If Ellen White came back today, she’d probably be disfellowshipped.
Not because she’d lost her faith, but because she’d start preaching the same radical stuff she did the first time—and we’d think she’d gone liberal.
She was the one calling out racism when most Christians were silent.
She was the one saying health reform wasn’t about control—it was about compassion.
She was the one telling ministers to go do something for the poor instead of just debating theology.
But somewhere along the way, we stopped following her example and started worshiping her existence.
We quote her to end arguments she wrote to start conversations.
We use her to enforce rules she wanted to set people free from.
We canonized her when she begged us to read the Bible for ourselves.
Ellen White didn’t want followers—she wanted thinkers.
She didn’t want her writings to replace Scripture—she wanted them to push us back into it.
She didn’t want another hierarchy—she wanted a movement alive with mercy, justice, and holy curiosity.
So maybe the best way to honor her isn’t to memorize her.
It’s to catch her spirit—to build schools, heal the sick, feed the hungry, challenge injustice, and keep growing.
Because if Ellen White came back today, she wouldn’t be impressed by how many of her books we’ve read.
She’d be asking what we’re doing with them.
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