Sometimes students in school study for a final exam only to find that their test is just one question. But that one can be so probing and comprehensive that it strains their capabilities.
It could well be that our Final Exam will consist of one question: Where do you recognize the true outpouring of the Holy Spirit? It may be possible we will be confronted by two demonstrations side by side, one the genuine Holy Spirit and the other a counterfeit more clever than a Taiwan Rolex. The one "test question": Tell which is which.
Before the 1888 "beginning" of the latter rain, Ellen White had already warned that we will have to meet very close counterfeits of the Holy Spirit. Our personal choice of which is which (with no access to "experts" to tell us) will determine our eternal destiny:
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.... 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 marvellously for them, when the work is that of another spirit.
This chapter entitled "Modern Revivals" exposes many of the false ideas that were popular among revivalists in the nineteenth century. No such counterfeit could deceive anyone with a true understanding of "righteousness by faith." But there was much confusion in the nineteenth century; and there is even more today. The subjectivism of the modern "Pentecostal" movements with their seductive miracles had its toots in 1888-era revival movements that swept through the popular Churches.
If this "holy spirit" was a counterfeit, where is the real One? There must be a genuine somewhere, for we have these divine promises:
It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit;... and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved (Acts 2:17-21).
And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen... And I heard another voice from heaven, saying: Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues (Revelation 18:1-4).
Decades ago a former General Conference president confessed that he recognized the initial fulfillment of the prophecy of that "fourth angel" in the 1888 message:
In 1888 there came to the Seventh-day Adventist Church a very definite awakening message. It was designated at the time as "the message of Righteousness by Faith." Both the message itself and the manner of its coming made a deep and lasting impression upon the minds of ministers and people, and the lapse of time has not erased that impression from memory. To this day, many of those who heard the message when it came are deeply interested in it and concerned regarding it. All these long years they have held a firm conviction, and cherished a fond hope, that some day this message would be given great prominence among us, and that it would do the cleansing, regenerating work in the church which they believed it was sent by the Lord to accomplish.
Elder Daniells felt he had to add: "The message has never been received, nor proclaimed, nor given free course as it should have been in order to convey to the church the measureless blessings that were wrapped within it.
"Our denominational publications demonstrate the truth of his statement. Except for ideas implicit (but largely unseen) in Spirit of Prophecy writings, research shows that for decades before and after 1926 the unique 1888 message itself has been as lost and buried as Pompeii beneath old Vesuvius's ashes. We may have much so-called "righteousness by faith," but it is a far cry from the light that the Lord gave this people in the 1888 message. And not only has the charismatic movement made attempts to seduce the remnant church through an extremely subjective "gospel," but the opposite extreme of a purely objective Calvinist or Reformationist "gospel" has exploited our widespread ignorance of the 1888 message. And persisting almost incessantly, the legalism of a century ago still largely prevails from generation to generation.
Ellen White encouraged the church:
The Lord in his great mercy sent a most precious message to his people through Elders Waggoner and Jones. This message was to bring more prominently before the world the uplifted Saviour, the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It presented justification through faith in the Surety; it invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God... It is the third angel's message, which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of his Spirit in a large measure.
Furthermore, it was the general conviction of those close to Ellen White that the latter rain had begun. Here is one example (A.T. Jones speaking):
I received a letter a little while ago from Brother [G.B.] Starr in Australia. I will read two or three sentences because they come in well just at this place in our lessons: —"Sister White says that we have been in the time of the latter rain since the [1888] Minneapolis meeting."
Two years earlier E. J. Waggoner had confessed:
When we have strong faith that Christ is abiding in us, we can go forth to work for others with power, and join our voices with those of the angels in heaven, and then the message will go with a loud cry.... I rejoice tonight in the belief that the loud cry is now beginning.
And if that is not enough, here is the recorded confession of the congregation assembled at the 1893 General Conference session. A. T. Jones is asking questions, and the congregation is responding:
Now brethren, when did that message of the righteousness of Christ, begin with us as a people? [One or two in the audience: "Three or four years ago."] Which was it, three? or four? [Congregation: "Four."] Yes, four. Where was it? [Congregation: '"Minneapolis."] What then did the brethren reject at Minneapolis? [Some in the congregation: "The loud cry."] What is that message of righteousness? The Testimony has told us what it is; the loud cry—the latter rain. Then what did the brethren in that fearful position in which they stood, reject at Minneapolis? They rejected the latter rain—the loud cry of the third angel's message.
That "congregation" included the assembled, official delegates. Let us in imagination join them that night as they listen in hushed attention:
And, brethren, the time has come to take up to-night what we there rejected. Not a soul of us has ever been able to dream yet the wonderful blessing that God had for us at Minneapolis, and which we would have been enjoying these four years, if hearts had been ready to receive the message which God sent. We would have been four years ahead, we would have been in the midst of the wonders of the loud cry itself, tonight. Did not the Spirit of Prophecy tell us there at that time that the blessing was hanging over our heads?
The General Conference president, O. A. Olsen, was moved by this presentation. The next day he bared his soul to the assembled delegates:
This place is becoming more and more solemn on account of the presence of God. I presume that none of us have ever before been in quite such a meeting as we are having at this time. The Lord is certainly coming very near, and is revealing things more and more, things which we have not heretofore so fully appreciated nor understood...
I felt very solemn last evening. To me the place was terrible on account of God's nearness, on account of the solemn testimony that was borne to us here....
Some may feel tried over the idea that Minneapolis is referred to. I know that some have felt grieved and tried over any allusion to that meeting, and to the situation there. But let it be borne in mind that the reason why anyone should feel so is an unyielding spirit on his part.... The very idea that one is grieved, shows at once the seed of rebellion in the heart.
Another of the prominent speakers in 1893 who at least partially recognized what was happening was W. W. Prescott:
Now when I think that for four years we have been in the time of the latter rain, and that God has wanted to pour out his Spirit that these gifts might be restored, that his work might go with power; and that he wishes us to join gladly in the work and co-operate with him with the whole heart, it occurs to me that we have been the hands that have been holding on and the feet that wouldn't go, and rather than tear the whole body to pieces the body has waited.
This heart-throbbing recognition of the latter rain leaps at one continually from the brittle yellowed pages of the 1893 General Conference Bulletin. Never since the glorious days of the Midnight Cry of 1844 had the hearts of God's people burned with such an eschatological hope:
Then when that message of God's righteousness—the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, God's right doing—when that is received and is allowed to be carried on, and is held by his people, what does that mean about the work of God on earth? —It will be but a short time until the whole thing is done...
Now is the time that the work will be closed up shortly, and we are in the midst of the scenes that close up this world's history... but the latter rain is the teaching of righteousness. When did that message of the righteousness of God, as such, come to us as a people? [Congregation: —"Four years ago."] Where? [Congregation: "At Minneapolis."]...
Now, that message of the righteousness of Christ is the loud cry. It is the latter rain.
Wouldn't they have been astounded to know that at least another century must roll by before God's gracious call would be heeded?
Many books have been written since then about this history. L. E. Froom's Movement of Destiny, published in 1971, courageously identifies the 1888 message as the beginning of the latter rain:
There was thus, in the nineties, not only an exposition but a manifestation of the power of Righteousness by Faith that was an earnest of the power of the crowning Loud Cry climax destined to come, samplings of which were then given. Mrs. White expressly stated that what was taking place was actually the beginning of the Latter Rain (p. 345).
The message at Minneapolis became most precious to the heart of [F. H.] Westphal. It was "sweet music to my soul," he declared. He went back to Plainfield, Wisconsin, and told the church that the Latter Rain had started. As a result, one farmer sold his farm, put much of his money into the Lord's work, took up canvassing, and was finally ordained to the ministry (p. 262).
He who denies that the Loud Cry began to sound in 1888 impugns the veracity of the Spirit of Prophecy. He who asserts the Latter Rain did not then begin to fall challenges the integrity of God's message relayed to us (p. 667).
As all students of these backgrounds are aware, these truths of 1888 have not yet come to their full tide, as we are told that they must and will before and as we enter upon the final phase of our witness to the world. They will yet definitely become the throbbing, all-pervasive heart of our final presentation to the world. The "final movements" will be "rapid ones," Spirit-filled, Christ-centered, full-message, Righteousness-by-Faith-surcharged movements... The glorious truths of 1888 will triumph (p. 521).
"The blessed hope" that inspired the Advent pioneers was the hope of seeing Jesus personally at his return, and being translated without dying—for his glory. The 1888 message rekindled this hope. A. T. Jones has been quoting Testimonies, Vol. 1, p. 187, which says: "Those who come up to every point, and stand every test, and overcome, be the price what it may, have heeded the counsel of the True Witness, and they will receive the latter rain, and thus be fitted for translation." Now for his clincher:
Brethren, that is where we are. Let us act like it. Let us thank the Lord that he is dealing with us still, to save us from our errors, to save us from our dangers, to keep us back from wrong courses, and to pour upon us the latter rain, that we may be translated. That is what the message means—translation—to you and me.
A few days later they were back again, obsessed with the same white-hot topic:
Brethren, is there not a lot of good cheer in the thought that... the latter rain is to prepare for translation? Now, where is the latter rain to fall, and when does it? Now is the time for the latter rain: and when is the time for the loud cry? [Voice: "Now."] What is it to prepare us for? [Voice: "For translation."] It brings good cheer to me that the tests that the Lord is giving us now, are to fit us for translation. And when he comes and speaks to you and me, it is because he wants to translate us, but he cannot translate sin, can he? Then, the only purpose that he has in showing us the depth and breadth of sin, is that he may save us from it and translate us. Then, shall we become discouraged when he shows us our sins? No; let us thank him that he wants to translate us, and he wants to do this so much that he wishes to get our sins out of the way as soon as possible.
Closely linked with the thought of preparation for translation was a heart appreciation of the health-reform message:
Now another thing right there. We are living in view of another fearful fact, that is, if that message which we are now to give, is not received, it has attached to it the fearful consequences that the wine of the wrath of God will be received. ... And the work which is to bring all face to face with that fact, as it is there recorded, is now begun. Therefore, will not that give a power to the health reform that it has not yet had? When the health reform was given to the people of God, it was defined as that which is to fit the people for translation... But we have to go through the seven last plagues before we are translated; and if a man's blood is impure and full of gross material will he be able to pass through that time, when the air is sick with pestilence? Indeed he cannot.
But something even more impressive was looming before them.
An event of national importance also conspired to make the 1888 era one of almost breathtaking significance—a national Sunday law. Seventh-day Adventists had always believed that virtually simultaneous with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain will come such a law prefigured in the mark of the beast prophecies. They were closer to the final crisis then than we are even with all the agitation today from the "Christian Right.
"In two centuries of American history, Congress has never came so close to passing a national Sunday law as during the height of our 1888 interest in righteousness by faith. "In 1888 Senator H. W. Blair of New Hampshire introduced a Sunday bill into the United States Congress enforcing Sunday in all Federal territories as a 'day of worship', also a religious-education amendment to the Constitution." Just after the 1888 session in Minneapolis, Ellen White wrote:
We see that efforts are being made to restrict our religious liberties. The Sunday question is now assuming large proportions. An amendment to our Constitution is being urged in Congress, and when it is obtained, oppression must follow.
Hardly had A.T. Jones finished his duties at that session than he was called to Washington, D. C, to make a presentation before the United States Senate Committee on Education and Labor, December 13, 1888. His success in opposing Blair's Sunday bill naturally made his righteousness by faith presentations more impressive. The Lord was leading him and blessing him. Further agitation for the Sunday closing of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago created a tense climate for the delegates to the General Conference session of that year:
To begin with and to lay the foundation for what is to come, we will look at the situation as it exists tonight before us in the United States government. And for this reason I shall relate the experiences of the hearing that took place lately in Washington.
When they [Congress] put that restriction there, and said that the directors should sign an agreement to close the World's Fair on Sunday, on the "Christian Sabbath", as Congress declared Sunday to be, before they could receive any money; they had just as much right to say that the World's Fair directory should sign an agreement to submit to Christian baptism before they could receive any of the appropriation....
If Congress can define what the Christian Sabbath is they can require anything else in the Christian religion.
These are some of the things that are taking place before us. Now the study will be what is soon to come upon us from what is now taking place before us. When we see that, as the testimony has said, we will see the necessity, recognize the necessity, that the Holy Spirit shall be recognized, received, presented to the people. And that is where we are, brethren, as Brother Prescott has said. The only question is: Shall we seek God for the power of his Holy Spirit?
Those of our people who were awake were deeply stirred.
Well they might be! Congress had declared officially that "the Christian Sabbath" is Sunday, something no American Congress has authority to do. Clergymen were declaring themselves ready to trample upon the convictions of Sabbath-keepers. Our people were thinking of these familiar words: "It is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law" (Psalm 119:126). Elder Jones made a powerful appeal:
Then is not that word the prayer that God has put into our mouths at this time?... Are you living day by day... in the presence of that terrible fact that it is time for God himself to work, if his integrity is going to be maintained to all the world?... It brings us to the point of such consecration as not a soul of us ever dreamed of before—unto the place of such consecration, of such devotion, as will hold ourselves in the presence of God, with that fearful thought that "It is time for thee, Lord, to work, for they have made void thy law."
Righteousness by faith is meaningless unless it actually motivates to sacrificial service. The Jones-Waggoner message was practical and effective. It not only demanded, but actually motivated to, complete devotion:
We are to warn the people of the world against this power [the beast and its image]... and to draw them away from it unto God. Now can I do that with any force at all, if I have any connection with the world or worldliness? [Congregation, "No."] If I may partake of a worldly spirit, and a worldly disposition and inclination, I want to know how I am going to warn the people to separate from the world utterly? How is there going to be enough force in my words to get anybody to do it?... I do not care whether you are a minister or not, if you are only a Seventh-day Adventist, or even only a professed Seventh-day Adventist,... I want to know how you are going to make that profession worth anything, or have any power at all upon people of this world, if you are in any way connected with this world in spirit, in mind, in thought, in wishes, in inclinations? No sir; a hair's breadth, a connection with the world as thin as a hair, will rob you of the power that there must be in this call that will warn the world against this evil power of the world, so that they shall be utterly separated from it.
The message matched the crisis.
In bold, simple words the messengers called for the ultimate measure of consecration to the Lord:
That is a splendid picture that Brother Porter read awhile ago; that the prophet looked for those who give this message, but looked too low. Said the angel, "Look higher." Thank the Lord, they are above the world. That is where they belong. Above the world, upon a foundation which God has established for them to walk upon. And every one who is down so low that any one has to look to the world to see them—such as these cannot give the third angel's message. We are to be above the world. Then cut loose, brethren.
Appeals such as the following were what led a farmer of Plainfield, Wisconsin, to sell his farm and enter the Lord's work:
Brethren, it is the worst thing that can happen to a Seventh-day Adventist who has means, when God has to pass him by and find somebody else that will give what is wanted. A Seventh-day Adventist left to himself, is the worst off man in this world. We have come to a place where God wants us to use all we have. And when we believe this our means and ourselves will be for his use.
And his work will soon be done, and then we shall not need any more means. That is the situation now.
Not since the midnight cry of 1844 had human hearts been so deeply stirred.
The latter rain and the loud cry had begun! No wonder the General Conference president felt the solemnity of the hour: "This place is becoming more and more solemn on account of the presence of God. I presume that none of us have ever before been in quite such a meeting as we are having at this time." How would you have felt to be listening to these words:
It is time for the third angel's message to reach every nation on the globe....
Well then are you ready to go? That being the message that is to go, does it not become every professor of that message to hold himself in readiness to go to the ends of the earth, when God calls him to go?... Then every man is unfaithful to the trust which God has given us in the third angel's message, if he holds himself back from the call of God to go anywhere on the globe, isn't he? Then that brings us again face to face with such a consecration as there has never been among Seventh-day Adventists. It brings us face to face with such a consecration that home, family, property, everything, is surrendered into the hands of God to let him call us and send us or such means as we have, where he pleases and do what he chooses with us...
These things as they stand now, make a greater strain upon real, actual faith than we have ever had yet.... I tell you it draws on a man. I find that it draws on me. Well, all I can say, brethren, is: “Let it draw.”
Elder S. N. Haskell had the same conviction. And he later did go to the ends of the earth, giving up his home:
Then what will we do if we are possessors of this grace? Why, I expect we will leave our homes. I expect we will be glad to leave our homes, and devote them to the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ, and be the means of carrying the truth to the uttermost parts of the earth.... If our interest is circumscribed, we may offer a few prayers—and that is all good; we may send out a few periodicals—and that is all good; but how many of us will give ourselves, will give up our interests, and let our interests and our lives be so interwoven in the work of the Lord, that our practice will be in direct harmony with the work of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?
Some made just such a consecration of their all to Jesus. The message had power unprecedented since the Midnight Cry. Ordained ministers even were rebaptized. This kind of consecration will melt the hearts of ministers today:
That is the one thing, not who shall be greatest in the Conference, or who shall be greatest in the church, or who shall have this or that position in the church, or the Conference Committee. That is not it. But, "Who shall approach the nearest to the likeness of Christ?"... Brethren, that is where we are.
Will we in this generation see the glory of God displayed in the finishing of his work?
What was the content of the 1888 message that had such great power to move hearts? It can be summed up in one word—Christ.
For once, two Seventh-day Adventist ministers caught a glimpse of what must become our grand theme for the world:
Of all professing Christians, Seventh-day Adventists should be foremost in uplifting Christ before the world... The sinner must be led to look to Calvary; with the simple faith of a little child he must trust in the merits of the Saviour, accepting his righteousness, believing in his mercy.