The proposals regarding consolidation or centralization was considered during the General Conference in Battle Creek. But before it was considered, Sis. White made a statement:
“If there is committed to us a special message, as we believe, that message must go, without reference to the customs or prejudices of the world, not governed by a policy of fear or favor… Patterning after the world and adopting a worldly policy, must be guarded against. Men in responsible positions should go to God as often as did Daniel in earnest supplication for divine help. “
Life Sketches, p 314.

“The General Conference for 1891 was held in Battle Creek March 5-25. Sunday forenoon, March 15, the committee of twenty-one appointed at the preceding General Conference to consider the consolidation of the publishing interests, presented its report. The committee spoke favorably of the objects to be gained by consolidation, but advised that the Conference move cautiously. They then proposed that the General Conference Association be reorganized, with a view to its eventually securing control of all the publishing work of the denomination.”
“In harmony with the advice of this committee, the General Conference Association, intended at first as an agency for the holding of church property, was reorganized with a board of twenty-one members, and was given control of many lines of work, of which publishing interests stood first.”
Life Sketches, p 313.

Who prompted the call of consolidation?

“Notwithstanding frequent counsels to the contrary, men continued to plan for centralization of power, for the binding of many interests under one control. This work was first started in the Review and Herald office. Things were swayed first one way and then another. It was the enemy of our work who prompted the call for the consolidation of the publishing work under one controlling power in Battle Creek. “
Testimonies for the Church, vol 8, p 217.

“Immediately after the conference”, Sis. White and his son were sent to Australia. “In his reports and addresses to the General Conference of 1891, Elder S. N. Haskell … He pleaded that teachers be chosen to open a school in Australasia; and also that Mrs. Ellen G. White and her son, W. C. White, spend some time in that field.
“Action was taken by the Mission Board, immediately after the Conference, inviting them to go in the autumn. This would bring them to the new field of labor in Australia's summer. The steamer sailing in October was found to be overcrowded, and the departure from San Francisco was delayed till the sailing of the Alameda, November 12. “
Life Sketches, p 331.

Was it God’s will that Sis. White leave America? What did she write Bro Olsen in 1896?
“I have not, I think, revealed the entire working that led me here to Australia. Perhaps you may never fully understand the matter. The Lord was not in our leaving America. He did not reveal that it was His will that I should leave Battle Creek. The Lord did not plan this, but He let you all move after your own imaginings. The Lord would have had W. C. White, his mother, and her workers remain in America. We were needed at the heart of the work. . . . But the Lord read the hearts of all. There was so great a willingness to have us leave, that the Lord permitted this thing to take place. Those who were weary of the testimonies borne were left without the persons who bore them. Our separation from Battle Creek was to let men have their own will and way, which they thought superior to the way of the Lord… It was not the Lord who devised this matter. I could not get one ray of light to leave America.”
Letter 127, 1896. (also in 10MR 392-93)

Before reaching Australia, while yet sailing on the ocean, she wrote:

“The world must not be introduced into the church, and married to the church, forming a bond of unity. Through this means the church will become indeed corrupt, and as stated in Revelation, "a cage of every unclean and hateful bird."… And when men in the highest responsible positions make no difference between those who serve God and those who serve Him not, they evidence that their eyes are not single to the glory of God; therefore their whole body is full of darkness… Let us not form unholy bonds of union with the friends of the world; for God has pronounced His curse upon all such unions… Already has the power of darkness placed its mold and superscription upon the work that should stand forth untainted, unpolluted from Satan's cunning devices… Woe be unto him whose wisdom is not from above but from beneath!”
Testimonies to Ministers, p 265-277.

If the SDA church would get married with the world thereby forming a bond of unity, it would become “a cage of every unclean and hateful bird”. Rev. 18:2. How could being united or married to the world make the church Babylon?
“In the Bible the sacred and enduring character of the relation that exists between Christ and His church is represented by the union of marriage… The unfaithfulness of the church to Christ in permitting her confidence and affection to be turned from Him, and allowing the love of worldly things to occupy the soul, is likened to the violation of the marriage vow. The sin of Israel in departing from the Lord is presented under this figure; and the wonderful love of God which they thus despised is touchingly portrayed: "I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest Mine." "And thou wast exceeding beautiful and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through My comeliness, which I had put upon thee. . . . But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown." "As a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord;" "as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband!" Ezekiel 16:8, 13-15, 32; Jeremiah 3:20.”
“In the New Testament, language very similar is addressed to professed Christians who seek the friendship of the world above the favor of God. Says the apostle James: "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."
Great Controversy, p 381-382.

“A virtuous woman represents a pure church, a vile woman an apostate church. Babylon is said to be a harlot.”
Spirit of Prophecy, vol 4, p 233.

Sis. White warned the SDA church who is married to Christ that if she would depart from Him, and unite herself with the world, she would become the harlot of Babylon listed in Revelation 18.

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