My Journey to Life, Step 21—The Gift of Prophecy

Appendix A—A Short Biographical Sketch of Ellen G. White

Ellen Gould White (Harmon), 1827—1915) Born on November 26, 1827, in Gorham, Maine. She and her twin sister, Elizabeth, were the youngest of Robert and Eunice Harmon’s eight children. The family was Methodist until a short while after they heard the preaching of William Miller in 1840. White nearly died at age nine due to an accident that disfigured her nose and damaged her lungs. As a result, she drew close to her Savior, appealing to several of her young friends to commit their lives to Jesus. JTL21 15.1

EDUCATION: Surprisingly for a writer, White’s classroom education at the Brackett Street School in Portland, Maine, ended after only three grades. A bully’s attack in the streets of Portland, Maine, left her a near-total invalid for the next several years, unable to continue her education. Certainly “weakest of the weak” was an apt description of God’s choice for a messenger. As a teenager, White attended a partial term at the Westbrook Seminary and Female College. JTL21 15.2

HOME LIFE: Ellen married James White on August 30, 1846. They had four children: Henry Nichols, James Edson, William Clarence, and John Herbert. The oldest died at age 16, the youngest in infancy. James suffered three strokes during their marriage, and Ellen nursed him back to health, encouraging him to exercise and engage with people. He died at age 61 on August 6, 1881. Ellen spent the final 34 years of her life as a widow. JTL21 15.3

CALLED BY GOD: In December 1844, at the age of 17, while praying earnestly with friends, White received her first vision, a supernatural view of the travels of the Advent people to the city of God. She had already accepted the Millerite message of the imminent return of Jesus. She travelled with her husband throughout New England sharing her visions and messages. Sometimes, there were words of counsel for a given individual or group; other times the messages were for her fellow-believers. JTL21 15.4

VISIONS: Her first vision gave believers hope that God was still leading the fledgling Adventist movement. White had hundreds of private and public visions in the succeeding years. Her last public vision was on December 15, 1874, and her last private vision was on March 3, 1915. JTL21 15.5

Visions varied from seconds in length to nearly two hours. JTL21 15.6

POST-MILLERITE MOVEMENT: White’s prophetic ministry and consequent writings continued to inspire the Millerite remnant after The Great Disappointment of 1844. She not only brought encouragement to the fledgling group of believers in North America, but also to those carrying the Advent message to Europe in about 1874, Australia in 1885, and gradually the rest of the world by the early twentieth century. JTL21 15.7

SABBATARIAN ADVENT MOVEMENT: In the two decades following the events of 1844, Ellen, and James White, along with Joseph Bates, were at the vanguard of those who helped organize the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a global movement that today has reached more than 20 million baptized members, with more than 30 million attending weekly worship services in over 200 countries and territories. JTL21 15.8

A LEADER IN HER TIME: When you consider the time in which White was born, matured, and ministered, her influence is even more remarkable. Women were not generally expected to be leading religious figures in the nineteenth century. Nor were those of her educational level counted among the ranks of best-selling authors. White is the most-widely published woman on religious topics in the world and in 2014, she earned a spot on the Smithsonian magazine’s ranking of the 100 most influential Americans of all time. JTL21 15.9

TRAVELS: From early in her calling, White began traveling among groups of early Adventists to encourage them through the visions she received. She began in early 1845, traveling to groups in Maine. From 1847 to 1852, she and her husband traveled among Adventists in New England; in 1853, they branched out to Michigan and Pennsylvania. In the 1860s, they added Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa. In the 1870s, they spread further west, laboring in Colorado, California, Minnesota, Texas, Indian Territory (Oklahoma), and Kansas. In the 1880s, they added Quebec. When James died in 1881, Ellen visited family in Colorado and then moved to California, where she resided, except for preaching tours back east and in Europe from 1885 to 1887 and in Australia from 1891 to 1900. She spent the last 14 years of her life in California. JTL21 15.10

WRITINGS: Though shortchanged in her formal schooling, White devoted much of her ministry to writing. By the time of her death, White was publishing about 20 major books. These included autobiographical sketches and books on the cosmic conflict of the ages between Christ and Satan, books on the life of Christ and His teaching, on education, on health, on evangelism and canvassing, and books with counsels for church members and leaders. There are currently 5,555 extant letters written by White from 1845 to 1914 and 60,000 typewritten pages of manuscripts. Millions of her books are in print, in virtually every major language, from Arabic to Albanian, English to Esperanto, Czech to Chinese, Spanish to Serbian, and scores of others. JTL21 15.11

Furthermore, millions of weekly visitors read her writings online from EGW Writings websites and apps. JTL21 15.12

PROMOTION OF MINISTRIES: The Seventh-day Adventist Church would not have developed its ministries the way it did without guidance provided through White. At the time of her death, the Church had ministries on all continents except Antarctica. Elementary, secondary, and college educational institutions, clinics, and sanitarium hospitals developed around the world. Colporteurs sold religious books and literature, and the Church was engaged in humanitarian endeavors wherever the work opened. JTL21 15.13

GOD’S MESSENGER: Christians have often commented how powerfully God can use a person “fully surrendered” to Jesus. The life, work, and legacy of Ellen G. White bear incredible testimony to that truth. Her speaking—including before audiences of up to 20,000 and without amplification—moved multitudes to live healthier lives and turn their hearts to God. Because a young woman in New England devoted her entire life to serving Jesus completely, the world is the beneficiary of her divinely inspired insightful writings on Scripture, health, relationships, parenting, education, evangelism, and many other important topics. To this very day, her writings continue to bring blessings to countless millions around the globe. JTL21 15.14

In a world where adjectives are piled on to make the ordinary seem otherwise, with her many gifts, leadership, and accomplishments, White was indeed “a remarkable woman of God.” Her life is a living testament to what it means to be wholly led by God. JTL21 15.15