«White Lie»: History of Delusion

Abstract

The article presents a summary of Walter Rea’s book «White Lie», which provides a brief history of the emergence of Seventh-day Adventism and examines the role and influence of the Adventist false prophetess Ellen White on those who believed the prophecy of the Second Coming of Christ in 1844. This book reveals in detail, with evidence, the facts of literary borrowing and plagiarism in the works of E. White, who claimed the title of «God’s messenger», the one to whom God Himself allegedly revealed pictures of the past and the future through the Holy Spirit and holy Angels. Being a former minister of the Seventh-day Adventist organization, Walter Rea in his book traces the origin, growth and strengthening of the «white lie» in the Adventist environment; the influence of the crisis of unfulfilled prophecies associated with the expectations of 1844 and an attempt to overcome it.