God called a seventeen-year-old girl, frail and in poor health, to proclaim His Word and guide His people. For the next seventy years Ellen White served as the Lord's messenger--writing, preaching, counseling, traveling, warning, and encouraging--as she faithfully delivered the communications God gave her for His church and the world.

How did her roles as wife, mother, neighbor, soul winner, and public personality affect her prophetic function?

What is the relationship between her writings and the Bible? How should we listen to her writings today? Are they still relevant? What was the impact of her ministry on the development of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and its doctrines?

Messenger of the Lord is a fresh and appealing volume written both for those who are grateful for what Ellen White’s contributions have brought and for those who want to know more about her. Those with unresolved questions about her long ministry will enjoy the candid discussion of issues that have been raised in recent years about her claim to be God’s messenger.

Avondale Theology/Ministry

Section I: God’s Communication System

The Revealer and the Revealed
God Speaks Through Prophets
Characteristics of the Prophets

Section II: The Real Ellen White

The Person and Her Times
Messenger,Wife, and Mother
Physical Health
Personal Characteristics
As Others Knew Her
Humor, Common Sense, and a Practical Counselor
The American Pioneer and the Victorian Woman
The Prolific Writer
The Sought-for Speaker

Section III: The Listening Messenger

Delivering God’s Message
Confirming the Confidence
Timely Instruction and Predictions
Ellen White’s Self-awareness as a Messenger

Section IV: The Voice of a Movement

Organization, Unity, and Institutional Development
Theological Crises
Evangelism, Local and Global, and Race Relations
Stewardship, Government Relations, and Humanitarian Involvement
Dissidents, Within and Without
Who’s Who in the Adventist World of Ellen G.White (Photo Section)

Section V: Nurturer of Inspired Concepts

The Organizing Theme
Clarification of Major Doctrines
Health Principles/1: Emergence of a Health Message
Health Principles/2: Relationship of Health to a Spiritual Mission
Health Principles/3: Quality Improvement in Adventist Health
Health Principles/4: Principles and Policies
Health Principles/5: Reviewing a Century of Health Reform Principles
Education/1: Principles and Philosophy
Education/2: Establishing Educational Institutions
Publishing, Temperance, and Social Principles

Section VI: How to Listen to the Messenger

Hermeneutics/1: Basic Principles
Hermeneutics/2: Basic Rules of Interpretation—Internal
Hermeneutics/3: Basic Rules of Interpretation—External
Hermeneutics/4: Characteristics Shared by Biblical Writers and Ellen White
Hermeneutics/5: Authority and Relationship to the Bible
Hermeneutics/6: How Contemporaries Understood Ellen White’s Authority
Hermeneutics/7: 1919 Bible Conference/History Teachers Council
Understanding How the Books Were Written
Understanding How the Books Were Prepared

Section VII: How to Evaluate Criticism

Truth Still Makes One Free
Criticism Involving Relationships With Other People
Predictions, Scientific Observations, and Unusual Statements
The Shut Door—A Case Study

Section VIII: Continuing Relevancy of God’s Messenger

Does Ellen White Measure Up?
She Still Speaks
Messenger and Message Inseparable

Appendix

Camp Meetings in Early Nineteenth Century
Background to Exchange of Letters Between James and Ellen White in 1874
Excerpts From Robert Louis Stevenson’s Across the Plains (1892)
A Partial List of Ellen G.White Visions
Basic Presuppositions Shared by Most Shut-door Critics
Time-conditioned or Time-related?
Ellen White’s Growth in Understanding Her Own Visions
Ellen White Enriched the Term “Shut Door”
Ellen White Led the Way in Building a Biblically-Oriented Message for the World
Response to Deletion of “Wicked World”
Why Ellen White Seemed to Reach Out Only to Shut-door Advocates
Chief Charges Against Ellen White Regarding Shut-door Issue and the Responses Through the Years
The July 13, 1847, Letter to Joseph Bates
Last Will and Testament of Ellen G.White
Comments of National Leaders in the Early 1860s Regarding Slavery Crisis
The Ellipse of SalvationTruth