Ellen G. White is a familiar name to many on the West Coast. She is known for her forward thinking approach to health as the founder of Loma Linda University and White Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles is named for her.

Loma Linda University was featured in the National Geographic Cover Story on Longevity (Nov, 2005) as the only “Blue Zone” for health in the western hemisphere. NIH granted $40 million to LLU for a study to learn why that community lives about 7 years longer than other non-smoking groups. This was mainly a result of Ellen White’s health writings in the late 1800s.

White wrote extensively on Christian topics, but came to regard her Seventh-day Adventist Church as in apostasy so that most of her books for her last 30 years were non-denominational and did not contain ‘Seventh-day Adventist.’

Some who are familiar with her writings regard her as a modern-day prophet. Maybe it’s a coincidence that her visit to NYC included a ‘9-11’ vision of “tall buildings…consumed as if made of pitch” as was recorded in Vol 9, pgs 11-13 of her Testimonies for the Church, published a century ago.

With that kind of ‘track record,’ southern California residents might be concerned about a vision she had when visiting Loma Linda. “Buildings, great and small, were falling to the ground…. Many lives were blotted out…It seemed that Judgment day had come.”

Some detractors say that Ellen White was merely writing about the San Francisco Earthquake that occurred then, but the context seems otherwise. She wrote, “Through His prophet Zephaniah, the Lord specifies judgments He will bring on evil-doers.” Zephaniah 1 cites “the day of the Lord” that Bible students understand to be end-times and it may be impending. How so?

“The sun shall be darkened and the moon turned to blood before the day of the Lord.” Joel 2:31. The word for “before’ is paniym--it means facing . A parallel quote for “the day of the Lord” is 1Thess 5:2,3. It’ comes when they say ‘Peace and safety’ like the Iran Nuclear Treaty or the UN theme for 2017.

“The day of the Lord” is also signaled if Jerusalem is compassed with armies, Zech 14. Titus did so at Passover in 70 AD and other factors point to this spring. If it happens, this warning needs more focus.

Regarding health, Dr. Clive McCay, Professor of Nutrition at Cornell University, reviewed White's writings circa 1960 and said she did not incorporate the fads or fallacies of her day and “there is no better overall guide.” Ellen White was against the use of drugs and did not want pharmacology taught at Loma Linda.

As a board-certified internist, I appreciated a conversation with my father 65 years ago. He said that 85% of his patients would get well, no matter what he did; 10% he helped, and 5% would die, no matter what he did.

If those figures are applied to what Ellen White wanted, the emphasis on foods and natural remedies for door-to-door missionaries would have helped 95% who wouldn’t need to go back month after month for a prescription to relieve their symptoms. Adverse drug reactions are now making medical care a leading cause of illness and death.

Eventually administrators yielded to AMA pressure to teach pharmacology to become accredited, so in spite of White's “No,” they did so and Loma Linda became a regular medical school. Now with a crisis in healthcare, Loma Linda is unable to demonstrate the benefits of drugless care.

For more information, readers may get a free copy of 9-11 on Sunday, March 17 at https://amzn.to/2HyWPNi It shows how Christ’s allusion to Numbers 9:10,11 in closing parables offer insights for how end-times begin this spring.

Author's Bio: 

Dr. Richard Ruhling is an author on current events and Bible prophecy with numerous books on Amazon.