An Advent-ism (or Ellen-ism) is a term we coined to refer to details not found in the Bible but come from Ellen G. White. Many Seventh-Day Adventists, including many formers, believe them to be coming from scripture but they aren’t found in the biblical text. They are often times smuggled in to Adventist teachings, sermons, educational materials, etc.
Some examples include:
- Adam was twice as tall as modern man
- Jesus’ brothers were older than he and they were the sons of Joseph who sided with the rabbis
- Dogs ate Judas Iscariot’s remains
- Jesus fainted three times under the weight of the cross
- Satan offered to help Jesus with the plan of salvation
- God fed Elijah by means of an angel
- The Serpent ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
- Eve wasn’t with Adam when she was tempted
- The Serpent plucked the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge and put it in Eve’s hand
- Eve took armfuls of fruit to go find Adam after being tempted
- That Pilate asked Jesus for forgiveness because he couldn’t save Him
- Angels access heaven using “golden cards”
- Satan had an interview with Jesus where he repented
- The Serpent in Eden was burnished gold and had wings
- Adam and Eve had “white robes of light” prior to falling
- Judas begged Jesus for forgiveness after betraying Him
- Satan held a council meeting to plan how to attack Adventists and the Sabbath
- The trip to heaven will take seven days
- Jesus incarnated to silence accusations of Satan
- God replicated the pattern of Eden on other created worlds
While the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and her apologists are quick to assert that Ellen White never added anything to the Bible, she just makes more clear what’s already present, this is very clearly not the case.
