coverage for exam

1. The 1888 Controversy
Denominational History

2. The 1888 General Conference Session
• The Minneapolis General Conference session was one of the
most explosive and significant meetings the denomination
has ever had. Why?
• The 1880s were no normal decade in Adventism. Rather,
they were a period that saw the United States
progressively move toward a national Sunday law crisis.
• By the early 1880s some Americans had come to see
Seventh-day Adventists as “problems” in the drive to protect
“the Lord’s day.”

3. The conflict began:
• It was began in 1882.
• When the local California authorities arrested W.C. White, the
youngest son of James and Ellen for operating the Pacific Press on
Sunday.
• 1885-1888 Adventist were arrested in Kansas and Tennessee because
of the law on Sunday declaration.
• The high-water mark in the excitement on the Sunday issue come on
May 21, 1888, when New Hampshire senator H. W. Blair introduced
into the United States Senate for the promotion of “the Lord’s day”
as a day of religious worship.
• That was known as Sunday legislation.

4. General Conference Session
• The meeting was held in the newly constructed church in
Minneapolis, Minnesota, on the 17th day of October
through November 4th, 1888.
• This church was located at the corner of Lake Stress and
Fourth Avenue outside of Battle Creek, Michigan.
• There were 90 delegates coming from different churches
who represented a world membership of 26, 968.
• The session started at 9 A.M on October.

5. Cont.
• The meeting was called to order by Uriah Smith, unfortunately the
president was not able to attend due to physical illness.
• The meeting was still went on and a new set of officers were elected,
in which O.A Olsen was chosen president.
• Unfortunately, given the emotionally laden atmosphere and the
strong personalities of the participants, the conference turned out
to be confrontational and somewhat less than Christian.
• This is the reason why I said, “The Minneapolis General Conference
session was one of the most explosive and significant meetings the
denomination has ever had.”

6. Cont.
•This session became a battle between two groups
of two young men from the Pacific coast.
•They were elder A.T. Jones who was converted
while serving as an Army in the United States.
•And elder E.J. Waggoner, the son of J.H.
Waggoner.

7. A.T. Jones
• A.T. Jones his real name known as Alonzo Trevier Jones.
• He was baptized on 1874 while serving as an army at fort
WalaWala in Washington State.
• He became a most influential preacher in Adventism’s on
1890’s.
• By 1885, he holds a position as an editor of “signs of the
times,” and from that position he knew E. J. Waggoner.

8. E.J. Waggoner
•E.J. Waggoner known as Ellet Joseph Waggoner.
•He was a Seventh-day Adventist minister, physician,
teacher, and Coe editor of A. T. Jones.
•He was the son of J.H. Waggoner, and rose as a
righteousness by faith in the aftermath of the General
Conference session of 1888 in Minneapolis.

9. Arguments

10. Arguments
• The agenda contains two categories: business matters and
theological concerns.
• The business matters was restricted during that official
session.
• The theological matters was one of the important discussions
during this session.
• The issue on righteousness by faith in connection with law
in Galatians was the vital subject in 1888.

11. Divided into two:
PACIFIC PRESS  SIGNS OF THE TIMES -> They were
the 2nd generation of Miller
• A.T. Jones (Strong Character)
• E.J. Waggoner
REVIEW AND HERALD  They were the 1st generation of
Miller
• Uriah Smith (Bible interpreter)
• George.I. Buttler (General Conference President)

12. The Problem
• The problem arose when two young Adventists editors
from California began to publish articles in Signs of
the Times between 1884 and 1886 that contradicted
with the denomination’s teaching.
• PACIFIC PRESS  SIGNS OF THE TIMES (They
were the 2nd generation of Miller)

13. Cont.
A.T. Jones (Strong Character)
•He published an article to contradict the
traditional understanding of Daniel 2, 7 and
Revelation 12, which contains a list of the ten
kingdoms or nations that are represented by the
ten toes and the ten horns.
•Uriah Smith did not agree with his idea.

14. Arguments between Jones and Smith
• The argument was over the identity of the ten prophetic
kingdoms of Daniel 7 was the major issue in the year 1888.
• Jones had developed quite a reputation as a historical
researcher in fulfilment of Bible prophecy, especially
concerning the 10 horns of Daniel 7.
• Jones came up with the conclusion, that the seven of the
horns in Daniel represented the Alemanni, rather than the
Huns which is against Smith’s.

15. Cont.
• In contrast with Jones’s position, Smith also sensed
that Jones’ new teaching o the Alemanni was a
betrayal of the traditional position of the Church
regarding the ten horns.
• Daniel 7 became a dynamic flashpoint on Minneapolis
meetings while the issue of righteousness by faith
was still especially troublesome on that meeting.

16. Cont.
E. J. Waggoner – The nature of the law in Galatians.
•His interpretation was that the law in Galatians 3:2
was not the ceremonial law but to the moral law.
•George I. Butler, the president of the General
Conference saw His idea as problem on the
perpetuity of the Ten Commandments.
These two issues became a serious problem the head of the General
Conference in the fall of 1888.

17. Arguments
• Both issues took on frightful proportions in the context of the
developing Sunday law crisis.
• 1882 Waggoner had a vision of Christ
Started to study the book of Galatians
SDA preach more about the law but it should be Jesus, more about Jesus
• 1886 - Butler published a book “The book of Galatians”
He wanted to tell that law in the book Galatians is referring to
Ceremonial Law.
• February 1887 – The gospel in the book Galatians was published by
Waggoner.

18. The Message of Righteousness by Faith
• During that time, because of their intrinsic pride and self sufficiency,
hence Adventist believed, they can only obtain salvation through
good works.
• Waggoner presented during the meeting, “the way of righteousness
can be attained through a living faith in the lamb of God” whose
blood was shed on the cross as a propitiation for the sins of the world.
• He said further, no one can gain eternal life without being clothe in
Christ’s righteousness. This robe cannot be obtained by silver or
gold or earned by good works of man, it should only be through
the righteousness of Christ alone.

19. According to Jones,
• Righteousness in good works is not ours but Christ; a product of
faithfully accepting of what He did on the cross.
• Further, the message is about the righteousness of Christ and the
Loud Cry of the third angel’s message, which is the Latter Rain.
• Jones continued, God offered this message to everyone as a free
gift.
• A.G Daniels affirms that the righteousness by faith is not a
theory, but an experience of submitting to the righteousness of
God; a change of standing before God.

20. Cont.
• Ellen White supported the right of Jones and
Waggoner to have a hearing despite the objections of
Smith, Butler and the majority of the delegates.
• Further, She perceived that Smith, Butler and their
colleagues needed to hear more of the Christ-centered
message that Waggoner had been preaching.
• As a result, during the Minneapolis session she joined
Waggoner and Jones in uplifting Jesus.

21. Cont.
• Ellen White agreed with Waggoner on the lack of uniqueness
in his message.
• Certain Adventist writers in the 20th century have claimed
that the 1888 message of Jones and Waggoner was
something uniquely Adventist.
• The obvious message of Ellen White, Jones and Waggoner at
Minneapolis was to get back to the Bible for religious
authority and to the Christ of the Bible for Salvation.

22. Revelation 14:12
• The patience of the saints (1st part)– Adventist understood as the
faithfulness of SDA in continuing to wait for the Second Coming.
• Here are they that keep the commandments of God (2nd part) –
Adventists’ uplifting of the perpetuity of God’s law, including the true
Sabbath.
The significance of Jones’and Waggoner’s preaching at Minneapolis
was that it reunited the distinctively Adventist truths with the all of
important message of Salvation in Christ alone. Thus, in 1888 some
Adventists began to understand more fully the third part of Revelation
14:12.
• The faith of Jesus (3rd part) – Which suggested Ellen White, meant,
Jesus becoming our sin-bearer that He might become our sin-
pardoning Savior.

23. Accepted or Rejected?

24. According to George Rice,
The feelings of hatred and jealousy caused the rejection of
the 1888 message. This message indeed more than a doctrine,
rather than a living connection with Jesus Christ.
Meaning, the rejection of the 1888 message as an individual
matter.
George E. Rice, “Corporate Repentance,” Ministry, February 1988, 36.

25. •Arthur G. Daniels asserts, it was not received equally by all
who attended the conference.
Arthur G. Daniels, Christ our Righteousness (Washington, DC: The Ministerial Association of Seventh-day Adventists,
1941), 74.
•George R. Knight said, there were individuals who attended
the conference, yet rejected the message.
George R. Knight, From 1888 to Apostasy: The Case pf A.T. Jones, (Washington, DC: Review and Herald,
1987), 61.
•Because of this reason, there was a serious divisions among
those who attended the Conference session.

26. There were 3 groups that has been divided in
this conference, and these are:
1. Those in Great Light
• To those who saw great light in it, accepted it with joy.
• For them, the great truth in this message is what’s mostly needed in the
Church as they prepare for the Second Advent.

27. 2. Those who were unsure
• Those who were unsure could not grasp it or even reach into a
conclusion.
• They stood on middle ground, as what Jones said in 1893.
3. Perceived this as Theory
• There were other people who really though that the presentation of
righteousness by faith was only a theory.
• They rejected the message.

28. Denomination Stands
• Arthur L. White said, “there is no record or official action
that the denomination has officially rejected the 1888
message.”
Arthur L. White, The Lonely Years, vol. 3 (Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1984.396), 89.
• Even when the acceptance of the 1888 message was not
universal, hence, the rejection of the 1888 message had not
been universal too.

29. Ellen G. White said,
“The children are not condemned of the sins of their parents;
the children can hardly repent of a sin for which they are not
accountable.”
Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan: The Conflict of the Ages in the Christian
Dispensation (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1911), 28.
“Those who live in this day are not accountable for the wrong
deeds of others.”
Ellen G. White, Address to the Church, no. 2011 (Battle Creek, MI: The Advent and Sabbath
review and Herald, 1893), 226.

30. Hence, there was no such
thing as corporate
repentance or
denominational rejection.

31. The Significance of the 1888 Meetings
• The significance of the 1888 meetings is that they
baptized Adventism anew in Christianity.
• Adventists-at least some of them finally understood
the entire third angel’s message.
• From that point on, they could preach a full message
that taught the distinctively Adventist doctrines
within the context of the saving work of Christ.