The inspiration of Ellen G. White
Scripture doesn’t recognize degrees of inspiration. One prophet can’t be only 50 percent inspired and another prophet 80 percent inspired. People are either inspired or uninspired. Therefore, we must conclude that the Holy Spirit who inspired the biblical authors also inspired Ellen White to the same degree.GP 54.2
During the seventy years of her ministry, Ellen White received about two thousand visions and dreams. She received her first vision late in 1844 and her last one on March 3, 1915. During the first forty years of her ministry, she received many open visions—in other words, public visions during which it was apparent to people around her that she was in vision. According to J. N. Loughborough, who witnessed about fifty such visions, her last public vision occurred at the 1884 Oregon camp meeting. GP 54.3
Why did the open visions cease in 1884? A little study reveals that God launched the Christian church with many supernatural phenomena. At Pentecost, the appearance of tongues caused quite a stir in the community (see Acts 2:5-13). Peter and John healed a lame man at the temple gate, and the people were amazed (see Acts 3:6-10). Ananias and Sapphira were slain (see Acts 5:5, 10), and Dorcas was raised from the dead (see Acts 9:40-42). But once the church was established, these manifestations diminished. God still worked miracles, but these public demonstrations of His power were no longer needed.GP 54.4
So also in the early Seventh-day Adventist Church—the supernatural, visible manifestations diminished as the church became established and the prophet became accepted.GP 55.1
Is everything Ellen White ever wrote inspired by God? No. She herself explained why not:GP 55.2
There are times when common things must be stated, common thoughts must occupy the mind, common letters must be written and information given that has passed from one to another of the workers. Such words, such information, are not given under the special inspiration of the Spirit of God. Questions are asked at times that are not upon religious subjects at all, and these questions must be answered. We converse about houses and lands, trades to be made, and locations for our institutions, their advantages and disadvantages (1SM 39).GP 55.3
Just like the biblical prophets, Ellen White had to deal with issues and questions that had nothing to do with her prophetic gift. What she wrote or said in regard to these matters, therefore, was not inspired. Note also what she said in a letter she wrote in 1906 to Dr. Paulson, founder and director of the Hinsdale Sanatorium: “In your letter you speak of your early training to have implicit faith in the testimonies and say, ‘I was led to conclude and most firmly believe that every word that you ever spoke in public or private, that every letter you wrote under any and all circumstances, was as inspired as the Ten Commandments.’ “My brother, you have studied my writings diligently, and you have never found that I have made any such claims, neither will you find that the pioneers in our cause ever made such claims” (1SM 24).GP 55.4
On the other hand, belief in Ellen White’s inspiration means by implication belief that what she declared to be from God must be accepted as such. As F. M. Wilcox, who was for many years the editor of the Review and Herald and who knew her personally, said, “We must believe that what she gave, by either voice or pen, in printed page or through the medium of correspondence, as the messages of God , was true to this representation. We must accept her statement as true relative to this, or else reject altogether her call to the prophetic office.” GP 55.5
In regard to the books that she wrote, she said, “Sister White is not the originator of these books. They contain the instruction that during her lifework God has been giving her. They contain the precious, comforting light that God has graciously given His servant to be given to the world” (CM 125). She said the same about her letters and articles: ” ‘In these letters which I write, in the testimonies I bear, I am presenting to you that which the Lord has presented to me. I do not write one article in the paper expressing merely my own ideas. They are what God has opened before me in vision—the precious rays of light shining from the throne’ ” (1SM 29).GP 56.1