth is always cheaper than the cost of remaining in error.

From Ellen White to the Bible

December 25, 2018, therefore represents far more than the date when we stopped distributing Ellen White’s books.

It represents a spiritual transition.

We moved from dependence upon a religious authority to dependence upon Scripture.

We moved from inherited conclusions to biblical examination.

We moved from defending a tradition to pursuing truth.

And we moved from placing confidence in human writings to placing our confidence in the Word of Yahuwah.

We are profoundly grateful for the lessons learned during those years.

We do not deny our history.

We do not hide it.

We openly acknowledge that we once distributed Ellen White’s books passionately, generously, and aggressively throughout the world.

But we also openly acknowledge that we were wrong to continue doing so once we became convinced that her teachings conflicted with clear biblical truth on foundational matters.

That acknowledgment is not a source of shame.

It is a testimony to the power of truth.

The Greatest Liberation

Perhaps the greatest blessing was discovering that we did not need another human authority to make the Bible understandable.

We needed to read it.

We needed to pray.

We needed to compare passages.

We needed to study historical and linguistic context.

We needed to be willing to say, “I was wrong.”

And above all, we needed to allow Scripture to correct us rather than continually attempting to correct Scripture to fit our traditions.

That is genuine spiritual freedom.

We are no longer interested in defending Ellen White.

We are no longer interested in protecting the theological conclusions of previous generations simply because they are familiar.

We want to follow truth wherever it leads.

If Scripture confirms our understanding, we rejoice.

If Scripture corrects us, we rejoice.

If Scripture forces us to abandon something we have believed for decades, we must still rejoice—because being corrected by Yahuwah’s Word is infinitely better than remaining comfortable in error.

Our journey away from Ellen White was painful.

But it was also liberating.

The chains of inherited religious authority were broken.

The Bible became our focus.

Yahushua became the center of our faith.

And truth became more precious to us than tradition.

For that freedom, we are profoundly grateful.

The books of a human teacher could never be worth more than the Word of Yahuwah.

And once we understood that, we knew we had to let them go.

Letting Ellen White Go

[Verse 1]
For generations we walked the road,
With SDA roots and a treasured load.
We read the books, we shared them wide,
With Ellen White walking by our side.
We gave our strength, our time, our name,
Believing we were serving Your cause the same.
But truth began to call us deeper within,
To search the Word and examine again.

[Pre-Chorus]
We could not place a human voice
Above the Word and make that choice.
Though painful tears began to flow,
Truth gave us courage to let go.

[Chorus]
Father Yahuwah, lead us in Your light,
Through every shadow, through every night.
Master Yahushua, our hearts belong to You,
Your Word alone will guide us through.
We let go of what we once held tight,
We left behind the books of Ellen White.
No human throne, no earthly creed—
Your living Word is all we need.

[Verse 2]
We saw the questions we could not deny,
About the Son who came from on high.
The divinity of Yahushua became our cry,
And Scripture called us to ask why.
The investigative judgment stood before our eyes,
We searched the Word beneath inherited ties.
We could no longer defend what Scripture would not say,
So we chose the narrow, truth-filled way.

[Chorus]
Father Yahuwah, lead us in Your light,
Through every shadow, through every night.
Master Yahushua, our hearts belong to You,
Your Word alone will guide us through.
We let go of what we once held tight,
We left behind the books of Ellen White.
No human throne, no earthly creed—
Your living Word is all we need.

[Verse 3]
December twenty-fifth, two thousand eighteen,
A turning point unlike we’d ever seen.
We laid down a burden we had carried so long,
And found in surrender we had not been wrong.
The stranglehold broke; our hearts could breathe,
The Bible alone became our creed.
No fear of changing, no need to pretend,
Where Scripture corrected, we’d follow its end.

[Bridge]
WLC remembers where we came,
Not hiding our past, not denying our name.
We honor the lessons, but truth comes first,
Even when leaving old pathways hurts.
SDA shaped the road we once knew,
Ellen White’s writings once filled our view.
But now our eyes are fixed above,
On Yahuwah’s truth and Yahushua’s love.

[Final Chorus]
Father Yahuwah, keep us in Your Word,
Let every human voice be tested and heard.
Master Yahushua, faithful Son and King,
To You alone our hearts will sing.
We let go of what we once held tight,
Freed from the weight of Ellen White.
No human throne, no earthly creed—
Your living Word is all we need.

[Outro]
We lost a burden, we found release,
We left confusion and entered peace.
From inherited faith to truth made clear,
We follow the Word without fear.
Father Yahuwah, receive our praise;
Master Yahushua, guide our days.
WLC will follow where Scripture leads—
Your Word alone is all we need.