Our artist's rendition of what Mrs. White's tall, majestic Jupiter people may have looked like.

In 1846, Mrs. White had a "vision" of the solar system. Mrs. Truesdail, a dedicated and sincere Adventist, was present during the vision. She describes how Mrs. White saw a "tall, majestic people" living on either Jupiter or Saturn:

"Sister White was in very feeble health, and while prayers were offered in her behalf, the Spirit of God rested upon us. We soon noticed that she was insensible to earthly things. This was her first view of the planetary world. After counting aloud the moons of Jupiter, and soon after those of Saturn, she gave a beautiful description of the rings of the latter. She then said, 'The inhabitants are a tall, majestic people, so unlike the inhabitants of earth. Sin has never entered here.'"¹

Is this true? Are there tall, majestic people living on Jupiter and/or Saturn? In 1942, SDA historian A.W. Spalding wrote of the "vision":

"In vision, then, Mrs. White was taken to see these planets, and as she talked about them, describing them, Captain Bates, his face wreathed in smiles, would say, 'Now she is viewing Jupiter,' and, 'She is describing Saturn,' and so on. She told much more than astronomers knew about these, for they are not sure the planets are inhabited, but she saw that they are. On Saturn she saw good old Enoch, who was translated five thousand years ago, without dying. He said that was not his home, that he was only visiting there, that he lived in heaven, where God dwells, and there he was waiting until the earth should be restored as it had been in Eden. The people of these worlds were all very much more beautiful and strong than the people of earth, for sin has never entered there."²

1. These planets have no solid surface like the earth. The surfaces consist entirely of a sea of liquid hydrogen, hundreds of miles deep.

2. The atmospheric pressure is millions of times greater than the earth's. The pressure is enough to crush the strongest metals.

3. The median surface temperature of Saturn is extemely cold: -218⁰ F (-139⁰ C)

4. Numerous space probes have examined these planets using advanced technology and have not detected any sign of life whatsoever. No plants. No animals. No tall people. Nothing but hydrogen, helium and other gases.

Jupiter Has FOUR Moons

In 1847, James and Ellen White published a tract in which it is announced that she had seen a vision of the planets in our solar system:

"At our conference in Topsham, Maine, last Nov., Ellen had a vision of the handy works of God. She was guided to the planets Jupiter, Saturn, and I think one more. After she came out of vision, she could give a clear description of their Moons, etc. It is well known, that she knew nothing of astronomy, and could not answer one question in relation to the planets, before she had this vision."³

"One evening, at the conference above mentioned, at the house of Mr. Curtiss and in the presence of Elder Bates, who was yet undecided in regard to these manifestations, Mrs. White, while in vision, began to talk about the stars, giving a glowing description of rosy-tinted belts which she saw across the surface of some planet, and added, 'I see four moons.' 'Oh,' said Elder Bates, 'she is viewing Jupiter!' Then having made motions as though traveling through space, she began giving a description of belts and rings in their ever-varying beauty, and said, 'I see seven moons.'⁷ Elder Bates exclaimed, 'She is describing Saturn.' Next she said, 'I see six moons,' and at once began a description of the 'opening heavens,' with its glory, calling it an opening into a region more enlightened."⁴

• Jupiter - 4 moons
• Saturn - 7 moons
• Uranus - 6 moons

Notice footnote #7 in the above quote. Here is what the footnote says:

"7 In Rise and Progress, it says she saw eight moons to Saturn. This change was made after the proofs went out of my hands. More moons to both Jupiter and Saturn have since been discovered."⁵

The Scientific Facts (From Wikipedia, 5/2018)

1) "There are 69 known moons of Jupiter...By January 1610, he [Galileo] had sighted the four massive Galilean moons.... No additional satellites were discovered until E.E. Barnard observed Amalthea in 1892. ... Jupiter has a faint planetary ring system..." 2) "Saturn has 62 moons with confirmed orbits. ... [Saturn's 8th moon,] Hyperion, [was] discovered [in] 1848" 3) "Uranus has 27 known moons. ... Voyager 2 photographed the Uranian ring system during its flyby in 1986. Two additional rings were discovered in 2005."

A "Clear Description" of the Moons?

Mrs. White once wrote:

"Science is ever discovering new wonders; but she brings from her research nothing that, rightly understood, conflicts with divine revelation."⁶

• She failed to see at least 65 of Jupiter's moons
• She failed to see at least 55 of Saturn's moons
• She failed to see at least 21 of Uranus' moons
• She failed to see the rings around Jupiter
• She failed to see the rings around Uranus

Why did she see only what astronomers had already seen?

When Mrs. White had her "vision" in 1846 it was common knowledge that Jupiter had four moons. The fifth was not discovered until 1892. In 1846, it was thought that Saturn had seven moons. The 8th moon was discovered shortly thereafter, in 1848. After the discovery, an account of the "vision" was modified to say "eight" instead of "seven". Mrs. White's vision did not reveal anything that could not have been obtained from an Astronomy book or even from a newspaper article! The only difference between what Mrs. White saw and what the astronomers saw through their telescopes was those "tall, majestic people"!

What About those Tall, Majestic People?

While Adventist historians, such as A.W. Spalding, used to trumpet the fact that Mrs. White saw tall people on Jupiter and/or Saturn in her visions, after the middle of the twentieth century, when science began to show the improbability of such, Ellen White's comments about tall, majestic people living on these planets stopped showing up in Adventist books.

The question is, if Mrs. White did not see this in vision, where did she get the notion that there were "tall people" living on the planets? Perhaps she got the idea from French author Voltaire, who in his popular 1752 story Micromegas wrote of "citizens" of Saturn who were "a thousand fathoms" tall.⁷

Incredible Missed Opportunities

Imagine if Mrs. White had told Bates that Jupiter had four large moons and 65 smaller moons! Her prophetic gift would have been proven beyond doubt to all future generations. Unfortunately, she missed this great opportunity. Imagine if Mrs. White had announced that Jupiter had rings! This amazing fact was not discovered until the Voyager space probes visited Jupiter in 1979 (as shown in the photo to the right). Such an announcement would certainly have validated her claims. Unfortunately, although she got close enough to see those tall people on the planet, she failed to see the rings.

After considering what she did see and what she failed to see, the question is: Did she really have a divine vision?

What was the REAL purpose of the vision?

In early 1846 the Whites were in trouble. They were poor and destitute. Many viewed Ellen White's visions with skepticism. What they needed more than anything was a wealthy, influential friend who believed as they did. Fortunately for the Whites, they were able to locate just such a man--Joseph Bates. In the spring of 1846 the Whites met this retired sea captain. However, there was one major problem. Although Bates was advanced in age, his mind was still sharp enough to doubt Mrs. White's visions. The Whites tried to win him over, but had little success. But in November, all of that changed. At a small meeting with Bates and a few other diehard believers, Mrs. White had a special vision on astronomy, which just so happened to be Joseph Bates' favorite subject. What a fortunate coincidence!

As Ellen went into vision, the elderly Bates was no doubt enthralled watching this 19-year-old young lady make motions as if she was flying through space. As Bates listened, Ellen described various details of the Solar System and the so-called gap in Orion. Bates had observed the gap many years earlier while on board a ship in the southern hemisphere. Orion was then a topic of great interest because of the recent telescopic observations of William Parsons, the third earl of Rosse. Just months earlier Bates had published a tract, "The Opening Heavens," relating Rosse's discoveries, but Ellen assured Bates she had no prior knowledge of astronomy.⁸

Mrs. Truesdail, also present at the "vision", reports it had the desired effect on Bates:

"It was evident from Brother Bates's smiling face that his past doubts in regard to the source of her visions were fast leaving him. We all knew that Captain Bates was a great lover of astronomy, as he would often locate many of the heavenly bodies for our instruction. When Sister White replied to his questions, after the vision, saying that she had never studied or otherwise received knowledge in this direction, he was filled with joy and happiness. He praised God, and expressed his belief that this vision concerning the planets was given that he might never again doubt."⁹

Your Questions Answered Could these planets have been somewhere else in the Universe? With recent scientific discoveries showing the vast number of moons circling Jupiter and Saturn, it is painfully obvious that Mrs. White did not have a vision of these planets. Furthermore, the fact that these planets are completely inhospitable to any type of known life casts further doubt on the "vision". So, in order to justify their belief in the visions, some Adventists have spun the tale that Mrs. White was actually viewing planets elsewhere in the universe. They claim that since she did not actually name the planets herself in the vision, then the planets could literally be anywhere. Does this stand to reason? Was she actually viewing planets somewhere else in the cosmos? Let's examine the evidence closely. As noted earlier in this article, James said Ellen had seen a vision of "Jupiter, Saturn, and I think one more." J.N. Loughborough, who talked with Bates, and Mrs. Truesdail, an eyewitness, both applied the vision to our solar system. In fact, everyone that mentioned this vision during Ellen White's lifetime applied it to our solar system, and none of them ever changed their stance on that subject during their lifetimes. What was the purpose of the vision? According to Adventists, it was given to convince Bates that Mrs. White was a true prophet. The vision had no other discernable purpose. Bates compared his knowledge of our solar system to what was revealed in Ellen White's "vision" and he came to the conclusion she was a true prophet because he thought she had no prior knowledge of astronomy. Now ask yourself this question: Why would God give Sister White a vision of some other planetary system which, by odd coincidence, just so happened to have an identical arrangement of planets, rings, and moons that our own solar system was thought to have in 1846, in order to convince Bates that Mrs. White was viewing our own solar system? Are we to believe that God engages in trickery? Furthermore, neither God nor the angels ever bothered to correct the misconception during the lifetimes of those involved. In other words, God tricked Bates into believing the vision was of our solar system in order to convince him to believe Ellen White, and then He kept quiet about it and did not tell anyone about the little charade! This is preposterous! It is contrary to God's methods to use trickery (see 2 Cor. 4:2). The truth, however painful it may be, is that James and Ellen White, Joseph Bates, Mrs. Truesdail, J.N. Loughborough, and many other early Adventists all recognized this "vision" to be of our own solar system, and none of them ever recanted that position. Could Mrs. Truesdail's memory about the inhabitants have failed her? To avoid embarrassment, defenders of Ellen White are forced to attack the eye-witness account of Mrs Truesdail. The Truesdail letter is dated over 40 years after the vision. According to Mrs. Truesdail, Ellen White saw inhabitants on Jupiter and/or Saturn. Interestingly, Adventists never questioned Mrs. Truesdail's memory while it was believed Jupiter/Saturn were inhabitable. Even more interesting, Adventists never questioned Mrs. Truesdail's memory when she makes positive statements about Mrs. White, such as Ellen lofting a heavy Bible in vision! However, whenever any eye-witness makes a statement that shows Ellen White to be a false prophet, Adventists assure us that eye-witness is mistaken. Why is that? Why is the eye-witness always wrong when showing Ellen White to be false and always right when showing Ellen White to be true? Two-and-a-half years after the Bates planetary vision, Ellen White wrote of a planetary vision in the January 31, 1849, publication To Those Who are Receiving the Seal of the Living God. In it she writes: The Lord has given me a view of other worlds. Wings were given me, and an angel attended me from the city to a place that was bright and glorious. The grass of the place was living green, and the birds there warbled a sweet song. The inhabitants of the place were of all sizes, they were noble, majestic and lovely. They bore the express image of Jesus, and their countenances beamed with holy joy, expressive of the freedom and happiness of the place. I asked one of them why they were so much more lovely than those on the earth. The reply was—'we have lived in strict obedience to the commandments of God, and have not fallen by disobedience, like those on the earth.' Then I saw two trees, one looked much like the tree of life in the city. The fruit of both looked beautiful; but of one they could not eat. They had power to eat of both, but were forbidden to eat of one. Then my attending angel said to me—'none in this place have tasted of the forbidden tree; but if they should eat they would fall.' Then I was taken to a world which had seven moons. There I saw good old Enoch. This appears to be an enhanced retelling of her earlier vision with Bates. In both there is mention of a "majestic" people, a world free from sin, and a unnamed planet with seven moons. As noted in the quotation at the beginning of this article, SDA historian A.W. Spalding wrote as if the visions were one and the same event. Later, when Adventists discovered Jupiter and Saturn were uninhabitable, they changed their story. The fact is, all early Adventists regarded Truesdail as a reliable witness. Ellen White read Loughborough's book and we know of no objection that she or any of her family made about the Truesdail letter. Their silence speaks volumes. Nearly every point Truesdail made is also made by other eye-witnesses proving they are telling the same story. While memory of recent events can fade with age, often memories from early years remain fixed in the mind. There is no reason whatsoever to doubt Mrs. Truesdail's recollection of this event. Ellen White did not question it, so why should we?

For Further Study:

• The Orion Stargate

1. Taken from Mrs. Truesdail's letter, Jan 27, 1891. The letter was published in J.N. Loughborough's "The Great Second Advent Movement, pp. 260-261.

2. A.W. Spalding, Pioneer Stories of the Second Advent Message, chapter 17, "The Opening Heavens and the Unchanged Law", (1942).

3. James White, A Word to the Little Flock, p. 22.

4. J.N. Loughborough, Great Second Advent Movement, p. 258. According to the Francis Nichol in Ellen G. White and her Critics, Loughborough "undoubtedly based this account on conversations held with Joseph Bates years before." (pp. 93,94) It is interesting to note Ellen White is recorded as saying Uranus had six moons when only two had been discovered by 1846. Two more were discovered in 1851, and a fifth in 1948. Voyager discovered ten more in 1986. There was never a time when Uranus was known to only have six moons.

5. Ibid.

6. Ellen G. White, Education, p. 128.

7. Voltaire, Micromegas, translation by Blake Linton Wilfong.

8. Ronald L. Numbers, Ph.D., Prophetess of Health, p. 15.

9. Truesdail letter, 1891. See also Ellen White's statement, "Bro. J. Bates, did not then fully believe that my visions were of God....I was wrapt in a vision of God's glory, and for the first time had a view of other planets. After I came out of vision I related what I had seen. Bro. Bates asked if I had studied astronomy. I told him I had no recollection of ever looking into any astronomy. Said he, 'This is of the Lord.'" (White, Spiritual Gifts, vol. 2 p. 83)