Ellen White’s Predictions

Ellen G. White

Copyright © 2018, Ellen G. White Estate, Inc.

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Chapter 1—Predictions Relating to Activities in the Adventist World

Chapter 2—Predictions Relating to Activities in the Non-Adventist World

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Ellen G. White (1827-1915) is considered the most widely translated American author, her works having been published in more than 160 languages. She wrote more than 100,000 pages on a wide variety of spiritual and practical topics. Guided by the Holy Spirit, she exalted Jesus and pointed to the Scriptures as the basis of one’s faith.

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God alone knows the future. Isaiah 41:23.

“The past, present, and future are alike to God. He sees the most remote events of past history, and the far distant future with as clear a vision as we do those things that are transpiring daily.”—EGW in IBC 1099.

Bible predictions: Daniel 2. The fulfillment of this prophecy gives us confidence to believe that other Bible prophecies will also be fulfilled.

Like the Bible prophets, Ellen White also made some predictions. (Her writings deal largely with Christian experience. Probably not over two percent deal with future events.) [2] [3]

Chapter 1—Predictions Relating to Activities in the Adventist World

November, 1848-Worldwide Publishing Work

“After coming out of vision, I said to my husband: ‘I have a message for you. You must begin to print a little paper and send it out to the people. Let it be small at first; but as the people read, they will send you means with which to print, and it will be a success from the first. From this small beginning it was shown to me to be like streams of light that went clear round the world.’” —Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 125.

a) SDA statistics for 1988:
   1. 56 publishing houses
   2. SDA literature in 177 languages
   3. Literature sales $100,000,000

1892-Broad Mission Advance

“The missionary work in Australia and New Zealand is yet in its infancy, but the same work must be accomplished in Australia, New Zealand, in Africa, India, China, and the islands of the sea, as has been accomplished in the home field.”—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 338. (Statement made while sitting in her chair on the platform and addressing those present at the opening of the Bible School in Melbourne, August 24, 1892.) [4]

A. G. Daniells’ reaction: “We were overwhelmed by the great scope of activity and development outlined with such assurance. To enter those countries; learn the difficult languages; make disciples; organize churches; establish schools, printing houses, and medical institutions—in short, to duplicate what had then been developed in North America, and to send missionaries from our little Australasian school to help do it—all this seemed like the wildest kind of speculation. Our poor minds were too narrow and our vision too constricted to follow the great sweeping advance outlined to us in this address. But some who were present have lived to see those staggering predictions strikingly fulfilled.”—Abiding Gift of Prophecy (1936), p. 309.

Seventh-day Adventist Church Membership Statistics:

| June 30, 1892 | Dec. 31, 1988
Australia, N.Z., Polynesia | 856 | 213,066
Indonesia |  | 14,454
Philippines |  | 438,329
China |  | 21,168
India |  | 160,635
Africa | 138 | 1,683,259
Other | 32,784 | 3,139,992
World Membership | 33,778 | 5,749,735

—Statistical Reports of SDA Conferences and Institutions, 1863-1902 (G.C. Archives), p. 33. 1988 figures from G.C. Archives and Statistics office. [5]

1894 - Avondale College

EGW urges location of school “a wide distance from the cities” (Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 351).

a) Avondale property-70 miles from Sydney, 1500 acres for $3 an acre.

b) May 21, 1894, Government fruit expert: “The land... has the great drawback of being in the first place expensive to clear, and when cleared, of requiring draining and liming to produce satisfactory returns, and even when got into condition the land will require constant manuring to maintain its fertility.... It is my opinion that the Society will be unwise to select the land I visited.”—A. H. Benson.

c) May 25, 1894, Pastor McCullagh miraculously healed at Avondale; decision to purchase made. “There was perfect unity in making the decision to purchase the 1500 acres of land at the price of $4,500.”—Letter 82, 1894.

d) Bad reports led brethren to delay further operations, reconsider location, possibly forfeit deposit.

e) August 27, 1894, Ellen White writes: “When the board wants to go back on this purchase, I pledge myself to secure the land....

“No one need to have regret in reference to this land, for with proper working, it will surprise the people in this section of the country. [6] All the regret I have is that we have not money to take in sections of the land that would expand the ground. I have not one doubt in reference to the securing of this land....

“In the dream you have heard me relate, words were spoken of land which I was looking at, and after deep ploughing and thorough cultivating, it brought forth a bountiful harvest. Having had this matter presented to me at different times, I am more than ever convinced that this is the right location for the school.”—Ms 35, 1894.

f) July, 1895, Ellen White bought 66 acres; August, 1895, she moved into four tents on her land.

g) “On one occasion she quoted words from the heavenly messenger spoken to her for our assurance, ‘They have borne false witness against the land.’ Repeatedly she assured us, ‘God will spread a table in the wilderness,’”—A. G. Daniells, Abiding Gift of Prophecy, p. 314.

h) April 28, 1897, school opened.

i) All fulfilled as early as 1909. Professor C. W. Irwin, Avondale principal 1903-1908, stated: “As time has gone on, and we have had an opportunity to watch the work develop, we can say most assuredly, from our experience, that God led in the selection of this place. Everything that has been said about the location of the school in this place has been fulfilled—everything.”—Abiding Gift of Prophecy, p. 318.

j) RWO flight over the property, September, 1981. [7]

November, 1901-Destruction of Review and Herald

“God ... has a controversy with the managers of the publishing house. I have been almost afraid to open the Review, fearing to see that God has cleansed the publishing house by fire.... Unless there is a reformation, calamity will overtake the publishing house, and the world will know the reason.”—Testimonies for the Church 8:91, 96.

a) “On December 30, 1902, the publishing house was totally destroyed by fire of an unknown origin. Within an hour of its discovery, at 7:25 p.m., by employees working the night shift, the entire four-story structure was a mass of blazing ruins. Nothing of value was saved. The machinery, furniture, printed books and periodicals, paper stock, and other materials were a total loss. The $150,000 insurance did not fully cover the building and its contents.”—10 BC p. 1213 (Revised 1976).

October 13, 1902-Southern California Properties Will Be Offered Cheap

“I have been shown that in Southern California there are properties for sale on which buildings are already erected that could be utilized for our work, and other properties in localities especially suited to sanitarium work, and that such properties will be offered to us at much less than their original cost.”—Letter 157b, 1902.

a) January, 1904-Paradise Valley Sanitarium bought (The Story of Our Health Message, 338, 339).

b) September, 1904-Glendale San bought (Ibid, pp. 340, 341).

c) June, 1905-Loma Linda property bought (Ibid, pp. 343-361). [8]

June, 1905-The Importance of Loma Linda

“The Southern California Conference president then spoke of the importance of the decision that was to be made. In an official report of this meeting, it is recorded: ‘He then stated that Sister White had said that this sanitarium should be the principal training school on this coast.’ At this point Sister White interrupted him and said, ‘This will be. ’”—Minutes of Southern California Conference, June 20, 1905; D. E. Robinson, The Story of Our Health Message, 351, 352.

a) The opening enrollment at Loma Linda University in September, 1983, was 5,157, of whom 2,775 were on the Loma Linda campus. LLU is a major source of physicians and other health professionals for the denomination’s world work.

Two Prophecies That Cannot Now Be Fulfilled

“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. ’”—Testimonies for the Church 1:131, 132 (1856).

“The Lifegiver’s voice has not yet called the sleeping saints from their gloomy prisons, but we have not lost faith, because the predicted hour has not yet arrived.... 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, [9] to the uttermost parts of the earth. All creation will hear that voice, and those who have lived and died in Jesus, will respond to the call of the Prince of Life.”—The Review and Herald, July 31, 1888, p. 482.

a) God’s promises are conditional. Jeremiah 18:7-10; Jonah 3:4-10.

b) Christ would have come before 1883 if we had been faithful. “Had Adventists, after the great disappointment in 1844, held fast their faith and followed on unitedly in the opening providence of God, receiving the message of the third angel and in the power of the Holy Spirit proclaiming it to the world, they would have seen the salvation of God, the Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts, the work would have been completed, and Christ would have come ere this to receive His people to their reward.”—Evangelism, 695.

Chapter 2—Predictions Relating to Activities in the Non-Adventist World

Appearance of Departed Friends

“It is not difficult for the evil angels to represent both saints and sinners who have died, and make these representations visible to human eyes. These manifestations will be more frequent, and developments of a more startling character will appear as we near the close of time.”—RH 4-1-97; Evangelism, 604. [10]

a) J. B. Phillips says that C. S. Lewis appeared to him:

“Many of us who believe in what is technically known as the Communion of Saints must have experienced the sense of nearness, for a fairly short time, of those whom we love soon after they have died. This has certainly happened to me several times. But the late C. S. Lewis, whom I did not know very well and had only seen in the flesh once, but with whom I had corresponded a fair amount, gave me an unusual experience. A few days after his death, while I was watching television, he ‘appeared’ sitting in a chair within a few feet of me, and spoke a few words which were particularly relevant to the difficult circumstances through which I was passing. He was ruddier in complexion than ever, grinning all over his face and, as the old-fashioned saying has it, positively glowing with health. The interesting thing to me was that I had not been thinking about him at all.

“I was neither alarmed nor surprised nor ... did I look up to see the hole in the ceiling that he might have made on arrival! He was just there— ‘ large as life and twice as natural.’ A week later, this time when I was in bed, reading before going to sleep, he appeared again, even more rosily radiant than before, and repeated to me the same message, which was very important to me at the time. I was a little puzzled by this, and I mentioned it to a certain saintly bishop who was then living in retirement here in Dorset. His reply was ‘My dear J, this sort of thing is happening all the time. ’”—The Ring of Truth, pp. 118, 119. [11]

Return of Papal Popularity

a) In 1798 many thought the papacy was dead.

“When in 1797, Pope Pius VI fell grievously ill, Napoleon gave orders that in the event of his death no successor should be elected to his office, and that the Papacy should be discontinued.

“But the Pope recovered; the peace was soon broken; Berthier entered Rome on 10th February, 1798, and proclaimed a Republic. The aged Pontiff refused to violate his oath by recognizing it, and was hurried from prison to prison into France. Broken with fatigue and sorrows, he died ... [in] August, 1799, in the French fortress of Valence, aged 82 years. No wonder that half Europe thought Napoleon’s veto would be obeyed and that with the Pope the Papacy was dead.”—Joseph Rickaby, a Roman Catholic historian, quoted in SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 9, p. 703.

b) Ellen G. White in 1884: “A day of great intellectual darkness has been shown to be favorable to the success of popery. It will yet be demonstrated that a day of great intellectual light is equally favorable for its success.

“In the movements now in progress in this country to secure for the institutions and usages of the church the support of the State, Protestants are following in the steps of papists. Nay, more, they are opening the door for popery to regain in Protestant America the supremacy which she has lost in the Old World.”—The Spirit of Prophecy 4:390 (See The Great Controversy, 573). [12]

c) “Under one head—the papal power—the people will unite to oppose God in the person of His witnesses.”—Testimonies for the Church 7:182.

d) Roman Catholics now easily elected to office in U.S., e.g., J. F. Kennedy and others.

e) Pope John Paul’s visit to Chicago—“He’s got the whole world in his hands.”

f) John Paul’s visit to England.

“One of the most important drives toward reunification in the history of Christianity is being undertaken in Britain by Pope John Paul II.

“From May 28 to June 2, the Pontiff was making the first trip by any reigning Pope to England, Scotland and Wales, where John Paul was hoping to help heal the historic rift between Anglicanism and the Roman Catholic Church.”—U. S. News and World Report, June 7, 1982.

“Two months ago, delegates of Rome and Canterbury, representing twelve years of talks, released their final report and concluded that the old doctrinal feuds no longer provide grounds for continued division. In a joint declaration of astonishing unanimity, the delegates agreed that there is no reason in principle why Anglicans cannot unite with Catholics under the universal primacy of the Bishop of Rome. (The title of Pope was avoided.) [13]

“This document, though not solving all the problematic differences between the two churches, raised the prospect that ultimate reunification may be possible. If reunion could be achieved between Anglicans and Roman Catholics, the example would go far toward encouraging others to consider reunion possible in their cases as well.”—Time, June 7, 1982, p. 48.

g) 1982-Great Britain and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations after a rift of 400 years.

h) March 24, 1983-Gunnar Johan Liungdahl became first Swedish ambassador to the Holy See in over 450 years.

i) January 10, 1984-US and Vatican establish full diplomatic relations.

Unprecedented Warfare

“The tempest is coming, and we must get ready for its fury by having repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord will arise to shake terribly the earth. We shall see troubles on all sides. Thousands of ships will be hurled into the depths of the sea. Navies will go down, and human lives will be sacrificed by millions. Fires will break out unexpectedly, and no human effort will be able to quench them. The palaces of earth will be swept away in the fury of the flames. Disasters by rail will become more and more frequent; confusion, collision, and death without a moment’s warning will occur on the great lines of travel. The end is near, probation is closing. Oh, let us seek God while He may he found, call upon Him while He is near!”—Messages to Young People, 89, 90 (1890). [14]

“Oh, that God’s people had a sense of the impending destruction of thousands of cities, now almost wholly given to idolatry.”—Evangelism, 29 (1903).

a) Woodrow Wilson in 1913: “We have finally arrived at an age of settled peace and good will.”

b) World War II:

   1. Shipping: German submarines sunk, 782; Allied shipping sunk, 23,351.

   2. Military personnel killed or missing: Major allied powers, 10,650,000; Major axis powers, 4,650,000.—Encyclopedia Britannica, 1961 ed., pp. 793M, 793Q.

No More Peace

“Soon great trouble will arise among the nations—trouble that will not cease until Jesus comes.”—The Review and Herald, February 11, 1904.

Travel Restrictions

“We have no time to lose. The end is near. The passage from place to place to spread the truth will soon be hedged with dangers on the right hand and on the left. Everything will be placed to obstruct the way of the Lord’s messengers, so that they will not be able to do that which it is possible for them to do now.”—Testimonies for the Church 6:22 (1900). [15]

a) Travel still comparatively easy in 1911: “Although most foreign countries may now be entered without passports, the English foreign office recommends travelers to furnish themselves with them, as affording a ready means of identification in case of need.”—Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., 1911, p. 890.

September 1, 1902-Judgments on Oakland and San Francisco

“Not long hence these cities will suffer under the judgments of God. San Francisco and Oakland are becoming as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Lord will visit them in wrath.”—Evangelism, 403, 404.

a) San Francisco earthquake, April 18, 1906; 28,000 buildings destroyed either by earthquake or fire in San Francisco alone. Area of destruction included surrounding cities also.

b) October 17, 1989, earthquake-Total damage figures not yet known.

Increase of Crime

“Light was given me that the cities would be filled with confusion, violence, and crime, and that these things would increase till the close of this earth’s history.”—Letter 157, 1902.

a) Serious crimes in USA (murder, forcible rape, robbery, burglary, aggravated assault, thievery, motor vehicle theft):

3,800,000 in 1962; 12,800,000 in 1982 or 337 percent increase—US News and World Report, May 2, 1983. [16]

Economic Difficulties

“There are not many, even among educators and statesmen, who comprehend the causes that underlie the present state of society. Those who hold the reins of government are not able to solve the problem of moral corruption, poverty, pauperism, and increasing crime. They are struggling in vain to place business operations on a more secure basis. If men would give more heed to the teaching of God’s Word, they would find a solution of the problems that perplex them.”—Testimonies for the Church 9:13 (1909).

a) National debt—Trade imbalance—Third world nations’ difficulties

Nuclear Warfare (?)

“In the visions of the night a very impressive scene passed before me. I saw an immense ball of fire fall among some beautiful mansions, causing their instant destruction.”—Testimonies for the Church 9:28 (1909).

“On one occasion, when in New York City, I was in the night season called upon to behold buildings rising story after story toward heaven. These buildings were warranted to be fireproof, and they were erected to glorify their owners and builders....

“The scene that next passed before me was an alarm of fire. Men looked at the lofty and supposedly fireproof buildings and said, ‘They are perfectly safe.’ But these buildings were consumed as if made of pitch. The fire engines could do nothing to stay the destruction. The firemen were unable to operate the engines.”—Testimonies for the Church 9:12, 13. [17]

“Angels are now restraining the winds of strife, that they may not blow until the world shall be warned of its coming doom; but a storm is gathering, ready to burst upon the earth; and when God shall bid His angels loose the winds, there will be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture.”—Education, 179, 180.

“Satan will then plunge the inhabitants of the earth into one great, final trouble. As the angels of God cease to hold in check the fierce winds of human passion, all the elements of strife will be let loose. The whole world will be involved in ruin more terrible than that which came upon Jerusalem of old.”—The Great Controversy, 614.