Buildings Rising Story After Story Toward Heaven--Consumed: Understanding a 1901 Vision of Ellen G. White

Did Ellen G. White see the World Trade Center Destroyed in a 1901 Vision?

Larry Kirkpatrick ++ Mentone Church of Seventh-day Adventists ++ 15 September 2001

I do not believe it is an overstatement to say that the civilization of planet earth was rocked this week, and that we shall never forget it. We were reminded that evil is not yet ended. Will any among us ever forget visual scars indelibly imprinted on the retina of our minds as we saw so many thousands of human lives blotted out like, fodder for madmen, as two hijacked jets were slammed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center? There we viewed the harsh reality of evil. Only Satan was pleased that day. How many were by these events swept to destruction before having made a preparation to meet their Lord in peace?

We can't seem to get it out of our minds. Some of us for the first time in our lives sense the vivid reality of the war between good and evil, of the great controversy and why it must be ended in this generation. Today then, we temporarily depart from the series we've been pursuing to address signs and portents current. A vision received from God by Ellen G. White almost precisely a century ago appears possibly to have been fulfilled on Tuesday before our eyes.

The first thing we need to do is to be careful and cautious. We need to study and comprehend whatever we can to be sure we are right. So today we will invest our time looking at a vision as old as a century but seemingly as up to date as our moment in time.

Let me ask you, how many of you own a set of the Testimonies? The vision we discuss appears in Ellen G. White's Testimonies, vol. 9, and pages 11-17. Every one of us really should have a set of the Testimonies in our homes.

Let me share a few lines out of this testimony with you. This occurs on pages 12-13:

On one occasion, when in New York City, I was in the night season called upon to behold buildings rising story after story toward heaven. These buildings were warranted to be fireproof, and they were erected to glorify the owners and builders. Higher and still higher these buildings rose, and in them the most costly material was used. Those to whom these buildings belonged were not asking themselves: "How can we best glorify God?" The Lord was not in their thoughts.

I thought: "Oh, that those who are thus investing their means could see their course as God sees it! They are piling up magnificent buildings, but how foolish in the sight of the Ruler of the universe is their planning and devising. They are not studying with all the powers of heart and mind how they may glorify God. They have lost sight of this, the first duty of man."

As these lofty buildings went up, the owners rejoiced with ambitious pride that they had money to use in gratifying self and provoking the envy of their neighbors. Much of the money that they thus invested had been obtained through exaction, through grinding down the poor. They forgot that in heaven an account of every business transaction is kept; every unjust deal, every fraudulent act, is there recorded. The time is coming when in their fraud and insolence men will reach a point that the Lord will not permit them to pass, and they will learn that there is a limit to the forbearance of Jehovah.

The scene that next passed before me was an alarm of fire. Men looked at the lofty and supposedly fire-proof buildings and said: "They are perfectly safe." But these buildings were consumed as if made of pitch. The fire engines could do nothing to stay the destruction. The firemen were unable to operate the engines.

When Did She Have This Vision?

Let's notice a few things. For one, she never says it was New York City that she saw, but that she had a dream/vision on one occasion, "when in New York City." In fact, we know exactly when this was. In Life Sketches, p. 413, in an entry dated 15 February 1904, Mrs. White stated that "When I was last in New York, I was in the night season called upon to behold buildings rising story after story toward heaven . . ." Yes, this is the same wording as found in Testimonies, vol. 9. What's more, we have some fairly comprehensive travel records for Mrs. White and we know that when she was "last" in New York City previous to 1904, was 11-25 November 1901. So this is a vision she is referring back to which she experienced in November of 1901.

While in Loma Linda she had her vision of the San Francisco/Oakland Earthquake of 1906.

Now this is all important because of the chronological context. The fires that destroyed our printing presses and our Sanitarium (an earlier designation roughly equivalent to what we today call a "hospital") in Battle Creek Michigan occurred in 1902. You have probably heard of the great Chicago fire. Know when it was? In 1871. In other words, for those who might say, "Well, she was just influenced by those major historical fires that happened then in Adventism," sorry; those were still future at the time when she had the vision in question.

What Specific Features Stand Out?

In the first portion of the vision, two specific physical features about the buildings she saw stand out: their great height, "story after story reaching toward heaven," and the claim of their builders that they were indestructible by fire.

Let's get in some historical context on this. At the turn of the century, the tallest buildings typically were no more than about 15 stories high. When the great Chicago fire occurred in 1871 destroying over 18,000 structures, we need to keep in mind that those old buildings were built of wood and brick frames. Some had iron facing, but that was more for show. As the 1890s closed out and the new century began, something different was happening. Along with the new ideas had come new demands, that new cities fitting for a new age should be built of new materials. The developers and industrialist millionaires demanded fireproof cities to be built, steel ones.

These men, vying and competing with each other, built more and more extravagant buildings, each seeking to build higher and more impressively than their competitors. Of course, all the new buildings were made of more and more steel. Their owners declared them fireproof. They were the latest in technology.

(If you are reading this online, here are a couple of informative links to give you some idea of what we are talking about. First, here is a link showing dozens of images and the dates of construction of numerous towering buildings built in the 1900-1925 era: 20th Century Architecture Skyscrapers 1900-1925. http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/20_sky1.html. Here is a brief summary of the shift in building technology occurring about the time Mrs. White had her vision: On Skyscrapers and Fireproof Buildings. http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1426.htm.)

Now the portion of these pages we haven't read yet dealt much more with the attitudes of these builders and their capitalism-gone-wild philosophy. Here are her comments:

As these lofty buildings went up, the owners rejoiced with ambitious pride that they had money to use in gratifying self and provoking the envy of their neighbors. Much of the money that they thus invested had been obtained through exaction, through grinding down the poor. They forgot that in heaven an account of every business transaction is kept; every unjust deal, every fraudulent act, is there recorded. The time is coming when in their fraud and insolence men will reach a point that the Lord will not permit them to pass, and they will learn that there is a limit to the forbearance of Jehovah" (Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 12).

Now we are working backwards here, from the specific to the general. First we heard the vision given. Next, we looked at what she said about the owners and the tall buildings being a manifestation of their pride. Now let's back up one more notch, and from the same pages see what she was saying about society in general.

We are living in the time of the end. The fast-fulfilling signs of the times declare that the coming of Christ is near at hand. The days in which we live are solemn and important. The Spirit of God is gradually but surely being withdrawn from the earth. Plagues and judgments are already falling upon the despisers of the grace of God. The calamities by land and sea, the unsettled state of society, the alarms of war, are portentous. They forecast approaching events of the greatest magnitude.

The agencies of evil are combining their forces and consolidating. They are strengthening for the last great crisis. Great changes are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid ones.

The condition of things in the world shows that troublous times are right upon us. The daily papers are full of indications of a terrible conflict in the near future. Bold robberies are of frequent occurrence. Strikes are common. Thefts and murders are committed on every hand. Men possessed of demons are taking the lives of men, women, and little children. Men have become infatuated with vice, and every species of evil prevails.

The enemy has succeeded in perverting justice and in filling men's hearts with the desire for selfish gain. "Justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter." Isaiah 59:14. In the great cities there are multitudes living in poverty and wretchedness, well-nigh destitute of food, shelter, and clothing; while in the same cities are those who have more than heart could wish, who live luxuriously, spending their money on richly furnished houses, on personal adornment, or worse still, upon the gratification of sensual appetites, upon liquor, tobacco, and other things that destroy the powers of the brain, unbalance the mind, and debase the soul. The cries of starving humanity are coming up before God, while by every species of oppression and extortion men are piling up colossal fortunes. (Testimonies, vol. 9, pp. 11-12).

Now we have something to work with, some background understanding. What she has seen here in vision while she was in New York, were tall, tall buildings, grinding poverty, talk of murderous deeds of people, and a gruesome cleavage between the rich and the poor. Those pursuing their obsession to gain wealth were bringing misery and sorrow to their fellow humans. In such a setting, God called this woman to behold tall buildings reaching up story after story into the sky. In her dreams she heard the boasts of the proud that their buildings were fireproof. In it all she saw what couldn't last, what shouldn't last; what was evil. The buildings weren't evil in particular themselves; the occupants of the buildings might not be evil in particular themselves; but the overmastering emphasis on the getting of wealth was obscene.

With this in mind that we pass to the next scene: "The scene that next passed before me was an alarm of fire. Men looked at the lofty and supposedly fire-proof buildings and said: 'They are perfectly safe.' But these buildings were consumed as if made of pitch. The fire engines could do nothing to stay the destruction. The firemen were unable to operate the engines."

We are not told here of giant vehicles crashing into the buildings (of course, the airplane had not been invented yet). Again, we are not told specifically of gigantic loss of life. It is not that such matters might not have had their part in what she saw. My sense is that often when she had a vision she simply reported what she had seen. On occasion she saw a landmark that led her to know what location she was seeing. On other occasions an angel told her what she was seeing. But often she saw things without specific linkage to a given place.

Notice however what we are told: that these giant buildings, claimed to be fireproof, burned like pitch. They were consumed. Fire engines could do nothing to stop the destruction.

Thinking About the Destruction of the World Trade Center This Week

Sister White linked what she saw with the societal conditions and attitudes, with the increasing inhumanity, with a tide of murder of the innocents. "Thefts and murders are committed on every hand. Men possessed of demons are taking the lives of men, women, and little children. Men have become infatuated with vice, and every species of evil prevails."

Is there anyone here who does not think that the terrorists who flew those planes into the WTC at full throttle were possessed by demons? Did they not take the lives--thousands of lives--of men, women, and little children? O yes. And where is the financial center of the world? It is right there.

Her remark about the murder of so many was general, but general things are composed of specific things. We know that a time is coming when all the world will wonder after the beast, will receive spurious signs as being from heaven. We know that the antichrist power is already here, and has been for centuries. And with that we know also that in the end an extraordinary deception will occur. During that period we know from the Scriptures as "the time of Jacob's trouble, here is what we'll see:

Peek at the Time of Jacob's Trouble

Satan is a diligent Bible student. He knows that his time is short, and he seeks at every point to counterwork the work of the Lord upon this earth. It is impossible to give any idea of the experience of the people of God who shall be alive upon the earth when celestial glory and a repetition of the persecutions of the past are blended. They will walk in the light proceeding from the throne of God. By means of the angels there will be constant communication between heaven and earth. And Satan, surrounded by evil angels, and claiming to be God, will work miracles of all kinds, to deceive, if possible, the very elect. (Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 16).

We know that is coming. But the question so much on our minds today surely is, have we seen a fulfillment of prophecy this week? Has an Ellen White vision come true right before our eyes?

We need to be careful here. We need to search through these pages for the time-markers, the places in the document that give indication as to what happens when. If you do that, sit down and look over that, you'll discover several of them. Some have reference to what was then current ("plagues and judgments are already falling upon . . . ," even then real (1901). Some speak of what is coming. The wording used is ominous: "right upon us," "near future," "just before the second coming." Several, near the end of the document are linked with the time of Jacob's trouble.

Remember, when that time comes, the latter rain will have been poured out. Probation will already be closed. Recall these statements from the closing pages of the book Great Controversy, p. 624. "Fearful sights of a supernatural character will soon be revealed in the heavens, in token of the power of miracle-working demons. The spirits of devils will go forth to the kings of the whole earth and to the whole world, to fasten them in deception, and urge them to unite with Satan in his last struggle against the government of heaven. By these agencies, rulers and subjects alike will be deceived . . . ."

"As the crowing act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will personate Christ. The church has long professed to look for the Saviour's advent as the consummation of her hopes. Now the great deceiver will make it appear that Christ has come. In different parts of the earth, Satan will manifest himself among men as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God given by John in the Revelation." If you continue reading that page, you find that he, Satan, will claim to be Christ and claim to have changed the very law of God. He will demand that people observe Sunday rather than the Sabbath day. When we do not, he will call us blasphemers.

The "fearful sights of a supernatural character" that "will soon be revealed in the heavens" occur before the time of Jacob's trouble. Their purpose is to deceive those not yet completely deceived. Possibly--hear my caution--these things could be happening right now. We could be that close to the end. The "crowning act" of our adversary's deceptions remains before us, but the things "soon to be revealed" could be right now.

Retributive Judgment?

This leads us back, to a serious question. After Mrs. White saw what she saw, the destruction of those buildings, she writes this: "I am instructed that when the Lord's time comes, should no change have taken place in the hearts of proud, ambitious human beings, men will find that the hand that had been strong to save will be strong to destroy. No earthly power can stay the hand of God. No material can be used in the erection of buildings that will preserve them from destruction when God's appointed time comes to send retribution on men for their disregard of His law and for their selfish ambition" (Testimonies, p. 13).

Just here we need to be so especially careful. Remember, the vision never laid any condemnation directly upon the occupants of the tall buildings. Surely, housed in tall buildings were the broad variety of humanity, including many given over to evil, and just as surely those serving God and loving Jesus. Few masses of humanity that large, and we are talking many tens of thousands here, is completely one thing or another. We may be assured that it is homogenous.

It is also true that at the beginning of the vision we heard that the Holy Spirit of God was being withdrawn from men. Often this is precisely how God's judgment works. He doesn't actively cast down but instead gradually withdraws His protections. Why? For their "disregard of His law and for their selfish ambition." Because we have opportunity to learn God's will, opportunity to obey His law, opportunity to cease from transgression.

But let us stop far short of what some might unguardedly say; that God wanted those towers to come down, He wanted those people to suffer. Oh no. We do not say this at all! Rather, we here see the active reality of the conflict between good and evil. We know things are going to grow worse and worse. We forget that the devil is alive and that he is constantly being held in check by the forces of heaven. God's protection is slowly being withdrawn. How certainly we saw this week that men among us are animated by Satan and filled with his hatred and his murderous thoughts. God "sends" "retributive" judgment by standing back. But such judgments come in mercy, as signs urging us to return to Him. Soon He will bring all sorrows to an end. Listen to this:

"The time is right upon us when there will be sorrow in the world that no human balm can heal. Even before the last great destruction comes upon the world, the flattering monuments of man's greatness will be crumbled in the dust" (Maranatha, p. 175).

And this:

"We are near the close of time. I have been shown that the retributive judgments of God are already in the land. The Lord has given us warning of the events about to take place. . . ." (The Faith I Live By, p. 343).

So we see that this category of judgment is not necessarily limited to the last great heaving collapse of civilization at the very end, but has been current since before you or I were born. These judgments are portents, warnings, that events long lingering are about to take place. We live in a most serious time. Where are our hearts? How is our personal preparation?

Finding Our Safety

Now before we finish, let us hear something about where we shall find our safety. After all, this is down there at the end of the vision we discussed today. Here are the lines:

"God's people will not find their safety in working miracles, for Satan will counterfeit the miracles that will be wrought. God's tried and tested people will find their power in the sign spoken of in Exodus 31:12-18. They are to take their stand on the living word: 'It is written.' This is the only foundation upon which they can stand securely. Those who have broken their covenant with God will in that day be without God and without hope" (Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 16).

Where can we find our safety? In the sign given in Exodus 31:12-18. And what is that sign? It is the Sabbath of Jesus. It is the mark of our union with God, a moral dividing-line inscribed in the rock of eternity, a part of God's Ten Commandment law. Jesus Himself has sought us out, and made known to us His will in this. Our hope is found today in remembering our covenant with God who gave His only begotten Son so that humanity might have everlasting life.

Conclusion

We might go out from here saying, "We have heard strange things today." But let us go out thoughtfully, and more than that, prayerfully. Where are our hearts? Let us go out cautiously. I for one do not believe that the prophetic visions of Ellen G. White come pass always and only at some future time. Today is the future. They are saying that the world is changed. And did I point out, that in this vision comes to us that line we so often quote? "Great changes are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid ones" (Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 11).

Let us be wary of how we share this vision or dream that we have discussed today. The vision may be thought to have reference only to the time of trouble. Again, it could be in reference to our own day--which is what I am inclined to think. Either way, it behooves us to share it with others only with care. There are aspects of it hard to be understood in a momentary and casual conversation. Let us at this time gird up our own spiritual loins and be quick to listen to those in sorrow. Listen first. Then lead them to the Bible. If you perceive the Holy Spirit leading you to share this vision of Mrs. White, then do so. But let us be sober; such sharing may not automatically be the Holy Spirit's will. Let us watch out for our motives. We have nothing to prove about Ellen White. Let us begin by being personally accessible to the Holy Spirit, carefully acquainted with the teachings of the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, thoughtfully diligent in our observance of His Sabbath-sign. Let us make sure first that we've been with Jesus. Only then are we ready to listen and to know how and what to share.

It is a time easy to be misunderstood. Let us seek for the Spirit of God. Let us be about our Father's work.

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