The Visions and Prophecies of Ellen G. White
How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?
But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
— Deuteronomy 18:20-22
This is Part Four in a series on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and how it affects the Flat Earth community. If you’re just now jumping in, you can find the previous posts here:
Post #1: Are Flat Earthers Committing the Unpardonable Sin?
Post #2: The Great Disappointment and the Millerite Movement
Post #3: Was Ellen G. White a Prophet or a Free Mason
Foundational Post: Flat Earth, the Trinity, and Ancient Mysteries
The previous entry explored Ellen G. White’s (EGW) connection with Freemasonry. Today, we will examine her prophecies to see if she passes the definitive test of a prophet. God’s word cannot be broken.
“If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul….But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.
—Deuteronomy 13:1-3, 5
How to Test a Prophet
According to Scripture, a false prophet is a person who:
Speaks presumptuously in the name of YHWH any word He has not commanded;
Prophesies in the name of another God; or
Seeks to draw men after another God by doing signs and wonders.
God does not want His people to wonder HOW they can know if someone is guilty of false prophecy, so He provided ways for His children to test the prophets.
“How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?” (Deuteronomy 18:21).
Testing the spirits and the doctrines of men against the Holy Scripture is not only valid for believers, it is required. This is why the Bereans were held in high esteem. They verified the “new” teachings of the Apostle Paul by comparing them to the Old Testament Scriptures.
“These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11).
God has made His Word so clear that even a child could read it. Yet, the truths within are spiritually discerned, meaning we must have God’s Holy Spirit dwelling in us to understand the deep things of God (1 Corinthians 2:10). This is why the Apostle John warned readers in his first epistle to beware of deceivers, false teachers, and those who deny the true nature of God. “These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you” (1 John 2:26).
John wanted his readers to KNOW that they could discern truth from error because of God’s Holy Spirit dwelling within them. They did not have to TRUST their teachers. Rather, they too, should be Berean and search the Scriptures for themselves.
“But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him” (1 John 2:27).
If EVER an organization, group, religious sect, pastor, teacher, elder, friend, or family member REQUIRES you to take THEM at their word and NOT examine the Scriptures to see if these things are so — RUN!
That is a cult!
We CAN and SHOULD test everything against God’s Word. And, YES, because (or IF) we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, we CAN understand the Scriptures. If you struggle to understand the Scriptures, surrender fully to Christ and ask Him to give you His Holy Spirit.
Let’s look at the Scripture to determine the test of a true prophet.
Test #1: Does the Prophecy Come to Pass?
Whatever the prophet prophesies must come to pass.
“When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him” (Deuteronomy 18:22).
If the thing does NOT come to pass, they are NOT a TRUE prophet. We should never again listen to that prophet, nor fear their words. They do not speak for God.
Test #2: Do They Speak in the Name of Another God?
It matters not whether this prophecy comes to pass or not. If a person is speaking in the name of a God other than YHWH, they are a false prophet. This is an immediate disqualification.
Do not listen to that prophet, nor fear him or her.
Test #3: Are They Using Signs and Wonders to Entice You to Follow After Other Gods?
Don’t be deceived into thinking that only God can do signs, wonders, miracles, and disclose secrets. Consider Pharaoh’s magicians who turned rods into serpents, water into blood, and brought frogs upon the land. Likewise,
Satan can appear as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14);
A slave girl can bring her master a fortune by divination (Acts 16:16); and
Power, signs, and lying wonders were given to the lawless one (2 Thessalonians 2:9).
We war not against flesh and blood but against the principalities and demonic forces of this world.
Do not be surprised when false prophets show signs and wonders to impress you to follow after their ways. It is NOT of God. Yet, He allows it.
Why?
“For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 13:3).
Will we take God at His pure word or follow after empty, demonic doctrines?
How to Treat A False Prophet
This was a stark reminder to me.
What is God’s just penalty for the false prophet?
“That prophet shall die” (Deuteronomy 18:20).
“But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death” (Deuteronomy 13:5).
Does God seem harsh to you? Unfair?
May it NEVER be so.
What of all the people the false prophet Joseph Smith has led to hell by his lying prophecies? Would we rather see the death of ONE man? Or the damnation of many?
This idea was pressed upon me when my pastor recently mentioned that if the God-fearing magistrates of Joseph’s Smith day had honored God’s Law and executed that false prophet, many would be saved. Oh! Lord, return us to your Law without shame.
So what of Ellen White? Let us examine her very first vision, which occurred in December 1844, a short two months after the Great Disappointment.
Ellen White’s Vision of the Day and the Hour
“At the time of her death Ellen White's literary productions totaled approximately 100,000 pages” 1 and 2,000 visions and dreams from God. 2
Today, we are going to examine only one: her first. We will see how her first vision compares to the test of a prophet according to the word of the Living God.
Ellen G. White writes of her vision:
While praying at the family altar, the Holy Ghost fell on me, and I seemed to be rising higher and higher, far above the dark world. I turned to look for the Advent people in the world, but could not find them—when a voice said to me, “Look again, and look a little higher.” At this I raised my eyes and saw a straight and narrow path, cast up high above the world. On this path the Advent people were travelling to the City, which was at the farther end of the path. They had a bright light set up behind them at the first end of the path, which an angel told me was the Midnight Cry. 3
A main theme in this foundational vision was that Jesus would be returning soon, even in EGW’s lifetime. This IS the doctrine of Adventism: The continual preaching of the imminent return of Christ in our lifetime.
The imminence of Christ’s return is underscored by the bright light behind them, which the angel called the “Midnight Cry.”
Notice also, she speaks of the “Advent” people. These are those who passed the test of the Great Disappointment. When Jesus did NOT return on October 22, 1844, they did not turn away from the faith but learned to accept new light from new prophets.
Hiram Edson had the “day after” vision, revealing new light that Miller had the Great Disappointment date correct, but the understanding wrong. Jesus merely cleansed the sanctuary in heaven (not on earth) on that disappointing day when the Lord did not return. O. R. L. Crosier accepted Edson’s vision and EGW confirmed it. “ The Lord shew me in vision, more than one year ago, that Brother Crosier had the true light, on the cleansing of the Sanctuary.” 4
There is more.
The Fate of Those Rejecting the Light
This light shone all along the path and gave light for their feet so they might not stumble. And if they kept their eyes fixed on Jesus, who was just before them, leading them to the City, they were safe. But soon some grew weary, and they said the City was a great way off, and they expected to have entered it before. Then Jesus would encourage them by raising his glorious right arm, and from his arm came a glorious light which waved over the Advent band, and they shouted Hallelujah! Others rashly denied the light behind them, and said that it was not God that had led them out so far. The light behind them went out leaving their feet in perfect darkness, and they stumbled and got their eyes off the mark and lost sight of Jesus, and fell off the path down in the dark and wicked world below. It was just as impossible for them to get on the path again and go to the City, as all the wicked world which God had rejected. 5
Here, EGW introduces a false doctrine that will carry through her ministry: Only Adventists are saved. Many SDA adherents desire to hold on to the prophet and ignore this foundational doctrine. 6
I have personally had SDA proponents tell me that they believe the same doctrine as Christians. Yet, they do not.
Ultimately, Ellen G. White taught that her version of Adventism was the only way to be saved.
According to this first vision, those who believe her Adventism is a doctrine of demons are hopelessly lost. They have “denied the light…and said it was not God that had led them out so far.” They “fell off the path” and “it was just as impossible for them to get” back on it as it is with those rejected by God.
Let’s continue with her vision.
The Day, The Hour, and the 144,000
They fell all the way along the path one after another, until we heard the voice of God like many waters, which gave us the day and hour of Jesus’ coming. The living saints, 144,000, in number, know and understand the voice, while the wicked thought it was thunder & an earthquake. When God spake the time, he poured on us the Holy Ghost, and our faces began to light up and shine with the glory of God as Moses did when he came down from Mount Sinai, By this time the 144,000 were all sealed and perfectly united. On their foreheads was written, God, New Jerusalem, and a glorious Star containing Jesus’ new name. At our happy, holy state the wicked were enraged, and would rush violently up to lay hands on us to thrust us in prison, when we would stretch forth the hand in the name of the Lord, and the wicked would fall helpless to the ground.
Here, EGW says God gave her and her company, the day and hour of Jesus’ coming.
Rather than discuss this doctrine here, I will share material aimed at defending Ellen G. White on this topic so you can see how the SDAs try to make EGW’s teaching fit Scripture. 7
Additionally, in the vision, there were 144,000 living saints sealed and perfectly united who wore the star of Jesus on their foreheads. I’d like to know more about her “glorious Star containing Jesus’ new name.” Much of the imagery in this vision comes from the book of Revelation. Yet in Revelation, a star represents an angel, which is consistent since SDAs believe Jesus is the Archangel Michael. 8 As you dig into SDA doctrine, you learn that they worship an altogether different Jesus than the One presented in Scripture.
Before I share one more section of the vision that deals with the doctrine of atonement, I’d like to share from other writings that EGW did believe the Lord was going to return in her day.
Some Alive Will Be Translated
In 1865, she wrote:
“I was shown the company present at the Conference. 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.’” 910
Ellen G. White was certain she was among the 144,000 sealed in her first vision. An angel confirmed it by saying that there were people present at this conference who would be alive at Christ’s return. That was about 159 years ago.
A few more statements from EGW on the imminent return of Christ that are heartily acknowledged by her supporters: 11
Because time is short, we should work with diligence and double energy. Our children may never enter college.
It is really not wise to have children now. Time is short, the perils of the last days are upon us, and the little children will be largely swept off before this.
In this age of the world, as the scenes of earth's history are soon to close and we are about to enter upon the time of trouble such as never was, the fewer the marriages contracted the better for all, both men and women.
The hour will come; it is not far distant, and some of us who now believe will be alive upon the earth, and shall see the prediction verified, and hear the voice of the archangel and the trump of God echo from mountain and plain and sea to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Ellen G. White’s generation was not the first to predict the Lord’s Return in their lifetime. Learn about 1857 years of failed predictions of Christ’s Return here. We ought to focus on building Christ’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Adventism stops kingdom building as can be seen in the above EGW quotes.
There are too many unfulfilled prophecies in the Scriptures to hold on to this teaching. Learn more here.
I’ll share one more portion from EGWs first vision.
Introducing the Pseudo-Atonement
This will be the last portion of the vision I will share. You can access the full text of the first printing of the vision here.
And on it sat the Son of Man, on his head were crowns, his hair was white and curly and lay on his shoulders. His feet had the appearance of fire, in his right hand was a sharp sickle, in his left a silver trumpet. His eyes were as a flame of fire, which searched his children through and through. Then all faces gathered paleness, and those that God had rejected gathered blackness. Then we all cried out, who shall be able to stand? Is my robe spotless? Then the angels ceased to sing, and there was some time of awful silence, when Jesus spoke, Those who have clean hands and a pure heart shall be able to stand, my grace is sufficient for you. 12
At first blush, this portion of the vision may seem orthodox. After all, we are saved by grace. Sadly, this is NOT what Seventh-Day Adventists believe. Rather, they hold to a doctrine of the atonement called the Investigative Judgment — and that gets SUPER interesting, especially for those in the Flat Earth camp. Here’s the nutshell version: Ellen G. White’s Adventism is a works righteousness religion.
Don’t believe me? Stick around for the next installment.
You might be surprised to learn that Ellen G. White was a heliocentric globalist, who believed in life on other planets. Nay, she didn’t just BELIEVE in them — God gave her visions about them. And they all tie into her false teachings on the atonement.
Next: Jupiter, Orion, Aliens, Atonement, and Ellen G. White (Available 10/28/24)
Conclusion
This has been one of the most difficult articles to write on Ellen G. White. I have SO MUCH MORE information I could have shared. The more I dig the weirder it gets.
I shared just enough to build a case that Ellen G. White is a false prophet. There are a plethora of books, articles, essays, blogs, videos, and more that expose her as such on many topics.
Here are a couple of websites if you’d like to investigate her further:
To go full circle, let’s re-examine the above tests to see if Ellen G. White holds up to the test of a prophet.
There’s only one question we need to consider: Did her prophecies come to pass? And the answer is no. She is a false prophet and we should not listen to her.
It will also become evident that EGW is speaking in the name of another God and is seeking to draw men after that false God.
Ellen G. White admits as much:
The visions are either of God or the devil. There is no half-way position to be taken in the matter. God does not work in partnership with Satan. Those who occupy this position cannot stand there long. They go a step farther and account the instrument God has used a deceiver and the woman Jezebel. If after they had taken the first step it should be told them what position they would soon occupy in regard to the visions, they would have resented it as a thing impossible. But Satan leads them on blindfolded in a perfect deception in regard to the true state of their feelings until he takes them in his snare.13
It is and always has been either Christ or Antichrist.
Next: Jupiter, Orion, Aliens, Atonement, and Ellen G. White (Available 10/28/24)
There is a reason for this. I may or may not cover it in a future post. You can learn more in this four-part series on Adventism: https://blog.lifeassuranceministries.org/podcasts-featuring-former-adventist-hosts/
Did Ellen White Contradict the Bible over 50 Times? Watching the Ellen G. White estate and the SDA defend their prophet is much akin to listening to globe believers defend the globe.
Testimonies for the Church: https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/116.669#672
In this vision, she names the names of some living at the time. I truncated them to make the piece shorter. But the naming of names shows all the more she wast prophesying of those at that conference.