Ellen G. White eats meat and oysters
(also herring, duck, chicken, shrimp, and venison)
By Robert K. Sanders
This article will show that Ellen G. White (EGW) was a meat and oyster eating "health reformer" and that she deceived her followers into believing that she practiced health reform, and all the while she was feasting on meat and oysters.
To excuse Mrs. White’s meat eating because she was not perfect (and neither were the Biblical prophets perfect) is not a valid argument. This argument is a clever attempt to confuse two separate issues—"moral failures" with "theological failures." Like us, all of the prophets sinned and had their moral failures. EGW had both moral and theological failures.
- Has Mrs. White failed the Biblical tests of a prophet?
- Does God reject meat eaters and forbid them from being teachers as claimed by EGW's visions?
- Is heath reform part of the third Angel's message?
I have given a time line of EGW's off and on meat eating habits, and her lies and condemnation of others that were meat eaters.
1863—Ellen’s Health Reform Vision
EGW: "But since the Lord presented before me, in June, 1863, the subject of meat eating in relation to health, I have left the use of meat. For a while it was rather difficult to bring my appetite to bread, for which, formerly, I had but little relish. But by persevering, I have been able to do this. I have lived for nearly one year without meat. For about six months most of the bread upon our table has been unleavened cakes, made of unbolted wheat meal and water, and a very little salt. We use fruits and vegetables liberally. I have lived for eight months upon two meals a day." Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 482.
Note: Ellen says the purpose of this 1863 vision was "meat eating in relation to health." In this 1863 vision she does not tell us what the problem is with meat. She just outlines how she was not using meat in her diet.
1865—EGW's Health Reform Vision becomes part of the "Third Angel's Message"
EGW: "The health reform, I was shown, is a part of the third angel's message and is just as closely connected with it as are the arm and hand with the human body." —1T, p.486.
Rev 14:9-10 (NIV): A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.
Rev. 22:18 (NIV): I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.
Note: Ellen added to Revelation 14, "health reform." God will add the plagues to EGW for her sin. By adding her health reform vision to the third angel's message, those that rebelled against health reform (meat eating) would be rebelling against God. These rebellious meat eaters would be included with those that would be the punishment for worshiping the beast and his image. This ought to scare the meat eaters to conform to EGW's mandates.
I challenge anyone to find in Revelation 14, a text dealing with "health reform" connected to the three angels messages.
1868—Prayers do not go high if your children eats eggs, butter, and meat!
EGW: "You place on your table butter, eggs, and meat, and your children partake of them. They are fed with the very things that will excite their animal passions, and then you come to meeting and ask God to bless and save your children. How high do your prayers go?" —2T, p. 362.
Note: Amazing. Twenty-nine years later God showed EGW it was now OK to feed eggs to a sick child and "excite the animal passions". Also there would be no point in praying for this child because he ate eggs three times a day. Wow!
EGW: "I dreamed of having the care of a child that was weak, and seemed unable to rally. I thought the same physician stood by the cradle, and said, 'Have you any wine in the house? Beat up a raw egg and give it to the child with grape wine three times a day. He will rally. Letter 112a, 1897.
Note: Throughout the Bible, God’s people ate butter, eggs and meat in the Old and New Testament. Did God hear and answer their prayers? Of course he did. Did Jesus and the people of the Bible really have their animal passions excited when they ate meat, eggs and butter? But in 1863 God let Adventists in on this little secret! Adventists, do your duty and warn your neighbors.
Does a vegetarian have a better chance of not having their animal passions excited than a meat eater? Where do we find in the Word that these foods are harmful and by eating them our prayers will not ascend to heaven?
Ellen in condemning others condemned herself. Her animal passions must have really been excited when she ate fish, venison, chicken, duck and oysters. Her prayers were not ascending to heaven because she ate meat.
1870—Eating turkey or other meats perverts your appetites
EGW: "Those who digress occasionally to gratify the taste in eating a fattened turkey or other flesh meats, pervert their appetites, and are not the ones to judge the benefits of the system of health reform. They are controlled by taste, not by principle." — Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 399.
Note: When you ask God to bless your Thanksgiving turkey, also ask him to prevent you from having a perverted appetite. Meat eating Adventists, do you really believe you have perverted appetite by eating turkey?
Ellen more than digressed occasionally to eat meat. By her own words, she must have had a "perverted appetite" that was controlled "by taste and not principle" because of her meat eating. Where does the Bible tell us that eating meat perverts the appetite?
God tells us that we can eat anything sold in the meat market. Did Jesus and all the people of the Bible have perverted appetites because they were given meat to eat by God?
1 Cor 10:25 (NIV): "Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience,"
1870—Ellen G. White denies eating meat
EGW: "No butter or flesh-meats of any kind come on my table. Cake is seldom found there." 2 T, — p. 487
1870—People that use meat and butter are backslidden
EGW: "One family in particular have needed all the benefits they could receive from the reform in diet, yet these very ones have been completely backslidden. Meat and butter have been used by them quite freely and spices have not been entirely discarded." —2T, p 485.
Note: Ellen’s definition of a faithful health reformer was that she could eat meat whenever it was convenient for her to do so. When others did so she called them backslidden. To me it is amazing that Bible believing Christians cannot see EGW was a Health Reform Hypocrite. And not only that, but she contradicted the Bible.
1871—Ellen and James eat venison every day
EGW: When we were down in Texas, and old Brother White was breaking down, (Sister White) just got the most beautiful venison every day to eat, and my wife would cook it, and he would sit down and say ‘O Ellen, that is just the thing!’ She never did hold him up and make him live on a diet of starch! A. G. Daniells,— Spectrum, "1919 Bible Conference," p. 41.
EGW: Christmas morning we all took breakfast together—James Cornell; Florence and Clara, their two girls; Brother and Sister Moore and their three children; Sister Bahler and Etta, a girl living with them; and Sister Daniells, our cook, Father, and myself. We had a quarter of venison cooked, and stuffing. It was as tender as a chicken. We all enjoyed it very much. There is plenty of venison in market. (Written December 26, 1878, from Denison, Texas, to "Dear Family at Battle Creek--Willie, Mary, Aunt Mary, Edith, Addie and May, and Brother and Sister Sawyer.") —Manuscript Releases, Volume Fourteen, p. 318. Letter 23, 1878.
Note: Ellen and James sure enjoyed health reform as they ate venison.
1871—God Sanctifies health reformers (vegetarians)
EGW: "The apostle Paul exhorts the church, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Men, then, can make their bodies unholy by sinful indulgences. If unholy, they are unfitted to be spiritual worshipers, and are not worthy of heaven. If man will cherish the light that God in mercy gives him upon health reform, he may be sanctified through the truth, and fitted for immortality. But if he disregards that light, and lives in violation of natural law, he must pay the penalty." —Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 70.
Note: Ellen twisted Paul’s counsel on presenting your bodies as a living sacrifice to include her "health reform" message. Where does the Bible tell us in order to be sanctified, a person must accept health reform? This is salvation by works. It is Jesus Christ that sanctifies us, not EGW's "health reform".
If Paul were living today he would be condemned by EGW as living in violation of natural law having a perverted appetite and not fit to stand for the truth, as Paul was a meat eater. Tell me that God did not sanctify Paul!
1873—Whites have wild duck and deer for dinner (How about having this at church potluck?)
EGW: Brother Glover left the camp today to go for supplies. We are getting short of provisions. We got him the best we could for his meals on the way. He was to send Mr. Walling immediately and to get our mail. A young man from Nova Scotia had come in from hunting. He had a quarter of deer. He had traveled 20 miles with this deer upon his back. The remainder of the deer he had left hung up in the woods. He saw six elk but did not try to shoot them as he knew he could not carry them out. He gave us a small piece of the meat, which we made into broth. Willie shot a duck which came in a time of need, for our supplies were rapidly diminishing. —Manuscript 11, 1873. Ellen G. White Estate, Washington, D.C. April 11, 1985 (Written in the Colorado mountains, diary entry for September 28, 1873.)
1874—Ellen and James gave up meat
EGW letter to Willie White: Your father and I have dropped milk, cream, butter, sugar, and meat entirely since we came to California. We are far clearer in mind and far better in body. We live very plainly. We cannot write unless we do live simply. Your father bought meat once for May while she was sick, but not a penny have we expended on meat since..." —Manuscript Release #1128; Letter 12, 1874; Manuscript Release, Volume 14, p. 322.
1876—EGW did not know fish was meat
EGW wrote to her traveling husband: “We have not had a particle of meat in the house since you left and long before you left. We have had salmon a few times. It has been rather high [in price].” Letter 13, 1876, cited in MR, vol. 14, p. 336.
EGW: Two years ago I came to the conclusion that there was danger in using the flesh of dead animals, and since then I have not used meat at all. It is never placed on my table. I use fish when I can get it. We can get beautiful fish from the saltwater lake near here. I use neither tea nor coffee. As I labor against these things, I cannot but practice that which I know to be best for health, and my family are all in perfect harmony with me. You see, my dear niece, that I am telling you matters just as they are. 14MR 330
1879—EGW has beef tea for breakfast
EGW: I remained on deck until dark, and then went into the cabin, where the pitching of the boat made me very sick. This was on Monday, and I was unable to sit up from that time until Thursday morning, taking but once during that time a little beef tea and cracker. We had a strong head wind against us all the way from San Francisco, and we were all rejoiced when, on Thursday morning, we passed the bar, and entered the smooth river, leaving the restless billows behind us. —The Signs of the Times, July 18, 1878. T 4, p.289.
1880—EGW has chicken broth rorbreakfast
EGW: Thursday morning we arose from our births refreshed with sleep. At eight o'clock we took a portion of the pressed chicken furnished us by the matron of the sanitarium, put the same in a two-quart pail, and placed it on the stove, and thus we had good hot chicken broth and enjoyed our breakfast. The morning was very cold and this hot dish was very palatable. —Ellen's (Letter 6a, 1880) to Her Sister Elizabeth, Manuscript Release, Volume Eleven, page 142, paragraph 3. Chapter Title: Geographical descriptions and travel in the Western U. S.
1880—EGW condemns a Battle Creek youth for eating oysters
EGW: "...OYSTERS or other refreshments are called for, and he is ashamed to draw away and refuse the treat..."— 4T p. 435.
Two years later in 1882 Ellen has added "a few cans of Oysters" to her grocery list.
1882—Ellen's menu of herring and oysters
—Manuscript Release No. 852: The Development of Adventist Thinking, page 2, by Ron Graybill.
Once when Ellen White was ill, her son, W. C. White, reports that she was encouraged to drink a little oyster broth to settle her stomach. She is said to have tried a spoonful or two, but then refused the rest. Arthur L. White, "Dietary Witness of the Ellen G. White Household," Unpublished Paper, Washington, D.C. (1978), p.15
There is however, evidence that at one point in her life Ellen White most likely ate some oysters.
In 1882, when she was living at Healdsburg, California, she wrote a letter to her daughter-in-law, Mary Kelsey White, in Oakland, in which she included a "shopping list" of things to bring on their next visit to Mrs. White's home. Among the things requested: "Mary, if you can get me a good box of herrings, fresh ones, please do so. These last ones that Willie got are bitter and old. If you can buy cans, say, half a dozen cans, of good tomatoes, please do so. We shall need them. If you can get a few cans of good oysters, get them." —Letter 16, 1882.
1888—I do not preach onething and practice another
EGW: "I do not preach one thing and practice another. I do not present to my hearers rules of life for them to follow while I make an exception in my own case...." —Selected Messages Book 2, p. 302. Letter 12, 1888.
Note: This was one of the many lies told by Ellen White. She made exceptions for herself as she feasted on meat and oysters while condemning others for eating meat.
1890—Those waiting for the coming of the Lord are vegetarians
EGW: "Among those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord, meat eating will eventually be done away: flesh will cease to form a part of their diet." —Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 380.
Note: If the Bible only is your rule of faith, please tell me where I can find in the Word, that those waiting for the Lord’s return will be vegetarians? Are all the Christians in the world living before Jesus returns going to be vegetarians?
1891—EGW eats oysters again—also "bloody" beefsteak and shrimp
The following is a letter by Fannie Bolton who was EGW's secretary, to Mrs. E. C. Slawson, of an incident that took place on the day, in 1891, when Fannie and EGW sailed for Australia.
Fannie Bolton: "...I have been as they say 'through the mill.' I became an Adventist in Chicago under the labors of G. B. Starr, and was very zealous for what is called 'Present Truth.' I truly believed it was the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and lived up to the testimonies with all faithfulness discarding meat, butter, fish, fowl and the supper meal, believing that as the 'Testimonies' say, 'No meat-eater will be translated.' I had been faithfully instructed by Eld. Starr that the testimonies came, as they were, written from God...I had been taught that oysters were abominable in God's sight... I had several good openings for original writings at the time which would have been more to my taste; but waived everything to go with the 'prophet.'...I left to go with Sr. White on the very day when my brother was to be married. At the depot Sr. White was not with her party, so Eld. Starr hunted around till he found her behind a screen in the restaurant very gratified in eating big white raw oysters with vinegar, pepper and salt. I was overwhelmed by this inconsistency and dumb with horror. Eld. Starr hurried me out and made all sort of excuses and justifications of Sr. White's action; yet I kept thinking in my heart, 'What does this mean? What has God said? How does she dare eat these abominations?' On the cars out to California, W. C. White came into the train with a great thick piece of bloody beefsteak spread out on a brown paper and he bore it through the tourist car on his own two hands. Sarah McEnterfer who is now with Sr. White as her attendant, cooked it on a small oil stove and everyone ate of it except myself and Marian Davis who I found out afterwards was more the author of the books purported to be Sr. White's than she was herself. I was with Mrs. White for seven and a half years like a soul on a rock, because of all kinds of inconsistencies, injustices, and chicaneries. I have seen Sr. White eat meat, chicken, fish, fowl, shrimps, rich cake, pies, etc. etc. I cannot go into detail but Sr. Daniells told me she herself had cooked meat for Sr. White on the campground. Eld. Horn told me his wife had done the same thing. Sr. Rousseau told me that she too had done so. Dear Sister, Sr. White has written that when we do not live up to the testimonies we retract them. She has vitiated (made lifeless) her own claims..." —Letter from Fannie Bolton to Mrs. E. C. Slawson, Dec. 30, 1914, as quoted in The Fannie Bolton story, pp. 107,109.
G. B. Starr: Denies EGW Eating Oysters. " Regarding the letter, or statement supposed to have been made by Miss Fannie Bolton…I can only say that I regard it as the most absurdly, untruthful lot of rubbish that I have ever seen or read regarding our dear Sister white. The event simply never occurred. I never saw your mother eat oysters or meat of any kind either in a restaurant or at her own table. Fannie Bolton's statement that 'Elder Starr hunted around till he found her behind a screen in the restaurant of the station where she was apparently very gratified in eating big white raw oysters with vinegar, pepper and salt,' is a lie of the first order. I never had such an experience and it is too absurd for anyone who ever knew your mother to believe. Of course you will know how true the story of the 'bloody beefsteak' spread on a brown paper, and carried into the tourist car and cooked by Miss McEnterfer, is. I do not believe that either. I think this entire letter was written by Fannie in one of her most insane moments…" — Letter from G. B. Starr to W. C. White, August 20, 1933, as quoted in The Fannie Bolton Story, p. 1.
Willie White: In response to Elder G. B. Starr's letter, Willie White admits His mother ate beefsteak but was careful to not comment on her eating oysters. "I am glad for what you have said about the strange story told by Fannie Bolton in which she claimed that she saw Mrs. White eating oysters… Regarding the beefsteak story, I will tell you in a few words the facts… Sister White's appetite failed…I went out and purchased two or thee pounds of beefsteak and this was cooked by Sister McEnterfer on a alcohol stove, and most of the members that composed Sister White's party partook of it. For years the White family had been vegetarians, but not teetotalers. When I bought the beefsteak… this was eight or nine years before Sister White decided at the time of the Melbourne campmeeting to be a teetotaler in regards to the eating of flesh foods. When I see you, I will tell you more about the instances in which the White family partook of flesh meats on long journeys and on camp-meeting expeditions…I regard the story about Sister White eating oysters in a railway restaurant as an unwarranted fabrication…—" Letter From W. C. White to G. B. Starr, Aug. 24, 1933, as quoted in The Fannie Bolton Story', p. 119.
Note: Starr lied about EGW eating beefsteak, so why would he not lie about EGW eating oysters? EGW never denied Fannie Bolton's story and neither did Sara McEnterfer who was present.
1894—EGW gives up meat—It took her rrom 1863 to 1894, 31 years to become a vegetarian
EGW: "Since the campmeeting at Brighton I have absolutely banished meat from my table. It is an understood thing that whether I am at home or abroad, nothing of this kind is to be used by my family, or come upon my table. I have had some representations before my mind in the night season on this subject that I feel that I have done right in banishing meat from my table. I would desire that the sentence should be modified by changing the "not"—"Yet I would not take the position that meat be wholly discarded by everyone."—for instance, by those dying of consumption." —1894: Spalding and Magan Collection, p. 81, paragraph 1.
Note: EGW stopped eating meat not because of health reform visions from God, but because of a Catholic lady kneeling at her feet.
EGW: I have a large family which often numbers sixteen. In it there are men who work at the plow and who fell trees. These men have vigorous exercise, but not a particle of flesh of animals is placed upon our table. Meat has not been used by us since the Brighton camp-meeting (held in 1894). It was not my purpose to have it on my table at any time, but urgent pleas were made that such an one was unable to eat this or that, and that his stomach could take care of meat better than it could of anything else; then I was enticed to place it on my table. The use of cheese also began to creep in, because some liked cheese. But I soon controlled that. But when the selfishness of taking the lives of animals to gratify a perverted appetite, was presented to me by a Catholic woman, kneeling at my feet, I felt ashamed and distressed; I saw it in a new light, and I said, "I will no longer patronize the butcher; I will not have the flesh of corpses on my table." —Testimony Studies on Diet and Foods, page 67, paragraph 6 Chapter Title: Flesh Foods
Note: Ellen was eating oysters and meat as late as 1894. She died in 1915. So she ate meat most of her life. Ellen White went from the reason to abstain from meat because of health reasons she received in vision in 1863 to that of a guilty conscience from an argument for not killing animals from a Catholic lady after 1894.
1898—EGW tells us after years of her eating meat, that meat eating is not good for morals (What about the disciples and Jesus that ate fish and the Passover lamb, were they too lacking in morals?)
EGW: The light has come to me for many years that meat eating is not good for health or morals. And yet it seems so strange that I have to meet this meat-eating question again and again. I had a very close and decided talk with the physicians in the Health Home. They had considered the matter, and Brother and Sister ----- were brought into very strait places. Meat was being prescribed for patients. . . . Sabbath, while at the Australian Union Conference, held at Stanmore, I felt urged by the Spirit of the Lord, to take up the case of the Health Home established at Summer Hill, which is only a few stations from Stanmore. Counsels on Diet and Foods, page 413, paragraph 3 , letter 84, 1898.
Note: EGW's meat eating really perverted her morals with her lies and stealing the works of others and making a living off of it and doing this in cooperation with God. What a hypocrite.
1899—EGW gave her Papal proclamation that meat eaters cannot represent truth and they reject God
EGW: "…those that do not accept the light that God has given on health reform, who subsist on the flesh of dead animals…can not represent the truth to others. —In a testimony to Elders Irwin, Prescott, Waggoner, and Jones, February 21, 1899.
Note: In 1899, EGW uses health reform (meat eating) as a measuring stick to judge a person's fitness to represent truth. Ellen ate meat and oysters after having light from God in 1863. She ate meat till 1894. By condemning others she unwittingly condemned herself of not being qualified to "REPRESENT" truth and "REJECTED GOD" by eating the flesh of dead animals. EGW could not get the logjam out of her own eye and had the nerve to judge others. What a hypocrite!
I ask you, where does the Word of God give this doctrine? God says those that eat meat give thanks to the Lord as well as the one that does not (a vegetarian) both give thanks.
Rom 14:6 (NIV) "He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God."
1900—Meat eaters cannot be a teacher
EGW: "No man should be set apart as a teacher of the people while his own teaching or example contradicts the testimony God has given His servants to bear in regard to diet…His disregard of health reform unfits him to stand as the Lord’s messenger…" — 6T, p. 378.
Note: A few months later, A. G. Daniells a life long meat eater was made president of the General Conference of SDA with the approval of Ellen G. White. As you can see Ellen only protested when it was to her advantage. With this pronouncement she condemned herself as being unfit TO "stand as the Lord's messenger". She indeed was a health reform hypocrite.
Where does the Word of God give the instructions that a meat eater is unfit to stand as the Lord’s messenger? Does it not seem strange that Christians from the time of Christ stood as the Lord’s messengers and ate meat? Then in 1863 God changed his mind and declared them unfit according to Ellen G. White?
1903—Those that reject EGW's health reform reject God
EGW: God gave the light on health reform, and those that reject it reject God." — Series B, No. 6, p. 31. EGW address to the General Conference in Oakland, published in the General Conference Bulletin, 1903, pp. 84-88.
1909—EGW claimed she was a "faithful health reformer"
EGW: "It has been reported by some that I have not followed the principles of health reform as I have advocated them with my pen; but I can say that I have been a faithful health reformer. Those who have been members of my family know that this is true." —Councils on Diet and Foods, page 494.
Note: EGW's 1909 report that "she was a faithful health reformer" was not true, unless she means that she can eat meat and oysters whenever she chooses.
1902—Meat eaters will leave God's people
EGW: "Many who are now only half converted on the question of meat eating will go from God’s people to walk no more with them." —Councils on Diet and Foods, p. 382.
Note: This is an example how Ellen regarded only the Seventh-day Adventist Church as God’s people and not the rest of the Christian community. EGW's magic formula is be a vegetarian and you can walk with the SDAs.
Ellen failed to mention that vegetarians would also leave God’s people (the Adventist Church), to walk no more with them. Is it no wonder those that were half converted on the question of meat eating would leave and not come back? They would leave because EGW's health reform is not a biblical test and a false doctrine. There has been many meat eaters as well as vegetarians that have left Adventism but are still walking with God’s people in churches outside Adventism. This is one of many failed EGW prophecies.
EGW contradicts the Bible about Daniel and his friends not eating meat
EGW: This request was not preferred in a defiant spirit, but was solicited as a great favor. . . . Daniel and his companions . . . were courteous, kind, respectful, possessing the grace of meekness and modesty. And now as Daniel and his fellows were brought to the test, they placed themselves fully on the side of righteousness and truth. They did not move capriciously, but intelligently. They decided that as flesh meat had not composed their diet in the past, neither should it come into their diet in the future. And as the use of wine had been prohibited to all those who should engage in the service of God, they determined that they would not partake of it. . . .In Heavenly Places, page 261.
Note: Did Daniel and his companions as a good Jews never eat the Passover lamb in the past and never in the future as claimed by EGW? They also were required by the law/Torah to eat the Passover Lamb. Daniel and his friends did eat meat and drank wine after "the three weeks were over."
Dan 10:2-3 (NIV): At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.
Deu 18:20 (NIV) "But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death.""
Deu 18:21 (NIV) "You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?""
Deu 18:22 (NIV) "If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him."
EGW's "health reform visions" fail the Bible test of a true prophet
- Does God say a person cannot represent truth to others if they are a meat eater? No
- Does God forbid meat eaters from being a teacher? No
- Does God tell us that vegetarians will be the ones awaiting the Lord’s return? No. In fact Christians have been waiting for the Lord’s return for 2000 years. Most have been meat eaters.
- Does God ever describe people that eat meat, butter and spices as "backslidden"? No.
There is no problem with Ellen eating meat and oysters because the Christians of the New Testament were not forbidden to eat meat or unclean meat. These were laws were for Israel under the old covenant. New covenant Christians were never forbidden to refrain from eating unclean meat.
The only probation dealing with meat eating was not to eat the blood and meat from strangled animal.
Acts 21:25 (NIV) "As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.""
The early Christian church did not prohibit eating unclean animals. When Gentiles came into the Christian church there was not any controversy over them eating unclean meat. Laws forbidding eating unclean animals in the OT were not a health issue. It was to separate God's covenant people Israel, from the Gentiles.
(Mark 7:19 NIV) "For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")"
(Rom 14:14 NIV) "As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean."
(1 Cor 10:25 NIV) "Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience,"
(1 Cor 10:26 NIV) "for, "The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.""
(1 Cor 10:27 NIV) "If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience."
Salvation is through faith and not by works of diet such as health reform by Ellen G. White. By accepting Ellen’s health reform message as gospel, you hold EGW teachings above the Bible.
This false teaching has created ill feelings between church members as people are checking on a person’s diet to see if they were faithful to EGW. How does all this harmonize with Romans 14:17?
Rom 14:17 (NIV) "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit," Believe God's Word!
Ellen White was not a faithful health reformer as she claimed. She made it her crusade to reprimand ministers and other for eating meat as being a message from God. This makes her a false prophet as she contradicts the Bible.
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