In the Olivet discourse, Jesus warned His disciples that after He had gone many false prophets would appear on the scene, some even predicting that the time had come for Jesus to return (Luke 21:8). Along those same lines, Paul also warns that there would be people who would rise up in the church, drawing away believers after themselves (Acts 20:30).
History testifies to the fact that this has happened numerous times. The Adventist Church is no exception. Our own history is littered with various off-shoot individuals leading others away in off-shoot directions. One such interesting episode was the case of Margaret Rowen.
Originally a Methodist, Margaret W. Rowen joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1912. Four years later, on June 22, 1916 she began to receive “visions,” which she claimed was a manifestation of the gift of prophecy. After all, Ellen White had died the year before and it therefore might be logical to look for the reappearance of this gift in a successor. In response to this claim, a committee of church leaders was appointed to investigate the matter over a period of several months. The conclusion was reached that the visions were not of heavenly origin. When Mrs. Rowen heard that the church did not accept her prophetic claims as being authentic, she began her own movement – the "Los Angeles, California, Seventh-day Adventist Reform Church," ironically based in Hollywood.
Shortly after, Mrs. Rowen received a “vision” in which she was told by an angel that the newly established “Reform Movement” would grow and develop so rapidly that by 1923 it would absorb the entire Seventh-day Adventist denomination. She wrote:
"Said the angel, 'The great God of heaven will present to himself a pure, spotless people, . . reorganizing the organization. When the denomination which call themselves Seventh-day Adventists refuse to hear the voice of God, they fail to be the remnant people; nevertheless I would have you know that I will draw them in.’”[1]
The angel said further that the denomination would not only be “drawn into the inner wheel,” referring to the “Reform Movement,” but that it would also be totally “forgotten” by the year 1923.
Due to these claims and the support of several local church leaders, the movement gained a following, reaching approximately 1000 adherents at its peak. One of the appointed leaders was a physician by the name of Bert E. Fullmer who became the editor of the movement’s periodical, the Reform Advocate.
In the autumn of 1919, Mrs. Rowen reported to have had a vision in which she saw a letter written by Ellen White, at St. Helena, August 10, 1911, which named her as Ellen White’s successor.
On the afternoon of December 17, an Elder Richardson paid a visit to Ellen White’s “Elmshaven” home where her writings were on file and asked to see the letter. William C. White, who was the curator for his mother’s writings, said he had no knowledge of such a document (he had only six months earlier finished indexing all her writings). Mr. Richardson proceeded to tell him where to look, and sure enough they found it in the 1911 manuscript draw. Later W. C. White wrote, “This document I had never seen before. Its existence and its presence in the files was a great surprise to me.” He went on to describe how it got there:
From October 6 to December 11, 1919, I was away from home. During that time through the thoughtless neglect of a young stenographer, the doors to the "Elmshaven," manuscript vault were, left unlocked from November 11, until my return.
It must have been during the time when the doors to the manuscript vault were left unlocked, that the document... was smuggled into the manuscript vault and slipped into the drawer containing the manuscripts of 1911.[2]
The letter was almost immediately dismissed as a forgery, for at least eight reasons. Some of which included: the poor imitation of Ellen White’s signature; it was dated “St Helena, California, August 10, 1911” whereas on that specific date Ellen White was attending a camp meeting miles away in Long Beach, Southern California; and the paper which was used was a different size to that which Ellen White typically used.
Not long after this stunt, the January 27 edition of the “Los Angeles (Calif.) Examiner” published a three-column advertisement containing a message from Mrs. Rowen in which she declared, "Thus saith the Lord, probation will close February 6, 1924. Jesus will return to the earth February 6, 1925."[3]
It’s no surprise to us that Jesus didn’t come, and the failure of that prophecy was a wakeup call to many of her followers who realised they were being duped. After the “disappointment,” Mr. Fullmer confessed to the forgery of the Ellen White letter and renounced the claims of Mrs. Rowan. This was met with great anger by the Rowanites. A. W. Anderson tells of the plot against Mr. Fullmer. He wrote that Fullmer received a phone call to visit an old friend at a tourist camp.
On arriving at the tent which his friend was supposed to occupy, he knocked at the door and was invited in. He was then attacked by a man and woman, and in the struggle a hypodermic needle was plunged into his arm. His cries for aid brought in several of the neighbours, and the attackers were caught and held until the arrival of the police, who arrested them on a charge of assault to commit murder.
A few days later, Mrs. Margaret Rowen was charged with conspiring to commit murder.[4]
She served a one-year sentence in the San Quentin State Prison in California. By this time, the “Reform Movement” had disintegrated, with the former members ducking for cover when accomplices were being pursued by officials.
This brief chapter in the book our history is a vivid reminder of what Jesus once said, while explaining how to tell a true prophet from a false one, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” (Matt 7:20). In the case of Margret Rowen, the evidence is clear – she was one bad apple. Intentionally or unintentionally, she was a fulfilment of Matthew 24:11, “And many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray.” She was not the first, and she will certainly not be the last.
[1] Tract — "Doth My Lord Delay His Coming?" cited in North Pacific Gleaner, Vol. 19, No. 10, 11, p. 12 (emphasis supplied).
[2] Southern Union Worker, Vol. 19, No. 5, pp. 1-2.
[3] Cited in the North Pacific Gleaner, Vol. 19 - No. 07, p. 8.
[4] Australasian Record, Vol. 31, No. 20, pp. 3-4
* All texts quoted are from the American Standard Version
Thursday, April 30, 2009
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