Divisions Ellen Gould White (née Harmon; November 26, 1827 – July 16, 1915) was an American author and co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

[10] Her writings covered a broad range of subjects, including religion, social relationships, prophecy, publishing, nutrition, creationism, agriculture, theology, evangelism, Christian lifestyle, education, and health.

Ellen and her twin sister Elizabeth were born November 26, 1827, to Robert and Eunice Harmon at a home at State Route 114 in Gorham, Maine.

[15] A few years after her injury, Ellen, with her parents, attended a Methodist camp meeting at Buxton, Maine; and there, at the age of 12, a breakthrough occurred in which she had a conversion experience and felt at peace.

On June 26, 1842, she was baptized by John Hobart in Casco Bay in Portland, Maine, and eagerly awaited Jesus to come again.

[17] In February 1845, Ellen Harmon came in contact with her future husband James Springer White, a Millerite who became convinced that her visions were genuine.

During the winter of 1845, the two, accompanied by a female chaperone, visited Millerite believers in Maine, including an eventful stop in Atkinson for a farmhouse meeting led by Israel Dammon.

"[23] In December 1844,[25] White experienced her first vision during a prayer meeting at the home of Mrs. Elizabeth Haines in Portland, Maine, on the end of Danforth Street just before Vaughan’s bridge, which crossed the Fore River.

While praying, the power of God came upon me as I never had felt it before, and I was wrapt up in a vision of God's glory, and seemed to be rising higher and higher from the earth and was shown something of the travels of the Advent people to the Holy City ...[27]In this vision the "Advent people" were traveling a high and dangerous path towards the city of New Jerusalem [heaven].

"[28] The vision continued with a portrayal of Christ's second coming, following which the Advent people entered the New Jerusalem; and ended with her returning to earth feeling lonely, desolate and longing for that "better world."

Additionally they played an important role in countering the spiritualizing views of many fanatical Adventists by portraying the Father and Jesus as literal beings and heaven as a physical place.

In a meeting at her parents' home she received in her third vision what she regarded as confirmation of her ministry: While praying, the thick darkness that had enveloped me was scattered, a bright light, like a ball of fire, came towards me, and as it fell upon me, my strength was taken away.

Through the next few years it was republished in various forms and is included as part of her first book, A Sketch of the Christian Experience and Views of Ellen G. White, published in 1851.

[39] White described the vision experience as involving a bright light which would surround her, and she felt herself in the presence of Jesus or angels who would show her events (historical and future) and places (on earth, in heaven, or other planets).

The spoken and written versions of her visions played a significant part in establishing and shaping the organizational structure of the emerging Seventh-day Adventist Church.

[citation needed] On March 14, 1858, at Lovett's Grove, near Bowling Green, Ohio, White received a vision while attending a funeral service.

[48] Malcolm Bull writes that Ellen White avoided using the word "Trinity", "and her husband stated categorically that her visions did not support the Trinitarian creed."

Bull wrote that "one researcher was forced to conclude" that there has not "been found any Trinitarian declaration written, prior to [1898], by an Adventist writer other than Ellen G.

[66] According to one evangelical author, "No Christian leader or theologian has exerted as great an influence on a particular denomination as Ellen White has on Adventism.

At the Toronto General Conference Session (2000) the world church expanded the mission of the White Estate to include a responsibility for promoting Adventist history for the entire denomination.

In 2022, the New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists listed 33 Adventist-affiliated vegetarian restaurants, most that were located inside the United States of America including six in Texas.

[80] In 2022, journalist Avery Yale Kamila said that White's "profound and lasting influence on vegetarian food in the United States continues today.

An "Encyclopedia of Ellen G. White" is being produced by two faculty at Andrews University: Jerry Moon,[83] chair of the church history department, and Denis Fortin,[84] dean of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary.

[85][86] Produced by the Seventh-Day Adventist church in 2016, the movie Tell the World[87] chronicles the life of Ellen G. White, "Her guidance and advice, obtained through Bible studies, as well as dreams and visions revealed by God, guided the steps of the Church in becoming a worldwide movement of compassion in the areas of health, education, community development and disaster relief.

Kenneth Samples, a successor of Martin in his interaction with Adventism, also denies White's prophetic claims yet "believe[s] she, at minimum, had some good biblical and theological instincts".

Roger Coon wrote a lecture arguing that certain followers of the religion were engaging in "equal but opposite dangers" in their view of White.

[97] Numbers' criticism was acknowledged as significant by the staff of the White Estate, which sought to refute it in A Critique of the Book Prophetess of Health,[98] arguing that the similarities are due to supernatural inspiration influencing each of the authors.

[100] Intellectual property attorney Vincent L. Ramik undertook a study of Ellen G. White's writings during the early 1980s, and concluded that they were "conclusively unplagiaristic.

"[101] When the plagiarism charge ignited a significant debate during the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Adventist General Conference commissioned a major study by Fred Veltman to examine the issue of White's literary dependence in writing on the life of Christ.

[101][112] In 1911, more than 70 years before charges of plagiarism, White wrote in the introduction to The Great Controversy her reason for quoting, in some cases without giving due credit, certain historians whose "statements afford a ready and forcible presentation on the subject.