A Teenager Called to be a Prophet
How would you like the job of being a prophet? Some might jump at it—to receive messages straight from God would be fantastic. To have the authority to say to people who argue with you, “But God told me . . .” and that’s that. It sounds good, doesn’t it?
However, history reveals that prophets aren’t able to do things quite like that. Often, when people disagreed with them, the prophet—the messenger—was the one mistreated. Look at what Israel did to the prophets in the stories of the Old Testament. They put faithful Jeremiah into a muddy well to silence him. Others were variously imprisoned, stoned, beaten and killed. When Jesus saw that some Jewish leaders were rejecting His ministry, He said they were children of those who’d stoned the prophets. He pointed out how readily they accepted that God had spoken through Jewish prophets of the past, yet when the prophets of their own time came to them with God’s messages they stoned them.1
And that’s how it usually is. Prophets can actually have a hard time, as people don’t always want to hear what they have to say.
Just over 150 years ago a 17-year-old-girl stood in front of her predominately male audience and told them that she was a messenger of God—that He had given her messages to pass on to them.
This girl had none of the qualifications you’d expect in a prophet; she was shy, still a teenager, frail in health, and possessed little education. In fact, she didn’t want to confront anyone with a message and, she said, pleaded that the job be given to someone else.
The messages she was asked to deliver weren’t always what their recipients wanted to hear. Sometimes it meant pointing out their mistakes particularly when they neglected the Bible, and that’s risky. Sometimes they were inclined to forget that Christianity is all about making Jesus the centre of everything. So she once wrote, “Lift up Jesus, you that teach the people, lift Him up in sermon, in song, in prayer. Let all your powers be directed to pointing souls, confused, bewildered, lost, to ‘the Lamb of God.’”2
She also challenged them to study their Bibles with an open mind: “Whenever the people of God are growing in grace, they will be constantly obtaining a clearer understanding of His word. . . . This has been true in the history of the church in all ages, and thus it will continue to the end. But as real spiritual life declines, it has ever been the tendency to cease to advance in the knowledge of the truth. Men rest satisfied with the light already received from God’s word, and discourage any further investigation of the Scriptures. They become conservative, and seek to avoid discussion.”3
She had insight into what was occurring in meetings she didn’t attend and in the lives of people she hardly knew. She passed these messages on and so came in for a lot of criticism.
That was part of her calling, but primarily her work was to bring comfort and encouragement to people, because that’s the main work of prophets. Paul says, “But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort” (1 Corinthians 14:3). She wanted people to know that despite their failings, God hadn’t given up on them so she wrote, “There are those who have known the pardoning love of Christ and who really desire to be children of God, yet they realise that their character is imperfect, their life faulty, and they are ready to doubt whether their hearts have been renewed by the Holy Spirit . . . . Do not draw back in despair. We shall often have to bow down and weep at the feet of Jesus because of our shortcomings and mistakes, but we are not to be discouraged. Even if we are overcome by the enemy, we are not cast off, not forsaken and rejected of God. . . . The closer you come to Jesus, the more faulty you will appear in your own eyes.”4
Commencing as a young girl in her teens, Ellen Gould Harmon, who married and became Ellen White, continued to give messages over 70 years. For many years she was a prolific writer for this magazine as it first appeared in the United States. Those who heard her speak believed God had called her and given her the gift of prophecy. Even many of those who didn’t like what she had to say agreed. Those closest to her were firm believers in her work. Seventy years is a long while to keep it up if a person is a deceiver.
There were many reasons why they believed in her:
- They saw she was a sincere Christian. They heard her speak encouragingly of Jesus and how people might be brought into a right relationship with Him. Here’s a sample: “You feel that sin has separated you from God. . . . The more you struggle to escape, the more you realise your own helplessness. . . . It is peace that you need—Heaven’s forgiveness. . . . Money cannot buy it . . . you can never hope, by your own efforts, to secure it. But God offers it to you as a gift.”5
- It seemed that when they followed her counsel, they prospered. She grew in her own understanding of the Bible, and challenged others to be humble in their never-ending search for truth and not become complacent. She once wrote, “Let no-one come to the conclusion that there is no more truth to be revealed. . . . The fact that certain doctrines have been held as truth for many years by our people, is not a proof that our ideas are infallible. Age will not make error into truth, and truth can afford to be fair. No true doctrine will lose anything by close investigation.”6 And further, “We must study the truth for ourselves. No living man should be relied upon to think for us. No matter who it is, or in what position he may be placed.”7
- She upheld the Bible as the only authority for Christians in their search for truth. She constantly warned that people should not put her messages ahead of the Bible, writing, “Let all prove their positions from the Scriptures and substantiate every point they claim as truth from the revealed Word of God.”8
Despite this, some remained critical of her work. It comes with the job. Today there are Internet sites devoted entirely to discrediting and criticising her. Some of their claims include:
- she relied too much upon help from secretaries in expressing her ideas;
- she didn’t tell people she was borrowing thoughts from other authors;
- she didn’t always live by her own counsel; and,
- she made false prophecies—that is, things didn’t always happen as she predicted.
The core problem of those who find fault with her is that they haven’t done their homework in the Bible. If they did, they would find that the things for which they criticise her could also have been applied to the biblical prophets and writers. For example:
- Bible writers, at times, were helped by “secretaries” in putting together their writings. Paul’s secretary, Tertius, inserts his greetings at the end of Paul’s letter to the Romans, for example.9
- Bible prophets borrowed thoughts from others. Luke is one who candidly admits this.10
- Sometimes Bible prophets, being human, themselves failed to live up to what God had told them. Peter was told that non-Jews were to be accepted on an equal footing with Jews, but later he was rebuked by Paul by his failure to live up to this.11
- Sometimes things did not happen exactly as biblical prophets predicted. Jonah prophesied the destruction of Nineveh, and it didn’t happen! Some prophecies are given to elicit a response from those to whom it is delivered in order that a predicted event will not happen.12 Critics frequently neglect to mention the many things Ellen White did predict that did come to pass, particularly those concerning the lives of people and institutions.
But we must remember when God calls someone to carry His messages to people, He is working with ordinary people like you and me. Ellen White wasn’t Superwoman. She was first of all a mother (she had four sons) and a wife, who experienced many of the foibles and weaknesses many of us possess.
She and her husband, James, did, at times, have some problems in their marriage, for example. After James suffered a stroke, he was frequently depressed, not always taking well what she told him and, on one occasion told her so. To this she replied, “I am not free from mistakes and errors in my life. Had I followed my Saviour more closely, I should not have to mourn so much my unlikeness to His dear image.”13
She also had problems with her children, favouring Willie over the others.
She often became despondent over the criticisms she faced and could doubt her own Christian experience at times.
But, although she had little formal education, she gave advice to educators and doctors on how to do their work. Pictures of her show a stern-faced, rigid personality. But looking into a camera for a minute [as was necessary in those days] it’s difficult to hold a smile. The reality was she had a pleasant manner and a great sense of humour—an essential in any good preacher. Once, a woman knitted a jacket for her, but when she tried it on discovered it was too small. She responded to “thank the sister very much for the kind thought,” noting that, “there is much more to Sister White than many supposed!”
When she was in front of a crowd, preaching, her son, Willie, would often fall asleep. When on one occasion she noticed this, she kept on preaching, saying, “When Willie was a baby, my husband and I would preach. Willie slept in a basket—a habit he never got over.”
But her most important work was to uplift Jesus. She wrote a book on Jesus’ life entitled The Desire of Ages (also called Messiah in a contemporary-language edition).
When I read her inspired chapters describing Jesus at Gethsemane and Calvary, it transformed my life as a Christian. I felt as if I was standing there, watching Jesus. It’s an easy read, but it nevertheless demands a response from a reader: Will you accept or reject Christ?—which is the essential call of every true prophetic messenger sent by God.
Yes, it is true she has had some criticism; but could those who criticise equal her achievements? Today there are hospitals, schools, publishing houses, welfare agencies scattered all over the world as a result of her work. Just think of it, a young girl with little education writing 150 years ago on all these subjects and she is still read and highly regarded by millions around the world today. Regarding prophets Jesus said, “By their fruits, you shall know them.14
1. See Matthew 23:29-32.
2. Gospel Workers, page 160.
3. Counsels to Writers and Editors, pages 38, 39.
4. Steps to Christ, page 64. This book has now been translated into 150 languages.
5. ibid, page 49.
6. Counsels to Writers and Editors, page 35.
7. ibid, page 45.
8. Evangelism, page 256.
9. Romans 16:22.
10. Luke 1:1-3.
11. Galatians 2:11-14.
12. Jeremiah 18:7-10.
13. Ellen G White to James White, May 16, 1876 Letter 27, 1876.
14. Matthew 7:15-23.
Applying today’s medical thinking to health and lifestyle advice from almost 150 years ago hardly seems a fair comparison. As Dr Don McMahon discovers, most medical writers of the late 19th century wilt under such scrutiny. So how do the writings of Ellen G White—who wrote without any medical training or background—stand up? Part scientific investigation, part personal journey, the book Acquired or Inspired? explores the writings of Ellen White in a way they have not been explored before.
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Articles of interest:
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This is an extract from May 2005
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