I think the article was simply cataloging what Ellen and the early Pioneers believed at the time Ellen penned those statements. Ellen did explicitly say that Jesus was NOT God Almighty. Remember that during the time of Ellen White's life the SDA's rejected that God was a single, simple Substance Being and that three Person's (Identities with real relationships with each other) coequally owned that Divine Substance and were that "Being".
To the SDA's God was a committee of 2 Being's with each Being having a real "person" (body of flesh, bones, etc). God was understood to be a committee or Board of Directors that acted in unity but at the end of the day still 2 "Beings" and not one.
Review and Herald November 14, 1854
Again, where it is declared, that there are none good except the Father, it cannot be understood that none others are good in a relative sense; for Christ and angels, are good, yea perfect, in their respective sphere; but that the Father ALONE is supremely, or absolutely, good; and that he ALONE is immortal in an absolute sense; that he alone is self-existent; and, that, consequently, every other being, however high or low, is absolutely dependent upon him for life; for being. This idea is most emphatically expressed by our Savior himself; " For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." John v, 26. This would be singular language for one to use who had life in his essential nature, just as much as the Father. To meet such a view, it should read thus: For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath the Son life in himself If as Trinitarians argue, the Divine nature of the Son hath life in himself (i. e., is self existent) just the same, and in as absolute a sense, as the Father
The Father is the only Being that is absolutely good and the Father is ONLY immortal in an absolute sense. See below.
Ellen White, 1888 Great Controversy 493.1
Christ the Word, the only begotten of God, was one with the eternal Father,--one in nature, in character, and in purpose,--the only being in all the universe that could enter into all the counsels and purposes of God. By Christ, the Father wrought in the creation of all heavenly beings. "By him were all things created, that are in Heaven, . . . whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers;" [COL. 1:16.] and to Christ, equally with the Father, all Heaven gave allegiance. {GC88 493.1}
"The great Creator assembled the heavenly host, that HE might, in the presence of all the angels confer special honor upon HIS son. The son was seated on the throne with the father, and the heavenly throng of holy angels was gathered around them. The Father then made known that it was ordained by Himself that Christ, His Son, SHOULD BE equal with Himself; so, that wherever was the presence of His Son, it was as His own presence. The word of the Son was to be obeyed as readily as the word of the Father. His son, He had invested with authority to command the heavenly host. Especially was His Son to work in union with Himself in the anticipated creation of the earth." Ellen White, The Truth About Angels, 32.4
From the above its known that Christ is a separate "Being" from The Father (God) and Christ was the ONLY BEING in the universe that could enter into all the meetings with Father God. At this point in time the Holy Spirit was not understood to be a "Being" with a body of flesh, instead it was understood to be like an odor or invisible gas element of Father God.
Revew and Herald, Sept 6, 1892
Is God a Spirit?
Question:
If God is a spirit (John 4:24) and at the same time a person (Dan 7:9) would not the same reasoning prove that the Holy Spirit is a PERSON as referred to in John 4: 26?
Answer:
NO - For God is elsewhere described and represented as a Person; but the Holy Spirit is not. The fact that the Holy Spirit is personified John 14 and thus spoken of as acting in a personal and individual manner does NOT prove it to be a person any more than the fact that love is spoken of in 1 Cor 13 as performing certain acts and exercising certain emotions, prove that charity or love is
Signs of the Times, 1912, Vol 39 # 32
3829 — Is The Holy Spirit A Personality?
Question:
Can't we say that the Holy Spirit is a
personality, as long as the personal pronoun
is attributed to it? T. A. Z.
Answer:
The use of the personal pronoun is not of itself proof that the Holy Spirit is a personality, and yet the work of the Spirit is the work of a personality. By the Spirit both the Father and the Son come personally to every soul that receives the Spirit. In that wonderful sense which no human being can comprehend, the Spirit comes to each soul as a personality. And yet it does not have what we would call human personality of being in one place only at one time, that is, such personality as has our Lord Himself — in one place as He is in no other place. The Holy Spirit may be in any number of places at one and the same time, bringing the special presence of God in each of those places. In the office of the "Signs of the Times" there are fourteen different telephones all connecting with the manager. The manager may connect all these with him at one and the same time. He could issue a general order so that the foreman of each department could hear his voice at the same time. In a way he is personally present in every department. Every department hears his voice. The marvelous invention of the telephone makes him present in fifteen different places at the same time. So it is that God's Spirit makes the Father and the Son present in as many different places as God may direct, at one and the same time. We know somewhat of the working. We understand how it is to some extent of the Lord's ways and methods. We see the effects, but we know almost nothing of the nature and the power that Infinity uses to communicate with man. Let us be willing to leave it there. In some instances the Spirit is represented as the great life of God. In some it is spoken of as a power that is poured out and shed forth. To the individual it comes as the representative of the personal God. Therefore it may be spoken of as a personality, and looking at it from another view-point, as not a personality
I think the article is casting the similarities and difference between Christ and other ancient religions that ON THE SURFACE look similar due to the similarities the author points out. The Author also is frank about the incorrect theological assertions made by Ellen White and others that have contributed to the theological confusion of the Doctrine of God in the SDA Church.
This is all good stuff in my view - and if anything shows the honesty of the Author - who by the way looks to be a guy who love his (SDA) Church.