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D.M. Canright

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Canright - Ellen G. White

The Life of Ellen G. White: Her Claims Refuted

This book was written in 1919 by DM Canright, a very high-ranking member of the Seventh-Day Adventist religion. It contains a history of Ellen G. White, her lies, her desire for money, her false prophecies, her plagiarism, and many other things that proved her to be a false teacher.

If you want to know the truth about what Ellen G. White was and what she taught, this is the book to read. Mr. Canright was a close friend and associate of the Whites for 20 years before leaving their group. He was even hand-picked by Mr. White to debate other religious groups. All this to say, Mr. Canright can be considered an authority on the topics which are covered in this book.

About theWord Edition

The text of this book is found many places online (including here). Thanks to the original person who scanned, proofread, and formatted it for websites. No changes were made to the online editions except to tooltip the verses.

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About the Author (from Wikipedia)

For 20 years, Canright labored as a minister and evangelist for the Seventh-day Adventist Church across the United States. He was also a notable contributor to the Adventist periodical, the Review and Herald (now the Adventist Review). During a vacation in Colorado with James and Ellen White in 1873, Canright and his wife had a falling out with them. Canright and James White reconciled later that year. At the 1876 General Conference Session he was 1 of 3 men elected to the General Conference Executive Committee, the most prestigious committee in the denomination. In 1878, Canright was elected President of the Sabbath School Association of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. From his high position in the church, he began to eye the highest office of all, that of the presidency of the denomination.

Canright was frequently called upon by Elder James White, and other leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, to debate ministers of other denominations, generally on the question of the seventh-day Sabbath:

"In 1874 Elder White had arranged to have a big debate held at Napa City, Calif., between Elder Miles Grant, of Boston, Mass., and one of our ministers." (Seventh-day Adventism Renounced, by D.M. Canright, 1914).

In the 1880s, Canright gradually became disillusioned with what he considered autocratic behavior on the parts of Elder and Mrs. White. In 1880, he retired briefly from the ministry and journeyed through the Midwest, as an elocution teacher and lecturer. After a year of itinerant living, he returned to Battle Creek, Michigan, where he reconciled himself with Elder and Mrs. White.

In 1881, back as a Seventh-day Adventist minister, Canright remarried, and continued his life as a traveling evangelist for another year. Then, in 1882, he retired from the ministry and bought a farm in Otsego, Michigan. Once again, he began to have doubts about the White family, particularly about Ellen White's purported "gift of prophecy". He wavered repeatedly, several times emerging from his early retirement to hold meetings and preach. Throughout the early 1880s, his relations with Mrs. White remained amicable.

Then, quite abruptly, in 1887, Canright and his wife, Lucy Canright, left the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It was a decision he had been mulling over for a year. In severing his relations with his home church, the Otsego Seventh-day Adventist Church, Canright stated the following, as recorded by the church clerk:[indent]

"That he had come to a point where he no longer believed that the Ten Commandments were binding upon Christians and had given up the Law, the Sabbath, the Messages, the Sanctuary, our position upon [the] U.S. in prophecy, the Testimonies, health reform, the ordinances of humility. He also said that he did not believe that the Papacy had changed the Sabbath. And though he did not directly state it, his language intimated that he would probably keep Sunday.

"He thinks that Seventh-day Adventists are too narrow in their ideas, and that in quoting so much as they do from the Old Testament are going back into the moonlight rather than experiencing the sunlight of the gospel of Christ. He thought we were exalting the law above Christ. Also has no faith in the missionary work as conducted by our people, feels as if it is not the way God designed to do the work.

"He still claimed to believe that the coming of Christ was near, making the same application of Daniel 2 and 7 and Matthew 24 that he always had, but did not believe that there was to be any special message preceding Christ’s second coming in the sense in which Seventh-day Adventists teach." —Church clerk’s record, February 17, 1887, Otsego, Michigan Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Having left the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Dudley and his family briefly considered joining the Methodist Church, but finally settled upon the Baptist Church. On March 5, 1887, he, his wife and their daughter Veva (Genevieve) were accepted into the Otsego Baptist Church. On the 17th he was given a license to preach, and 2 days later, was ordained and made the Church's salaried pastor. He remained in this position until 1889.

In September 1890, Dudley and his family left Otsego, moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan. There, he became Pastor Emeritus of the Berean Baptist Church, an office he held for only a year. During his time as pastor of these churches, he occupied himself in writing his 413-page critique, Seventh-day Adventism Renounced, which was published in 1889. In 1915, he and his brother Jasper attended the funeral of Ellen G. White, during which he reportedly exclaimed, "There is a noble Christian woman gone!"

In March 1916, Canright accompanied an old Adventist friend, J.H. Morrison, to a church workers' meeting in Battle Creek. Afterward, they went to Morrison's house. Following that visit, Canright walked to the local Baptist church, where he had a key to the basement. Unaware that extensive remodeling had taken place, and arriving at the church after dark, Canright fell through an open hole into the basement, broke his leg, and remained there for two days. He was taken to the local hospital, and then to the Battle Creek Sanitarium, where his leg was amputated. He spent the last 3 years of his life with his daughter Genevieve, who had converted to Christian Science. Canright died in May 1919. Two months later, his final book, The Life of Mrs. E.G. White, was published. In it he criticised White heavily and maintained among others

• that the early doctrines held in 1844 and up to 1851 failed utterly
  
• some cases where her prophesies were wrong and then suppressed afterwards
  
• that she rebuked and controlled peoples' conduct, purportedly by spiritual knowledge, but factually by informings that often attacked an innocent part
  
• that she plagiarized lots of her purportedly God inspired texts from other authors and had to revise one of her books at an expense of $3000