Vision Changes Prophet’s Counsel

A few weeks later, she explained to denominational leadership: “During the night following our interview in my house and out on the lawn under the trees, October 19, 1902, in regard to the work in the Southern field, the Lord instructed me that I had taken a wrong position.”MOL 154.4

Further, she wrote words of encouragement, that “from this center light will shine forth in the ministry of the word, in the publication of books large and small,” that “we have as yet merely touched the Southern field with the tips of our fingers.” ^{23Daniells, AGP, pp. 327-329.}MOL 154.5

All those involved realized that they were experiencing the same emotions that stirred Nathan and David three millennia before. The Lord was very close to His people who wanted to listen to the Spirit of prophecy.MOL 154.6

In 1849, the Adventist people gathered into various nuclei across New England and upper New York State. S. W. Rhodes, a discouraged former leader in the Millerite movement, refused social interchange. But his friends kept up their attention, though often rebuffed. The Whites did not feel that any further special effort in Rhodes’s behalf was warranted. However, while a group of Adventists were praying, Ellen White had a vision “which was contrary to her former opinion and feeling relating to our going after Brother Rhodes, up to the time that the Spirit took her off in vision.” ^{24Hiram Edson’s report in The Present Truth, December, 1849, cited in Bio., vol. 1, pp. 196-198. In the same issue of PT, Ellen White reported: “While in vision the angel pointed to the earth, where I saw Brother Rhodes in thick darkness; but he still bore the image of Jesus. I saw it was the will of God that Brethren Edson and Ralph should go.”}MOL 154.7

In planning for the first church building at Avondale in 1897, discouragement prevailed. The depressed financial situation throughout Australia directly affected the development of the church’s educational and medical work. Ellen White knew that building the church was essential to the general spirit that should prevail in the further growth of the struggling college. Yet, she was willing to listen to the caution of the local leaders. She knew that they carried heavy burdens and that the financial picture was bleak. One day, in human sympathy, she mentioned to one of the leaders, “We will not hasten the building of the meetinghouse.”MOL 154.8

But that night she had a vision that changed her “ideas materially.” In a letter to the person she had agreed with a few hours earlier, she said: “I received instruction to speak to the people, and tell them that we are not to leave the house of the Lord until the last consideration.... Build a house for God without delay. Secure the most favorable location. Prepare seats that will be proper for a house of God.” ^{25Bio., vol. 4, pp. 315-317.}MOL 155.1