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    No Form of Mental Incompetence

    After examining the technical aspects of the allegations in the light of the latest medical knowledge, Dr. Peterson forthrightly denied any correlation between Ellen White’s condition during visions or her prolific writing capacity (hypergraphia) with any indication of any kind that would suggest brain damage and a resulting complex-partial seizure disorder. He concluded: “A careful examination of [these] theories in the light of the historical record shows that they have failed to establish that Ellen White’s ‘sickness’ consisted of serious temporal lobe injury or that the phenomena associated with her visions were consistent with partial seizure disorder.... It is the conviction of this researcher that it was a manifestation of the true prophetic gift—not some form of epilepsy.” 7Spiritual Gifts 2:26, 27.MOL 63.2

    After the accident at nine years of age, she was plagued with headaches, eye inflammation, and respiratory weakness. Tuberculosis drained her, and physicians offered no hope, only an early death. Dropsy, a heart condition, affected her for most of her life. When she received her first vision, in December 1844, she had to be transported in a wheel chair to Elizabeth Haines’s home; she could not talk above a whisper. 8Spiritual Gifts 2:30; Document File, No. 230 (Ellen G. White Estate), J. N. Loughborough, “Some Individual Experiences,” p. 44.MOL 63.3

    When she was invited to share her December vision at Poland, Maine, in late January 1845, she had no voice. However, when she began to speak, all the promises that God had given her regarding His abiding strength were fulfilled. She spoke with a clear, audible voice for nearly two hours, without fatigue. 9Spiritual Gifts 2:38. This experience of restored strength in the pulpit before the eyes of those who saw the amazing transformation from weakness to power was repeated many times in her long ministry.MOL 63.4

    In early summer 1845, a physically-weakened young Ellen had a remarkable vision: “Up to this time I could not write. My trembling hand was unable to hold my pen steadily. While in vision I was commanded by an angel to write the vision. I attempted, and wrote readily. My nerves were strengthened, and my hand became steady.” 10Spiritual Gifts 2:60. Years later, she reflected: “The Lord has said, ‘Write out the things which I shall give you.’ And I commenced when very young to do this work. My hand that was feeble and trembling because of infirmities became steady as soon as I took the pen in my hand, and since those first writings I have been able to write.... That right hand scarcely ever has a disagreeable sensation. It never wearies.” Ellen White, Ms. 88a, 1900, cited in Bio., vol. 1, pp. 91, 92.MOL 63.5

    In 1854, while pregnant with her third child, Ellen White at 26 was battling with health problems. She recalled: “It was difficult for me to breathe lying down, and I could not sleep unless raised in nearly a sitting posture. I had upon my left eyelid a swelling which appeared to be a cancer. It had been gradually increasing for more than a year, until it had become quite painful, and affected my sight.” 11Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 151.MOL 63.6

    A “celebrated physician in Rochester” provided her with “eyewash” after telling her that he thought the swelling would prove to be cancerous. But after feeling her pulse, he told her that she would die of apoplexy before the cancer developed! He said, “You are in a dangerous condition with disease of the heart.”MOL 63.7

    Within a few weeks she suffered a stroke, making her left arm and side helpless, her tongue numb. Prayers were offered everywhere, but healing did not come. Yet she maintained her assurance in God’s love. She whispered to James: “I believe that I shall recover.’ He answered, ‘I wish I could believe it.’ I retired that night without relief, yet relying with firm confidence upon the promises of God. I could not sleep, but continued my silent prayer to God. Just before day I slept.”MOL 64.1

    When she awakened, her husband could “scarcely comprehend it at first; but when I arose and dressed and walked around the house, and he witnessed the change in my countenance, he could praise God with me. My afflicted eye was free from pain. In a few days the cancer was gone, and my eyesight was fully restored. The work was complete.”MOL 64.2

    Her physician declared later that a “complete” change had taken place—a mystery beyond his ability to understand. 12Bio., vol. 1, pp. 292, 293.MOL 64.3

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