Friday: Further Thought – The Creator Speaks
Daily Lesson for Friday 2nd of October 2026
Ellen G. White
God’s communication is not limited to biblical times. As we will see in coming weeks, God speaks to human beings in perpetuity, and His words will be manifested in modern ways until Christ returns.
Ellen Gould Harmon (White) and her twin sister, Elizabeth, were born on November 26, 1827, in Gorham, Maine. They were the youngest of eight children born to Robert and Eunice Harmon. In a few years, the family moved to the city of Portland, Maine, where Robert Harmon hoped to expand his hat-making business. At age nine, Ellen suffered an injury that affected her physically, emotionally, and socially. While she was in a park near her home, an angry classmate threw a stone that struck her in the face, leaving Ellen in a semiconscious state for several weeks. This accident abruptly ended her formal education and left her with lifelong health challenges. The facial injuries also left Ellen self-conscious about her appearance, limiting her social interactions.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
It is in this context of uncertainty that the young Ellen Harmon began to think about her spiritual destiny. She was afraid of God and felt unworthy of heaven. Such fearful feelings intensified when the Harmon family accepted the Millerite doctrine of the soon second coming of Jesus. Even after her baptism by immersion into the Methodist Church in 1842, Ellen did not feel worthy of God’s love. She believed she was “forever lost” (Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, p. 29; also see pp. 20–31).
Amid these agonizing thoughts, young Ellen had two dreams that began to change her mind about God. But it was not until she met Levi Stockman, a Methodist preacher, that she understood and felt God’s love and grace. It was as if God spoke to her in her despair. “Faith now took possession of my heart,” she wrote later. “I felt an inexpressible love for God and had the witness of His Spirit that my sins were pardoned. My views of the Father were changed. I now looked upon Him as a kind and tender parent, rather than a stern tyrant compelling men to a blind obedience. My heart went out toward Him in a deep and fervent love.”—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, p. 39. At the same time, Ellen White also understood the doctrine of the “state of the dead” and gradually grasped the idea that there was no forever-burning hell. Her new understanding of God and His love completely changed her attitude. As we will learn each Friday in the weeks to come, Ellen White fell deeply in love with Jesus and served Him for the rest of her life.
I am cynical enough to think that the purpose of this series of lessons is to raise the profile of Ellen White in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. But, probably now is as good a time to take a wider view. If we try to vindicate the person, we lose the value of the message. Let me tell you a story to illustrate what I mean.
Several years ago, Carmel and I went to Eungella in Queensland to photograph the Eungella Honeyeater, a bird that has a limited range. We stayed at a campground at the top of the Eungella escarpment. We noticed that the manager had put up some “spiritual” signs in the campground utility rooms. We interacted with her a fair bit during our stay, and in the course of the conversation, we mentioned we lived in Cooranbong. She said she had visited Cooranbong many years ago because she read a book by a woman who used to live in Cooranbong. Turns out she had read “Steps to Christ”.
Her story goes like this. She was a high-flying personnel manager in the TV industry, looking after some of the big-name TV stars. She was also a deacon in the Anglican church. But she wanted to do something more in her life. She read “Steps to Christ” and was so taken with its message that she decided to visit Sunnyside to see where Ellen White lived and wrote some of her books. She sat in Ellen White’s chair and prayed that the Holy Spirit would come on her and guide her life.
A few weeks later she felt that she ought to do something for the homeless and within a week and completely out of the blue, she became aware that a disused motel was available. On enquiry, and after sharing her vision of doing something for the homeless, she was offered the motel for $10 a week. She was able to set up and manage this home for a number of years.
I don’t know how she ended up managing a campground in Far North Queensland, but she still had a vision of the Gospel and sharing her love for Jesus. A lot of the campers were Hang-glider fliers because the campground was on the edge of the escarpment overlooking the Pioneer Valley. She used to run a shuttle service to pick them up after they landed and bring them back to camp. She was a very interesting woman, whose spiritual life was an open book.
Importantly, this woman’s life was touched by the work of Ellen White in a way that clearly demonstrates what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
And to be honest, that is where this series of lessons should lead us.
(By the way; Carmel and I have started to read “Steps to Christ” right through as part of our lesson study. I hope some of our readers will follow our example.)
… and just as a bonus, here is the Eungella Honeyeater.
Well, Maurice, at this time in Earth’s history, it is high time we paid more attention to the gift God gave us in the ministry of Ellen White.
However, if “the purpose of this series of lessons is to raise the profile of Ellen White in the Seventh-day Adventist Church,” the authors did a very poor job.
Whereas many of our lessons include passages from Ellen White and “Further Reading” recommendations of whole chapters, this set of lessons has none of these, as far as I can determine by scanning through the quarterly.
What a pity!
Just as the proof of the pudding is in the tasting, there’s no better way to understand God’s purpose in giving us the Gift of Prophecy than in actually reading what Ellen White wrote – not just the “proof text” tidbits found in the lessons, but whole chapters and whole books.
You suggested a good start by reading Steps to Christ. I happily second that suggestion. It’s on my list of “first books to read” for anyone who wants to “taste” her writing. Patriarchs and Prophets or Beginning of the End is another good choice, as I suggested in my post.
These books and more are available in Kindle or Paperback format on Amazon.
Inge, I suspect the Friday lessons are meant more to introduce people to Ellen White and relate her ministry to some of the topics that will be addressed each week. I think the church knows that many Adventists are either ignorant or skeptical of Ellen White and starting here is probably productive, though to be honest I feel many of the ignorant and skeptics are not studying the Sabbath School lesson.
I have mixed feelings about using a Sabbath School quarter to promote Ellen White’s ministry. I do believe she has value for our church but I do cringe whenever the church promotes her. When I hear directives telling us to “study the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy”, the implication is that they are equal. I don’t agree with that nor do I think Ellen herself would agree with that. Surely there must be a way to encourage people to experience Ellen White without making her on par with Scripture.
Maurice, thank you for your story. It does illustrate that we need to lift up Jesus. From what I understand, Ellen White would have had it no other way. I love your suggestion of reading Steps To Christ and will join in this plan.
Can cynical have a good meaning? After all it does mean motivated by our own intentions, I do believe our intentions are to the glory of God, which is sharing with others. I will have a lot on my plate daily. Besides reading the lesson and already committed to reading the companion lesson book with my wife Lynne, I am going to see about reading Steps to Christ with her also that is only about one page per day this quarter, or 3-4 pages every Monday and Thursday.
I just scanned Inge Andersons post and have decided to read Patriarchs and Prophets this quarter, which will be no problem as I already have it tucked away in my Kindle Library.
Good reading all, stick with your plan.
The 1st chapter of Steps to Christ does tell us that nature draws us to the love of Christ, the same love that Paul of old conveyed to us last quarter, the love of God from a God of love, though not through nature but through his letters.
In the Desire Of Ages we find that Christ withdrew from the distractions of the world into nature where He found illustrations for help the people understand the Love of God.
https://egwwritings.org/read?panels=p130.247&index=0
Are the lesson writers suggesting that Levi Stockman was God’s messenger to EGW?
I guess it depends on what you mean, and how you read it.
“Amid these agonizing thoughts, young Ellen had two dreams that began to change her mind about God. But it was not until she met Levi Stockman, a Methodist preacher, that she understood and felt God’s love and grace. It was as if God spoke to her in her despair.”
I read it as God using Levi Stockman to help young Ellen better understand God’s true nature and give her assurance of his love for her, because of the effect that meeting had on her. In that sense he was God’s messenger to her.
If God used Levi Stockman to help young Ellen understand God better, wasn’t he God’s messenger to Ellen?
I have always thought he was, after reading Ellen’s account of how he helped her.
I agree. I don’t know why a prophet could not be helped by other people. Also, I don’t believe Ellen White had been called to prophetic ministry at this time. But regardless, Biblical prophets were helped by others. Ellen White is no different. She is not a Superprophet (ie. like Mohammad to Muslims) and we shouldn’t treat her as such.
I hadn’t read anything from this book before. I went back several paragraphs from where the link goes so I could understand the background, and it’s a powerful story. I think I’m going to read through the entire book to give me more background on Ellen White and the times she lived in. I’ve always found it helpful to understand the culture and times surrounding the Bible, and I suppose the same will be true of the early Adventist church.
The prophets were people too! By that I mean that they didn’t possess all knowledge, they grew in their understanding of God, they experienced normal human emotions, fear, joy, sadness, depression, exhaustion, and illness. The thing that mostly sets them apart is their desire or willingness to be used by God to lead others closer to him.
The prophetic gift isn’t limited to predicting the future but can include it. It is focused on teaching others about the true nature and character of our great God. They weren’t super heroes, just ordinary people whom God used in extraordinary ways.
“Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.” 2 Chronicles 20:20. God’s verse for perfect vision.
Thank you, Tim, for reminding us that prophets are not just about predicting the future. Their primary role is to speak for God – to speak His truth.
We are reading through Testimonies for the Church in our morning worships, and this morning we were just reading about Jeremiah and his experience during the time of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah in Volume 4. It was heart-breaking to read how the cowardice of Zedekiah thwarted God’s purpose of saving the Jewish nation from being destroyed by Babylon’s army.
It made me think of some courageous men of God today – men who will not be bought or sold, men who are true and honest, men whose hearts are as true to duty as the needle to the pole. Such men are true prophets of God in our day, but we dare not call them that because it would sound presumptuous, since people would think they take the place of the special gift God gave to this church in Ellen White.
I have given the link to the Kindle version above, because that’s what we use, but you can read the same books for free online. This is a link to Testimonies for the Church, Volume 4. And we were reading Chapter 17: “Jeremiah Reproves Israel” this morning.
1 Face to face with Christ, my Savior,
Face to face- what will it be
When with rapture I behold him,
Jesus Christ who died for me?
Refrain:
Face to face I shall behold him,
Far beyond the starry sky;
Face to face in all his glory,
I shall see him by and by.
2 Only faintly now I see him
With the darkened veil between,
But a blessed day is coming
When his glory shall be seen. [Refrain]
3 What rejoicing in his presence,
When are banished grief and pain;
When the crooked ways are straightened
And the dark things shall be plain. [Refrain]
4 Face to face- oh, blissful moment!
Face to face- to see and know;
Face to face with my Redeemer,
Jesus Christ who loves me so. [Refrain
God’s love for humanity is much larger than the opposite. So we should not uphold His blessings, but accept this fact. God is in control and knows everything, and all He wants is creatures who can love Him back. He is amazing, and I want to let go by His flux.
There is nothing more powerful than the Love of God returned to Him by the fervent love of those whose heart He has touched – opening heaven’s miraculous treasures. Ellen White’s example stands out for all to observe.
She was only a child, living at a time when children should not be heard or seen when adults came together to talk about important matters. She longed to be loved by God in a way she could understand; to let her know that she was accepted by Him. God responded to the cry of her heart and responded by bringing her close to Himself.
Fostering fervent love for our heavenly Father and His Son ought to be the core focus of our religion – because this is all that matters. Without it, nothing brings us closer to our God. His Love for us and loving Him in return is the catalyst starting our lifelong relationship carried by love and faith.
God knows our heart – our weaknesses and strength. He knew Ellen better than she knew herself. He protected her from the harm of her loathsome thoughts and feelings by directing her desires to Himself. He would take care of her, free her from the feelings of isolation brought on by her life-altering experience. He offered her His company, His presence instead – He embraced her with His Love. He wants us to seek the healing of our sorrows and sufferings through Him because it is He who loves us with a perfect Love – 1 John 4:19; Jer.29:13; Deut.4:29; Deut.6:5; Matt.22:37.
I find that, besides clarifying the role of E. G. White, this week’s lesson underscores my Biblical belief that:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word …” Creator, Prophet, Promise Keeper … “was God.”
As a sibling, wife, mother, International/global health participant and veteran educator, I continue to gain appreciation for God’s differentiated means of communication, with each of us. He has, through time immemorial, both greeted and groomed His willing children for eternity.
Our Heavenly Father still asks the rhetorical question of concern and hope:
“Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9,10)
May we grow to be ardent listeners to the one who still speaks. May we regain that true freedom, provided only through the grace and refining power of our reuniting, Covering Creator. (Hebrews 1:1,2)
Interesting thoughts preceded mine.
Yet, in this case, it is singing that brings me most promise, comfort and hope. Among the songs that frequently come to my mind, is hymn #596 in the Seven-day Adventist hymnal:
“1 Look for the way-marks as you journey on,
Look for the way-marks passing one by one;
Down through the ages, past the kingdoms four—
Where are we standing? Look the way-marks o’er.
Refrain
Look for the way-marks, the great prophetic way-marks,
Down through the ages, past the kingdoms four.
Look for the waymarks, the great prophetic way-marks;
The journey’s almost o’er.
2 First, the Assyrian kingdom ruled the world,
Then Medo-Persia’s banners were unfurled;
And after Greece held universal sway,
Rome seized the scepter—where are we today? [Refrain]
3 Down in the feet of iron and of clay,
Weak and divided, soon to pass away;
What will the next great, glorious drama be?
Christ and His coming, and eternity. [Refrain]”
“Christ and His coming, and eternity.”
What glorious prophetic climax, for patient saints, “… who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus,” that will be!
Oh to be ready.🙏🏼
The words in #596 of the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal inspire me, as do the preceding thoughts.