At a council meeting at Avondale School, about the year 1893, there were present Elders Haskell, F.L.H. Baker, G.B. Starr, and their wives, and Sister E.G. White, also W.A. Colcord, who was the editor of the Australian Signs of the Times.
Elder Colcord requested the privilege of reading some articles regarding the personality of Melchisedec. We all listened as he read and were surprised that Sister White listened also, with seeming interest, as she was not accustomed to listening to any argumentative writings.
“As Elder Colcord was reading, Sister White interrupted him, saying: “Elder Colcord, I would not publish these articles, if I were you.” “Why not?” He inquired. “Because they are not correct.” She answered.
He then asked, “Who then was Melchisedec?”
She replied, “I will tell you who Melchisedec was. He was the Holy Spirit of God assuming human form. He represented Christ to the people of that generation.”
That ended the council.
Elder Colcord offered no argument to refute her position, and we all seemed perfectly satisfied with the statement; in fact, I had never heard an explanation that was satisfactory before.
After the meeting, Elder S.N. Haskell said to me, “Elder Starr, when the Spirit of Prophecy speaks so plainly as that about a matter, it can be proved by the Bible, so let’s look it up.”
We found that description of Melchisedec in Hebrews 7:3 was fully met by the Holy Spirit. “Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a high priest continually.”
We found that in Hebrews 9:14 that statement, “The Eternal Spirit.” That would meet, also, “Without beginning of days, nor end of life.”
Then in Romans 8:26, “likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (by man). Thus – These statements make the Holy Spirit a high priest forever. Every specification was met by the Holy Spirit, A HIGH PRIEST FOREVER, but cannot be met by any angel or human being.
Elder Haskell published this matter as reported above in his paper at South Lancaster, Mass. Thus we have TWO witnesses of the truthfulness of Sister White’s statement regarding (the person) Melchisedec.” Signed – G.B. Starr
“…A morning talk, given at Battle Creek by Mrs. E.G. White, Jan. 20, 1890, printed in the R & H of 2-18-1890, contains the following statement: ‘It was Christ that spoke through Melchisedec, the priest of the Most High God. Melchisedec was not Christ, but the voice of God in the world, the representative of the Father.‘ John 14:17,26 and 16:13-15, tell us who represents the Father in the earth. At the baptism of Christ the Holy Spirit appeared as a dove; on the day of Pentecost, as Cloven tongues of fire. It is not unreasonable (therefore) to conclude that the SAME SPIRIT could appear to Abraham in the person of the King of Salem. (“Priest of the most High God.”)
“It was Christ who spoke through Melchizedek, the priest of the most high God. Melchizedek was NOT Christ, but he was the VOICE of God in the world, the REPRESENTATIVE of the Father [MELCHIZEDEK WAS THE HOLY SPIRIT].” – Selected Messages, Book 1, p. 409.
“THE HOLY SPIRIT IS CHRIST’S REPRESENTATIVE, but divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof.” – The Desire of Ages, p. 669:2.
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Melquisedec – ¿Qué está escrito? – Loud-Cry WordPress - 10/11/2020
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JakofSLM - 10/10/2016
Notice how the Ellen G. White Estate says…
Dear ___________,
Thank you for contacting the Ellen G. White Estate. Elder Haskell published three short articles about Melchizedek in the “Bible Training School” paper that he published in South Lancaster, Massachusetts. I have attached a PDF file giving you all three. In the first two he asserted that Melchizedek was the Holy Spirit. In the third article he did not make this assertion, but observed that the Bible says Melchizedek was a man. Actually, he had listed this characteristic in his first article, but then he seemed to ignore it in his conclusion.
A couple of years ago I had a phone call from someone interested in the supposed identity of Melchizedek as the Holy Spirit. Below is the letter I sent him. I will also attach at PDF of the material I mentioned in the letter:
Dear Brother ,
Thank you for calling today. You asked for the specifics in regard to any who contradicted G. B. Starr’s account of Mrs. White’s supposed identification of Melchizedek as the Holy Spirit. I am enclosing three documents from our files. The first is the statement of Elder Starr, showing that it was articles by Elder Colcord which raised the question in the first place. Elder Starr then outlined his recollection of what Mrs. White had said.
The second item is Elder Colcord’s statement, which flatly denies that Mrs. White had identified Melchizedek at all, though he believed she had said he was a “representative” of the Holy Spirit. Colcord then went into what I would call a “flight of fancy” on the question, putting great weight on “The Book of Jasher.” Unfortunately, though there is indeed a Book of Jasher named in the Bible, we don’t have that one. All we have is a much later book whose unknown author gave it that name in order to try to gain credibility for it. I would give no weight to arguments based on this book.
The third item is a statement by D. E. Robinson, who served as one of Mrs. White’s secretaries for many years, married her granddaughter Ella, and later worked with the Ellen G. White Estate. Robinson cites a couple of statements in print from Mrs. White about Melchizedek which help to establish her view that Melchizedek was a representative of the Father. It strikes me that this does not require him to be someone supernatural. Rather, he was someone whom God used. Abraham gave him tithes because as a priest he did represent God.
In the context of Hebrews, I do not understand the Bible to be presenting Melchizedek as someone divine. Rather, the Bible merely notes that his genealogy is not recorded in Scripture and in fact that his descent must not be Levitical, since Abraham had not yet borne Isaac and his descendents. This becomes an opening, a precedent, for the High Priestly ministry of Jesus, who also did not descend from the line of Levi and Aaron. Speculations about Melchizedek’s divinity are, in my view, misplaced.
In light of the evidence we have, we placed the following notice on our web site, http://www.WhiteEstate.org , in the “Issues & Answers” section, in the category of “Statements Mistakenly Attributed to Ellen G. White”:
Identity of Melchizedek. Mrs. White reportedly identified Melchizedek as the Holy Spirit, according to the memory of one man. There is no support in her writings for this teaching, and the memory statement is offset by denials of others who were present when Ellen G. White is supposed to have made this statement. She did not identify Melchizedek. See Ellen G. White statement in the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 1, p. 1093, in which she says Melchizedek was not Christ.
I hope this will be helpful to you. Thank you for writing, and God bless!
William Fagal
Associate Director
Ellen G. White Estate
12501 Old Columbia Pike
Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600 U.S.A.
Phone: 301 680-6550
FAX: 301 680-6559
E-mail: mail@WhiteEstate.org
Web: http://www.WhiteEstate.org
The Typist - 10/10/2016
Jesus said read it again as in, read other articles also – https://sabbathsermons.com/category/melchisedec/
The EGW state say it’s okay to eat meat and not follow dress reform. They aren’t the Word of God. Read Haskells article also:
https://sabbathsermons.com/2010/05/07/the-order-of-melchisedec-stephen-haskell-south-lancaster-papers/
monthusi legodi - 08/06/2011
m so thankful that the holy spirit works thru mrs white ,aaamen…it was a burden to me
thabani b gumbo - 14/12/2010
thanx 4the clarification wil certainly pass the news about ths wonderful learning experience,it was one controverted top4c in our bible study team
Sabbath Sermons - 02/11/2009
Haskells South Lancaster papers – http://www.scribd.com/doc/21265161/Melchizedek-by-Stephen-Haskell