This is the third part of a series on testing Ellen G. White’s statements about the soon return of Jesus Christ. I desire that you test the spirit and see if this woman was following God or being used as a deceptive tool. Please don’t take my words as truth; read the article and research the quotes.

Ask yourself, “How many failed predictions will you allow from a woman who claims to be the Lord’s Messenger?”

 

Nonstop Failed Predictions

In the early 1860s, SDA evangelist Merritt Eaton Cornell preached about “spiritual gifts” and mentioned that some believed Christ would return in 1867 or 1868. He reportedly informed that group that Sister White “had been shown that they had got the time set too far ahead.” [1] While this vision is not found in the White Estate’s collection, there is no reason to doubt Cornell, who was a close friend and associate of the Whites. This serves as further evidence of the inaccuracies in her visions. As Cornell aptly stated:

“The failure of any prediction would be proof that the prophet was not of God.” [2]

Jesus Coming in the Third Watch?

In 1868, Mrs. White wrote about a vision she had:

“I saw that watch after watch was in the past. Because of this, should there be a lack of vigilance? Oh, no! There is the greater necessity of unceasing watchfulness, for now the moments are fewer than before the passing of the first watch. Now the period of waiting is necessarily shorter than at first. If we watched with unabated vigilance then, how much more need of double watchfulness in the second watch. The passing of the second watch has brought us to the third, and now it is inexcusable to abate our watchfulness. The third watch calls for threefold earnestness. To become impatient now would be to lose all our earnest, persevering watching heretofore. The long night of gloom is trying; but the morning is deferred in mercy, because if the Master should come, so many would be found unready. God’s unwillingness to have His people perish has been the reason for so long delay.” ^[3]

The first and second watches are over, and we are in the third watch, waiting and watching for the Master’s return. Only a brief period of waiting remains:

“In the first watch we expected our Master, but were disappointed. We thought surely He would come in the second watch, but that passed, and He came not. We may be again disappointed.” ^[4]

In the ancient world, night watches were equal periods of time:

• First watch: 6 pm – 9 pm
• Second watch: 9 pm – 12 am
• Third watch: 12 am – 3 am
• Fourth watch: 3 am – 6 am

Ellen White clearly viewed the Millerite Movement as the first watch, noting the disappointment experienced by Adventists. The Millerite Movement began in 1831 and ended in 1844. Assuming each watch lasted around 13 years, the timeline would be:

• First watch: 1831 – 1844 (Mrs. White stated this had passed)
• Second watch: 1845 – 1858 (Mrs. White stated this had passed)
• Third watch: 1859 – 1872 (Mrs. White claimed this was the current watch in 1868, but only a “little period” remained)
• Fourth watch: 1873 – 1886 (This watch was yet future in 1868)

According to James White’s theory, based on the parable in Luke 12, Jesus would return in the fourth watch, which would place His return between 1873 and 1886. Apparently, Mrs. White’s vision of being in the third watch was also incorrect.

 

Stephen McCullagh Wises Up

Many Seventh-day Adventists were aware of these failed prophecies, which led some to leave the SDA sect. One such person was Stephen McCullagh, who was born seven years after the 1856 conference. As a young SDA evangelist, he encountered Ellen White during her visit to Australia in the 1890s. He eventually realized that Ellen White was not a true prophet of God. Afterward, he held public meetings to explain why he no longer believed in her. S.N. Haskell attended one of these meetings and reported one of the reasons McCullagh decided to leave the SDA sect:

“That in some meeting where a number of the brethren were, myself [Haskell] included, you saw that we all would live till the Lord would come and that we would all be saved, but many are dying, to our confusion.” [5]

 

The Sunday Law Crisis and New Predictions

In 1888, during a period of intense debate in the United States about a national Sunday law, Mrs. White once again predicted that Christ’s return would occur within the lifetime of the current generation. She wrote:

“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.—The Review and Herald, July 31, 1888.” ^[6]

It has been 136 years since Ellen White wrote this, and every person she addressed as “some of us” has long since passed away. The next year, she made similar statements:

“[The ressurection] is not far in the future. Some of us will doubtless be living when the voice that is heard everywhere, even to ocean depths and the sunless caverns of earth, shall be heard, echoing from sea to sea, from valleys and from mountains, calling to life the sleeping dead.^[7]

“Just before us is a time of trouble such as never was, and those who are weaving the principles of truth into their practical life will soon understand what the wrath of the dragon means. Every soul who loves God will be tested in regard to his sacred law.” ^[8]

“We are living in the last days, and the generation that is to witness the final destruction has not been left without warning of the hastening judgments of God.” ^[9]

Mrs. White affirmed that her generation had been warned and would “witness” the final destruction. That generation has long since perished, and none of them saw the final destruction.

In 1892, she wrote:

“Something great and decisive is to take place, and that right early. If any delay, the character of God and his throne will be compromised.” ^[10]

Since it has been 132 years since this was written, has God’s character been compromised?

 

Plagues Started in 1901

In 1864, Mrs. White described the timing of the last seven plagues in a vision:

“As Jesus moved out of the most holy place, I heard the tinkling of the bells upon His garment; and as He left, a cloud of darkness covered the inhabitants of the earth. There was then no mediator between guilty man and an offended God. While Jesus had been standing between God and guilty man, a restraint was upon the people; but when He stepped out from between man and the Father, the restraint was removed and Satan had entire control of the finally impenitent. It was impossible for the plagues to be poured out while Jesus officiated in the sanctuary; but as His work there is finished, and His intercession closes, there is nothing to stay the wrath of God, and it breaks with fury upon the shelterless head of the guilty sinner, who has slighted salvation and hated reproof.” ^[11]

This statement indicates that the last plagues would not be “poured out” until the Investigative Judgment was complete, Jesus ended His intercession, and probation closed.

However, in 1901, Mrs. White wrote:

“We are nearing the judgment. Already the plagues of God are beginning to be poured out. Upon some parts of the world God is permitting the plagues to fall. If we would escape these plagues, we must be pure, virtuous, holy, ever remembering that we are God’s property. Because He has redeemed us, He wants us to cleanse the soul-temple from every trace of pollution. He wants His people to be healthy Christians, physically and spiritually.” —Manuscript 62, 1901, 5, 6. (Sermon at the 1901 General Conference, typed July 9, 1901.)^[12]

If the plagues started falling in 1901, it contradicts her 1864 statement that the plagues would not occur until probation closed. There are only three possible explanations:

1. The plagues can fall before probation closes, making her 1864 vision false.
2. She was wrong about the plagues falling in 1901, making her 1901 statement false.
3. Probation closed before 1901.

Which one is it?

 

“Ellen would use her end-times failed predictions  to attempt to steer other people’s behavior.”

Elder Moses Hull

At times, Mrs. White made specific predictions regarding certain individuals. One such person was Adventist pioneer Moses Hull. In 1862, Hull was losing faith in Adventism. It seems the Whites had given up trying to reason with Hull, and Mrs. White instead issued a dire warning about the consequences of his chosen path:

“If you proceed in the way you have started, misery and woe are before you. God’s hand will arrest you in a manner that will not suit you. His wrath will not slumber.” ^[13]

This prophecy never came to pass. Despite Mrs. White’s warning, Hull left the Adventist church and lived a long life. As D.M. Canright observed, “Mr. Hull lived on many long years to a ripe old age, and nothing of the kind predicted happened.” [14] This incident questions her prophetic ability and raises concerns about her portrayal of God. What kind of God did Ellen White depict? Did He need to frighten people with wrath to keep them in His church? Did He have to use scare tactics to force people to remain in His church against their will?

 

Charles Lee

Former Adventist minister Charles Lee recounted an experience with Ellen White. The editor of the Swedish edition of Advent Herald, Mr. C. Carlstedt, had become seriously ill with typhoid fever. Charles Lee, along with James and Ellen White, Uriah Smith, and another man, visited Mr. Carlstedt:

“We all knelt in prayer for the sick man; and Mrs. W. praised the Lord because he was ‘present with his restoring power, to raise Carlstedt, whose sickness,’ she said, was ‘not unto death, but to the glory of the Son of God.’ To me it was darkness and death; and it was an evidence to my soul that if she was right before God, then I had never known anything about the Spirit of God. Either of us was entirely deceived.

 

On our way back Mrs. W. said to me that the Lord was there with his restoring power, and she was confident that he would be restored to health again. I told her I did not realize it, and that it was darkness to me. She did not speak to me again that evening. As I parted from them, I went directly to Chicago, to continue my meetings. A few days after I came to Chicago, Mrs. W. sent me a written testimony; and in that she says she knew that I was under the influence of devils. The next day I received a dispatch that Mr. C. was dead. I read and re-read the testimony, and said to myself, ‘If she could see three years ago that Satan should take possession of my soul and body because I would not give myself entirely up to be led by her and her husband, why could she not see that Mr. C. would die a few days before he did, as her attention was called directly to his case? And if she saw my then pitiable condition so long before, why did she not warn me before Satan got me entirely under his influence?'” [15]

In Conclusion…

In 1943, J.H. Kellogg, who was a small child when he attended the 1856 conference, was the last attendee to pass away. Time has proven the SDA “spirit of prophecy” wrong, forcing SDA apologists to perform mental gymnastics to justify this prophetic failure. It has been 168 years since Ellen White made her 1856 prophecy, and every person from that generation has since died. Throughout her prophetic career, Mrs. White repeatedly predicted Christ’s imminent return, but time has ultimately proven her visions false.

In Christian Love,

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Ball, Hope of Israel Vol. 1, No. 11(Oct 23, 1866), 79.

[2] Cornell, Miraculous Powers: Scripture Testimony on the Perpetuity of Spiritual Gifts, 2nd Ed., 15.

^[3] Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2 (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1855), 193–194.

^[4] Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2 (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1855), 192.

[5] White, Ellen G. White: The Australian Years: 1891-1900, Vol. 4, 282.

^[6] Ellen Gould White, Last Day Events (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1992), 37.

^[7] Ellen Gould White, The Bible Echo—Bible Echo and Signs of the Times (N.P., n.p.), 33.

^[8] The Review and Herald, n.d., 1335.

^[9] The Review and Herald, n.d., 1335.

^[10] Ellen Gould White, An Appeal to Our Ministers and Conference Committees, n.d., 38.

^[11] Ellen Gould White, Early Writings of Ellen G. White (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1882), 280.

^[12] Manuscript Releases [Nos. 260–346, 1971–1973], vol. 5 (Ellen G. White Estate, 1993), 17.

^[13] Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1 (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1855), 431.

[14] Canright, Life Of Ellen White, Chapter 15.

[15] Lee, Three Important Questions for Seventh-Day Adventists to Consider.