Ok SDA, I get it, you don’t like the Catholic Church and blame her for violating God’s law and making the Christian day of worship Sunday rather than the Jewish Sabbath. You believe that this is a grave matter that concerns the fate of souls, so you rail against Catholicism with vigor, and that would be praised by God if it were true. Just as the man in the Bible who slew the Israelites that married foreign women against the law and command of God was praised for being zealous for his God, you believe that it is righteous to oppose the Church by any means necessary. We read in The Great Controversy chapter 35:
The church's claim to the right to pardon leads the Romanist to feel at liberty to sin; and the ordinance of confession, without which her pardon is not granted, tends also to give license to evil. He who kneels before fallen man, and opens in confession the secret thoughts and imaginations of his heart, is debasing his manhood and degrading every noble instinct of his soul. In unfolding the sins of his life to a priest,—an erring, sinful mortal, and too often corrupted with wine and licentiousness,—his standard of character is lowered, and he is defiled in consequence. His thought of God is degraded to the likeness of fallen humanity, for the priest stands as a representative of God. This degrading confession of man to man is the secret spring from which has flowed much of the evil that is defiling the world and fitting it for the final destruction. Yet to him who loves self-indulgence, [568] it is more pleasing to confess to a fellow mortal than to open the soul to God. It is more palatable to human nature to do penance than to renounce sin; it is easier to mortify the flesh by sackcloth and nettles and galling chains than to crucify fleshly lusts. Heavy is the yoke which the carnal heart is willing to bear rather than bow to the yoke of Christ.
One of the marks of a prophet is that they do not contradict the word of God. If they do, that would make them a false prophet and unworthy of allegiance or study. In her attack on the Catholic Church, what has Ellen White done here? She contradicts the word of God by degrading confession and penance. She doesn’t like the Catholic practice and believes it to be false? That does not give her the right to directly contradict God in His word. A true prophet would have incorporated the scripture in her argument and showed how it was being violated, but she did not do that. She went for direct contradiction; the well know baby out with the bath water done by many false rebels.
On confession we read in the Bible:
Confess your sins one to another James 5:16
It does not say to confess to God alone, but Ellen White does
On penance we read:
Luke 13:3
No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish.
{This is a solemn promise of Christ to all of us. Unless we do penance, we will “perish.”}
Job 42:6
Therefore I reprehend myself, and do penance in dust and ashes.
Ecclesiasticus 2:22
If we do not penance, we shall fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men.
{If we don’t experience discipline in this life, we shall experience it in the next.}
Jeremiah 31:19
For after thou didst convert me, I did penance: and after thou didst shew unto me, I struck my thigh: I am confounded and ashamed, because I have borne the reproach of my youth.
{Notice here, that penance comes after conversion.}
Lamentations 2:14
Thy prophets have seen false and foolish things for thee: and they have not laid open thy iniquity, to excite thee to penance: but they have seen for thee false revelations and banishments.
{Here the spiritual leaders of Israel have wrongly induced the people to follow after false revelations or apparitions. Instead, they should have led the people to penance. Incidentally, Saint Francis is the perfect example of the right leader. He doesn’t appeal to apparitions or even to his stigmata. He appeals to the power of prayer, fasting, and penance.}
Ezekiel 18:21
But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die.
{This is the great promise for Lent. If we humble ourselves and live sacrificially, we will have life. God is merciful and loving and He desires our transformation into the image of Christ His Son.}
Matthew 3:8
Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance.
{Here we find that true repentance requires fruit – it requires outward acts that conform to the inward reality.}
Matthew 11:20
Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein were done the most of his miracles, for that they had not done penance.
{This is a sobering verse. Christ doesn’t work miracles where the people don’t repent. Divine power is restricted by human pride.}
Romans 2:4
Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and patience, and longsuffering? Knowest thou not, that the benignity of God leadeth thee to penance?
{The love, mercy, and benignity of God brings us to a true repentance. Notice that being mean and hateful does not bring others to penance.}
Apocalypse 2:5
Be mindful therefore from whence thou art fallen: and do penance, and do the first works. Or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou do penance.
{Here “do penance” and “do the first works” are paired together. Penance has an outward dimension, because sin also has an outward dimension. The horrifying truth is that Christ will snuff out the Church of any region if they don’t live a life of penitence.}
The Bible tells us to do penance. Ellen White does not. She says human nature is more content to do penance, but that is absurd and the Bible says so. People like to be forgiven but do not want to admit they are wrong. They would rather have their ears tickled and told how good they are. That is deception. The Bible tells us to repent
Ellen white is a false teacher and certainly not a prophet although she has attracted a following
