Who Was Ellen G. White?

By Brother Anderson

Ellen Gould Harmon and her twin sister Elizabeth were born in Gorham, Maine, on Nov. 26, 1827, as the youngest of eight children. Her parents were devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Her father was a maker and seller of hats. As a child, Ellen assisted him in this business. Because her father used mercury in his hat-making process, Ellen was quite possibly exposed to dangerous levels of mercury as a young teen. Eventually, Ellen's father moved the family to Portland, Maine, where Ellen grew to maturity.

Traumatic Brain Injury

When Ellen was nine years old, another child threw a stone that hit Ellen in the face. She suffered severe trauma to the brain, was in a coma for three weeks and was at risk of death. The brain injury severely damaged her health and she was unable to continue her formal education past the 3rd grade. Although unable to attend formal school, she received some tutoring at home.

Entanglement with Millerism

In 1840, at the tender age of 13, Ellen heard the preaching of farmer-turned-Baptist-preacher William Miller announcing the imminent return of Jesus. She was terrified by his portrayal of the imminent return of Christ to judge the world in wrath. Shortly afterward, she accepted Jesus as her Savior. She and her family joined the growing Millerite movement and became outspoken advocates of it. On June 26, 1842, she was baptized by immersion in Casco Bay, Portland, into the Methodist Church. Her family would eventually be expelled from that church due to their vocal advocacy of Millerism. When a date of October 22, 1844 was set for the return of Christ, her family looked forward with great expectancy to that date and to Christ pouring out his wrath upon all those who rejected Miller's date. However, when Christ did not come as predicted, she and her family were bitterly disappointed. During the ensuing fervor and excitement following the Great Disappointment, she had the first of hundreds of hallucinations which were mistaken by some to be "visions from God." In the mid-1840s, she was one of five Millerite visionaries operating in or near Portland, Maine.

Sabbath Teaching

Ellen adopted the Sabbath teaching of Joseph Bates and began keeping Sabbath in 1846. Her parents would later accept the Sabbath teaching along with her older brother Robert who died in 1853. Her sister Sarah was the only member of her family to formally join the Seventh-day Adventist Church after its formation in 1863. None of her other siblings ever joined the church, although her sister Mary may have accepted some of the teachings of the sect. B

On Aug. 30, 1846, she was united in marriage to elder James White. Together they labored in the Adventist cause for the remainder of their lives.

For a period of nearly seven years, the White advocated Bates' idea of a shut door of salvation. This doctrine taught that the door of salvation had been shut on not only the world, but upon all Christians who rejected William Miller. Now, God was testing the Adventists to see whether or not they would accept the Sabbath doctrine. Those who accpeted it would be saved, and those who rejected it would be lost. Ellen began having visions supporting this doctrine. The Whites later discarded the doctrine in 1851.

Humble Beginnings

At first, the Whites lacked monetary support, and often had to deprive themselves of the bare necessities of life in order to continue their ministry. James White often worked in the fields by day, and worked on writing tracts in the evening. In later life, through royalties gained from the sale of Mrs. White's books, the Whites became quite prosperous. In terms of today's money, Mrs. White's income would have been measured in the millions of dollars. In addition to living a life of luxury, Mrs. White often used her great wealth to help the needy and support the various causes of the SDA corporation.

Family Problems

The marriage of James and Ellen was sometimes rocky. At one point, when their travels had separated them, Mrs. White confided of their difficulties to a friend:

I think he [James] would be satisfied if he had the entire control of me, soul and body, but this he cannot have. I sometimes think he is not really a sane man, but I don't know. Letter to Lucinda Hall, DG 269, as quoted in George Knight's Walking with Ellen White, 75

Ellen White had four sons—Henry, James Edson, William Clarence, and John Herbert. John Herbert and Henry died while they were yet children. After their deaths, Mrs. White became obsessively interested in health reform.

Later Years

James and Ellen White preached and ministered together in the Seventh-day Adventist Church until James' death on Aug. 6, 1881. After James' death, Mrs. White continued her ministry with her son W.C. White by her side to counsel her. She became a nationally known speaker on the subject of temperance. She was a gifted speaker, sometimes speaking to crowds of 20,000 or more people without the use of a microphone. Over her lifetime, with the assistance of the experienced writers on her staff, she wrote 55 books and 4,500 articles. Much of the material in her major books appears to have been plagiarized from other Christian authors, mostly non-Adventist. Perhaps the most famous book to appear under her name is Steps to Christ, which has been translated into over 165 languages and has sold over 100 million copies.

On July 16, 1915, Mrs. White passed away. Mrs. White died in debt, having spent all of her vast fortune. Her last words were, "I know in whom I have believed. God is love. He giveth His beloved sleep."