Ellen White Investigation

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.

Ellen White's Young Male Spirit Guide

Ellen White's 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:

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?

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:

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:

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.

Category: Visions