A Gift of Light

Chapter 3—“Plumber’s Leaks” in the “Bedchamber“: A Problem With Prophets

In the early 1870s James and Ellen White were visiting summer camp meetings in Wisconsin and Minnesota. They had arrived on the grounds of one encampment after the meetings had begun. The people were assembled, probably in a large circus-type tent, and the speaker was well into his message. AGOL 34.1

The Whites paused momentarily on the edge of the gathering. Then Ellen took the arm of James, and together they walked down the center aisle, all the way down to the front row of seats. James took his seat, but Ellen remained standing. Looking up at the minister and pointing her finger at him in a way that only prophets can point, she interrupted the sermon. In an exceedingly loud voice she said, “You have no business to be standing by that desk. You are not a fit man to be bringing a message to these people.” AGOL 34.2

The speaker stopped short. Amazement crossed the faces of all in the congregation. Had the people known (as they later learned) that Ellen White had never met or even seen this man before, nor did she know anything about him except what the Lord had revealed to her in vision, their awe would have been compounded. AGOL 34.3

Mrs. White earlier had only heard the sound of this man’s voice in vision. And then the Lord had instructed her that when she heard this voice, she was to deliver this message: “Tell him that he is not a fit man to preach to the people. There is a woman in another state who calls him husband and a child who calls him father, and there is a woman here on this campground who calls him husband and a child who calls him father.” AGOL 34.4

When Ellen White delivered that message, the preacher bolted from the platform and disappeared. His sermon, like Schubert’s Symphony No. 8, remained forever unfinished. AGOL 35.1

Sitting in the congregation that morning was the speaker’s own brother. He now came forward and admitted that what Ellen White had said was true. The speaker had indeed been living a double life for some time, and most certainly he deserved this unusual rebuke. The Spirit of God blessed that camp meeting, and a great revival of godliness and holy living followed in its wake. ³¹ AGOL 35.2

Who told Mrs. White these intimate details of another person’s life? There must have been a “plumber’s leak in the bedchamber.” Clearly Presidents Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, and Richard Nixon are not the only government leaders who have had problems with leaks of “classified” secrets. They are only recent examples. Such leakage can be annoying and frustrating at best, and destructive of professional career and reputation at worst. Trying to “plumb” the leaks at Watergate eventually cost Nixon his presidency. AGOL 35.3

One of the earliest cases of leakage of state secrets took place some 2,800 years ago, about 850 B.C. Benhadad II, ruler of the Aramaean (Syrian) kingdom of Damascus, called his chief advisers together to discuss a most unsettling, vexatious problem. Every time the king deployed his soldiers to ambush the forces of Israel, against whom he was waging war, the Israelites seemed to learn of the strategy in advance. As a result, the Israelites would avoid casualties. The Syrian king concluded, reasonably enough, that there must be a traitor in Damascus, and he determined to ferret him out. AGOL 35.4

After the king stated the case, one of his counselors provided an alternative scenario. There was no disloyalty in the Syrian camp, he assured the king. Instead, the prophet Elisha was telling “the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber” (2 Kings 6:12). AGOL 35.5

The royal counselor thus stated a truth that has puzzled, distressed, and even angered people in various ages. Prophets seem to have a hidden pipeline through which secret information comes to them. By revealing this information, they can create all kinds of “problems” by way of unpleasant consequences in subsequent exposure and loss. AGOL 36.1

As we have already seen, it was so in the experience of Ellen White. AGOL 36.2

Another interesting experience took place during the early-morning hours on June 11, 1887. Ellen White (who had just arrived in Moss, Norway, from Copenhagen, Denmark) arose to write a letter to the business manager of an Adventist sanitarium in California, some 8,000 miles distant. She told him: AGOL 36.3

“In the night season I saw you in the company of the matron of the institution. As far as your intentions to each other were concerned, you might have been man and wife.... Sister ________will never again be what she once was. Both of you are guilty before God.” ³² AGOL 36.4

Ellen White did not accuse these two married employees of adultery, although she did imply it. It was almost as though God were giving the guilty pair an opportunity to confess and repent. The business manager, however, denied any wrongdoing. He countercharged that Ellen White was undermining his influence in the institution. Then, given no choice, Ellen White several months later wrote further: AGOL 36.5

“While in Europe the things that transpired in ________ were opened before me. A voice said, ‘Follow me, and I will show you the sins that are practiced by those who stand in responsible positions.’ I went through the rooms, and I saw you, a watchman upon the walls of Zion, were very intimate with another man’s wife, betraying sacred trusts, crucifying your Lord afresh.... AGOL 36.6

“She was sitting on your lap; you were kissing her, and she was kissing you. Other scenes of fondness, sensual looks and deportment, were presented before me, which sent a thrill of horror through my soul. Your arm encircled her waist, and the fondness expressed was having a bewitching influence. Then a curtain was lifted, and I was shown you in bed with _________. My Guide said, ‘Iniquity, adultery....’ AGOL 36.7

“You were never alone. The same hand that traced the characters over against the wall of Belshazzar’s palace was registering in the books of heaven the deeds and words that made Christ ashamed of you.” ³³ AGOL 37.1

Even then the prophet of the Lord did not expose the couple publicly. As a result of this second letter a private meeting was held in which “humble confessions were made by Elder R and Brother and Sister H.” ³⁴ AGOL 37.2

But it was not alone—or even often—in cases of sexual infidelity that the prophet was called to bear her testimony to things witnessed in visions. Two instances of remarkable occurrences were related to me in person by individuals who had rather dramatic experiences in their associations with Ellen White. AGOL 37.3

I met Elbe (better known by his nickname, Sam) Hamilton in Los Angeles in 1950. He was about 65, and I was a young pastor. At the turn of the century Sam was about 16 years old and living in St. Helena, California, when Ellen White returned from Australia and purchased her Elmshaven estate in the same community. Sam was not well and had been to many doctors, but none had adequately diagnosed his particular medical problem. AGOL 37.4

Sam had heard about this little septuagenarian, whom some called a prophet, over at the foot of Howell Mountain. He also learned that when she prayed for persons, they promptly got cured. He decided to approach her for help. One day Sam went over to Elmshaven and found 73-year-old Ellen White on her hands and knees, weeding in her garden. Seeing two legs approaching her, Ellen White looked up and got to her feet, dusting her hands as she did so. AGOL 37.5

After hearing the lad out, Mrs. White looked at him intently and declared, “Sam, you are not well. In fact, you are dying. But you don’t need to die. And if you do what I now tell you to do, you will live to be an old man.” She explained that he had contracted trichinosis. He should give up eating pork immediately. For that matter, he would do well to give up all flesh meats, but he must have an adequate nutritional substitute for them in order to get a balanced diet. She told him how to change his eating habits, but noted his look of perplexity. He was wondering how he could persuade his mother to make such a radical departure from their family dietary habits. And even if he succeeded, how could he remember all these recipes Mrs. White was now sharing with him? AGOL 37.6

Sensing the situation immediately, Ellen White abruptly asked him, “Sam, would you like to come to my kitchen and have me show you how to prepare these things?” AGOL 38.1

“Oh, yes,” he quickly and gratefully responded. AGOL 38.2

“Then come here tomorrow afternoon at 2:00.” AGOL 38.3

He did, and he continued to come the next day, and the next, and the next. Then, when the lessons were finished, Ellen White asked him if he would like a job as apprentice cook for her fairly large extended family. She needed one and thought he would do just fine. Sam jumped at the chance. AGOL 38.4

One day Ellen White entered her kitchen and told Sam, “Pack your bags.” Wondering if this meant that she was dismissing him from her service, Sam asked her why. “You’re going to come with me to Paradise Valley, near San Diego. I have purchased a bankrupt medical spa on 20 acres of land upon which I am going to establish another sanitarium in southern California. I’m going down to supervise the workmen in renovation.” AGOL 38.5

Paradise Valley had once been a lush semitropical area worthy of its name. But near the turn of the century a drought set in that continued for eight or nine years. Lawns died, trees shriveled up, wells evaporated, and soil turned to sand. Far from “Paradise,” it looked like the “other place”! People were selling their property for pennies on the dollar, or abandoning it altogether. To locate a sanitarium (which, of all institutions, needed an adequate supply of water) here seemed the height of irrationality. AGOL 38.6

The 50-room defunct spa had cost $25,000 in construction costs alone, but Mrs. White was able to purchase the 20 acres and the building for $4,000. (She borrowed part of the amount from an Adventist widow of means, Josephine Gotzian, and the other part from a bank.) And so Ellen and Sam left for San Diego. AGOL 38.7

Workers were hired, and two large tents were erected on the ground—one for cooking meals for the laborers and the other for dining purposes. An Adventist well driller from Nebraska, Salem Hamilton, was brought in to find water, and Mrs. White signed a contract for 100 feet. (There was already one well on the property, but its water was brackish and the supply totally inadequate.) AGOL 39.1

One morning Salem Hamilton strode into the cooking tent, where Ellen White was supervising the preparation of the noon meal. He was discouraged. He had gone down 98 feet and was bringing up nothing but dry dirt and sand. “I have a question to ask you. Did the Lord tell you to buy this property?” he asked. AGOL 39.2

“Yes! Yes!” Mrs. White replied energetically. “Three times I was shown that we should secure this particular property.” AGOL 39.3

“All right,” said Salem, “I have my answer. The Lord would not give us an elephant without providing water for it to drink.” AGOL 39.4

Perhaps less than an hour later he returned to the cook tent. He thought he heard running water—lots of it—as though there was an underground river nearby! Sam overheard the news and begged to be allowed to go down in the hole so he could hear the “river” too. “All right, Sam. Take your apron off first,” Mrs. White said with a smile. AGOL 39.5

The well diggers wrapped a rope around young Sam and dropped him into the hole. When he heard the sound of rapidly moving water, he feared it might come through and he’d be trapped down there. He gave the signal—several yanks on the rope—and they hauled him back to the surface. Then they lowered Salem back down, and he tap-tap-tapped his way until moisture began to seep through. Soon water flowed in so quickly that Salem left his digging tools at the bottom and was pulled out. AGOL 39.6

That night the water rose 18 feet. The next morning they pumped it out and dug a lateral miner’s shaft. The institutional water supply was assured. AGOL 39.7

A half century later Sam Hamilton told me his personal tale. He remarked that many, even church leaders, doubted the prophet’s wisdom in purchasing this property. No underground river showed on any U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey map of the area. But God knew there was water there, and “he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). AGOL 40.1

“I never doubted the prophet’s gift when I was a boy,” Sam Hamilton reflected, “and I never doubted after I became a man. She was all she claimed to be, and all the church ever claimed for her. I know. I was there. I was an eyewitness.” ³⁵ AGOL 40.2

Harold M. Blunden was about 12 or 13 and living in North Fitzroy, Australia, when word came that the American prophet would speak on the following Sabbath afternoon. Harold was skeptical about modern-day prophets, certainly about American prophets, and especially about female prophets! AGOL 40.3

Harold felt, though, that he had to make up his mind for himself, so he determined to go early the next week and take a seat on the second row right on the aisle. He wanted to see and hear everything that happened. AGOL 40.4

That afternoon there was standing room only. The rostrum was filled with church officials, and only two seats in the center were empty. The train bringing Ellen White had been delayed two hours. The ministers present kept the congregation’s attention by songs, prayers, testimonies, and brief remarks. Finally the door opened, and the diminutive woman prophet walked in, holding the arm of a distinguished American missionary, A. G. Daniells. Daniells introduced her from the pulpit and then retired to take one of the empty seats behind. Ellen White stood at the desk, laid her manuscript down, adjusted her shawl and manuscript, looked up at the people, smiled, and opened her mouth to speak. But no words came out. AGOL 40.5

She looked somewhat surprised, as did her hearers. Slowly she scanned the audience, then looked down at the pulpit, adjusted her manuscript and shawl, looked up, smiled, and opened her mouth to speak. Again no words came. A look of consternation crossed the prophet’s face, and a ripple of anxiety spread through the congregation. AGOL 40.6

Again she scanned her audience, this time more slowly—intently, as if looking for someone in particular. This time she didn’t stop upon reaching the far side, but turned around and looked at the faces of the ministers in the seats behind her. Nathaniel Davis, a tall, lanky man, was sitting on the end. She turned to Daniells and said in disbelief, “What is this man doing on the platform with me?” AGOL 41.1

Since her back was to the congregation, few caught the strange remark. But Harold Blunden, on the second row, heard the question and was dumbfounded. Why shouldn’t Nathaniel Davis be on the same platform with her? he questioned silently. Davis was a leader, even if he was a relatively new Adventist. He was editor of the Australian Adventist magazine Signs of the Times. He had every right to be on that platform! AGOL 41.2

Suddenly Nathaniel Davis stood to his full height, towering above the diminutive American. He scowled and gave her the most hateful look one human could ever give another. He then turned on his heel, stalked off the platform, down the aisle, and out the chapel door. AGOL 41.3

Unperturbedly, Ellen White turned back to the pulpit, adjusted her manuscript and shawl, looked up, smiled, opened her mouth, and the words finally came. The people sat as if entranced for the hour and a quarter during which she spoke. At the close they crowded around her at the door to meet her personally. AGOL 41.4

Young Harold did not head for the door. He headed for the platform instead. He just had to know the meaning of this strange development. He hadn’t heard a word of the entire sermon, because his thoughts bumped against themselves in his head. And this is what he learned. AGOL 41.5

Nathaniel Davis had problems—serious problems—and Ellen White had written him a five-page letter on August 16, 1897. She had started it at 3:00 a.m. Paragraph 1 on page 2 began at 2:30 a.m. the day following. Then she continued the letter two days later. Mrs. White spelled out Brother Davis’s problems with money, spiritualism, and loose morals. (“Your course is immoral. You are bringing disgrace upon the cause of truth.... You are a dangerous man to be left to yourself anywhere.”) ³⁶ As a mother might plead with a wayward son, Ellen White urged this new convert to mend his errant ways. But he had not heeded her advice. That Sabbath afternoon he was a living representative of the kingdom of darkness. God would not allow His ambassador from the kingdom of light to speak until Nathaniel Davis was banished! ³⁷ AGOL 41.6

“I never had any problems or questions about Ellen White after that!” Harold Blunden mused after telling me this story. “Some doubted and disbelieved there in Australia, but my mind was made up. And I never had occasion to change it! I know. I was there. I was an eyewitness.” AGOL 42.1

Blunden died shortly after telling me his story, at the age of 89, never knowing what had happened to Nathaniel Davis. Nor did I, until some years later. One day one of my colleagues, knowing of my interest in the rest of the story, came into my office. He excitedly waved a document in his hand. AGOL 42.2

When Ellen White left Australia in 1900, the church workers gave her a large loose-leaf autograph album as a farewell gift. Each page had been inscribed by someone whom Mrs. White’s nine-year ministry on that continent had blessed. And one of the pages was in the handwriting of Nathaniel Davis! AGOL 42.3

“It affords me the most sincere pleasure to have the privilege of putting on record my appreciation of Sister E. G. White’s work and my gratitude to my heavenly Father for the messages sent through her to His people. AGOL 42.4

“The faithful witness, thus bourne, revealed to me the means whereby the bondage of Satan was broken when, owing to the influence of spiritualism, I had well nigh become a spiritual wreck. AGOL 42.5

“I have every reason to be positive in my confidence in Sister E. G. White as a true prophet. AGOL 42.6

“May the Lord of love, and mercy, grace and truth, guide and guard her safely to the end, and lengthen her days so that she may continue to warn, admonish, and strengthen the remnant people of God. AGOL 43.1

“[signed] N. A. Davis AGOL 43.2

“Geelong, Victoria, Australia AGOL 43.3

“6 August 1900” ³⁸ AGOL 43.4

It is as true today as it was when King Jehoshaphat first uttered the words about 850 B.C.: “Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper” (2 Chronicles 20:20). AGOL 43.5