A Nation in God's Hands: A Review

Author Jud Lake has just released this amazing new book- over 450 pages long- The full title is A Nation in God’s Hands Ellen White and the Civil War.

In the foreword written by George Knight he asks “How can such a small topic demand such a large book? The small topic is not the American Civil War, which has been the focus of more than sixty thousand books, pamphlets, and Internet resources. Rather, the smallness relates to Ellen White’s writings on the subject. Her works reflect only four visions and/or testimonies on the war; all were contained in thirty pages of her writings and all occurred during the first half of the war.

“…Jud Lake, in his comprehensive and fast-flowing treatment, indicates that her views, when seen against the backdrop of contemporary events, were both insightful and pertinent. Unfortunately, as historian Eric Anderson pointed out, both Ellen White’s critics and her followers have distorted her statements about the war. Her comments too often ‘have been wrested from any appropriate historical context and conscripted into the service of such polemical purposes as proving either that she was a ‘false prophet’ or a truly inspired one.’”

Jud Lake sets White’s war visions in their historical context and provides a theological interpretation of the war through her prophetic lens.  Extrapolating on this, the author notes the volume “is first and foremost a religious interpretation of the American Civil War.”

Lake is not unique in focusing on a religious interpretation. There are many volumes by leading historians on the topic and, as Lake demonstrates in his last chapter, “even Lincoln’s understanding of the significance of the war in his second inaugural address is a religious interpretation.”

Lake puts Ellen White’s statements regarding the Civil War and views them in their historical context. He writes to help us to understand Ellen White and her world.

George Knight finishes his foreword with these words, “Needless to say, I highly recommend this book not only to students of Adventism and Ellen White but also to Civil War buffs of all flavors.”

From the Introduction

Ellen White’s Civil War Visions:

Parkville vision January 12, 1861

Roosevelt vision August 3, 1861

Battle Creek vision of January 1862

Battle Creek vision of November 1862

For anyone who may not be acquainted with Ellen White. She was one of the prominent leaders in the formation of the Seventh-day Adventist church which was officially orgainized as a denomination in 1863. Seventh-day Adventists accept her as having exercised the prophetic gift during her lifetime and leadership in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

In 1859 Ellen White declared, “When the laws of men conflict with the word and law of God, we are to obey the latter, whatever the consequences may be. The  law of our land requiring  us to deliver a slave to his master, we are not to obey; and we must abide the consequences of violating this law. The slave is not the propery of any man. God is the rightful master, and man has no right to take God’s workmanship into his hands and claim him as his own.” She respected the laws of government in general but condemned the Fugitive Slave Law in particular as a fundamental violation of moral principle.

Ellen White  addressed  slavery several times before the Civil War and condemned it in no uncertain terms. Her most significant discussion was a strong indictment of professed Christians who either supported or actually engaged in slavery,  Ellen White remained an abolitionist at heart for the rest of her life and believed that all human beings, regardless of color, are created equal before God and one in Christ.

Ellen White predicted that the war would be terrible and would  not be a short war. She did indicate that the North would win but not until God had allowed both the North and the South to be punished for the sin of Slavery.

When the United States first  entered the war the  “purpose” of the war was to save the Union. However until doing away with slavery became part of the purpose of the war there was  not good progress in winning the war.  There was a very much up and down progress of the war. This up-down pattern of the union battles would be directly related to God’s punishment on the North for compromising with the South in the sin of Slavery. Once God’s punishment ran its course and emancipation became a reality the pattern of battle outcomes would be decidedly in favor of the Union.

On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln sat down to sign the most important document of his presidency- the final draft of the Emancipation Proclamation. As his bony fingers grasped the pen and dipped it into the inkwell, his hand and forearm trembled. “I could not for a moment control my arm,” he later recalled, “and a superstitious feeling came over me which made me hesitate.”

Dropping the pen, he pondered the occasion for a moment. “Was this all a mistake? Was the trembling a sign, yet another divine warning, this time that he had gone too far, had overreached himself, had taken a step which would only end in disaster?” Then it occurred to the president that for hours he had been shaking hands with hundreds  of visitors to the White house for the New Year’s Day reception. The tremor was not because of any doubt or hesitation on his part about the proclamation.

Turning to the secretary of state by his side, William Seward, Lincoln said, “I have been shaking hands since nine o’clock this morning and my right arm is almost paralyzed. IF my name ever goes into history it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it.

 Seward’s son, who was also present, heard the president say, “I never in my life felt more certain that I was doing the right than I do in signing this paper.” But Lincoln worried, “If my hand trembles when I sign the Proclamation, all who examine the document hereafter will say, ‘He hesitated.’” Nevertheless,” It is going to be done.” He declared and picked up the pen and “slowly and carefully” signed the Proclamation into history. Looking at those around him with a smile, the president laughed at his earlier apprehension and then quietly remarked, “That will do.”

January 31, 1865 the Thirteenth  Ammendment  was voted by Congress which abolished slavery officially when it was ratified Dec 6, 1865

Robert E Lee surrendered April 9, 1865 in quick succession the rest of the Confederate Generalsl surrendered.

Sometime before Abraham Lincoln’s 2^nd Inauguration he wrote a short “Meditation on the Divine Will.”

“The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong. God cannot be for, and against the same thing at the same time.In the present civil war it is quite possible that God’s purpose is something different from the purpose of either party-and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect His purpose. I am almost ready to say this is probably true-that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By His mere quiet power, on the minds of the now contestants, He could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a  human contest. Yet the contest began. And having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds.”

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