What does it really mean to be a prophet, found a religion, and persuade millions of people that god speaks directly to you?
And what does this god tell you? How to live morally. What kinds of sex are forbidden. How to avoid death and live forever. When the end of the world is coming, and which messiah will bring it.
In this latest installment on the history of the intersection of spirituality and pseudoscience, Julian looks at the story of a prophet named Ellen G. White and what she may have in common with historical figures as diverse as Gopi Krishna, Dostoevsky, and Joan of Arc.
Show Notes
Christian Experiences and Teachings of Ellen G White
Phantoms in the Brain
Sam Kean: Heaven is for Neuroscience
Neuroscience for the soul
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To persuade, in some cases, millions of people to have faith that despite their not having direct access to the voice of God, He speaks directly to you?
And what does He tell you?
How to live morally?
What kinds of sex are forbidden?
How to avoid death and live forever?
When the end of the world is coming, and which Messiah will bring it?
If this is all metaphorical, I'm not sure what it represents.
No matter though, because for true believers, it is more real than the visible world.
In our last episode, I touched briefly on an American figure named Ellen G. White, who lived from 1827 to 1915.
She is the main focus of our journey today, and what I will share comes mostly from her own accounts of her life, and I'll link to where you can see that.
More than a hundred years ago, twin girls walked hand-in-hand across the common or public park of Portland, Maine.
With them was a schoolmate, and the three friends skipped happily across the grass.
Suddenly they heard a shout, and looking back, they saw a girl of about thirteen running after them and calling in an angry voice.
What's the matter with her?
asked one of the girls.
I don't know, answered Elizabeth.
One of the twins.
But let's run.
Mother says not to answer back when someone is angry, but to hurry home.
The three girls started to run as fast as they could, their feet fairly flying over the ground.
They were almost across the common when the girl shouted again, and Ellen, Elizabeth's twin sister, looked back to see how close the older girl had come.
Just as she was turning her head, the girl threw a stone which she had in her hand.
Ellen cried out as the stone struck her full in the face.
She was so badly hurt that she sank to the ground.
The angry girl, horrified at what she had done, turned and ran away.
The next thing Ellen knew, she was in a store and people were standing about, wondering what to do.
A kind man stepped forward.
I will take you home in my carriage, he offered.
Oh no, thank you, Ellen murmured weakly as she sat up.
I feel stronger now.
I can walk.
I'm afraid the blood will stain your carriage.
The people who were in the store did not know how badly the brave little girl was hurt and so they let her start home with her sister holding one arm and her schoolmate the other.
After she had walked only a short distance, she grew faint and the two girls had to carry her home.
I've been reading to you from a book called His Messenger by Ruth Wheeler.
She's a Seventh-day Adventist writer who mostly writes novels for kids, you know, with morals and themes that fit their particular religion.
In this case, the book is designated as suitable for young people and the messenger in the title is Ellen White.
The incident happened when Ellen was nine years old, and after being struck by that stone she passed out, she came to in the store, then she went home, and once there she appears to have been in a coma for about three weeks.
She remembered nothing of what she refers to as the accident or why she was bedridden, but she stayed that way for several more weeks and lost a lot of weight.
Believing, along with many friends and family, that she might soon die, Ellen became deeply pious, praying to God that she might be prepared for death.
But something else happened.
Ellen G. White's story was just beginning, and she would become a powerfully influential religious figure at this particular time in American history.
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