She certainly said many things that would cause one to think so, especially considering she claimed to never write a single sentence of heresy and that the words in her books are barricaded by a “Thus saith the Lord”.
While there are many statements out there that have indeed been taken out-of-context on this matter, some are not. Ellen White claimed that certain races of people were an amalgamation of man and beast which is why God flooded the earth—because race mixing was the gravest of sins and defaced the image of God in man. She also stated that interracial marriages “cause a feeling of bitterness in mixed race children”.
The Adventist Church’s defense to the bitterness in mixed race children statement is that is was true for the time being. God was revealing to Ellen White (since she claimed to be shown it by God) that in 19th century America, being mixed race would subjugate you to a lifetime of bitterness. But now that we aren’t in those times anymore, it’s no longer applicable guidance from God—He was only a racist in the 19th century. How convenient considering she claimed her writings contained “present truth” and yet the SDA Church still upholds the other areas of “present truth” through to today.
In the first official Seventh-day Adventist explanation of the amalgamation statement—Adventist pioneer Uriah Smith argued in the Review & Herald that the line between human and animal had been blurred, and that there was undeniable evidence of the union of man with beast which could be observed in “such cases as the wild Bushmen of Africa, some tribes of the Hottentots, and perhaps the Digger Indians of our own country, &c.” He later went on to publish this same statement in a book called The Visions of Mrs. E. G. White, A Manifestation of Spiritual Gifts According to the Scripture.
Because this supposedly established Ellen White’s claims, James and Ellen sold thousands of copies of Smith’s book at camp meetings. Speaking on this book, James White said:
“The Association has just published a pamphlet entitled, ‘The Visions of Mrs. E.G. White, A Manifestation of Spiritual Gifts According to the Scriptures.’ It is written by the editor of the Review and Herald. While carefully reading the manuscript, I felt grateful to God that our people could have this able defense of those views they so much love and prize, which others despise and oppose.”—Review and Herald, August 25, 1868
By promoting and selling Smith’s book, James and Ellen both placed their stamp of approval on his explanation of the amalgamation statement.
She also stated that, in Heaven, “there will be no color line, for all will be as white as Christ himself.” The Adventist Church and her apologists have sought to defend this by saying she meant everyone will be glowing as bright as Christ.
Some of these racist statements were removed from her more popular works, such as Patriarchs and Prophets. Ellen’s son, Willie White, sought to explain this by claiming:
Regarding the two paragraphs which are to be found in Spiritual Gifts and also in the Spirit of Prophecy regarding amalgamation and the reason why they were left out of the later books, and the question as to who took the responsibility of leaving them out, I can speak with perfect clearness and assurance. They were left out by Ellen G. White. No one connected with her work had any authority over such a question, and I never heard of anyone offering to her counsel regarding this matter.
In all questions of this kind, you may set it down as a certainty that Sister White was responsible for leaving out or adding to matters of this sort in the later editions of our books.
Sister White not only had good judgment based upon a clear and comprehensive understanding of conditions and of the natural consequences of publishing what she wrote, but she had many times direct instruction from the angel of the Lord regarding what should be omitted and what should be added in new editions.
Selected Messages, Book 3, pg. 452
Like usual, we have the blame being shifted from Ellen to God. It’s God’s fault that Ellen wrote what God told her initially, but then apparently changed His mind later on and directed her to remove it. Why did God supposedly have her write it in the first place such that it needed to be removed? Why did God not instruct her to also remove the other racist statements in Spiritual Gifts? Why is God being saddled with a 19th-century racist mindset? These are the sort of lengths they will go to to uphold the validity of Ellen White and her supposed prophetic gifting.
For an in-depth analysis of these claims and historically rooted, source-based responses to the Adventist defenses of them, watch our breakdown. We’ll let you examine for yourself and come to your own conclusion.
