Confessions of a Pastor’s Daughter

JANICE O. BRANTLEY | 

I was born exactly seven minutes before my identical twin sister, and thirteen months after my older sister. My parents, of West-Indian descent, were careful to instill within us middle-class American values and also the assumption that because we were Seventh-day Adventists we were more fortunate than others. My father was a devout Seventh-day Adventist minister and educator, and we were reared in a traditional Adventist lifestyle including daily doses of the Testimonies or other compilations that were supposed to have been divinely inspired and written by Ellen G. White, our church’s prophet. As children who were naturally compliant and submissive, my twin and I believed and accepted everything that we were taught. My older sister, however, was free-spirited, inquisitive, and had a mind of her own. Only later did I realize that my passive acceptance of our belief system had resulted in my inability to decipher clearly truth from error, thus giving me a false sense of security. 

I was home-schooled for two years, baptized at the tender age of eight, and attended Adventist elementary schools in Virginia, Ohio, and New Jersey before enrolling at Pine Forge Academy in Pennsylvania. After graduation I entered Columbia Union College where I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing. I was employed at Washington Adventist Hospital for nearly seven years, during which time I married a handsome and charming Adventist gentleman. Within days I was shocked into the realization that I had made a tragic mistake. In spite of our toxic union, we were blessed with two beautiful children, a daughter and a son. Because of my strong commitment to Christ and to the counsel of Ellen White, however, I felt obligated to remain in my marital bondage for fourteen long, traumatic years. Yet I felt the presence of God through it all, and I emerged from it more determined than ever to follow Him wherever He might lead.

Married Again

As a single mom I faced many unanticipated challenges, but with the miraculous assistance of my heavenly Father, I was able to raise my children into adulthood with reasonably sound minds and bodies. During one of my occasional visits with my parents, who resided in Huntsville, Alabama, I was introduced to a recently baptized Adventist gentleman to whom my father had given Bible studies. After several months of getting to know each other via long distance phone calls and a few visits that he made to my home in Columbia, Maryland, he asked me to become his wife and the mother of his sons, ages ten and eleven. After much thought and prayer, I accepted his proposal, gave up my life-long nursing career, disposed of most of my earthly possessions, and moved from my townhouse to his home in Alabama. My decision to become the stepparent of two extremely active youngsters, after rearing two of my own to adulthood, proved to be more of a challenge than I could have ever imagined.

…my passive acceptance of our belief system had resulted in my inability to decipher clearly truth from error, thus giving me a false sense of security. 

My relationship with my new husband was initially void of overt conflict, and my second marriage appeared to have been much more promising than the first. Shortly after the graduation of my youngest stepson from Oakwood Academy, my husband informed me that he wanted a divorce so that he could remarry his first wife! That revelation hit me like a bombshell! In retrospect, however, I shouldn’t have been surprised. He and I had slowly drifted apart in our religiosity. His interest in Adventism and Christianity had grown cold, and my reaction to our differences was to immerse myself even more deeply into the writings of Ellen White and to become more active, more conservative, and more historic in my Adventism. After all, so much of what Mrs. White wrote was indeed comforting, and I was desperate for anything that would fill the void in my life and bring comfort to my aching soul.

After giving up my career, my home, and most of my earthly possessions and devoting eight years of my life and my love to my husband and his sons, only to be told that I was no longer wanted or needed, seemed more than I could bear. What was I to do, and where was I to go? In desperation I fell on my knees and poured out my heart to Jesus Christ, my friend who promised never to leave me or forsake me. I also decided that I should never trust another man on this planet who asked for my hand in marriage. My desire was only to please God and to become absolutely perfect for Him. 

Joining the Historic Adventists

After moving out of the beautiful home in which I had invested so much love, time, and energy, I joined a group of “historic” Adventists, living in my assigned, old, single-wide mobile home in the communal country setting in the back hills of Tennessee. This self-supporting Adventist ministry named “Missionary Educational and Evangelistic Training” (MEET) emphasizes health and dress reform and perfectionism. 

I felt God wanted me to promote the health message. After all, I had been taught that it was the right hand of the gospel. In my effort to please God, I became fanatical in practically every facet of my life, wearing only long dresses, becoming a vegan, refraining from all make-up and jewelry, not eating between meals, and trying desperately to be sure that I had no sin in my life. Like most members of the commune, I also pulled away from traditional Adventism after being convinced that most Adventists were in apostasy. I eagerly accepted these beliefs and felt sorry for those who were not living up to the “blueprint” of Sister White. We often lamented the fact that most Adventist ministers in these last days rarely include the end-time admonitions of our prophet in their sermons.

Almost a year later, thanks to the providence of God, I was asked by Dr. Kenneth D. Brantley, a family friend, to assist him in caring for his wife Lydia who was terminally ill with lung cancer. The financial difficulties I had been experiencing at that time had already forced me to consider leaving MEET. After much consternation and prayer, I accepted the Brantley’s offer without the faintest idea that God would use that experience to redirect the course of my life in more ways than I could have imagined. 

During the time that I cared for Mrs. Brantley, she and I became very close. Within a few weeks after my employ, she told her husband that she believed that I was an answer to prayer and a gift from heaven. Realizing that her life would soon end, she shocked her husband one day with the suggestion that he consider me as his companion after her death. He told her such considerations were out of the question under the circumstances. She then asked him if he would at least think about it, and he promised her that he would.

After Mrs. Brantley’s funeral, I agreed to continue assisting Dr. Brantley with his home and office work. It was not long before he became the love of my life, and within months we were united in holy matrimony. Our ceremony was conducted by my father, Elder Cleveland Tivy. Even though Ken’s brand of Adventism was more liberal than mine, I was very happy and deeply in love with Ken. Just when I felt that things couldn’t get any better, however, I noticed that my husband was spending an awfully lot of time reading in his office. Being naturally intuitive, I wondered what could possibly be monopolizing so much of his time.

Concern For My Husband

I soon discovered a number of books in his office that appeared to be critical of Ellen White. My heart sank, and I couldn’t believe that he, of all people, was indulging such heresy! I couldn’t understand how a man of his intelligence and commitment to Adventism could stoop to that level! Didn’t he know that Sister White was our prophet, endowed with a special message for His remnant church? I vividly recalled statements of Sister White that I had memorized as a child, of how in the last days, many advent believers would be those who would “make of none effect” her testimonies. My concern for my husband’s preoccupation with anti-Adventist literature and its negative impact on our marriage mounted. I was determined to hold onto that which I “knew” to be true. It seemed that my loving husband needed help, and fast!

I was tempted to hide those hated books every time I observed him reading them. Burning them seemed an even better option. In desperation I sought divine intervention and was impressed to swallow my pride and try to understand my husband’s behavior. Ken had attempted to share the books with me, but I was not the least bit interested. I interpreted Ken’s efforts as a ploy of Satan to deceive me and was too afraid to look or listen. One day, however, I made the “mistake” of looking at some of the material he had copied from the internet. It prompted me to ask him if he had a copy of White Out by Dirk Anderson, a former defender of Ellen White. I was absolutely horrified by what I discovered!

The possibility that I could have been mistaken about the integrity of EGW and the doctrines of Adventism for all of my life was almost too traumatizing for me to deal with, yet I knew I had to get to the bottom of it all.

The possibility that I could have been mistaken about the integrity of EGW and the doctrines of Adventism for all of my life was almost too traumatizing for me to deal with, yet I knew I had to get to the bottom of it all. I was compelled to probe more deeply into the life of Sister White and decided to borrow a few more of those books from my husband’s library. I read White Washed by Sydney Cleveland, and then The Life of Mrs. E. G. White, Seventh-day Adventist Prophet, Her False Claims Refuted by D. M. Canright, a contemporary of Mrs. White.

Soon I found myself doing the very things that I had resented my husband doing! I was reading, examining, researching, and comparing what appeared to be contradictions between the doctrine of EGW and the truths of Scripture! After months of prayer, Bible study, and contemplation, I finally came to the conclusion that I had only one option, and that was to accept God’s Word, even if it meant giving up friends, family, and Adventism. The realization that much of what I had believed to be truth all of my life had in fact been a lie was a humbling experience.

Baby Christian

Eventually Ken began questioning the validity of the Sabbath, and he suggested that I make a study of the Old Testament in order to better understand the Law and the Sabbath. He encouraged me to study with an open mind, accept God’s Word for what it said, and to try to purge my mind of all preconceptions. I promised him that I would. After asking the Lord to give me the courage and wisdom to embark upon this new study experience, I was reminded of Psalm 119:105 which says, “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

I felt like a baby Christian, starting all over again, learning Biblical truths for the first time. God slowly and gently began to unfold to me the plain truths of His Word. To my utter astonishment, I discovered that many of my long-held beliefs about the Sabbath were not Biblically based. It was only then that I felt I could safely read books such as The Sabbath and the Lord’s Day by H.M. Riggle and Sabbath in Christ by Dale Ratzlaff. 

When I first discovered in 1 John 5:11-13 that God actually wants us to know that we have eternal life if we “believe on the name of the Son of God”, I wanted to shout! Even though I had read that passage many times, I had always filtered out this most important truth because Mrs. White had admonished us to never say we are saved. As I began understanding what the gospel was all about, I wanted to share with everyone I knew!

The first person with whom I shared my newfound faith was my twin sister. To my utter astonishment, she demonstrated no interest in what had made me so excited. Instead, she informed me that I was sliding down a slippery slope and that Satan had deceived me. My frustration knew no bounds.

When I shared the Good News with my free-spirit older sister, however, she informed me that she had been studying some of the same material that I had read and had already begun to have serious questions about the Adventist church. After more study, she arrived at the same conclusions that I had, praise God. Her response encouraged Ken and me in our study and in the knowledge that God is opening blind eyes and closed minds to His word.

It’s been almost two years since Ken and I left the Adventist church, and we are closer to God and to each other than ever before. It’s only because of His grace that we have been led out of darkness into His wonderful light. We now have wonderful, God-fearing friends who demonstrate true Christianity by opening their hearts, homes, and lives to us. We are currently attending an inspiring Baptist church and are understanding more and more of God’s magnificent love and sacrifice for us. We are embracing Him in a manner we never could have before.

Thanks be to God for the wonderful gift of His Word. It is so much more precious to me now than ever, and I cannot thank Him enough for the way in which He has freed me from the bondage of deception and ignorance. It is my desire to share the unadulterated truth of God’s Word with my family, friends, and anyone who is willing to stop, look, and listen. 

To God be the glory!

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[2005] Janice Brantley is a registered nurse who has two grown children. She and her husband Ken live in Ardmore, Tennessee, and attend Whitesburg Baptist Church in Huntsville, Alabama. Today Janice is rejoicing in her newfound understanding of the truth of God’s Word.

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 Republished from the printed edition of Proclamation!, March/April 2005.