And now to all who have a desire for truth I would say: Do not give credence to unauthenticated reports as to what Sister White has done or said or written. If you desire to know what the Lord has revealed through her, read her published works. Are there any points of interest concerning which she has not written, do not eagerly catch up and report rumors as to what she has said. (5T 696.1) MC VC

Chapter 83—A Miracle Counterfeited VC

Some have found difficulty in reconciling a statement in Testimonies for the Church, volume I, page 292, with one in Great Controversy, volume I, page 184. [The account presented in this now-out-of-print volume was rewritten and amplified by Ellen G. White and published in 1890 as Patriarchs and Prophets. See page 264 of that volume for the statement paralleling the one referred to here. [White Trustees.]] These passages refer to the work of the sorcerers in counterfeiting the miracle performed by Aaron, of turning the rod to a serpent. The testimony says: “The magicians could not perform all those miracles which God wrought through Moses. Only a few of them could they do. The magicians’ rods did become serpents, but Aaron’s rod swallowed them up.” This last sentence, which is the one in question, is substantially the same as the Bible statement: “They cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.” The statement in volume I, of the Controversy, is: “The magicians seemed to perform several things with their enchantments similar to those things which God wrought by the hand of Moses and Aaron. They did not really cause their rods to become serpents, but by magic, aided by the great deceiver, made them appear like serpents, to counterfeit the work of God.” This statement, instead of contradicting the former, is simply explanatory of it. (5T 696.2) MC VC

There is not, in the Testimony, a full expression of the thought which I wished to convey. On page 293 is a sentence which makes the meaning clearer: “The magicians wrought not by their own science alone, but by the power of their god, the devil, who ingeniously carried out his deceptive work of counterfeiting the work of God.” Moses, by the power of God, had changed the rod to a living serpent. Satan, through the magicians, counterfeited this miracle. He could not produce living serpents, for he has not power to create or to give life. This power belongs to God alone. But all that Satan could do he did—he produced a counterfeit. By his power, working through the magicians, he caused the rods to assume the appearance of serpents. (5T 697.1) MC VC

The statement that they did become serpents, simply means that they were such in appearance; such they were believed to be by Pharaoh and his court. There was nothing in their appearance to distinguish them from the serpent produced by Moses and Aaron; but while one was real, the others were spurious. And the Lord caused the living serpent to swallow up the pretended ones. (5T 697.2) MC VC

Pharaoh desired to justify his stubbornness in resisting the divine command; he was seeking some excuse to disregard the miracle which God had wrought through Moses. Satan gave him just what he wanted. By the work which he wrought through the magicians he made it appear to the Egyptians that Moses and Aaron were only magicians and sorcerers, and hence that the message which they brought would not claim respect as coming from a superior being. (5T 697.3) MC VC

Even the swallowing up of the counterfeit serpents was not regarded by Pharaoh as the special work of God’s power, but as accomplished by a kind of magic superior to that of his servants. Thus this counterfeit work emboldened him in his rebellion, causing him to fortify himself against conviction. (5T 697.4) MC VC