“I had with me a number of quotations that I wanted to see if they were in the original in her own handwriting. I remember how astonished we were when Desire of Ages was first published, for it contained some things that we considered unbelievable; among others the doctrine of the Trinity, which was not generally accepted by the Adventists. Some of the quotations concerned theology, others I had selected for their beauty of expression. I wanted to see how these quotations looked before they were corrected by the proofreaders.
“So I was given access to the manuscripts. I stayed in California several months. Being a reasonably fast reader, I read nearly all Sister White had written in her own handwriting. I was particularly interested, in the statement in Desire of Ages which at one time caused great concern to the denomination theologically: ‘In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived.” p. 530. That statement may not seem very revolutionary to you, but to us it was. We could hardly believe it. but of course we could not preach contrary to it. I was sure Sister White had never written, ‘In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived.’ But now I found it in her own handwriting just as it had been published. It was so with other statements. As I checked up, I found that they were Sister White’s own expressions… In the final analysis it was her work all the way through.” (Original source: M. L. Andreasen, “The Spirit of Prophecy,” Chapel Talk, Loma Linda, California, November 30, 1948) (George R. Knight in “Lest We Forget” a daily devotional, published by the Review and Herald Publishing Association 2008, pg. 292.)
Andreasen’s 1953 Testimony to the EGW Estate
Note: Andreasen probably read the original manuscripts in the early 1900s as he recalled in his Chapel Talk in 1948… it does purport that he DID go and visit Ellen White and DID ask to read her original manuscripts behind DA and that in his small circle of colleagues, it MAY have changed their Christology but it didn’t do it for the entire denomination.
If Desire of Ages coming out in 1898 was a watershed moment in Adventism which settled the matter and changed the Christology of the SDA Church, how could Andreasen as General Conference Field Secretary in 1942 that the field is divided on the subject of the Trinity? “The field is divided on the subject of the Trinity.” (M. L. Andreasen to J. L. McElhany and W. H. Branson, December 25, 1942) He wrote that letter to the then President of the General Conference. McElhany was President, Branson was Vice President. This is a contemporaneous statement to his seniors
As far as we know, people have concluded Andreason’s position to be a trinitarian solely based on his Chapel Talk in 1948 (namely what is quoted above) but …we don’t know of any other additional contemporaneous evidence as to what he actually believed prior or that he “became a trinitarian after his encounter with EGW’s original writing.