The Bible informs us that God sometimes speaks to His people through “dreams” and “visions.” The Lord Himself declares:
Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream (Numbers 12:6).
The Bible also predicts that God will give “dreams” and “visions” in the last days. Notice carefully:
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams…And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved”—Acts 2:17-21 (KJV, emphasis added).
Thus, “in the last days…before the great and notable day of the Lord come,” we are plainly told that God will give “visions” and “dreams” to chosen persons. He will also show “wonders in heaven above.” Some of these wonders will involve “fire.” As a people, Seventh-day Adventists believe that during the 1800s and early 1900s, the same God who spoke in Bible times has spoken again—as a direct fulfillment of prophecy—by giving dreams and visions to Ellen White. Significantly, in the years 1904 and 1906, Mrs. White had two particularly remarkable dreams about “balls of fire” descending upon wicked cities as judgments from God.
Background of those Two Dreams:
During the years of her public ministry, Ellen White wrote approximately 5,000 articles, 50,000 manuscript pages, and 40 books. Since her death in 1915, her writings have been under the oversight of the Ellen G. White Estate in Silver Spring, MD. While Mrs. White was living, she received her first “ball of fire” dream in the year 1904 while she was traveling in the southern states of America. The second dream occurred in 1906. The significance of these two dreams is revealed in the fact that she repeated many of their details multiple times in her published writings. However, other details remained unpublished for over 100 years.
In July 2015, the Ellen G. White Estate officially released the remainder of Mrs. White’s unpublished writings (see Adventist World, Feb. 2016, pp. 21-23) including previously undisclosed details of her 1904 dream. Now, we can read everything. Below are just a few select quotations from both dreams.
The 1904 Dream: “An immense ball of fire…settled in Nashville.”
(New release): “When I was at Nashville, I had been speaking to the people, and in the night season, there was an immense ball of fire that came right from heaven and settled in Nashville. There were flames going out like arrows from that ball; houses were being consumed; houses were tottering and falling. Some of our people were standing there. ‘It is just as we expected,’ they said, ‘we expected this.’ Others were wringing their hands in agony and crying unto God for mercy. ‘You knew it,’ said they, ‘you knew that this was coming, and never said a word to warn us!’ They seemed as though they would almost tear them to pieces, to think they had never told them or given them any warning at all…A few nights ago I was awakened with this, ‘They know not the time of their visitation.’ Why don’t they know it? Because nobody is there to tell them” (Manuscript 188, 1905, emphasis added).
(New release): “The Lord is soon coming in the clouds of heaven with power and with great glory. His terrible judgments are soon to fall upon our world. Are we doing all we can to warn earth’s inhabitants of these things? While I was in the South a few months ago, I had a very impressive dream. I seemed to see a great ball of fire come from heaven and strike the earth. Great houses were in flames, and many were looking on in great distress. Some one said, ‘I knew that this was coming. I knew that God’s judgments were soon to fall.’ ‘You knew that these things were coming?’ said another. ‘Why did you not tell us? Why did you not warn us, and show us the prophecies, that we might also know?’” (Manuscript 158, 1904, emphasis added).
The 1906 Dream
“Large balls of fire” fell upon “upon cities.”(Previously released): “In the night…I was in a city, where I knew not, and I heard explosion after explosion. I rose up quickly in bed and saw from my window large balls of fire. Jetting out were sparks, in the form of arrows, and buildings were being consumed…I was instructed that destruction hath gone forth upon cities. The Word of the Lord will be fulfilled…These representations of destruction were repeated. Where am I? ‘In scenes I have represented [God now speaks] that which will be; but warn My people to cease from putting their trust in men who are not obedient to My warnings and who despise My reproof, for the day of the Lord is right upon the world when evidence shall be made sure. Those who have followed the voices that would turn things upside down will themselves be turned where they cannot see, but will be as blind men…’”
(Continuing): “In the night season I had a presentation. I did not seem to be in my own home in St. Helena. I was, I thought, awakened in the night with a great noise of cries of distress, and I saw the whole heavens lighted up. There were balls that looked like fire falling, and these balls looked as if full of arrows, and wherever they struck there were great calamities. Houses were set on fire, and no human effort could extinguish the flame. The earth quaked, and homes were falling with a crash. I heard the distressing screeching and praying. There was confusion everywhere. I said to someone, ‘Do look. That is the most striking representation of what will be in the last day.’ Revelation 18. Voices were proclaiming the events taking place. Read and understand, for it will surely be. (Chapter 19) of Revelation will ere long be fulfilled. Revelation 21. There were voices proclaiming the words of these chapters. With great power was the message given.”
(Continuing): “I am unable to sleep. It is ten o’clock. I had a short nap, and I was instructed that light had been given me and that I had written under special light the Lord had imparted. There were many things to come before the people. Collect these matters; the people need them” (Manuscript 126, 1906, emphasis added).
More Quotes about “the wrath of God” coming suddenly “upon all the cities.”
(New release): “The wrath of God will come upon all cities, upon dwellings, upon large buildings, so suddenly that they who have the slightest intimation [that these judgments are pending] have no safety in dallying at all. They are to flee at once…We are living amid the perils of the last days. The wrath of God is preparing to come upon all the cities—not all at once but one after another. And if the terrible punishment in one city does not cause the inhabitants of other cities to be afraid and seek repentance, their time will come. When the Lord ariseth to shake terribly the earth, He will not cease until His work in punishment is done. The destruction will begin in certain places, and the destruction of life will be sudden and but few will escape…I am instructed by revelation to say that most solemn and overwhelming judgments are determined upon all people who have the light before them in the Word of God [but who have not followed it]” (Manuscript 233, 1902, emphasis added).
(Previously released) “The judgments of God are soon coming upon all our cities, and I desire that we shall all be prepared” (Sermons and Talks, Vol. 1, p. 376, emphasis added).
Thankfully, our loving God “delights in mercy” (Micah 7:18). In Noah’s day, consistent with His compassionate nature, He not only warned sinners in advance that global destruction was pending (see Genesis 6), but He also mercifully offered Noah’s ark as a place of refuge. Today He is doing exactly the same thing. He is now mercifully warning us that terrible judgments are soon to fall upon defiant, sinful mortals for persistently rebelling against the Ten Commandments (see Hosea 4:1-9; 1 Cor. 10:11; Jer. 25:33; Isa. 13:11). Yet a door of mercy remains open through the love and mercy of Jesus Christ (see John 3:16). Those who respond to the Holy Spirit’s pleading, who repent of their sins (see Luke 13:3; 1 John 3:4), who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior (Acts 4:12), who keep His Word (see Rev. 3:8) and who obey His law by His grace (see Rev. 14:12), will be safe in the loving arms of God Almighty (see Psalm 91; Isa. 26:20,21).
As we can plainly see from Mrs. White’s 1904 and 1906 prophetic dreams, God’s people should warn others in advance, so they can find shelter too—before it’s too late. But seriously now, you may be thinking, we’re living in 2016. So far, nothing has happened yet! If this echoes your thoughts, consider this:
The date was May 31, 1889. A group of men were frantically working to secure the South Fork Dam at the edge of Lake Conemaugh in Pennsylvania. That morning, water levels in the lake had swollen to dangerous levels after many days and nights of heavy rainfall.
John Parke, an engineer working at the dam, had been ordered twice to ride by horseback to South Fork so he could telegraph a message of warning to nearby Johnstown, which lay directly downstream from the bulging dam. His messages were sent, and received, but they were not turned over to the proper authorities for the simple reason that Johnstown had often received false alarms about a possible dam break.
No major flooding had ever occurred—not yet.
At approximately 3:10 p.m., the South Fork Dam completely collapsed, releasing 20 million tons of liquid death from Lake Conemaugh. A massive wall of water, reaching up to 70 feet high, roared 14 miles down the Little Conemaugh River Valley towards unsuspecting Johnstown. At 4:07 p.m., the result was the worst disaster in American history. 2,209 people were swept away, all because the needed warning was not earnestly communicated to the right people.
Brothers and sisters, as we near the close of this world’s history, we should all be mindful that Bible prophecy predicts that large-scale judgments from God will soon strike our world (see Jer. 6:19; 25:32; 1 Cor. 10:11; Rev. 14:9-11; 16). As to exactly what those “balls of fire” will be that Mrs. White saw in her dreams, we can’t say for sure. Asteroids? Nuclear? Neither? Something else? Time will tell. Yet if we believe the Spirit of Prophecy, we do know that judgments are coming, for Mrs. White wrote that what she dreamed is “that which will be.” We are to “Read and understand, for it will surely be.” Mrs. White also wrote: “I was instructed that light had been given me and that I had written under special light the Lord had imparted.” She was “instructed by revelation,” so “that we shall all be prepared.”
As God’s last-day remnant people, we bear a solemn responsibility to effectively communicate God’s word, will, and prophecies to the unsuspecting inhabitants of the earth. This life-and-death message—rooted in His infinite love and mercy—must be given to judgment-bound humans now, before it’s too late. Again, we read:
The most awful disasters, by fire and flood, are following one another in quick succession. The judgments of God are in the land. They speak in solemn warning, saying, "Be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh" (RH, July 14, 1903).
We are living in the closing scenes of this earth's history. Prophecy is rapidly fulfilling. The hours of probation are fast passing. We have no time—not a moment—to lose…Let the message of Christ's soon return sound forth in earnest words of warning. Let us persuade men and women everywhere to repent, and flee from the wrath to come. Let us arouse them to immediate preparation; for we little know what is before us (Ibid.).
In the year 1889, over 2,000 people lost their lives in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. They need not have died, had the full warning of danger been given. Likewise, many today need not eternally perish if God’s prophetic warnings are faithfully given. Soon, very soon, “the fulfillment of every vision” (Ezekiel 12:23) will burst upon our godless world as an overwhelming surprise. With God’s help, and with the love of Jesus burning in our hearts, let us all faithfully share with others the special light God has given us so that more souls can cast their crowns at Jesus’ feet in His everlasting kingdom (see Revelation 7:9, 10).
Note: To help God’s people spread the message of His love and pending judgments, White Horse Media has developed a series of colorful, inexpensive sharing tracts entitled, “The Coming Judgments of God” (based on the Bible), “Fire from the Sky” (based on Ellen White’s dreams), and “The Relationship that Heals.”
For more information, visit www.whitehorsemedia.com. 1-800-782-4253