After the Great Disappointment in 1844, Ellen White had a vision of comfort and hope, reaffirming the fact that the 2300-year prophecy of Daniel 8:14 was correctly fulfilled in 1844. But that it was the event that was misinterpreted. Instead of Jesus coming to earth in 1844, He entered into the second apartment of the sanctuary in heaven, the Most Holy Place, to complete the work of atonement for all those who repented of their sins and claimed the salvation offered.

While travelling to share this message of affirmation and hope to the disappointed, Ellen White and later her husband James White, were faced with many kinds of fanaticism. This is the way she describes this period in Life Sketches, page 85:

As I returned to Portland, there were increasing evidences of the desolating effects of fanaticism. Some seemed to think that religion consisted in great excitement and noise. They would talk in a manner that would irritate unbelievers, and have an influence to arouse hatred against themselves and the doctrines they taught. Then they would rejoice that they suffered persecution. Unbelievers could see no consistency in such a course. The brethren in some places were prevented from assembling for meetings. The innocent suffered with the guilty. I carried a sad and heavy heart much of the time. It seemed so cruel that the cause of Christ should be injured by the course of these injudicious men. They were not only ruining their own souls, but placing upon the cause a stigma not easily removed. And Satan loved to have it so. It suited him well to see the truth handled by unsanctified men; to have it mixed with error, and then all together trampled in the dust. He looked with triumph upon the confused, scattered state of God's children.

We trembled for the churches that were to be subjected by this spirit of fanticism. My heart ached for God's people. Must they be deceived and led away by this false enthusiasm? I faithfully pronounced the warnings given me of the Lord; but they seemed to have little effect, except to make these persons of extreme views jealous of me.

False Humility.

One of the first forms of fanaticism Ellen White combated was false humility. She mentions this in Life Sketches, pages 85, 86:

There were some who professed great humility, and advocated creeping on the floor like children, as an evidence of their humility. They claimed that the words of Christ in Matthew 18:1-6 must have a literal fulfillment at this period, when they were looking for their Saviour to return. They would creep around their houses, on the street, over bridges, and in the church itself. I told them plainly that this was not required; that the humility which God looked for in His people was to be shown by a Christlike life, not by creeping on the floor. All spiritual things are to be treated with sacred dignity. Humility and meekness are in accordance with the life of Christ, but they are to be shown in a dignified way.

‘No-Work’ Doctrine.

The second form of fanaticism was the ‘no-work doctrine’. Some taught that those waiting for Christ's second coming should not work (Life Sketches, page 86). Ellen White, by the direction of God, worked against this false teaching. Meeting fanaticism was not easy: “Those who had taken extreme views of certain texts of Scripture, refraining wholly from labor, and rejecting all who would not receive their ideas on this and other points pertaining to religious duty, charged me with conforming to the world. On the other hand, the nominal Adventists charged me with fanaticism, and I was falsely represented as the leader of the fanaticism which I was laboring constantly to arrest.” Life Sketches, page 88, 89.

This work on behalf of humanity under the direction of God continued throughout Ellen White's life. One of her main roles was to combat fanaticism. Some of the other fanatical movements she opposed included the following:

The Messenger party.

“At Jackson, Mich., we found the church in great confusion. While I was among them, the Lord instructed me regarding their condition, and I endeavored to bear a straightforward testimony. Some refused to heed the counsel given, and began to fight against my testimony; and here began what later became known as the Messenger party.” Life Sketches, page 149.

The Holy Flesh doctrine.

“In New Hampshire there were those who were active in disseminating false ideas in regard to God. Light was given me that these men were making the truth of no effect by their ideas, some of which led to free-lovism. I was shown that these men were seducing souls by presenting speculative theories regarding God. . . .

“Among other views, they held that those once sanctified could not sin, and this they were presenting as gospel food. Their false theories, with their burden of deceptive influence, were working great harm to themselves and to others. They were gaining a spiritualistic power over those who could not see the evil of these beautifully clothed theories. Great evils had already resulted. The doctrine that all were holy had led to the belief that the affections of the sanctified were never in danger of leading astray. The result of this belief was the fulfillment of the evil desires of hearts which, though professedly sanctified, were far from purity of thought and practice. This is only one of the instances in which I was called upon to rebuke those who were presenting the doctrine of an impersonal god diffused through nature, and the doctrine of holy flesh.” Evangelism, page 600.

Fanatical Health Reforms.

In December of 1865, Ellen White had a vision in regard to health issues. This vision corrected many of the strange health reform practices that were popular at the time, and laid the foundation for the health message for which Ellen White is still most famous.

Separating the Law From the Gospel in 1888.

At the Minneapolis General Conference session, Waggoner and Jones presented studies on righteousness by faith in Christ. Ellen White was instrumental in bringing the people to see that the recent detachment of the law from the Gospel was a fanatical approach that was running the Advent Message into the ground.

Spiritualism.

A number of the most prominent Advent preachers, such as Moses Hull, lost their faith in the Bible and became spiritualist. The divine testimony through Ellen White prevented this popular movement of the time from destroying the Advent message.

Dr. John Harvey Kellogg wrote a book entitled The Living Temple, in which he presented spiritualizing ideas about God that were very much like oriental pantheism. Large numbers of Adventists especially in Battle Creek were deceived. Ellen White presented the divine testimony against this movement. Nevertheless, it bore fruit in tragic ways. Kellogg's spiritualistic theories resulted in the acceptance of the doctrine of the Trinity, a completely spiritualistic concept of God. It further resulted in the movement around the Urantia Book. These fanatical tangents were met by Ellen White's testimony.

Conflict over the ‘daily.’

In 1902, Ellen White had to meet the fanatical abuse of her own writings that created a division amongst the believers over the concept of the ‘daily’ in book of Daniel. A. G. Daniells and W. W. Prescott instigated this the new doctrine on the ‘daily.’ Their forcing of this issue, also based on a spiritualizing method of interpretation, split the Advent believers. Ellen White met this fanatical approach directly. “I was shown that Brother Daniells and Brother Prescott were weaving into their experience sentiments of a spiritualistic appearance and drawing our people to beautiful sentiments that would deceive, if possible, the very elect.” Manuscript Releases, pages 20, 21.