Ellen Gould White (1827-1915)
Seventh-day Adventist leader. Born Ellen Gould Harmon in Maine and brought up in a Methodist family, she with them was influenced by addresses given in Portland by the Adventist William Miller. In 1843 the family was expelled from Methodist membership for accepting premillennial views. Soon after joining the Adventists Ellen, who had little formal education, claimed to have seen in the first of many "revelations" the triumph and vindication of the Adventists over earthly persecution. Before her death seventy years later she was said to have experienced "two thousand visions and prophetic dreams." Her early followers regarded these visions as partially fulfilling Joel 2:28-32. The Adventist movement suffered a severe setback when two dates in 1844 set by Miller for Christ's return proved to be mistaken. She should of known that the test of a prophet is the coming to pass of all that he says!
Ellen
became a "sabbathkeeper" in 1846, soon after her marriage to James
White. The Seventh-day Adventist Church as an official denomination was
established at Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1863, with Ellen as leader (Check out
Women in the Church Meeting) her writings and counsels accepted as the
"spirit of prophecy" (Rev. 19:10). This, according to Fundamental
Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists, is "one of the identifying marks of the
remnant church." Modern Seventh-day Adventism denies that Mrs. White's
writings are to be equated with the biblical canon which closed nearly two thousand years ago, though a leading
Adventist says that "just as God enlightened Moses... he enlightened Ellen
G. White."
Mrs.
White herself declared that all teaching (1 Timothy 2:11-12 Let the woman learn
in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp
authority over the man, but to be in silence.) is to be judged by the Bible and
that "the Spirit was not given... to supersede the Bible." Acceptance
of her writings is not to be made a matter of church discipline, but Adventists
hold that in her life and ministry the "gift of prophecy" was
restored in these last days of the Christian church. Through more than sixty
works (100,000 handwritten pages) Ellen G. White still dominates the movement
seventy years after her death, even though the leadership carefully refers to
her as "a lesser light to lead men and women to the greater light."
Nonetheless, at the denomination's World Congress in Vienna in 1975 her writings
were commended as timeless and realistic, for they "lift up Christ and His
Word, foster Biblical doctrines and standards, encourage personal piety,
devotion and sacrifice, spiritual and physical health, church unity and
effectual methods of work, provide a clearer understanding of our times and
coming events, and offer needed warnings, admonitions, and reproof."
Among
her publications are the nine-volume Testimonies for the Church (1855-1909) and
Steps to Christ, which has sold more than twenty million copies.
Another denomination that
lets it’s own teachings supercede the teachings of Christ.