'THE ALPHA OF APOSTASY'

 SECTION EIGHT
A BIOGRAPHY OF ALBION FOX BALLENGER

PART ONE - TO 1905

John Fox Ballenger (1834-1921) and his wife Eliza (Walker) Ballenger were converted to the faith in the year 1859 by Elder W. S. Ingraham in Illinois. They had four children: Ida Hibben, Albion Fox Ballenger, E. S. Ballenger, and Nellie Ballenger.

On June 9, 1859, Baby Albion was born on "Grandma" Stroud's little farm, the boundary fence of which was part of the State line between Illinois and Wisconsin. In early childhood his parents moved to Winslow, Illinois and located on a timbered farm, a part of which extended across the line into Wisconsin.

The family worked together to laboriously clear an acre for cultivation. The only shelter was a one-room cabin. Albion and his brother slept on a mattress of straw spread on poplar poles laid on the ties of the same material that bound the rafters together. Gradually, more acreage was transformed from woodland to farmland with shovel and axe. Dynamite was not used back then to clear land, so the garden had to be worked between the stumps and among their roots. John and Eliza had no money with which to purchase farm implements, nor could have they used them among the stumps.

Albion's early schooling was in the village two-teacher school. Eventually he mastered Robinson's "Progressive Arithmetic" and Green's "Grammar," and he was ready for professional service. For several years he taught in public schools and occasionally attended summer schools.

About the time that Albion was born, his parents became Seventh-day Adventists. And so it was, that after teaching for four years, Albion studied briefly at Battle Creek College for parts of two years. Then the brethren gave him a ministerial license and sent him out into the field to preach. He quickly rose in the ranks for Albion had a natural ability for fluent speaking and effective writing.

Commenting on this early ability in an obituary written at the time of his death, we are told:

"In his school days he was first choice in match games, in debates and team work. His ability as a public speaker was recognized in his earliest childhood. 'Speaking pieces' was [sic] a delight to him and he never failed to delight his hearers. He practiced his recitations and his originals while he milked the cows or curried the horses." "The Gathering Call," September-October, 1821 issue, page 2.

Sometimes working in tent efforts, and at other times in the canvassing work, Albion continued on until, in 1890, he was chosen secretary of the Religious Liberty Association, which had its headquarters in Chicago. The next year he married Belle Stowell of Battle Creek. In 1893, he received a call to accept a position on the editorial staff of the "American Sentinel," an Adventist religious liberty periodical published in New York City. It is of interest that, even back then, he was part of the group of workers who vigorously recommended that this denominational magazine should be "non-denominational" in its approach. This publication policy including avoiding any mention of the Sabbath within its pages. (A. T. Jones was the editor-in-chief of the "Sentinel" from 1890 to 1984, and again from 1896 to 1897; he co-edited it before and after that time, until 1896.) Along with others, Albion was rebuked by Ellen White for this position. For more information on that experience, read about the Salamanca Vision.

After working at the "Sentinel" for a year, he accepted a call to preach in the field, and was assigned to lecturing in campmeetings and traveled in nearly every conference in America within the next few years. There was no doubt that Albion was a powerful speaker, capable of swaying large audiences with his dramatic style.

It was at about this time that his book, "Power for Witnessing," came off the denominational presses.

At about the turn of the century he was called to Great Britain, where he worked in several of the large cities of England. For a time he was Superintendent, first of the Welsh Mission Field, and later the Irish Mission Field.

If Albion Fox Ballenger had died before going to Great Britain, we would never have heard of him.

While in England, he united in work with Elder E. E. Andross in conducting evangelistic meetings in London. Elder Andross was later to report in 1911 that, while in London, Ballenger was given the Sanctuary as the topic to preach on the next night. Following the meeting, he began thinking that the great religious writers Protestant, Catholic and otherwise might provide him with additional insights into the subject of the Sanctuary. He felt that his public speaking was not as powerful as it should be in regard to the Sanctuary, and that further research could enliven it somewhat.

While in England, Albion Ballenger began studying widely into various books and commentaries on this topic. Later, while serving in Wales and Ireland, he gradually originated a different concept of the heavenly Sanctuary and Christ's mediation that was at variance with that of historic Adventism.

Early in 1905, he formally presented his new concept to the British Union committee. They patiently explained several basic errors in them, but he chose to continue teaching his new views on the Sanctuary. But by now, the situation was going from bad to worse. The British Union leadership had not responded to the crisis quickly enough and Ballenger was busily trying to convert the Adventists of England to his ideas. When the problem had become quite serious, Elder E.W. Farnsworth, who was then in England, sent a report of the British Union committee meeting to A.G. Daniells, president of the General Conference in Washington D. C. The letter, dated February 22, 1905, included this comment on the basic point in Ballenger's concept:

"(When Jesus) ascended, He went immediately into the most holy place, and that His ministry has been carried on there ever since."

Farnsworth also noted Ballenger's claim that Hebrews 6:19 ("within the veil") referred only to the Most Holy Place.

Obviously, we are here dealing with something quite similar to the Biblically-inconsistent position forwarded by Desmond Ford and his followers in more recent years. Farnsworth's letter also contained this interesting comment:

"He sees clearly that his view cannot be made to harmonize with the testimonies [of Ellen White]; at least he admits freely that he is totally unable to do so, and even in his own mind, as far as he is able to see at present, there is an irreconcilable difference."

Shortly after this, in the same year, Albion Ballenger returned to the United Statesand attended the General Conference Session held that year in Takoma Park, Maryland.

 SECTION NINE
THE 1905 BALLENGER CRISIS

The 1905 General Conference Session was scheduled to begin on May 11 in Washington D.C. Ellen White was not certain whether to attend. There was so much bookwork that needed her attention, but she was convicted that her presence would be needed at that session, so she began preparing for a trip to the East Coast.

At this time, she had frequent night visions in which she seemed to be speaking to a large audience or to important committee meetings. Her presentations before them concerned "the deceptions that Satan is bringing in at this time." (Letter 99,1905).

Requesting that earlier articles by the pioneers in regard to the certainties of the Advent beliefs be published, she said that "there will be constant warfare with seducing spirits that will bring in theories to counteract the truth of God." (ibid.)

At this time, when her concern seemed so deep, the Kellogg doctrinal deceptions and his allegations that others were writing Ellen White's manuscripts, continued to be sounded in Battle Creek. Under the skillful influence of Kellogg, A.T. Jones and other important workers were moving away from confidence in the Spirit of Prophecy and our historic doctrines. And within a very short time the Ballenger apostasy would reach its climax in Washington D.C.

On the third of May, and accompanied by a few helpers, Ellen began the journey east. On Tuesday, May 9, the group arrived by train in Washington D.C.

"I can but feel that the Lord is in my coming to Washington at this time. I have a message to bear. God helping me, I will stand firm for the right, presenting truth unmixed with the falsities that have been stealthily creeping in. Those who are on the Lord's side will refuse to be drawn astray by false science, which makes a jingle of the true word of prophecy. May the Lord give me much of His grace, that in every work and act I may reveal the light of truth."Letter 135, 1905.

When the first meeting of the Session began, Ellen White was on the platform with the ministers and spoke to the delegates. She was convinced that God had strengthened her to make the long trip and that now she must "bear her testimony in vindication of the truth of God's Word and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in confirmation of Bible truth." (Manuscript 59, 1905).

During that first morning session, the concern of Ellen, and many in the entire congregation, was for a deeper infilling of God's Spirit and power to carry the work forward more vigorously. And this was the emphasis in her first talk.

Early in this Session, Albion Ballenger spoke on three occasions to a committee. In a later book of his, Ballenger mentioned that he had there presented his views for "three early morning hours" to a "committee of twenty-five leading men" in the denomination ("Forty Fatal Errors," p. III [Roman numeral 3] ). A brief summary of a number of his teachings is reviewed elsewhere in this historical documentary in the section entitled, "What Did Ballenger Teach?" There you will learn about Ballenger's great light: angels mediating in heaven above and a world of unrepentant sinners here below who stand justified before God and innocent of any wrongdoing against His Law [!]

A paper presented by Albion Ballenger before this committee, entitled "The Nine Theses," began with these words: "I want to read to you now some of the misfits that I find" in the Adventist view of the Sanctuary.

On Tuesday, May 16, Ellen spoke about the Sanctuary truths given to this people by the God of heaven, and told of errors that she had to meet in earlier years of the work. Then she said:

"We shall have to meet these same false doctrines again. There will be those who will claim to have visions. When God gives you clear evidence that the vision is from Him, you may accept it, but do not accept it on any other evidence; for people are going to be led more and more astray in foreign countries and in America. The Lord wants His people to act like men and women of sense.

"In the future, deception of every kind is to arise, and we want solid ground for our feet. We want solid pillars for the building. Not one pin is to be removed from that which the Lord has established. The enemy will bring in false theories such as the doctrine that there is no sanctuary. This is one of the points on which there will be a departing from the faith. Where shall we find safety unless it be in the truths that the Lord has been giving for the last fifty years?"Review, May 18, 1905.

In concluding this address, she said:

"Do not think that Satan is not doing anything. Do not think that his army is passive. He and his agencies are on the ground today. We are to put on the whole armor of God. Having done all, we are to stand, meeting principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places. And if we have on the heavenly armor, we shall find that the assaults of the enemy will not have power over us. Angels of God will be round about us to protect us."Ibid.

On the 20th, she met Elder Ballenger in the hallway of the dormitory where she was staying. She later wrote of this experience in her diary:

"Not long ago I met Elder Ballenger in the hall of the building in which we have rooms. As I spoke to him, it came vividly to my mind that this was the man whom I had seen in an assembly bringing before those present certain subjects, and placing upon passages in the Word of God a construction that could not be maintained as truth. He was gathering together a mass of scriptures such as would confuse minds because of his assertions and his misapplication of these scriptures, for the application was misleading and had not the bearing upon the subject at all which he claimed justified his position. Any one can do this, and will follow his example to testify to a false position; but it was his own."Manuscript 59, 1905.

In this conversation, she told Ballenger that he was the minister that the Lord had presented before her in vision in Salamanca, New York, in 1890, that was standing with a group who were "urging that if the Sabbath truth were left out of the ["American] Sentinel," the circulation of that paper would be largely increased." Continuing on with her diary report, she relates how that Elder Ballenger had been one of those who had accepted her testimony of reproof, when it had later been given to them in 1891. She then continues:

"Now again our Brother Ballenger is presenting theories that cannot be substantiated by the Word of God. It will be one of the great evils that will come to our people to have the Scriptures taken out of their true place and so interpreted as to substantiate error that contradicts the light and the Testimonies that God has been giving us for the past half century." Ibid.

Recognizing that Ballenger's penchant for inventing new theology would ultimately mean the ruin of his own soul, and those of many others, she added:

"I declare in the name of the Lord that the most dangerous heresies are seeking to find entrance among us as a people, and Elder Ballenger is making spoil of his own soul. The Lord has strengthened me to come the long journey to Washington to this meeting to bear my testimony in vindication of the truth of God's Word and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in confirmation of Bible truth. The Word is sure and steadfast, and will stand the test. Human investigations will be brought in, but the Lord lives, and He will bring to naught these inventions.

"We are to proclaim the full truth of the Word of God with decision and unalterable firmness. There is not truth in the explanations of Scripture that Elder Ballenger and those associated with him are presenting. The words are right, but misapplied to vindicate error. We must not give countenance to his reasoning. He is not led of God. Our work is to bind up the Testimonies God has given, and seal the law among His disciples.

"I am instructed to say to Elder Ballenger, Your theories, which have multitudes of fine 'threads, and need so many explanations, are not truth, and are not to be brought to the flock of God. The good that you and your associates might have received at this meeting you have not received. God forbids your course of actionmaking the blessed Scriptures, by grouping them in your way, to testify to build up a falsehood. Let us all cling to the established truth of the sanctuary." Ibid.

On Wednesday, May 24, a message that she had written, entitled "A Warning Against False Theories," was presented to a small group of leaders, with a copy placed in the hands of Albion Ballenger.

"I am bidden to bear a message to our people. In the name of the Lord I am bidden to warn our ministers not to mingle erroneous theories with the truth of God. Pure Bible truth is to stand forth in its nobility and sanctity. It is not to be classified and adjusted according to man's wisdom. The ministers of the gospel are to present truth in its simplicity through the blessing of God, making the Scriptures profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. 'Rightly dividing the word of truth' this is the word that should be spoken of all our ministers.

"Our message does not need that which Brother Ballenger is trying to draw into the web. He draws out certain passages so fine that they lose their force. Let our ministers be content to take the Word as Christ has given it . .

"In clear, plain language I am to say to those in attendance at this conference that Brother Ballenger has been allowing his mind to receive and believe specious error. He has been misinterpreting and misapplying the scriptures upon which he has fastened his mind. He is building up theories that are not founded in truth. A warning is now to come to him and to the people, for God has not indited the message that he is bearing. This message, if accepted, would undermine the pillars of our faith. Brother Ballenger does not discern what he is doing.

"Let not any man enter upon the work of tearing down the foundations of truth that have made us what we are. God has led His people forward step by step, though there are pitfalls of error on every side. Under the wonderful guidance of a plain 'Thus saith the Lord,' a truth has been established that has stood the test of trial. When men arise and attempt to draw away disciples after them, meet them with the truths that have been tried as by fire.

"Those who seek to remove the old landmarks are not holding fast; they are not remembering how they have received and heard. Those who try to bring in theories that would remove the pillars of our faith concerning the sanctuary or concerning the personality of God or of Christ are working as blind men. They are seeking to bring in uncertainties, and to set the people of God adrift, without an anchor.

"If the theories that Brother Ballenger presents were received; they would lead many to depart from the faith. They would counterwork the truths upon which the people of God have stood for the past fifty years. I am bidden to say in the name of the Lord that Elder Ballenger is following a false light The Lord has not given him the message that he is bearing regarding the sanctuary service.

"Our Instructor spoke words to Brother Ballenger: 'You are bringing in confusion and perplexity by your interpretations of the Scriptures. You think that you have been given new light, but your light will become darkness to those who receive it.. Those who receive your interpretation of Scripture regarding the sanctuary service are receiving error and following in false paths. The enemy will work the minds of those who are eager for something new, preparing them to receive false theories and false expositions of the Scriptures.

When men come in who would move one pin or pillar from the foundation which God has established by His Holy Spirit, let the aged men who were pioneers in our work speak plainly, and let those who are dead speak also, by the reprinting of their articles in our periodicals. Gather up the rays of divine light that God has given as He has led His people on step by step in the way of truth. This truth will stand the test of time and trial." Manuscript 62, 1905.

Ballenger rejected these strongly-pointed warnings from the servant of God, and about a week later, on the 30th, he appeared before the General Conference Committee and declared that "he still believed as he did before the hearing on his views before the brethren during the Conference." ("General Conference Session Minutes," May 30, 1905). He then said that he wished to fight neither the Testimonies nor "this people." "Anything that he might publish would be a prayer for light rather than antagonism to our people. He planned to retire to a farm in Virginia to wait." At this juncture in this final meeting with Elder Ballenger, A.G. Daniells spoke directly to him- and, in view of clear Spirit of Prophecy warnings sent in regard to him, to consider the possibility that his views might be in error, and "not take a course to bring trouble and disaster" upon himself. (Ibid.)

In her diary for the next day, Ellen White penned these words:

"Elder Ballenger thinks that he has new light, and is burdened to give it to the people; but the Lord has instructed me that he has misapplied texts of Scripture, and given them a wrong application. The word of God is always the truth, but the doctrines that Elder Ballenger advances, if received, would unsettle our faith in the sanctuary question . .

"The light on the sanctuary question was given by the Spirit of God, and we who passed through the disappointment of 1844 can testify to the light that was then given on the sanctuary question. Elder Ballenger needs to rest awhile, and cease to sow the tares which will lead our people on a false track. As the messenger of God, I am to bear no hesitating message on this subject. Elder Ballenger does not see what he is trying to bring to pass. The message that Christ came to give to John on the Isle of Patmos needs now to be carefully studied by Elder Ballenger for these words of warning tell us that men will arise claiming to have new light, whose theories, if received, would destroy our faith in the truths that have stood the test for half a century. We need to study and understand the message given in the third chapter of Revelation." Manuscript 145, 1905.

The crisis had been met. Again, because of the strong leadership of God through the counsels of His appointed lastday prophet, the Church had received correct guidance. Oh, that His Church would always accept the guidance of that special prophet to our time in history!

Looking back over what had taken place nearly seven months before, Ellen White wrote these words to Elder John Burden in December of that year:

"Elder Ballenger s proofs are not reliable. If received, they would destroy the faith of God's people in the truth that has made us what we are. We must be decided on this subject; for the points that he is trying to prove by scripture are not sound. They do not prove that the past experience of God's people was a fallacy. We had the truth; we were directed by the angels of God. It was under the guidance of the Holy Spirit that the presentation of the sanctuary question was given. It is eloquence for every one to keep silent in regard to the features of our faith in which they acted no part. God never contradicts Himself. Scripture proofs are misapplied if forced to testify to that which is not true. Another and still another will arise, and bring in supposedly great light, and make their assertions. But we stand by the old landmarks."Letter, December 11, 1905.

And in a letter to Elder W.W. Simpson a month later, she wrote:

"it is impossible for us to have any agreement with the positions taken by Brother A.F. Ballenger; for no lie is of the truth. His proofs do not belong where he places them, and although he may lead minds to believe his theory in regard to the sanctuary, this is no evidence that his theory is true. We have had a plain and decided testimony to bear for half a century. The positions taken in my books are truth. The truth was revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, and we know that Brother Ballenger's position is not according to the word of God. His theory is a deceiving theory, and he misapplies Scriptures. Theories of the kind that he has been presenting we have had to meet again and again."Manuscript, January 30, 1906.

At the conclusion of the May, 1907, General Conference Session, Elder Ballenger was dropped from the ministry. Minutes of the Eighth Meeting of the General Conference Session, held at 6:15 p.m. on May 30, 1907 (a copy of which we have in our files), disclose the following action:

"A.F. BALLENGER: VOTED: That we approve Brother A.F. Ballenger's plan of retiring to his place in Virginia.

That his return expenses be allowed, and his time allowed to July 1. Further that a committee of two be appointed to confer with Brother Ballenger to learn if further action is needed."

 SECTION TEN
WHAT DID BALLENGER TEACH?

As late as 1901, a mere four years before the great "Ballenger Crisis" that embroiled much of a General Conference Session, there is no indication that Ballenger was teaching or writing anything different about the Sanctuary Message. His articles and reports published in the "Review and Herald" which he contributed to fairly regularly-yielded no hint of any special interest in that topic. In fact, it appears he only alluded in passing to the atonement and the Investigative Judgment once in all of his pre-1905 writings (see "Camp Meeting Notes," in the "Review" for October 11, 1898, p. 653).

Throughout the late 1890s and the first few years that followed, his major emphasis, whether by voice or pen, was (1) victory over sin, (2) the reception of the Holy Spirit, and (3) miraculous healing from sickness. His later writings, however, abounded in analyses and theories in regard to the Sanctuary and related subjects, and many of them were distinctively different from those of historic Adventism.

Albion Ballenger was quite inventive and it would require some time to detail the various concepts that he developed. Yet almost nothing is ever told in regard to what any of them were. Although brief, the following presentation is one of the most complete that you can presently find on the strange oddities that comprised the teachings of Albion Fox Ballenger:

1-The Bible teaches that the high priest must first minister in the outer court with the slaying of the animal, then he must minister for most of the year in the first apartment, and finally, at the end of the yearly cycle, briefly minister within the second apartment.

Ballenger said, No. He taught that, in the antitype, Christ must first minister in the first apartment, then be slain as the lamb to provide the sacrifice and blood, then enter upon His second apartment ministry. In point of time, this would mean that the first apartment ministry took place prior to His incarnation on earth, and that His second apartment ministry followed it (see "Cast Out" [CO], "Forty Fatal Errors" [FFE], and "Proclamation of Liberty" [PL]).

2- The Bible teaches that Christ is the priest in the Sanctuary in heaven (Hebrews 8:1-5).

Ballenger added the angels. He said that, throughout Old Testament times, the angels were the priests (CO, 39-40; FFE, 28-29,76).

3-The Bible teaches that only the blood of Christand not that of bulls and goatscan have efficacy, and for this reason only the blood of Christ is used in the Sanctuary above (see Hebrews 9-10). The book of Hebrews presents us with "something better: " a better priest, a better sacrifice, better blood, better entrance, and better results.

But Ballenger added animal sacrifices and animal blood. He taught that animal blood was ministered in the heavenly Sanctuary prior to Christ's incarnation (see CO, 40, 43, 88; FFE, 78).

4-The Bible teaches that we should only pray to God, and never to any created being.

Ballenger declared that, before Christ's first advent, the people of God prayed to angels in heaven who ministered on their behalf in the heavenly Sanctuary (FFE, 82, 102).

5-According to the Bible, there is only one mediator and that Mediator is Christ (Hebrews 3, 7-10).

Ballenger's view included that of a double mediator: Christ and the angels (FFE, 82-83,77, 102).

6-The symbolism of Hebrews 7 is obvious: Melchizedek was a type of Christ. This earthly priest who lived in the time of Abraham prefigured and foreshadowed Christ our true Priest.

Ballenger said that Melchizedek later served within the Sanctuary in heaven in a priestly function that Ballenger never quite defined. But apparently he was some kind of "chief priest" up there. He also put forward the thought that this "chief priest" ministry of the man Melchizedek in heaven extended on down into the period when Christ also ministered within the sacred precincts of the heavenly Sanctuary (CO, 5354).

7-The Bible teaches that the Levitical priesthood prefigured Christ and that the ministry of those priests was a type of His ministry (Hebrews 8:1-5; 9-10).

Ballenger presented a different view: The earthly priesthood was a type of the angels in heaven and of the man Melchizedek, who ministered on behalf of mankind, and interceded for them before God (FFE, 82, 102).

8-According to the Bible, Christ is the only antitypical priest that mankind has. He is the only priest in the heavenly Sanctuary. In fact, there are no other priests of any kind in heaven! None.

Ballenger opposed this truth. He declared that Melchizedek and the angels are the priests in the first apartment, and that Christ only ministers in the second apartment (CO, 45, 100; FFE, 90).

9-The Bible teaches that if any other creature is our attempted saviour,then we are on a works program and will be lost.

Ballenger said the opposite: Only those men and women in Old Testament times who communicated with God through angels and the translated Melchizedek could be saved, and those who attempted to pray directly to God apart from this angelic Melchizedek mediationwere on a works program and were lost! (CO, 36, 53-54, 90, 94,98-101; FFE, 23, 36, 39-40, 44).

10-The Bible teaches that the atonement was not completed with the offering of the outer court sacrifice (antitype: Calvary, A.D. 31), but only when the Day of Atonement service (antitype: the Investigative Judgment, A.D. 1844 close of human probation) was concluded (Leviticus 16:30-34).

Ballenger taught that the atonement was finished at the cross (CO, 6, 72, 95; FFE, 9-14, 22-23, 66-67,103-104). Ballenger did not recognize, although some of his modern counterparts do, that if the atonement was finished at the crossthere would be no need of any heavenly mediation or blood application afterward.

A complication of his view on this lies in the fact that he, Ballenger, also held that not only was the atonement totally finished on the cross, but it was also finished when Christ put the blood on the mercy seat (which he believed also took place in A.D. 31).

11-The Bible teaches that only those who accept Christ's forgiving, enabling grace will be saved. No one is automatically saved because of Christ's death on Calvary.

Ballenger held that the atonement made on the cross had not only a finality, but also a universality ("The Atonement: A Review of 'Signs of the Times' Articles," 3). And this atonement was also "unconditional"! ("Extracts from a Letter," in "Gathering Call" [GgC], Nov 1914, 3). Mankind had already been saved by "a free and universal atonement," he declared ("The Atonement: A Review of 'Signs of the Times' Articles,' 3), and therefore the entire human race has been reconciled by the death of Christ, "without their consent or knowledge" ("Extracts from a Letter," GgC, Nov 1914, 3), a universal reconciliation corresponding to the fact of the universal death of Adam. They need only come to Christ and accept the salvation which was already inherently theirs. And this was no mere provisional or potential benefit. Ballenger saw it as something tangible and automaticavailable to the whole human race "without condition" (Ibid.).

At times, Ballenger contradicted such obvious "universal salvation" by stating that mankind still must choose to accept the preoffered salvation, but at other times he stood solidly by the totally unconditional aspects of salvation full and free for all mankind automatically bestowed upon them at Calvary.

In one especially vivid illustration, Albion tries to explain his theory on this. A father pushes his son off a pier into the water. Unable to swim, the boy is ready to drown, but the situation is not yet hopeless for someone else may come along and pull him out. And then another man does that. Ballenger's application is this: Adam pushed us all off the pier into the water. By His death, Christ redeemed all men everywhere, thus placing the entire human race back onto the pier. The pier, says Ballenger, is "the platform of life and innocency before the law." All men now have this innocency before the law [!] In putting them there, Christ simply "placed them where Adam stood and where they stood in Adam before .. [he] pushed them off into sin and death." Because of the death of Christ, all mankind throughout all human history went through life in the pre-fall state of unfallen Adam, and in this position all could choose to "go higher into eternal life or lower into the second death." ("Extracts from a Letter," GgC, November 1914, 2-3; PL, 62-63; "Notes by the Way," GgC, April 1914, 4.)

Somehow, Ballenger did not grasp the obvious fact that if men are already innocent before the Law of God, justified in His sight, and covered by grace, then they are already predestined to eternal life in heaven irregardless of whether they ever accept Christ or not.

Considering all the oddities in Ballenger's teachings, it is a marvel that he could attract any followers at all. And, from the best that we can determine, he did not attract very many.

12-The Bible teaches that only by repentance, and acceptance of Christ can any be justified in the sight of God.

Ballenger said that all men everywhere were justified at the moment of Christ's death; they need only accept it (PL, 132).

Such a teaching is not only wrong intrinsically, but it produces an unfavorable effect in the lives of those accepting it: If my sins were automatically and fully eliminated at Calvary; then I can go on sinning all I want in the years to come and still automatically inherit heaven.

In Ballenger's view, the death of Christ was "the death of the world," affording them all instant justification in the sight of God (PL, 132). The resurrection of Christ brought rebirth and newness of life to all.

Ballenger's concept of a "glorious gospel of a finished work" (FFE, 9) may have differed in detail from that of Desmond Ford and his faithful "new theology" teachers in our churches and colleges, but the basic implications and the resultant impact on the lives of those accepting it are startlingly similar. It permits one to live as a worldling while imagining that he is a saved Christian.

In addition to the above points, Albion Ballenger also went into detail on various matters, such as the cleansing of the Sanctuary. But I see no reason to elaborate any further on on the confusion of his theories. We have said enough to provide you with clear evidence that Ballenger had an incorrect understanding of Scripture.

- SECTION ELEVEN -
A BIOGRAPHY OF ALBION FOX BALLENGER
PART TWO - AFTER 1905

After the 1905 Crisis, less information is available on Albion Ballenger, even from the writings of his own associates. But enough can be found to partially trace out some of his later activities and associations.

His last position in the denomination was Superintendent of the Ireland Mission. His name appeared for the last time in "Yearbook" of 1905 as having this post. When the

1905 General Conference Session was concluded, Albion began a traveling lecture work all over America. Already experienced in this kind of program, he found it to his liking and continued it off and on for a number of years. Most of the meetings were held in small rented halls or in the homes of those willing to listen to his complaints about Ellen White and the fundamental beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists.

All this time, Ballenger continued his traveling throughout the United States, seeking speaking appointments before Adventist groups. During his travels he picked up scattered support, but not actually very much of it. He also joined the Seventh Day Baptists and became the pastor of their Riverside, California church. He made several trips to Europe and Australia seeking supporters, and found a few. But he was never able to realize his ambition of initiating a new church organization.

The later years of Albion are intertwined with those of his father and brother.

John Fox Ballenger was Albion's father. Born on a farm in what is now Columbus, Ohio, John was the son of a Methodist "circuit rider" preacher and farmer. When only two years old his parents moved to Illinois. Shortly after the Civil War he accepted the Adventist faith as a result of tent meetings held by W.S. Ingraham in Onesco, Illinois. In October 1893 he was ordained to the Adventist ministry in the Battle Creek Tabernacle. His preaching, begun before that date, extended over a period of some fifty years, during which time he worked in Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Canada, and California. About the year 1910 or 1911 he retired.

Unfortunately, his son Albion worked earnestly to influence him, and, following John's retirement, he followed his son into apostasy. It is thought that the death of his wife, Eliza, in 1907, hastened his move toward his son's views. John died in 1921, only a few months before the death of Albion.

Edward S. Ballenger was Albion's only brother. He too had become an Adventist minister. At the time of Albion's presentation of his sanctuary errors in Takoma Park in 1905, Edward was working at Paradise Valley Sanitarium in Southern California, and had frequent correspondence with Ellen White in regard to matters connected with the operation of the Sanitarium. He was happy with his work but concerned about his brother.

After 1905, Albion was determined to take as many out as possible, and his own family members were no exception. With such a persuasive individual for a brother, Edward eventually left the denomination and joined with Albion in his project. For many years they worked together in publishing diatribes on Ellen White and the Advent believers.

Apparently Ida Hibben remained with the Church. Nellie, the youngest sister, married William Ward Simpson, an evangelist whose work Ellen White liked very much. He was the one who made the paper mache beasts of Daniel and Revelation for use in his public evangelistic efforts. She served as preceptor at the Loma Linda school of nursing for a number of years after her husband's death in 1907, and remained a faithful Adventist all her life.

For the first four years after the 1905 crisis. Albion made his home on a small Virginia farm. In the year 1909, he moved to Riverside, California, not far from Loma Linda.

In 1911, Albion published "Cast Out," to which Elder Elder E. Andross in 1912 published a reply. As a counter reply, Albion then published "Forty Fatal Errors" in 1913, in which he deepened his attacks on the denomination, Ellen White, and the Sanctuary Message.

Andross' book, entitled "A More Excellent Ministry," was prompted by the fact that he had been on the scene of action in England when the apostasy first broke loose, and, at the time when Ballenger's first book was published by him in Southern California (where he was then residing), Elder Andross was conference president. (The exact dates of the above three books can only be surmised from certain statements in Ballenger's two books.)

In 1914, Albion began publication of the periodical, "The Gathering Call." The plan of action was to urge all Advent believers everywhereto come out from historic Adventism into Ballengerism. A former Adventist minister, Elder Eylar of Bache, Oklahoma, had written him and told him that it would be impossible for him, Eylar, to continue publication of his little journal, "The Gathering Call." Would Albion take it over was the question asked. Ballenger did, and continued it.

In 1913 or 1914, his brother Edward joined him at about the time that he lost his ministerial credentials. Transferring "Gathering Call" from Oklahoma to Riverside, where he was now making his home, Albion and Edward vigorously promoted their new journal. They won a number of sympathizers here and there, but were not able to develop the organized offshoot movement that they had as their objective.

In 1915, Albion's third book, "The Proclamation of Liberty and the Unpardonable Sin" came off the press. It was essentially a restatement of the positions held in his first two books. Aside from Ballenger's three books and his "Gathering Call" articles, relatively little information about his views is obtainable in any form.

"Proclamation of Liberty" is said to have been written while Ballenger was still in Europe, that is, prior to 1905. Ballenger said that the manuscript for the book was prepared more than ten years before its 1915 release.

Ballenger's final years were spent editing the "Gathering Call" with his brother, Edward. Alonzo T. Jones was a close associate in these activities.

"Thirty years Brother Ballenger and I were workers together. A curious thing about it however is that though we were so long workers together, we were hardly ever personally together in the work.

"In all that time there was only one brief period of about four months, in 1911, when we were personally together in our work. Yet we were workers together always in a closer way and a truer relationship than personal association could give or know."A.T. Jones, obituary issue, "The Gathering Call," September-October, 1921, page 3.

(During that four months, the two held an evangelistic series together in Los Angeles with each alternating in the presentation of the evening meetings.)

An unsigned lead article in that special issue describes his last two days of life:

"The last work he did was to make out the form for the August Gathering Call on Wednesday, August 17th and on Friday at about 5:00 P.M. he lay down on the couch and went to sleep."

Following Albion's death, the special issue of the "Gathering Call," quoted above, was released. We have a complete copy of it. Aside from poems by Albion, it primarily contains articles by Edward, Alonzo Jones, and probably unsigned ones by Albion's wife. In the back were two pages of letters of condolences from a dozen readers, including A.T. Jones, Mrs. A.T. Jones, and George Tenney. The masthead carried three names: E.S. Ballenger as Temporary Editor, Mrs. A.F. Ballenger as Associate Editor, and A.T. Jones as Editorial Contributor.

  What had happened to Alonzo Jones? As mentioned earlier in this historical documentary, "The Alpha of Apostasy," it was Jones' decision to go against Ellen White's counseland instead journey to Battle Creek to help John Harvey Kellogg in his many projects that was the beginning of the end for Jones. Dr. Kellogg carefully turned his mind against Ellen White and Jones headed downward just as any today will do who listens to the repetitions of Kellogg's theories about the authorship of the Spirit of Prophecy.

At the 1909 General Conference Session, a final supreme effort was made to bring him back. But Jones was quite a controversialist. Three afternoons in succession were spent it meetings by Jones with a large committee of denominational workers. At the last of the meetings, after an extended appeal for reconciliation, A.G. Daniells, president of the General Conference reached his hand across the table and plead with Jones, saying, "Come, Brother Jones, come." Deeply moved, Alonzo arose, and slowly extended his hand, then suddenly pulled it back and exclaimed, "No, never," and sat down again. The meetings ended and Jones left, never to return. Jones remained a Sabbathkeeper to his death, but his experience, tainted by contact with Kellogg's apostasy proved his ruin.

Why did he later unite with Ballenger instead of remaining with Kellogg? It is of interest that after the Kellogg crisis, Dr. J.H. Kellogg gradually disconnected with all those in the several apostasies who might prove a rival to his own activities. This included Ballenger, Jones, and Canright, all of whom would have been glad to make Dr. Kellogg's prosperous Battle Creek institutions the base for their own preaching and writing work if he had been willing promote and perhaps partially underwrite them.

About twenty years ago, the present writer saw an original letter written by A.T. Jones about the year 1922. Although a brief inconsequential note, it was handwritten on an "American Sentinel" letterhead, with Jones as editor. This small independent periodical may have been a primary activity in later years. Jones died in 1923.

In the same issue announcing Albion Ballenger's death, an article appeared mentioning the death of his father. On September 20, 1921, John Fox Ballenger died, twelve days after his eighty-seventh birthday, and thirty-four days after the death of his son, Albion on August 17.

Following Albion's death, his brother Edward soon took over the editorship of the small bimonthly, "The Gathering Call," and continued it for many years.

We do not know when Edward died, but with his death, and especially with that of Dr. J.H. Kellogg in 1943, all of the principals in the original Alpha of Apostasy were deceased.

But the issues at stake the antagonism to the precious legacy of historic Adventism bequeathed us by Heaven, and the animosity to God's last-day prophet, Ellen G. Whitedid not die in 1905 nor at any time since then.

And let no one imagine that all the problems were on one side. At the same time that Dr. Kellogg was poisoning people's minds in regard to the Testimonies, many of our top leaders in the denomination were disregarding those same testimonies. But our focus in this historical documentary has been on the Kellogg-Ballenger Crisis itself, a biography of each of their lives, the essential aspects of their apostasy, and some of the ramifications of it all.

For all of this is very important to our own time in history. We are now facing the largest revival of Alpha teachings to erupt since the first decade of this century when the Alpha culminated. All aspects of the Alphaboth from Kellogg's standpoint and Ballengers' has arisen again. Desmond Ford has been a prime leader in resurrecting Ballenger's errors in regard to the heavenly Sanctuary (while at the same time partially revising those errors), and Herman Hoehn and Hal Price have been unusually active in promoting Kellogg's charge that Ellen White was not the author of many of her writings.

And in view of all this: What is the Omega? Over the years, many have conjectured as to its nature. Some have suggested that it would be a complement of the Alpha. i.e., a repetition of the same areas of controversy. Others have felt that a contrasting apostasy one totally differentwas prophesied. A number of predictive Spirit of Prophecy statements assure us that doctrinal apostasy in regard to the Sanctuary Message and an undermining of the Spirit of Prophecy will be with us down to the end. The details may differ but the basic issues will be alike. And what were the primary points that we found running like a thread all through the history of the Alpha? Consider the following:

(1) Change some of the historic doctrines of Adventism. (2) Since the Sanctuary Message, and Obedience to the Law of God through the Enabling Grace of Christ, are fundamental pillars of our entire message, these will both have be altered. (3) Lower the standards, either in writing or in practice. (4) Pour polite contempt upon the personality and writings of Ellen G. White. She is the Prophet of the Exodus from the fallen churches of Babylon. Ways must be devised to destroy the influence of her writings so that the people can turn about from journeying to the Promised Land and go back to Egypt.

(5) Originate foolish speculations that will sidetrack the people of God from the special messages and work for this time. (6) Bring high-ranking leaders into apostasy for the influence of their decisions will hasten the crisis. (7) Devise ways to gain access to the youth, especially through the colleges, and win them over to the new views. (8) Work toward a nondenominational outlook, an interdenominational fellowship, ecumenical cooperation, and joint inter-church worship services. (9) Empty missionary work of its purpose, importance, and message. (10) Produce irrelevant, purposeless, or erroneous books, magazines, and papers for our people and for distribution to the world. (11) Deny that we have a God-given Blueprint in the writings of Ellen G. White and that it must be obeyed.

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