Ellen White's Spirit Guide

By Dirk Anderson, July, 2025

Many prophets of the 19th century reported encounters with spiritual guides—beings they believed were angels, messengers, or instructors. These guides often delivered messages, interpreted visions, or revealed new doctrines. Ellen G. White, Seventh-day Adventism's prophet, reported being accompanied by an angelic being in some of her visions. This made her experiences strikingly similar to some of her contemporaries, who also believed they were guided by non-physical intelligences.

• Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) - He was a Swedish scientist turned mystic. He claimed to have regular communication with angels and spirits in the afterlife. He described detailed journeys through heaven and hell, guided by these spiritual beings, who helped him understand the inner meanings of Scripture. He wrote about his visions in multiple books.

• Andrew Jackson Davis (1826–1910) - Known as the "Poughkeepsie Seer," Davis claimed to enter trance states where he communicated with spirit guides, including a being named "Galien" and even the spirits of Emanuel Swedenborg and Benjamin Franklin. His first book, The Principles of Nature, was allegedly dictated while in a trance. Davis's teachings were widely read in the mid-19th century.

• Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891) - Founder of the Theosophical Society, Blavatsky reported frequent contact with advanced spiritual beings who guided her and revealed ancient wisdom. These entities, she said, communicated with her through dreams, letters, and telepathic impressions.

• Joseph Smith (1805–1844) Smith claimed repeated visits from an angel named Moroni. According to Smith, Moroni guided him to the golden plates that became the Book of Mormon. Smith also reported visions of Jesus, Peter, James, John, and other angelic beings who taught him doctrines and ordained him to divine authority. Like Ellen White, his experiences gave rise to a new religious tradition with millions of followers today.

Ellen White's Young Male Spirit Guide

"A young man of noble appearance"

In 1846, while Ellen White was preaching the false shut door doctrine, a young man began appearing to her. Later, in 1875, she explained the physical appearance of this spiritual guide who had been attending her for 29 years:

The following night I dreamed that a young man of noble appearance came into the room where I was, immediately after I had been speaking. This same person has appeared before me in important dreams to instruct me from time to time during the past twenty-six years.¹

Unfortunately, this young male guide failed to make her aware of the serious flaws in the Adventist's shut door teaching. Even though the guide attended her from 1846 until the flawed doctrine was jettisoned by Adventists in 1851, he never informed her that she was misleading her people on this doctrine.

Beginning in 1850, for the next quarter of a century, Mrs. White used the phrase "said the angel" hundreds of times to describe what her angelic guide communicated to her. These communications were not always accurate. For example:

• 1850 - Her guide lied, claiming the return of Christ was imminent: "Said the angel...Jesus’ work is almost finished in the sanctuary. It is no time to be stupid now; a quick work will the Lord do upon the earth, the four angels will soon let go the four winds."² It has been over 175 years since this statement was made.

• 1850 - Her guide lied, claiming that to be saved from wrath, the baptism into Christ was not enough, but a new baptism into the shut door was required: "Said the angel...those...that have formally, since ’44, broken the commandments of God and have so far followed the Pope as to keep the first day instead of the seventh, would have to go down into the water and be baptized in the faith of the shut door and keeping the commandments of God."³ Not even James obeyed this false testimony—he refused to get rebaptized into the shut door faith. If this was a communication from God, then why don't SDAs require a baptism into the "faith of the shut door" today?

• 1856 - Her guide lied, claiming some attending a conference would receive the last seven plagues or be translated. "Said the angel, 'Some food for worms, some subjects of the seven last plagues, some will be alive and remain upon the earth to be translated at the coming of Jesus.'"⁴ The last living person who attended that conference died in 1943.

Thus, in addition to failing to correct Mrs. White's false teachings, the spirit guide practiced deception at times.

Contradicts Bible Teachings

As early as 1857, Mrs. White was using her angelic messages to coerce Adventists to turn over their wealth to the Whites. This is evidenced in the following testimony where she implies that SDAs who do not turn over their money to the Whites will end up lost:

Said the angel, "Will God permit the rich men to keep their riches, and yet they enter into the kingdom of God?" Said another angel, "No, never."⁵

One good way to identify a false spirit is if they contradict Scripture. The Bible says, "God loveth a cheerful giver," not one who is forced to give to retain their salvation (2 Cor. 9:7). Mrs. White's "angel" said that men who keep their riches would not enter the kingdom, but is that Biblically accurate?

• Abraham "was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold." (Gen. 13:2). Jesus said Abraham would be in his eternal kingdom (Luke 13:28).
• Job was extremely wealthy at the end of his life (Job 42:10).
• David, a man after God's own heart, was immensely wealthy and accumulated vast riches (1 Chron. 29:1-5).
• Solomon had extraordinary wealth. His riches "exceeded all the kings of the earth" (1 Kings 10:23).
• Joseph of Arimathea was described as a "rich man" and a "disciple of Jesus" and a "good and upright man" (Matt. 27:57, Luke 23:50).

There is no Biblical evidence that any of these men divested their wealth to be saved. Mrs. White's spirit guide presents a God who demands payment from righteous men to enter his kingdom, but such an idea is foreign to the Bible. After Jesus' conversation with the rich young ruler, He told his disciples, "how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God" (Mark 10:24). He did not say that someone who is rich but trusts in God cannot enter the kingdom. Ellen White later admits this when writing about the salvation of Zacchaeus: "They saw how, through the grace of God, a rich man could enter into the kingdom."⁶

My Instructor

As the frequency of her visions declined in the 1870s, Mrs. White stopped saying "said the angel" and started describing her spirit guide as "my guide" or "my instructor." She used this terminology from 1875 to 1910. One hundred of those statements were examined for this article, and the messages are categorized as follows:

• 44% - Rebukes to various SDA institutions, including churches, church councils, sanitariums, publishing houses, and schools.⁷
• 21% - Guidance for various SDA individuals (including her sons), frequently pointing out their supposed character flaws or failures⁸
• 12% - Moral exhortations common elsewhere in her writings (e.g. be humble, avoid worldliness, work/study harder)⁹
• 9% - Rebukes to individuals involved in the 1888 crisis—a time when some SDA leaders lost confidence in her.¹⁰
• 5% - Prodding SDAs to engage in the Southern work or missions in Australia.¹¹
• 4% - Exhortations for SDAs to teach health reform and warn others about the judgment.¹²
• 2% - Exhortations for SDAs to give their hard-earned money to the SDA sect instead of buying bikes or photos.¹³
• 2% - Rebukes of Ellen White's critics.¹⁴
• 1% - Exhortations about purchasing property.¹⁵

What is notable is the absence of any profound revelations in these communications. The largest category (44%) involve her bickering with other sect leaders about how their institutions should be run.

In 1901, she claimed to have had over a hundred encounters with this "instructor."¹⁶ She wrote: "In my work, I am connected...with and in close touch with my Instructor and other heavenly intelligences.¹⁷ Despite this "close" interaction, Mrs. White preached false doctrines, such as "vital force" and "eugenics," for decades.

A Profound Interest in Making Profit

One of the more curious aspects of this spirit guide was his interest in making sure the SDA sect and the Whites were profitable. In addition to urging SDAs to stop buying bikes and photos so they could give more money to the sect, the guide devised a profitable venture for the sect that involved giving out free tracts.

In the early days of Adventism, like many other churches, the Adventists handed out free tracts. However, in 1853, the tiny sect, led by James White, rejected that approach:

A person that can pay for our publications, and hesitates to pay the very low price of them, we cannot hope to benefit. In time past, they have been freely handed out to such, by some of the brethren. Says our Lord, “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine.” Matthew 7:6. We felt that we could not bear longer the responsibility of publishing Tracts to be circulated by injudicious hands, and the brethren, assembled at Rochester in Conference, July last, decided that for the future they should be sold at the lowest price possible...¹⁸

Regardless of the prohibition on free tracts, some Adventists continued passing out free tracts with good results.¹⁹

In 1875, the spirit guide encouraged Mrs. White to distribute free tracts and justified this by saying that it "might eventually result in a hundred fold returns to the treasury."²⁰ The guide went on to encourage the establishment of literature evangelists to sell Ellen White's and other SDA publications to an unaware public. Many other denominations, such as the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Congregationalists, had already been distributing free tracts for decades. These denominations sent out tract distributors and missionary canvassers who went door-to-door giving out free tracts and selling books in communities throughout America. Apparently aware of the successful efforts of "Apostate Protestantism," it seems the spirit guide decided to tip off the SDAs that this could be a lucrative venture for the SDA sect. Here was an opportunity to promulgate the teachings of the sect while benefiting the financial interests of the Whites, who would receive royalties on the books that would be sold. It was a win-win situation for the Whites and SDAs. Thus, the spirit guide was used to convince sect leaders to launch a lucrative "Colporter Ministry Evangelism" business that still makes money for the SDA sect and White Estate to this very day.

A Profound Interest in Ellen White's Royalties

Mrs. White's guide expressed a strong interest in her royalty profits. In 1896, Uriah Smith, then editor of the Review, suggested lowering the royalties paid to authors. Many SDA authors were fine with this arrangement because their main goal was to spread the "truth." Some authors already refused to take royalties from the sect's publishing houses. However, when Mrs. White found out about the plan to reduce her royalties, she was livid! Her guide sided with her (as usual) and called the actions of the board of directors of the publishing houses "robbery."²¹

In another incident, in 1901, Mrs. White wrote of a time in the early 1890s when she was antagonized because Bible Readings for the Home was being pushed by SDA book canvassers instead of her books. She acknowledged the reason was because the book peddlers found it easier to sell that book than Mrs. White's books. By this time, thanks in part to D.M. Canright, the name "Ellen White" had become widely synonymous with "false prophet" in America. People were leery of buying a book from a false prophet, so the book peddlers encountered difficulty convincing people to buy it. Her "instructor" rushed to her defense, telling her "to secure facilities for the publishing of my own books, and to handle these books myself, selecting canvassers to circulate them."²² Did she follow her instructor's command to set up her own publishing business? No, she reported that her children talked her out of doing that. Apparently, her children held more sway over her than her "instructor." In the same letter, while complaining about the insufficient royalties she was being paid, her instructor told her the publishers were not using "the best wisdom." Once again, the guide demonstrated a keen interest in the financial profit of Mrs. White.

Promoted Belief in Ellen White

At the 1888 General Conference session, some SDA ministers were concerned that Mrs. White and her son had backpedaled on the long-held SDA position on the law in Galatians 3—a position that had originally been established by one of Ellen White's so-called visions. Mrs. White complained that "my position and my work were freely commented upon."²³ Her spirit guide would not stand for this. He supposedly told Mrs. White that this "sin is peculiarly an offense to God."²⁴ That seemed to hush down the opposition for a while. However, the situation heated up again in 1906. After prominent SDA leaders in Battle Creek began questioning the origin and accuracy of the Ellen White's testimonies, her "instructor" rushed to her defense and attempted to shut these men down:

Tell these men that God has not committed to them the work of measuring, classifying, and defining the character of the testimonies. Those who attempt this are sure to err in their conclusions.²⁵

In the early 1900s, as doubts about Ellen White began to ripple outward from Battle Creek, her own son, Edson, added fuel to the fire. While at Battle Creek in 1905, he vented his frustrations about W.C. White influencing his mother's writings. This was embarrassing information that Mrs. White would rather keep private. In 1906, it appears Edson was considering moving back to Battle Creek, which obviously concerned Mrs. White. Would he start venting again and embarrass her even further? Would he join in with those denouncing her as a fraud? Her "instructor" came to her rescue, warning Mrs. White that Edson should not return to Battle Creek.²⁶ Later in the year, her "instructor" rewarded W.C. White for his loyalty by officially coronating him as her counselor.²⁷

Conclusion

What is evident is that Mrs. White's guide was not of divine origin because it ignored Mrs. White's false teachings, spoke falsehoods, and contradicted Biblical teaching. It is anyone's guess as to its true origin:

• Was it a demonic spirit sent to mislead the sect?
• Was it a figment of her own imagination, possibly a hallucination caused by her traumatic brain injury and mercury poisoning?
• Was it a fabrication, manufactured to give her extra leverage over individuals in the sect?

The odd manner in which the guide would appear—almost on-demand—to lend extra weight to Mrs. White's petty battles with sect administrators suggests this entity was fabricated as a weapon to manipulate others to do her will. While we may never know the truth about this familiar spirit, it did not add anything of significant value to SDA theology or teachings, nor did it correct their errors. Perhaps its greatest accomplishment was increasing the wealth of the Whites by advocating a canvassing program similar to programs used by other nineteenth-century American churches.

Citations

1. Ellen White, Signs of the Times, Nov. 11, 1875. See also Life Sketches, 215.

2. Ellen White, Manuscript 5, 1850.

3. Ibid.

4. Ellen White, Testimony for the Church, no. 2 (1856), 22. For further discussion, click here.

5. Ellen White, Testimony for the Church, no. 4 (1857), 23.

6. Ellen White, Desire of Ages (1898), 555.

7. SDA churches, (e.g. Battle Creek), councils, or sanitariums - Letter 52 1891; PH100 89; Ms 61 1890; Letter 21 1888; Letter 43 1888; Ms 6 1890; Ms 29 1890; Ms 19 1891; PHO100 89; Ms 29 1890; PHO066 20; Letter 11 1892; Letter 21 1888; Ms 40 1890; Letter 44 1891; Letter 62 1895; Ms 105 1899; SpM 297; PC 52; Letter 289 1903; Letter 53 1903; Ms 154 1903. Publishing houses - Letter 163 1901; Ms 16 1890; PH102 21; 7T 164; Ms 18 1891; Letter 4 1896; Ms 6 1890; Ms 13 1891; Ms 60 1898; Letter 86 1896; Ms 19a 1891; Ms 42 1891; Ms 57 1906; Letter 150 1899; Letter 150 1899; Letter 59 1901; Ms 24 1891. Educational institutions - Ms 24 1894; PHO40 1; RH Apr. 1, 1909; Ms 31 1908; 8T 52.

8. Ms 115a 1897; Letter 30 1887; Ms 20a 1889; Letter 8 1891; Letter 14 1891; Letter 43 1888; Letter 30 1881; Letter 11a 1894; Letter 73 1894; Letter 14b 1898; Ms 60 1898; Letter 16 1888; Letter 9a 1889; Letter 5 1890; Letter 22 1893; Letter 16a 1893; Letter 73 1900; Ms 200 1903; Letter 30 1901; Ms 102 1900; Letter 52, 1900. Guidance for her sons - Letter 85, 1895; Letter 87 1895; Letter 129 1895; Ms 29 1903; Letter 93 1904; Letter 311 1906; Letter 27 1906.

9. Ms 60 1898; Letter 61 1890; Ms 55 1912; Letter 42 1893; Letter 109 1900; SpM 53; RH May 24, 1906; Letter 140 1906; Ms 176 1907; Letter 188 1906; Letter 92 1910; Ms 172 1899.

10. Ms 15 1888; Ms 53 1890; Letter 15 1889; Letter 50 1889; Letter 85 1889; Letter 54 1893; Letter 109 1893; Letter 37 1891; Letter 46, 1892.

11. 7T 231; RH May 27, 1902; Letter 72, 1902; Letter 173 1902; Letter 231 1899.

12. Letter 1, 1875; Letter 2 1899; Letter 198 1899; Letter 203 1899.

13. Letter 23b, 1894 (PHO84 1); Ms 63 1901.

14. Letter 225 1906; GCBD Mar. 2, 1899.

15. Letter 136 1896.

16. Ellen White, Manuscript 43d, 1901.

17. Ellen White, Spalding and Magan Collection, 462.

18. James White, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Sep. 20, 1853.

19. J.B. Frisbie, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, July 9, 1857.

20. White, Signs of the Times, Nov. 11, 1875.

21. Ellen White, Letter 4, 1896.

22. Ellen White, Letter 59, 1901.

23. Ellen White, Letter 85, 1889.

24. Ibid.

25. Ellen White, "The Writing and Sending Out of the Testimonies to the Church," (1906), 3.

26 Ellen White, Letter 27, 1906.

27. Ellen White, Letter 311, 1906.