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by George E. Rice
As we approach the end of earth's history and look forward
to the soon return of Jesus, there is a growing interest among the people of
God in the role of the Holy Spirit. By speaking of an early and a latter rain,
Bible writers have given us the assurance that the Holy Spirit will be actively
involved in the closing events of history (Hosea 6:3; Zech. 10:1; James 5:7).
Seventh-day Adventists see the prophecies concerning the former and latter
rains as applying to the history of the Christian church, and to the experience
of God's people. Historically, the prophecies dealing with the former rain were
fulfilled in the power given at Pentecost, which propelled the early church
into its world mission, but a greater display of Holy Spirit power, the latter
rain, will accompany the completion of the gospel commission. The prophetic
symbolism that depicts the giving of the latter rain is seen in the work of the
augmenting angel of Rev. 18:1.
The prophecies dealing with the early and latter rains are
also fulfilled in the individual life. As the early rain fell upon the newly
planted seed in the Middle East causing the seed to sprout and enabling the
plant to grow, so the Holy Spirit guides the repentant sinner into the new
birth experience and a growing relationship with Jesus. As the latter rain
prepared the grain for harvest, so the final infusion of the Spirit's power
just prior to the return of Jesus will complete the work of redemption within
the hearts of God's waiting people, and enable them to stand prepared for
translation.
Many Seventh-day Adventists have asked, Are ecstatic
experiences and free demonstrations of emotions evidence of the baptism of the
Holy Spirit, and will these experiences accompany the giving of the latter
rain? Early demonstrations among the Millerites, which included swooning,
shouting, and praising God with a loud voice, carried over after 1844 into the
experience of those who established the Seventh-day Adventist Church, along
with at least four documented experiences of speaking in tongues. Does the
absence of these experiences indicate that the church has grown cold and
formal, devoid of the Spirit's power, and are we to look for the lively
experiences of earlier years to be revived as the power of the latter rain
descends upon the church?
An excellent document can be found at the Ellen G. White
Estate that reviews and evaluates the experiences that occurred among early
believers in
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the Seventh-day Adventist message. This document,I"Charismatic Experiences in
Early Seventh-day Adventist History," consists of a series of 12
articles that were prepared for the "Review and Herald" in 1972 and 1973 by
Arthur L. White, then secretary of the Ellen G. White Estate. The historic
details that Arthur White reports need not be repeated here. A summary of his
series will be helpful, however, in understanding the counsel Ellen White gives
the church as we anticipate the falling of the latter rain. The reader who is
interested in these early charismatic experiences is encouraged to study this
document for himself.
Ecstatic religious experiences are reported in the early
writings of both James and Ellen White, with reports of tongues-speaking in
1847, 1848, 1849, and 1851 ("Tongues in Early SDA History," Review and
Herald, March 15, 1973). Arthur White summarized his study of
tongues-speaking in our early experience by saying: "There is no record of
Ellen White's giving explicit support to, or placing her endorsement upon,
these ecstatic experiences with unknown tongues, although she was an eyewitness
to three of the four. . . . She was later shown that a person's thinking and
his feelings have a large influence on such experiences" ("Bible Study Versus
Ecstatic Experiences," Review and Herald, March 22, 1973).
Arthur White also noted: "It is interesting to observe that
Ellen White, with the many, many visions given her down through the years, and
facing many, many experiences, felt unable to declare unequivocally that there
would be an ecstatic experience, such as speaking in unknown tongues, in
connection with the outpouring of the Spirit of God. In fact, at no time did
she link the evidences of the outpouring of the Spirit--sometimes spoken of as
the baptism of the Holy Spirit--with ecstatic experiences" ("The Gift of
Tongues at Portland, Maine," Review and Herald, April 5, 1973).
With reference to the fanatical excitement, which included
tongues-speaking, that attended one group of people who set the time of Jesus'
coming at 1854, Ellen White wrote: "Some of these persons have exercises which
they call gifts and say that the Lord has placed them in the church. They have
an unmeaning gibberish which they call the unknown tongue, which is unknown not
only to man but by the Lord and all heaven. Such gifts are manufactured by men
and women, aided by the great deceiver. Fanaticism, false excitement, false
talking in tongues, and noisy exercises have been considered gifts which God
has placed in the church. . . . But the influence of such meetings is not
beneficial. When the happy flight of feeling is gone, they sink lower than
before the meeting because their happiness did not come from the right source"
(Testimony for the Church, vol. 1, p. 412).
As early as 1850, Ellen White was shown the order that
existed in heaven and among the angels of God. She was then warned about "the
exercises," and was told that they were "in great danger of being adulterated,
. . .therefore implicit confidence could not be placed in these exercises." She
then said, "I saw that we should strive at all times to be free from unhealthy
and unnecessary excitement. I saw that there was great danger of leaving the
Word of God and resting down and trusting in exercises. I saw that God had
moved by His Spirit upon your company in some of their exercises and their
promptings; but I saw danger ahead" (Ms 11, 1850, see Manuscript
Releases, vol. 5, pp. 226, 227).
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What was the danger that the prophet saw casting its shadow
across the path of God's people? Could it be that she realized Satan would
introduce ecstatic experiences into our worship services with the intent of
leading people away from God's Word as the judge of one's religious experience
to emotional exercises as the criterion of a genuine experience? One thing is
clear, as Ellen White's understanding deepened, and God revealed to her the
methods Satan would use to gain control of Christian churches at the conclusion
of the great controversy, her words of caution became clearer and stronger as
she moved the church farther away from ecstatic, emotional experiences.
Seventh-day Adventists have known for decades that just
before the outpouring of the promised latter-rain power Satan would make a
tactical move in an attempt to blunt the impact of the power of the Spirit upon
the Christian world. Ellen White predicted: "Before the final visitation of
God's judgments upon the earth there will be among the people of the Lord such
a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic
times. The Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon His children. At
that time many will separate themselves from those churches in which the love
of this world has supplanted love for God and His Word. Many, both of ministers
and people, will gladly accept those great truths which God has caused to be
proclaimed at this time to prepare a people for the Lord's second coming. The
enemy of souls desires to hinder this work; and before the time for such a
movement shall come, he will endeavor to prevent it by introducing a
counterfeit. In those churches which he can bring under his deceptive power he
will make it appear that God's special blessing is poured out; there will be
manifest what is thought to be great religious interest. Multitudes will exult
that God is working marvelously for them, when the work is that of another
spirit. Under a religious guise, Satan will seek to extend his influence over
the Christian world" (The Great Controversy,
p. 464).
In the charismatic movement, Seventh-day Adventists have
witnessed at least a partial fulfillment of this prophecy. The emotional
exercises involved in charismatic worship services are seen as the workings of
the Holy Spirit and evidence of the presence and blessing of God. Christians
who are caught up in these ecstatic experiences accept the feelings of
happiness and the emotional highs generated in charismatic meetings as the
criterion for spiritual truth. If biblical teachings are not directly
associated with the charismatic experience and the teachings of those who
direct the charismatic services, these biblical teachings are questioned as
representing truth and rejected outright by many.
This raises a question that must be faced by Seventh-day
Adventists today, Is it possible for the same thing to happen within our
church? On the basis of our past history, Ellen White not only believes that it
is possible, but states emphatically that Satan will introduce a counterfeit to
the latter rain experience in an attempt to either prevent it from coming or
bring about a failure to recognize and receive it when it does come. The
following counsel will guard God's people from accepting a "charismatic"
experience in the place of the genuine experience which will exist under the
latter rain.
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Our worship services are not to be cold and lifeless. Ellen
White says there is such a thing as healthy enthusiasm, but what is a healthy
enthusiasm? "The Holy Spirit of God alone can create a healthy enthusiasm. Let
God work, and let the human agent walk softly before Him, watching, waiting,
praying, looking unto Jesus every moment, led and controlled by the precious
Spirit, which is light and life" (Selected Messages, vol. 2, pp. 16,
17). A healthy enthusiasm is a holy joy that results from beholding the
workings of God. This joy is expressed in praise and worship as the human walks
softly and reverently in the presence of the great Creator and Redeemer.
We must be on guard that our spiritual experience is founded
on God's Word rather than on ecstatic experiences. Strong cautions are given to
those who seek an emotional high through a "spiritual experience." The Word of
God is to be the solid foundation upon which we are to build our experience.
Anything else will eventually prove to be a foundation of sand. Notice the
stress placed upon the Word as the basis for our spiritual lives.
"The Lord desires His servants today to preach the old
gospel doctrine, sorrow for sin, repentance, and confession. We want
old-fashioned sermons, old-fashioned customs, old-fashioned fathers and mothers
in Israel. The sinner must be labored for, perseveringly, earnestly, wisely,
until he shall see that he is a transgressor of God's law, and shall exercise
repentance toward God, and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ" (Selected
Messages, vol. 2, p. 19).
"It is through the Word--not feeling, not excitement--that
we want to influence the people to obey the truth. On the platform of God's
Word we can stand with safety" (Selected Messages, vol. 3, p. 375).
"They [nominal Christians] flatter themselves that they are
in conformity to the will of God because they feel happy; but when they are
tested, when the Word of God is brought to bear upon their experience, they
stop their ears from hearing the truth, saying, `I am sanctified,' and that
puts an end to the controversy. They will have nothing to do with searching the
Scriptures to know what is truth, and prove that they are fearfully
self-deceived. Sanctification means very much more than a flight of feeling.
"Excitement is not sanctification. Entire conformity to the
will of our Father which is in heaven is alone sanctification, and the will of
God is expressed in His holy law. The keeping of all the commandments of God is
sanctification. Proving yourselves obedient children to God's Word is
sanctification. The Word of God is to be our guide, not the opinions or ideas
of men" (Selected Messages, vol. 3, p. 204).
The following statement is not only helpful in the caution
it gives, but instructive as to what we may expect just prior to the close of
probation: "The things you have described as taking place in Indiana, the Lord
has shown me would take place just before the close of probation. Every uncouth
thing will be demonstrated. There will be shouting, with drums, music, and
dancing. The senses of rational beings will become so confused that they cannot
be trusted to make right decisions. And this is called the moving of the Holy
Spirit.
"The Holy Spirit never reveals itself in such methods, in
such a bedlam of noise. This is an invention of Satan to cover up his ingenious
methods for making of none effect the pure, sincere,
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elevating, ennobling, sanctifying truth for this time"
(Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 36).
Ellen White was addressing the fanatical errors of the holy
flesh movement that swept through the ranks of Adventists living in Indiana
during the early years of the 1900s. Worship services were marked by all types
of emotional demonstrations accompanied by loud, pulsating music of all kinds
of instruments. These demonstrations were called the working of the Holy
Spirit.
Time and time again the church received words of caution
against fanaticism that revealed itself in emotional demonstrations during
worship. For example, in 1909 Ellen White wrote, "True religion does not demand
great bodily demonstrations. . . . These are no evidence of the presence of the
Spirit of God" (2 Selected Messages, p. 26). In 1908 she reviewed the early
experience of Advent believers and said, "During those trying days some of our
most precious believers were led into fanaticism. I said further that before
the end we would see strange manifestations by those who professed to be led by
the Holy Spirit. There are those who will treat as something of great
importance these peculiar manifestations, which are not of God, but which are
calculated to divert the minds of many away from the teaching of the Word"
(Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 41).
And again, "No greater harm could be done to the work of God
at this time than for us to allow a spirit of fanaticism to come into our
churches, accompanied by strange workings which are incorrectly supposed to be
operations of the Spirit of God" (2 Selected Messages, p. 42). "Fearful waves
of fanaticism will come. But God will deliver the people who will earnestly
seek the Lord and consecrate themselves to His service" (Selected
Messages, vol. 2, p. 47).
As with the holy flesh movement, music will again be used by
Satan in an attempt to lead God's people into experiences that will blunt the
true workings of the Holy Spirit. "Those things which have been in the past
will be in the future. Satan will make music a snare by the way in which it is
conducted" (Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 38).
An increase in decibels does not indicate the presence of
the Spirit, nor does it lead to true worship. Ellen White had a few choice
words for a person who thought that "loud" was holy: "Any oddity or peculiarity
cultivated attracts the attention of the people and destroys the serious,
solemn impression which should be the result of sacred music. Anything strange
and eccentric in singing detracts from the seriousness and sacredness of
religious service.
“Bodily exercise profiteth little. Everything that is
connected in any way with religious worship should be dignified, solemn, and
impressive. God is not pleased when ministers professing to be Christ's
representatives so misrepresent Christ as to throw the body into acting
attitudes, making undignified and coarse gestures, unrefined, coarse
gesticulations. All this amuses, and will excite the curiosity of those who
wish to see strange, odd, and exciting things, but these things will not
elevate the minds and hearts of those who witness them.
The very same may be said of singing. You assume undignified
attitudes. You put in all the power and volume of the voice you can. You drown
the finer strains and notes of voices more musical than your own. This bodily
exercise and the harsh, loud voice make no melody to those who hear on earth
and those who listen in heaven. This singing is defective and not acceptable to
God as perfect, softened, sweet strains of music. There are no such exhibitions
among the angels as
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I have sometimes seen in our meetings. Such harsh notes and
gesticulations are not exhibited among the angel choir. Their singing does not
grate upon the ear. It is soft and melodious and comes without this great
effort I have witnessed. It is not forced and strained, requiring physical
exercise" (Selected Messages, vol. 3, p. 333).
How do we know when the Spirit of God is in our presence and
blessing our worship services? Ellen White says, "Let us give no place to
strange exercisings, which really take the mind away from the deep movings of
the Holy Spirit. God's work is ever characterized by calmness and dignity"
(Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 42).
"We must go to the people with the solid Word of God; and
when they receive that Word, the Holy Spirit may come, but it always comes, as
I have stated before, in a way that commends itself to the judgment of the
people. In our speaking, our singing, and in all our spiritual exercises, we
are to reveal that calmness and dignity and godly fear that actuates every true
child of God" (Selected Messages, vol 2, p. 43).
"In God's dealings with His people, all is quiet; with those
who trust in Him, all is calm and unpretending" (Selected Messages, vol.
2, p. 97).
Ellen White's understanding of the working of the Holy
Spirit among God's people as they assemble together may be summarized best by
the following statement: "The most profitable meetings for spiritual
advancement are those which are characterized with solemnity and deep searching
of heart; each seeking to know himself, and earnestly, and in deep humility,
seeking to learn of Christ" (Testimony for the Church, vol. 1, p. 412).
George E. Rice
Ellen G. White Estate
September,
1990.