Some Visions Directed to Secret Problems
Ellen White had many experiences dealing with people’s secret problems. In 1858 she wrote about a farm family (father, mother, and grown daughter) who had moved to Illinois from New England three years earlier. Ostensibly the reason for the move was to “introduce the work in the West. The husband went with one intention, his wife with another. His intention was to proclaim the truth, her intention was to have all their means laid out in house and lands.”MOL 163.4
As time went on, the husband “disobeyed the call of God to gratify his wife and daughter, and was too willing to excuse or cover up his love of the world under a show of duty to his family.... I saw that unless she got out of her husband’s way ... the Lord would visit the family with judgment, and move her out of the way.”MOL 163.5
Soon disease came and the wife died. While the Whites visited the bereaved husband and father, Mrs. White had a vision of the spiritual struggle he was going through and “was astonished at what was shown me.” She was shown how the father was snared by the deceitfulness of riches and that the daughter was “wrapped up in selfishness.”MOL 163.6
But time went on. In 1857 Ellen White had another vision regarding this Illinois family. She saw “that he was not moving fast enough, that he was not using his means to advance the cause of God as fast as he should.” Soon after that vision, she heard that this very prosperous father had died at the age of 51.MOL 163.7
Why did Mrs. White report this private story in the church paper? She closed her article with these words: “As I have seen that the reward of covetousness thus far upon this family should be a warning to the church, I cannot withhold from the people of God what has been shown me respecting them.” 87The Review and Herald, April 15, 1858, p. 174. Ellen White’s first letter to this family is dated July 12, 1856.MOL 163.8
Always the soul winner, she recognized a young watchmaker in Nimes, France, whom she had seen in vision. Once a believer, Abel Bieder had become discouraged and was, at the time, working on the Sabbath while he perfected his watchmaking trade. After meeting him at his shop, she invited him to meetings where she was to speak. She spoke privately with Abel, telling him that she knew the history of his life and his youthful errors.MOL 163.9
“I then entreated him with tears to turn square about, to leave the service of Satan and of sin, for he had become a thorough backslider, and return like the prodigal to his Father’s house.... I told him that I dared not have him cross the threshold of the door until he would before God and angels and those present say, ‘I will from this day be a Christian.’”MOL 163.10
The next day Abel resigned from his promising career, happy in the Lord. Soon Ellen White paid his fare to Basel so he could assist L. R. Conradi and James Erzberger in their evangelistic work. 88Delafield, Ellen G. White in Europe, pp. 233-234, 236.MOL 164.1
The N. D. Faulkhead experience in 1892 is a classic illustration of Ellen White’s prophetic ministry for the early Australian Adventists. When she went to Australia in 1891, Faulkhead was treasurer of the publishing house; he also held the highest positions in several secret organizations. As time went on, he became increasingly involved in his lodge work, and his church interests waned.MOL 164.2
On the boat trip to Australia and soon after arrival, Ellen White had a comprehensive vision involving the publishing house generally and several personal testimonies, including one for the Faulkheads. When she went to mail the message, she felt strongly restrained: “When I enclosed the communication all ready to mail, it seemed that a voice spoke to me saying, ‘Not yet, not yet, they will not receive your testimony.’” She held the testimony for almost twelve months. 89Letter 39, 1893, cited in Bio., vol. 4. pp. 49, 50.MOL 164.3
During that time Faulkhead’s co-workers noticed his fading interest in his work and pleaded with him to reconsider his infatuation with the lodges. Ellen White saw in vision that he was “a man about to lose his balance and fall over a precipice.” 90Manuscript 4, 1893, cited in The General Conference Bulletin, 50, 51.MOL 164.4
One of the Australian Adventists asked Faulkhead what he would do if Mrs. White had a testimony for him in regard to his lodge affiliations. To this he responded, “It would have to be mighty strong.” That she indeed had a message for Faulkhead almost a year old, no one yet knew. 91DF 522a, N. D. Faulkhead to EGW, Feb. 20, 1908, cited in Bio., vol. 4, p. 51.MOL 164.5
Shortly after Faulkhead’s defiance, he had a dream that Ellen White had a message for him! In a few days, he met her and asked if she had something for him. Replying that she had, she proposed an early meeting in the future. But Faulkhead was eager: “Why not give me the message now?”MOL 164.6
She told him that several times she had been ready to send the message but she was “forbidden by the Spirit of the Lord to do so” because the time was not ripe. But now was the time. She began to read the fifty-page manuscript, especially the portion dealing with his involvement with Freemasonry. She went on to reveal how he dropped small coins into offerings on the Sabbath but large coins into the treasury of the lodges. She heard him addressed as “Worshipful Master.”MOL 164.7
Later, Faulkhead recalled: “I thought this was getting pretty close home when she started to talk to me in reference to what I was doing in the lodges.” 92N. D. Faulkhead letter, Oct. 5, 1908, cited in The General Conference Bulletin, 51, 52.MOL 164.8
Then it happened. After giving a certain movement of her hand, she said: “I cannot relate all that was given to me.” 93Letter 46, 1892, cited in Ibid.MOL 164.9
Faulkhead turned pale, recounting later: “Immediately she gave me this sign. I touched her on the shoulder and asked her if she knew what she had done. She looked up surprised and said she did not do anything unusual. I told her that she had given me the sign of a Knight Templar. Well, she did not know anything about it.”MOL 164.10
Ellen White went on about how impossible it is to be a committed Christian and a Freemason. Then she made another secret sign, which she said “my attending angel made to me.” Faulkhead knew that this particular sign was known only to the highest order of Masons, and said later: “This convinced me that her testimony was from God.... Immediately the statement that I had made to Brother Stockton, that it would have to be mighty strong before I could believe that she had a message for me from the Lord, flashed through my mind.”MOL 164.11
Faulkhead’s response to the interview was immediate. He told his co-workers the next day how God had spoken to him through Ellen White. His first work of the day was to dictate his resignation to his various lodges. But his lodge friends did not give up easily, insisting that he was honor-bound to serve out his term for the next nine months. The struggle was severe and fellow church members trembled for him.MOL 164.12
At the end of those nine months Faulkhead wrote to God’s messenger: “How thankful I am to Him for sending me a warning that I was traveling on the wrong road.... I can see now very clearly that to continue with them would have been my downfall, as I must confess that my interest for the truth was growing cold.”MOL 165.1
Faulkhead continued to serve the publishing house for many years and remained a strong spiritual leader in Australia. 94Letter 46, 1892, cited in The General Conference Bulletin, 55.MOL 165.2