by

Stanley Harris

The Bible tells us that the remnant or last church, the church that is waiting for the coming of the Lord, will come short in no gift. Paul says in I Cor. 1:5-8, "That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you; so that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Notice that Paul says that the church, or the people, who are waiting for the coming of Jesus, will be confirmed in the testimony of Christ. The very name Adventist means that we are waiting for the coming of the Lord. All the gifts are to be found in the remnant church including the testimony of Christ.

Not too many years ago a book was written by Dr. J. T. Brown on the various cults. He was asked by someone why he didn't include Seventh-day Adventists as a cult. And here is what he replied: "There is no fundamental ground of disagreement between the organized church of Jesus Christ and Seventh-day Adventists. On all the cardinal doctrines of the Bible, the miraculous conception, the virgin birth, the crucifixion, the resurrection and ascension, the deity of Christ, the atonement of Christ, the second coming of Christ, the personality of the Holy Spirit, and the infallible Bible, the Seventh-day Adventists ring as true as steel." The Cult Kingdom, pp. 5, 6.

Seventh-day Adventists are consistent in all that they believe. Unlike many other religions, they believe In the whole Bible, and they believe that every gift will be found in the church in its true manifestation. They also believe that Satan will try to counterfeit the gifts.

A rather interesting thing occurred some time ago when one of our ministers was traveling on a train. A leading bishop of another denomination was traveling on the same train. When he found out that our worker was a Seventh-day Adventist, he said, "the Seventh-day Adventists are the greatest marvel of development in the last forty years. With all the opposition imaginable, and with the most unpopular doctrine, in spite of all difficulty this people has grown out of nothing and poverty to be the most successful in making themselves felt all over the earth. And their course is onward in spite of everything." And so my dear friends, in spite of all the attacks that have been made against Seventh-day Adventists because of what they believe, this movement is going forward and is growing every day. It is because the Lord is in this work. It could not be done without the blessing of God.

In this matter of the Spirit of Prophecy, we find that in the beginning God communed with man face to face. The angels of heaven came and talked to Adam and Eve in the garden. Before man sinned, God made known His will directly to Adam in face to face conversation as a father with a son.

But sin severed this direct line of communication. So the Lord had to communicate with man through the mediumship of prophets. There had to be an intermediary because sinful man could no longer come face to face with God.

The Bible says, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing but he revealeth his secret to his servant the prophets." God doesn't do anything important that pertains to this world without first revealing it through the gift of prophecy. Now this may sound like a rather sweeping statement, but if you will study the word of God carefully you will find it to be true. Every important event that has occurred in the world, God has revealed it through the gift of prophecy. Before the flood, God revealed what was going to occur. And, of course, before the first advent of Jesus, God sent John the Baptist to warn the world of the first advent of Christ. And before the second coming of Jesus the Lord has raised up a people in these last days to warn the world of the soon coming of the Lord. They are few, they apparently seem insignificant, but yet they are doing a mighty work of giving the message of warning to the world. This is the greatest missionary movement in the world!

We find in Revelation 1:1, 2 the links in the chain of communication of truth to man. It says, "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John, who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw."

And so we find here the order in which messages are given. It says God gives it unto His Son, and then Jesus gives it unto His angel, and then His angel bears the message to the prophet, in this case John the Revelator, and then John the Revelator wrote out the record so that it could be given unto the people. And this is called the testimony of Jesus Christ. So the testimony of Jesus Christ is the gift of prophecy. It tells us that Jesus gave His message unto His angel. It is believed that the angel Gabriel is Christ's special angel.

We find that the Lord reveals His will through the prophets in three particular ways. The first way is by causing the Holy Spirit to guide them in speaking to the people, or writing out for the people the very instruction and truth that God has for the people. Thus David testified, "the spirit of the Lord spoke by me and His word was in my tongue." Not all the prophets received visions. John the Baptist, as far as we know, though he was a prophet, had no vision. Many of the prophets were guided by the Holy Ghost in their speaking and writing.

"Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." II Peter 1:21. The Holy Spirit guided these men in their speaking and in their writing, and gave them an understanding of the will of God. This explains the power of the word of God to transform men's hearts.

There isn't any other book that can transform men's hearts except the book that has been inspired by the Holy Ghost. The infidel can write books, and the PhD's can write great books, of learning and wisdom, but these books cannot transform hearts, they cannot convert souls, they cannot turn the libertines into moral men, they cannot turn drunkards into sober men, they cannot turn sinners into righteous men. Only books that are Inspired by the Holy Spirit can do this.

The second way that the Lord communicates with man is by giving the prophets insight into what the people ought to do in the respective situations which confront them from time to time. Hence the prophets were called seers. They were the eyes of the church, they had received divine insight so they could reveal the will of God. Every part of the body is important, but I would say that the eyes are among the most important. Paul says the church is made up of various members. The eye is a very important member of the church body. If the church does not have the gift of prophecy, if the church does not have a seer, it is without eyes, and is In danger of losing the way. Perhaps this is the reason why the churches of the world are so divided. Just about every church in the world has been divided into several divisions, teaching different things. They do not have a seer, they do not have the gift of prophecy to keep them in the straight and narrow way.

You can go anywhere in the world, and wherever you hear the message that you have heard here, you will hear the same message though it is preached in Africa, or in Europe, or in India, it is the same. We are not divided. Thank God the Lord has given us the eyes of the church as well as the other gifts.

Now the third method that God uses to guide His people is by giving to the prophets dreams and visions. God says "hear now my words; if there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream." Numbers 12:6. So God gives visions and dreams to prophets. Joseph was a notable example of this. He received a number of visions and dreams; and also Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and John the Revelator all received visions and dreams from the Lord.

The Spirit of Prophecy is to be in the Christian church. It was in the apostolic church. Paul says that God has set in the church "first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues." I Cor. 12:28. This text clearly states that the gift of prophecy is set in the church.

The gift of tongues is listed as the last gift in the church. But there are some churches that have elevated that gift to the most important place. All of these gifts are important. I wouldn't want to minimize any of them. But the gift of tongues is listed as the last one. This as well as other gifts have been counterfeited. The true gift of tongues is also in the remnant church. In fact we speak in more tongues than any other Protestant denomination. This message is being given to the world literally in hundreds of tongues, tonight. It is going to over four hundred countries and islands, and between seven and eight hundred tongues. The Advent movement is speaking in more tongues than any other Protestant denomination in the world.

Is the gift of prophecy to be in the church today? We are told here in Eph. 4:11, 13: "And he gave some apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Notice that all the gifts including the gift of prophecy are to be in the church until we all come in the unity of the faith and unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Well now, dear friends, this will not be fulfilled completely until Jesus comes. We are not going to be in the perfect image of Christ until He comes. The gift of prophecy and all these other gifts were to be in the church in order to help us to become like Jesus or to perfect the saints. We haven't reached the place yet where we do not need these perfecting agencies, and we will not reach that point until the Lord comes. So the gift of prophecy and all these other gifts are to remain in the church until we are all in perfect unity, until we are perfect like Jesus Christ. So they will be in the church down to the very end of time.

We find that the gift of prophecy was in the apostolic church after Jesus had gone back to Heaven. The Bible says, "Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas and Simeon who was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene." Acts 13:1. And we find again it says that "Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them." Acts 15:32. So there were a number of prophets in the apostolic church. We find again a man by the name of Agabus who was a prophet in the apostolic church. He is the one that prophesied of the famine that was going to come to Jerusalem. "In those days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch, and there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar." Acts 11:27, 28. Just as he prophesied, it came to pass. When a true prophet prophesies something, it always comes to pass. Philip, one of the followers of Christ, and a preacher in the church, "had four daughters which did prophesy." Acts 21:9.

There are some people who have an aversion to women having any gifts. And yet the gift of prophecy was given in times past to women as well as to men. The Bible records eight women who had this gift, Mariam the sister of Moses, had the gift of prophecy. Deborah, Huldah, Anna, and the four daughters of Philip had the gift. If the Lord is not adverse to using women in this calling or in this respect, then I certainly am not adverse to it. And I am not against it. The devil has tried to bring reproach upon women having this gift in the church. He has tried to counterfeit the gift and to bring reproach upon what is true and good.

In I Cor. 14:22 it says, "Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not." In other words the gift of tongues is to be used for unbelievers. And that is the way we use it. We do not, in our churches have wild demonstrations, making all sorts of strange noises and gibberish. We know for a fact, and the Bible tells us, that this gift has been counterfeited just like the rest. But God's people are using the gift of tongues to warn the world, and are traveling to practically all the nations under the sun, and to all the islands of the sea giving this message in over 700 languages and dialects in order to get the message to the world. This is the purpose of the gift of tongues. It is not for the edification of ourselves, but is for the purpose of giving the message to unbelievers.

The text also says, "but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe." That is why we do not use the gift of prophecy in meetings with unbelievers, because it is not for that purpose. It is for those that believe. The only reason why we preach on this subject of the gift of prophecy, and particularly at this point, is because there are some who are saying all sorts of false things about the gift of prophecy in the remnant church. Now you know as well as I, that in my preaching here and in everything that we teach, we use the Bible and the Bible only. I have never preached anything and tried to prove it from the gift of prophecy. I do not need to. Our message is not dependent on the gift of prophecy. The message that we have is from the word of God.

The gift of prophecy is directly associated with loyalty to God's commandments. Some people say, "why isn't the gift of prophecy in all the churches?" Well that is easily understood. The Lord has said over and over again that He has given the gift of prophecy to those who keep His commandments. In Lam. 2:9 it says, "the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the Lord." Why do they receive no visions from the Lord? Because the law is no more. They do not believe God's commandments. So the Bible clearly states that when the law of God is disregarded the prophets find no vision from the Lord. Obedience to the law always brings with it the gift of prophecy for its more perfect understanding. Thus Solomon declared, "where there is no vision, the people perish; but he that keepeth the law happy is be,." Prov. 29:18. We are definitely told then that where there is no vision the people perish because they have no one to direct them. They have no divine guidance from heaven. That is why there is so much confusion concerning the Bible. That is why there are so many different religions, all of them teaching different interpretations of the Bible, because they have received no vision from the Lord. God says the people perish because of that. But he says, "he that keepeth the law, happy is he." The keepers of the law will have the gift of prophecy. They will have a seer.

So the ten commandments is the basis upon which God gives this gift. The fact of the matter is that you will find that God will not give any of the gifts that are mentioned in the Bible, unless we obey His commandments. Some people believe that they have received the gift of the Holy Ghost. We have had some people refuse to keep the commandments and to unite with this church because they say that in their church they have received the Holy Ghost. I want to tell you very kindly but frankly that unless you keep God's commandments, you cannot receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. In Acts 5:32, it says, "And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Ghost, whom God bath given to them that obey him." To whom then does the Bible say that God gives the Holy Ghost? To them that obey Him! You can be sure that these self-styled Holy Ghost movements that are living in wilful disobedience to God have not received the true gift of the Holy Ghost. The Bible says to try the spirits. The devil is counterfeiting this gift as he has every other important gift in the Bible.

Does the Bible teach us that the last church will have the gift of prophecy? Yes it definitely does. The true church in the last days is distinguished by the keeping of the commandments of God and by having the Spirit of prophecy. "And the dragon (that is the devil) was wroth with the woman (that is the church), and went to make war with the remnant of her seed (that is the last church, the remnant is always the last) which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Rev. 12:17. In Rev. 19:10 the angel told John that "the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy." Awhile ago I read from I Corinthians 1:6, 7 where Paul says that those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord will come short in no gift, and that the testimony of Jesus Christ will be confirmed in them. What is the testimony of Jesus? It is the Spirit of prophecy. What does Revelation say about the last church, the remnant church? It says that it will keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Let's paraphrase the text. Let me read it this way, "And the devil was wroth with the church, and went to make war with the last true church, which keeps the commandments of God, and has the gift of prophecy." So it has been distinctly prophesied that God's last church, will have the gift of prophecy. It will preach the last message to the world,--that the hour of God's judgment is come, and that Babylon is fallen is fallen, and will warn the world against the beast and his mark. This church will be led in its final work by the gift of prophecy, the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Is the gift of prophecy in the remnant church? Yes it is. We do not use this gift to teach our message, because we do not have to. But the Bible says that when the time came for this remnant church to appear for the divine purpose of bearing Christ's special last-day message of Rev. 14: 6-12 to the entire world, to raise up a commandment keeping people, it would have the spirit of prophecy as the agency of divine counsel in the accomplishment of this work.

And so a young lady at the age of 17 years, Ellen G. Harmon, received the gift of prophecy. I might go back and tell you the story of how it happened. About 1844 there was a great disappointment among people of many religions because they believed the Lord was going to come. They became known later as Adventists, though there was no Seventh-day Adventist denomination at that time. Just prior to 1844 they began preaching the message of Rev. 14, that the hour of God's judgment is come. About that time a man by the name of William Foy, who was a Baptist, had a vision, a vision of three platforms. And these platforms represented the three angels' messages, that the advent people were on the first platform, then they were to go up on the second, and finally step up on the third. The third one reached to the very gates of the city of God. In other words, these messages were to lead God's people right to the gates of the kingdom. William Foy refused to give the message. He was afraid that he would be ridiculed. And so the vision was given to another young man by the name of Hazen Foss who lived in Poland, Maine. And he too refused to give the message. It was the same vision that was given to William Foy. When Hazen Foss refused to give the message after it was given to him three times, he was told the third time that the message was taken from him and would be placed upon the weakest of the weak.

Among the Advent believers at that time was a young girl who was a Methodist. There wasn't any Seventh-day Adventist church at that time. She had been injured as a child, a rock had struck her on the face at the school play ground, and she had hemorrhaged badly. Because of this she became a complete invalid. She was not expected to live long. She received the same vision of the three platforms that these men had received. Surely the Lord chose the weakest of the weak. When she received the vision, she called for her brother to get the carriage. He remonstrated with her but finally relented and took her to the church where the Advent believers gathered. And there were both of the men, William Foy and Hazen Foss, present who heard her stand up and give the message. At first she didn't have a voice. She could only speak in a whisper, but as she tried and went on, the Lord give her strength. She gave the same message, the same vision the two men had received, encouraging the advent believers to give the three angels' messages. She told them that they would finally triumph and go in the kingdom of God. As she give the message she grew stronger, and both of the men who had refused God's call admitted that they had received the very same vision and had refused to tell it.

This young lady went on from there writing many, many books. Though she had but just a few years of elementary education, she has written a pile of books higher than a tall man's head. And these books have been published and sold, scattered all over the face of the earth. Some of them by the millions. Mrs. White's writings are a commentary on the Bible. They do not take the place of the Bible, they merely help to understand it better. And they certainly lead men to know Jesus better. Ellen Harmon later became Mrs. Ellen G. White. She lived to be 88 years old, and reared a family of four children.

A certain man advertised to give a lecture in a city in California in which he promised to expose the visions of Mrs. E. G. White. At the close of his lecture a gentleman not connected with the Adventists asked the lecturer what is the nature and tendency of these visions, what is their moral tone, and what would be the effect of a person living in strict harmony with their teaching? The lecturer admitted that the morality taught therein was pure. That anyone would be saved that lived up to what they teach. One who was present said, "I wondered what a man could think of himself advertising to oppose and expose writings that were morally pure and would lead to salvation anyone who would heed them."

Mrs. White wrote a book called The Desire of Ages. We have been told by Mr. Bement of the Library of Congress that it is the finest book on the life of Christ of the more than 10,000 books on this subject on their shelves. And the book Steps to Christ many have read it and have been led to accept Jesus as their Saviour as the result. Literally thousands of people have been drawn to the Saviour and converted to Christ by reading these books. As the Bible says "By their fruits ye shall know them." There isn't anything in these writings that contradicts the Bible or that is opposed to the Bible. In fact Mrs. White before she died stood before our General Conference session and the very last words she spoke at the General Conference were, as she held up the Bible, "brethren and sisters, I commend unto you this book." And those were the last words that she spoke publically before our people.

All through her life she urged the people to study the Bible. Her writings are given to us to give us a better understanding of the scriptures. Seventh-day Adventists are generally recognized as students of the Bible and are considered to have an above-average knowledge of its teachings. The gift of prophecy has given them a divine understanding of God's will.

Just a word about some of these writings. In Washington, one person said, I loaned the book Steps to Christ to a young woman in business. She returned it saying that she had never read such a book before. She said, "it seemed to me that it was inspired!" In far off Lithuania, one of the Balkan states of Europe, a colporteur called at a Catholic home. The wife ran in and brought out a book. She said, "this is our Bible," and she held it up triumphantly. The colporteur took it, and he saw at once that it was Steps to Christ.

A clergyman, a graduate of Yale University, with also a London post-graduate degree, came into one of our ministerial classes in one of our colleges and he picked up and examined some of the testimonies that our ministers were reading, and he said, Mrs. White must have been inspired of God! A business man in Argentina bought our book "Great Controversy." He was a man of education and culture. Later when he met the colporteur who sold him the book he said, "you have brought me great happiness. I have read nearly the whole of the book Great Controversy' and believe it is true. I do not know the author but she must have been divinely inspired. I would not sell that book for $50, no not for $100 if I couldn't get another one."

A leading lawyer in another country referred to Great Controversy and said, "that book was not written by education, it was written by inspiration!" A leading society lady of England, when she first read Desire of Ages, was greatly agitated, and she said to some of our people, "you are a small people, you ought not to have the circulation of a book like this! It ought to be in the hands of the big London publishers. It is inspired!"

Well, dear friends, we do not need it to be in the hands of big publishers. We have about 56 publishing houses of our own. And these books are being published by the millions. And people are being led to the Lord Jesus Christ by these books, perhaps more than by any other books except the Bible.

In the University of Massachusetts, one of our Seventh-day Adventist students was there, and their teacher had just returned from a tour of Europe. She had studied literature in Europe. She said to the class after she got back, "I want each of you to pick out three statements from a favorite author and bring them to class tomorrow, and we will read those statements and see if the class can discover who the author was." So the Seventh-day Adventist student brought three statements from the Desire of Ages. He said no one in the class could name the author. "Then to my happy surprise the teacher said, 'well class it is from the pen of Mrs. E. G. White.' She spoke at length saying she knew nothing of the author's religion but she felt able to declare herself as to the literature. She said that it was a pity that Mrs. White's writings were not known better in the literary world. She said she was going to make a strong statement and that she meant every word. She said of all the writings she knew outside of the Bible there were none so full of beauty, so pure, and yet so simple as the writings of Mrs. E. G. White."

When Mrs. White died, the New York Independent, which at that time was the leading religious magazine of America commented on her life and work and her contribution to the Seventh-day Adventist cause. The editors spoke of the teachings and growth of our denomination and said, "of course, these teachings were based on the strictest doctrine of inspiration of the scriptures. Seventh-day Adventism could be gotten in no other way, and the gift of prophecy was to be expected as promised to the remnant church, who had held fast to the truth. This faith gave great purity of life and incessant zeal. No body of Christians excelled them in moral character and in religious earnestness. And in all of this, the Independent continued, "Ellen G. White had been the inspiration and guide. Here is a noble record and she deserves great honor. She showed no spiritual pride. She sought no filthy lucre. She lived the life and did the work of a worthy prophetess." This was in the New York Independent of Aug. 23, 1915.

When Mrs. White died, the last words she spoke to her son as she breathed her last, were, "I know in whom I have believed." She was a godly woman from beginning to end. In all of her 88 years she lived to serve the Lord. She was used mightily of God. She was a great preacher. Thousands of people came out to hear her preach, and thousands of souls were stirred. Many, many hundreds were converted under her ministry, and thousands of people have been converted to the Lord Jesus Christ by her writings. "By their fruits ye shall know them."

"By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved." Beloved as the Lord led the children of Israel out of Egypt by the gift of prophecy and led them into the promised land, so the Lord today is leading a people out of Babylon by the gift of prophecy and leading them into the promised land. "In all that she has written," one writer said, "Christ is acknowledged, honored, worshiped and upheld. She has been loyal to all that He taught, to all that He did, to all that He is, and all that He is to be. The whole influence of her life and work has been to exalt the Saviour, to glorify Him, to lead men to Him." You cannot read her writings without recognizing that she exalts Jesus Christ from beginning to end, and she urges the people to follow Jesus and His example.

The devil always tries to raise up a counterfeit to try to counterfeit the truth. About the time the true gift of prophecy came into the remnant church, a woman came into existence in another denomination also claiming the gift of prophecy. She was not in harmony with the Bible and brought reproach upon women who claim the gift of prophecy. She received her inspiration from a man by the name of Quimby who was a hypnotist. Her name was Mary Baker Eddy. She taught things that were contrary to the Bible. She died in 1910. In her last days she became mentally disturbed. They almost had to keep her in complete exclusion. This has brought reproach on a woman having the gift of prophecy. The devil did it to try to destroy faith in the true gift. We know that Mary Baker Eddy taught things contrary to the Bible just as other books of other religions are contrary to the Bible. The book of Mormon teaches that there are 800 mistakes in the Bible. Such counterfeits of the true have made men doubt the true gifts. That is why we must apply the Bible test. They must meet the Bible test. They must not teach anything that is contrary to the Word of God. The supreme test of fidelity to the Bible and loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ has been met in all that Mrs. White has done and said and written. She has exalted the Lord in it all and the influence of her life and work has drawn all who have felt it, nearer their Saviour.

Her writings have deepened and enlarged the spiritual life of her readers, illuminated their understanding of the blessed teachings of God's word. And the more you study the writings of the testimonies of the church the more you will under-stand the Bible because it is a commentary on the Bible.

All the tests prescribed by the Bible for the Spirit of prophecy have been applied to the work and experience of Mrs. E. G. White. Her work stands every one of these tests, and is demonstrated to be the restoration of the Spirit of prophecy for the last days as predicted in Rev. 12 :17. Every test has been brought. First of all, their words will be in harmony with the law of God and the word of God. And everything that Mrs. White has written has been in complete harmony with God's commandments and with the Bible. No. 2: They will exalt Jesus Christ, and not self. No. 3: They will reprove the people for their sins. You cannot read her writings without being reproved of sins. She hasn't written things to tickle people's ears and make them feel good. She definitely reproves people of their sins. Then No. 4: They will emphasize the necessity of the indwelling of Christ in the human heart. No. 5: The fruit which is in their works will be good beyond any question. The fruits of the gift of prophecy is the great missionary work of this denomination, the great educational system, and medical Institutions. These great programs were started because of the counsel from the gift of prophecy.

My dear friends, there has been nothing but good as the result of the counsel given to this people through the gift of prophecy. No. 6. Predictions will not prove false. You all know as well as I do that prophets have made predictions that have not come to pass, and this is an indication that they are not true prophets. The Jehovah Witness' prophet prophesied that the Lord was going to come, I believe In 1918. He didn't come, which proves that they do not have the true gift of prophecy. Mrs. White made numerous prophecies back in 1848 when spiritism was just beginning. She prophesied that it was going to sweep over the world. It has! In 1902 before the earthquake in San Francisco, she had been shown in vision this great tragedy. She predicted before she died in 1915 that there would be world wars. She mentions particularly two world wars. She also prophesied before she died, long before anybody was thinking of atomic bombs, that there would be great balls of fire that would destroy entire cities. And what do the scientists call the atomic bombs today? Great balls of fire! We didn't understand what was meant when it was prophesied that great balls of fire would destroy the cities. Now we know, because the prophecy has come to pass!

At one time when Mrs. White was in vision she held an eighteen pound family Bible in her outstretched hand for about an hour and a half. I have seen it, and have lifted it up. My arm would wilt down if I tried to hold it five minutes.

When Mrs. White was in vision she didn't breath, just as Daniel when he was in vision. He tells in Daniel 10:16, 17, "O my Lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength. For how can the servant of this my Lord talk with this my Lord? for as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me." When Daniel was in vision he didn't breath. When Mrs. White was in vision, she did not breath. There were doctors who said they could prove that she was in some kind of a trance. They called a doctor in on one occasion in Michigan when she was having a vision in church. He said he could bring her out of it. He came in while she was in vision, and he put a mirror in front of her nostrils to prove she was breathing. He clamped her nostrils and her mouth closed in order to show that she was faking. But he soon saw that she wasn't breathing and he hurriedly started to leave. He had turned deathly pale. They stopped him at the door and said "can't you bring her out of it." He said "no." They said, "what is it." He said, "God only knows, let me out of here!" Only God could keep Mrs. White alive when she didn't breath during the visions that lasted as long as three hours.

One time when they were trying to get the work started in Australia, Mrs. White recommended and urged that they get a farm and start a college. The people over there thought they couldn't do it, but she continued urging. Land was expensive, but finally they found 1500 acres about 75 miles north of Sidney, and they brought government men in to test the soil. The land was sandy and poor. The government men said it wouldn't grow anything. They said that an animal going across the place would have to carry his own lunch or starve to death. They even brought farmers in to examine the soil. Mrs. White made a trip over there, and on the way the Lord showed her that the farmers would say it wouldn't grow anything, but the Lord said to her to tell the people to go ahead. Well they went ahead and they bought the land. Today it is one of the most beautiful spots in Australia, and they are growing many things there. It has produced marvelously right from the beginning. The 1500 acres were bought for only $3.00 an acre!

There was another occasion when one of the evangelists in San Francisco was having trouble with a young minister. The young minister was doing some things that he shouldn't. They were finally bringing him to trial, and he was not admitting anything. He told them it was none of their business what he was doing, and he was very rebellious. So on the very day of the trial, there came a letter to the young man from Mrs. White. The Lord had given her a vision a month before, but just two nights before the trial the Lord had gotten her out of bed and told her to send a letter to him, and so the letter came just before the church trial telling him just what the Lord thought about what he was doing. The Lord had revealed everything. The young man broke down and confessed and wept over it. Yes, my dear friends, the Lord always directed matters at the right time.

There is another experience I would like to relate. There was a man by the name of Stephen Smith who accepted the truth in 1850. They thought Stephen Smith was going to be a great preacher, but he would not accept the Spirit of prophecy. He wasn't going to have a woman having visions telling him anything! Finally there came a letter from Mrs. White, and it made him mad, and he said, "now she is writing a letter telling me what I ought to do and revealing my mistakes." And so he took the unopened letter and put it in the bottom of his trunk. He soon became involved in every new and queer religious theory, and believed in things not taught in God's word. He became bitter with the church. He would come to church and stand up and give a blast at everybody. They dreaded to see him around. Finally he quit coming.

Twenty-eight years went by and he was getting to be an elderly man by that time. One day, his wife who was still a faithful Adventist, laid the Review and Herald church paper on the table and he picked it up and read an article by Mrs. White. He said, "that is the truth if I ever read it." Then he read that they were going to have a revival in our church in Washington, New Hampshire, and the preacher was Eugene Farnsworth who had been a friend. So he said, I will go and hear Eugene preach. So he went and heard Eugene preach. Afterward he got up and wanted to say something. Everybody thought "here comes another blast from Stephen Smith." He said, "brethren I am not going to fight you. I have found out that those that fight this truth only come to naught. They have troubles, but those who have faith in it are prospering, and the movement is going on to victory." He said, "I want to come back, I have gone astray, but I want to come back."

Well Steven Smith left that meeting and walked back home. He remembered that letter he hadn't read. It had been in the trunk for twenty-eight years. He got it out and read it, and he came back on the Sabbath to hear Farnsworth again. After the meeting he stood to his feet and said, "Brethren I went home after the Wednesday night meeting, I walked fourteen miles to get there. I remembered a letter I received twenty-eight years ago from Mrs. White." He said, "I got the letter out. It was yellow from age, but I could still read it. And I want to tell you that she described to me what the Lord had shown her about my life if I should continue in the way I was going, and she described every mistake that I have made during the past twenty-eight years." He said, "If I had only read that letter, I could have avoided all of those things." Stephen Smith bitterly confessed his mistakes in tears and urged the brethren to tell all, who had been influenced by him, that the old rebel had surrendered.

I could go on telling you by the hour of the great and wonderful works that have been wrought through God's leading.

Her writings are given, as she herself explicitly states, to lead the church back to the Bible with its complete revelation of the will of God. Her writings are not in any sense to take the place of the Bible or to be considered as a part of, or an addition to it. No, the writings of the gift of prophecy are not an addition to the Bible. They help us to understand it better. They lead us in our journey toward the promised land, just as God gave the gift of prophecy to lead the children of Israel on their way to the land of Canaan.

We are told "despise not prophesying, prove all things, hold fast to that which is good." "Believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper." II Chron. 20:20. Yes, brethren let's believe these things. Don't fight them. Prove all things, hold fast to that which is good. I urge you to prove these things. Read the books of the gift of prophecy, and you will become convinced as have hundreds of thousands of sincere Christians that they are inspired of God. The remnant church truly has the gift of prophecy as God has promised!