A few weeks after the Great Disappointment of October 22, 1844, when Christ did not return as the Millerites expected, young Ellen Harmon (White) received her first vision. A week later God called her to prophetic ministry. For the next seventy years of her public ministry, White shared the messages God showed her in about two thousand dreams and visions. From its inception, the Seventh-day Adventist Church accepted those dreams and visions as God’s authentic gift of prophecy because White passed all the biblical tests of a prophet (see Question #6), as well as fulfilling the prediction of Joel 2:28-30. JTL21 8.1
Her work embraced far more than mere predictions; it included authority as a spokesperson for God and a guide for the developing work of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. JTL21 8.2