The Return of the Latter Rain

Defining, Outlining, and Anticipating the Latter Rain and the Loud Cry

It was during this time, before the denominational name and basic organization were adopted (between 1860 and 1863), that the Lord also revealed truths about the latter rain and the loud cry. Ellen G. Harmon, who married James White in 1846, had been chosen by God as the messenger to the remnant church, and through visions and dreams the Lord revealed what was soon to take place upon the earth.

We begin by looking at some of the earliest statements Ellen White made in regard to the work of the Holy Spirit, the latter rain, and the loud cry. In February of 1845 she was given a vision depicting the end of the 2300 days and Christ entering into His final work in the most holy place—the cleansing of the sanctuary. Ellen White was shown the participation of God’s people in the cleansing of the sanctuary and their great need of the Holy Spirit in this process. She was also shown Satan’s attempts to deceive and thwart the work taking place there:

I saw the Father rise … go into the holy of holies within the veil, and sit down. Then Jesus rose up from the throne, and the most of those who were bowed down arose with Him. … Then He raised His right arm, and we heard His lovely voice saying, “Wait here; I am going to My Father to receive the kingdom; keep your garments spotless, and in a little while I will return from the wedding and receive you to Myself.” … He stepped into the chariot and was borne to the holiest, where the Father sat. There I beheld Jesus, a great High Priest, standing before the Father. … Those who rose up with Jesus would send up their faith to Him in the holiest, and pray, “My Father, give us Thy Spirit.” Then Jesus would breathe upon them the Holy Ghost. In that breath was light, power, and much love, joy, and peace.

I turned to look at the company who were still bowed before the throne [holy place]; they did not know that Jesus had left it. Satan appeared to be by the throne, trying to carry on the work of God. I saw them look up to the throne, and pray, “Father, give us Thy Spirit.” Satan would then breathe upon them an unholy influence; in it there was light and much power, but no sweet love, joy, and peace. Satan’s object was to keep them deceived and to draw back and deceive God’s children. I saw one after another leave the company who were praying to Jesus in the Holiest and go and join those before the throne, and they at once received the unholy influence of Satan.

Several years later Ellen White wrote about the “glories of heaven” that the Lord revealed to her in her girlhood. The light that was to lighten the whole earth with its glory was sent directly from Jesus and was to be manifest through His people. In the years that followed, she would identify this light as the latter rain itself:

In my very girlhood the Lord saw fit to open before me the glories of heaven. … I looked to the world as it was in dense darkness. … and I began to see jets of light like stars dotted all through this darkness; and then I saw another and another added light, and so all through this moral darkness the star-like lights were increasing. And the angel said, “These are they that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and are obeying the words of Christ. These are the light of the world. …” I saw then these little jets of light growing brighter, shining forth from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and lighting the whole world. …

I saw that the rays of light came directly from Jesus, to form these precious jets of light in the world.

As early as 1850, Ellen White was shown that the latter rain was soon to come with great power, but not all would receive it. Satan was keeping people from the needful preparation:

You are getting the coming of the Lord too far off. I saw the latter rain was coming as the Midnight Cry and with ten times the power.

I saw that many were neglecting the preparation so needful and were looking to the time of “refreshing” and the “latter rain” to fit them to stand in the day of the Lord and to live in His sight. Oh, how many I saw in the time of trouble without a shelter!

The latter rain would bring more clearly to view the landmark truths God had revealed after 1844. In the following statement, Ellen White predicted that the latter rain would bring a better understanding of the Sabbath. This was clearly more than what the sixteenth century Reformers understood and taught. It was increased light from the throne of God:

I saw that we sensed and realized but little of the importance of the Sabbath, … But when the refreshing and latter rain shall come from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power, we shall know what it is to be fed with the heritage of Jacob and ride upon the high places of the earth. Then shall we see the Sabbath more in its importance and glory.

Laodicean Condition

Many who profess to be looking for the speedy coming of Christ, are becoming conformed to this world, … They are cold and formal, like the nominal church, that they but a short time since separated from. The words addressed to the Laodicean church, describe their present condition perfectly.

In 1857, Ellen White wrote an article for the Review describing what had been recently shown her in vision of the train of events before Christ’s second coming. There would be a shaking among God’s people caused by those rising up against the straight testimony of the True Witness to the Laodiceans. Those who would enter into a deeper experience with Christ and accept the Laodicean message would be brought into unity, would be fitted for the final conflict, and would speak forth the truth with power. This was the latter rain and loud cry which would enrage the wicked, causing them to take measures against God’s people:

I asked the meaning of the shaking I had seen. I was shown that it would be caused by the straight testimony called forth by the counsel of the True Witness to the Laodiceans. It will have its effect upon the heart of the receiver of the testimony, and it will lead him to exalt the standard and pour forth the straight truth. This straight testimony, some will not bear. They will rise up against it, and this will cause a shaking among God’s people. …

Said the angel, “List ye!” Soon I heard a voice that sounded like many musical instruments, all sounding in perfect strains, sweet and harmonious. … It seemed to be so full of mercy, compassion, and elevating, holy joy. … My attention was then turned to the company I had seen before, who were mightily shaken. … [T]hey were clothed with an armor from their head to their feet. They moved in exact order, firm like a company of soldiers. …

I heard those clothed with the armor speak forth the truth in great power. … The honest who had been held or prevented from hearing the truth, now eagerly laid hold of the truth spoken. All fear of their relatives was gone. … I asked what had made this great change. An angel answered, “It is the latter rain. The refreshing from the presence of the Lord. The loud cry of the Third Angel. …”

My attention was turned to the wicked, or unbelievers. They were all astir. The zeal and power with the people of God had aroused and enraged them. … I saw measures taken against this company, who were having the power and light of God.

The Great Controversy Vision

In the vision at Lovett’s Grove, most of the matter which I had seen ten years before concerning the great controversy of the ages between Christ and Satan, was repeated, and I was instructed to write it out. I was shown that while I should have to contend with the powers of darkness, for Satan would make strong efforts to hinder me, yet I must put my trust in God, and angels would not leave me in the conflict.

For nearly five months following her Lovett’s Grove experience, Ellen White worked to write the vision and publish it in book form. In early September, 1858, volume 1 of Spiritual Gifts was available under the title, The Great Controversy Between Christ and His Angels, and Satan and His Angels. Ellen was only thirty years old at the time, but over the next fifty plus years, this small book of just 219 pages would be expanded to a total of 3602 pages as the five-volume Conflict of the Ages Series, with only the fifth and final book bearing the original, all-inclusive title The Great Controversy. This all-encompassing theme of the great controversy would become the foundational context in which all Adventist doctrines were understood, including the latter rain and loud cry. This had already been the case before 1858, but it would grow in emphasis throughout the remainder of Ellen White’s career:

The vision at Lovett’s Grove, Ohio, on a Sunday afternoon in mid-March, 1858, was one of great importance. In this the theme of the great controversy between Christ and His angels on the one side and Satan and his angels on the other, was seen as one continuous and closely linked chain of events spanning six thousand years. This vision has put Seventh-day Adventists into a unique position with clear-cut views of the working of Providence in the history of our world—a viewpoint quite different from that held by secular historians, who see events of history as the interplay between the actions of men, often seemingly the result of chance or natural developments. In other words, this vision and others of the great conflict of the ages yield a philosophy of history that answers many questions and in prophetic forecast gives the assurance of final victory of good over evil.

In the years after her 1858 vision, Ellen White’s ever growing burden was to write what the Lord had shown her (and continued to show her) in regard to the great controversy. Her statements in regard to the loud cry and latter rain would take on new significance as well. In many of her statements, Ellen White would connect Revelation 18, the light that is to lighten the earth with its glory, with both the latter rain and the loud cry. Light would go before and follow the angel of Revelation 18. This light would be sent from heaven to counteract the corruption of the churches since 1844, to help unite God’s people in the message, and to prepare them to stand in the time of trouble:

Then I saw another mighty angel commissioned to descend to earth, and unite his voice with the third angel, and give power and force to his message. Great power and glory were imparted to the angel, and as he descended, the earth was lightened with his glory. The light which went before and followed after this angel, penetrated every where. … [T]his angel … joins in the last great work of the third angel’s message, as it swells into a loud cry. … I saw a great light resting upon them, and they united in the message, and fearlessly proclaimed with great power the third angel’s message. … I saw that this message will close with power and strength far exceeding the midnight cry.

I was pointed down to the time when the third angel’s message was closing. The power of God had rested upon his people. They had accomplished their work, and were prepared for the trying hour before them. They had received the latter rain, or refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and the living testimony had been revived. The last great warning had sounded every where, and it had stirred up and enraged the inhabitants of earth, who would not receive the message.

As the members of the body of Christ approach the period of their last conflict, “the time of Jacob’s trouble,” they will grow up into Christ, and will partake largely of his Spirit. As the third message swells to a loud cry, and as great power and glory attends the closing work, the faithful people of God will partake of that glory. It is the latter rain which revives and strengthens them to pass through the time of trouble. Their faces will shine with the glory of that light which attends the third angel.

In 1859, Ellen White wrote of the hardness of heart that was keeping the testimony to the Laodiceans from doing its work. Zealous repentance would bring the presence of Jesus and fit the church for the loud cry of the third angel. This was synonymous with the latter rain. But would “God’s people” enter into this work? Many times during the 1860s Ellen White wrote of the condition of the church. An individual work was needed if people were to be prepared to receive the latter rain and loud cry. Following are statements progressing into the late 1860s:

I was shown that the testimony to the Laodiceans applies to God’s people at the present time, and the reason it has not accomplished a greater work is because of the hardness of their hearts. But God has given the message time to do its work. The heart must be purified from sins which have so long shut out Jesus. … When it was first presented, it led to close examination of heart. Sins were confessed, and the people of God were stirred everywhere. Nearly all believed that this message would end in the loud cry of the third angel. But as they failed to see the powerful work accomplished in a short time, many lost the effect of the message. I saw that this message would not accomplish its work in a few short months. It is designed to arouse the people of God, to discover to them their backslidings, and to lead to zealous repentance, that they may be favored with the presence of Jesus, and be fitted for the loud cry of the third angel. … If the counsel of the True Witness had been fully heeded, God would have wrought for His people in greater power. … 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.

Ministers and people are unprepared for the time in which they live, and nearly all who profess to believe present truth are unprepared to understand the work of preparation for this time. … [T]hey are wholly unfitted to receive the latter rain and, … Satan … would cause them to make shipwreck of faith, fastening upon them some pleasing self-deception. They think they are all right when they are all wrong.

God’s people are not prepared for the loud cry of the third angel. They have a work to do for themselves which they should not leave for God to do for them. He has left this work for them to do. It is an individual work; one cannot do it for another.

I was shown that if God’s people make no efforts on their part, but wait for the refreshing to come upon them and remove their wrongs and correct their errors; if they depend upon that to cleanse them from filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and fit them to engage in the loud cry of the third angel, they will be found wanting. The refreshing or power of God comes only on those who have prepared themselves for it by doing the work which God bids them, namely, cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Nothing changed during the 1870s in regard to the promises of God. He was still promising to cleanse men and women from all defilement so that they would be able to recognize and receive the latter rain and proclaim the third angel’s message with a loud cry. It was in this way that the loud cry and latter rain itself would play a part in helping church members grow up in character, and prepare them to stand in the final conflict:

As the members of Christ’s body approach the period of their final conflict they will grow up into him, and will possess symmetrical characters. As the message of the third angel swells to a loud cry, great power and glory will attend the closing work. It is the latter rain, which revives and strengthens the people of God to pass through the time of Jacob’s trouble referred to by the prophets. The glory of that light which attends the third angel will be reflected upon them. God will preserve his people through that time of peril.

The Lord continued to lay a burden on both James and Ellen White to have her publish more in regard to the Great Controversy, but these were very busy times and Satan was ever ready to bring about delays. The continuing struggle to establish church order took up a good part of the early 1860s. In May, 1863, “the first official General Conference session” convened in Battle Creek and “marked the completion of the organizational structure among Seventh-day Adventists.” Yet this did not end the growth pains of an advancing movement. The unrest and Civil War taking place in the United States during this time also required time and attention. The dire need of health reform and the newly erected Western Health Reform Institute in Battle Creek, along with the challenges of those who brought in fanaticism, were very wearing on both James and Ellen. They were no strangers to sickness themselves, with James suffering four strokes between 1865 and 1873, which required extra time and attention from Ellen, taking her away from her important writing. She was not only a wife but also a mother, giving birth to their fourth child, John Herbert, in September, 1860. Three months later their young baby would die only to be joined by the eldest son Henry, in December, 1863.

These examples represent only a small sampling of the trials James and Ellen White faced during these years of strenuous labor for God’s end time church. Finally in November of 1870, The Spirit of Prophecy, volume 1 was published, covering the story of creation down through the reign of Solomon. In 1876, volume 2 was published covering the life and teachings of Christ and His miracles. Volume 3 followed in 1878 covering the remaining story of the life of Christ through to His crucifixion. But the one book which laid so heavily on Ellen White’s heart was volume 4, which would become the Great Controversy.

The Lord desired that Ellen and James White be free from their other labors so she could spend time in writing more fully the themes of the great controversy. Living in Battle Creek, where James was editor of the Review, did not leave them time for this work. Their plan was to leave in the summer of 1881 and head west to California where Ellen could devote more time to writing. James also had a burden on his heart to present more fully the subject of redemption:

The spring and early summer of 1881 we spent together at our home in Battle Creek. My husband hoped to arrange his business so that we could go to the Pacific coast and devote ourselves to writing. He felt that we had made a mistake in allowing the apparent wants of the cause and the entreaties of our brethren to urge us into active labor in preaching when we should have been writing. My husband desired to present more fully the glorious subject of redemption, and I had long contemplated the preparation of important books. We both felt that while our mental powers were unimpaired we should complete these works—that it was a duty which we owed to ourselves and to the cause of God to rest from the heat of battle, and give to our people the precious light of truth which God had opened to our minds.

We had designed to devote the coming winter to writing [1881]. My husband had said, “Let us not be turned aside from our purpose. I think we have made a mistake, in allowing the apparent wants of the cause and the earnest entreaties of our brethren to urge us into active labor in preaching when we should have been writing. … I feel assured there is a crisis before us. We should preserve our physical and mental powers for future service. The glorious subject of Redemption should long ago have been more fully presented to the people; but I have allowed myself to be called into the field, to attend campmeetings, and have become so worn that I could not engage in writing.”

Sometime in the early 1870s, Dr. M. G. Kellogg designed and copyrighted a 19" by 24" picture depicting the plan of salvation, giving it the title The Way of Life: “The picture bore the subtitle, ‘From Paradise Lost to Paradise Restored.’ Beginning back at the very gates of Eden, the story of man’s fall and his restoration was unfolded pictorially in an allegorical engraving.” The picture was accompanied by a descriptive booklet and sold through the Review and Herald. James White found the picture to be “a great aid to Adventist evangelists in their efforts to properly present the relationship between the law and the gospel.” In 1876, James White decided to improve the picture and to produce a new descriptive brochure, printing 20,000 copies to be sold through the Review and the Signs. But the overshadowing feature in the picture was the Ten Commandments hanging from the two lower limbs of the giant tree in the center of the picture. Although the cross was present in the picture it did not stand out as prominently as did the law tree.

Four years later James White began another revision of the lithograph, demonstrating a change in emphasis in his understanding by the prominent place the cross obtained in the center of the picture. Writing to his wife in early 1880, James stated: “I have a sketch also of the new picture, Behold the Lamb of God. This differs from the Way of Life in these particulars: The Law Tree is removed. Christ on the cross is made large, and placed in the center.” In January of 1881, James went to New York City to see Thomas Morgan, who was said to be the best artist in the world, in hopes of having a steel engraving made of the Way of Life. Further inspired with the potential power of the new picture, James planned next to publish a book to accompany it, enlarging the explanation of the plan of salvation already in print. He planned to entitle it Christ, the Way of Life: From Paradise Lost to Paradise Restored. But the Way of Life picture was not the only example of the changing emphasis in James’ life.

Preach Christ More

With some there is an unutterable yearning of soul for Christ, and the writer is one of this class. With some of us it has been business, work, and care, giving Christ but little room in the mind and in the affections. With others it has been nearly all theory, dwelling upon the law and the prophets, the nature and destiny of man, and the messages, while destitute, to an alarming degree, of an indwelling Christ. …

Our preachers need more encouragement. They should preach Christ more, and they should know more of Him upon whom all our hopes of success here, and of Heaven hereafter, depend.

Two summers I spent with him [James White] in Colorado. During the last few months … I was with him about eight weeks; so that I have had the best of opportunities to know him thoroughly. … In our travels together, he often mentioned the mistakes he thought he had made in his life. As we prayed alone together, he would weep over them, and plead for grace to be a true Christian man. He often said to me privately, and also spoke of it over and over in nearly all his sermons this spring and summer, that he felt he must be more tender toward his brethren, more compassionate toward the erring, that he must cultivate more love for Christ and more patience in his trials. … As all will remember, wherever he preached the past few months, he dwelt largely upon faith in Christ and the boundless love of God.

Through late June and July, 1881, James and Ellen White continued their ministry in Battle Creek. James was still editor-in-chief at the Review. Often they went to the grove near their home for a season of prayer. Ellen White later recalled one such occasion:

While walking to the usual place for prayer, [James] stopped abruptly; his face was very pale, and he said, “A deep solemnity is upon my spirit. I am not discouraged, but I feel that some change is about to take place in affairs that concern myself and you. What if you should not live? Oh, this cannot be! God has a work for you to do. But I hope you will give yourself time to rest, that you may recover from this enfeebled condition. It continues so long that I feel much anxiety as to the result. I feel a sense of danger, and with it comes an unutterable longing for the special blessing of God, an assurance that all my sins are washed away by the blood of Christ. I confess my errors, and ask your forgiveness for any word or act that has caused you sorrow. There must be nothing to hinder our prayers. Everything must be right between us, and between ourselves and God.”

We there in humility of soul confessed to each other our errors, and then made earnest supplication for the mercy and blessing of God. My husband remained bowed some minutes after our prayers had ceased. When he arose, his countenance was cheerful and happy. He praised the Lord, saying he felt the assurance of the love of Christ. …

He then uttered a few words of earnest prayer: “Thou, O God, hast a work to be done in the earth; a work so great that we in our weakness tremble as we contemplate its magnitude. But if thou wilt give us strength, we will take up the work committed to our hands, and carry it forward. We will seek to put self out of sight, and to magnify the power of grace in every word and act of life. A solemn trust is ours. What will be our record in the day of God? I will praise thee, O Lord, for I am wholly thine, and thou art mine.”

Not long after this James began to sense the possible effects on the work in Battle Creek if he and Ellen were to leave for the West Coast. Ellen “urged upon him the importance of seeking a field of labor where [they] would be released from the burdens necessarily coming upon us at Battle Creek.” In reply James spoke of various matters which required attention before they could leave— duties which someone must do. Then with deep feeling he inquired:

“Where are the men to do this work? Where are those who will have an unselfish interest in our institutions, and who will stand for the right, unaffected by any influence with which they may come in contact?” With tears he expressed his anxiety for our institutions at Battle Creek. Said he: “My life has been given to the up-building of these institutions. It seems like death to leave them. They are as my children, and I cannot separate my interest from them. These institutions are the Lord’s instrumentalities to do a specific work. Satan seeks to hinder and defeat every means by which the Lord is working for the salvation of men. If the great adversary can mold these institutions according to the world’s standard, his object is gained. It is my greatest anxiety to have the right man in the right place. If those who stand in responsible positions are weak in moral power, and vacillating in principle, inclined to lead toward the world, there are enough who will be led. Evil influences must not prevail. I would rather die than live to see these institutions mismanaged, or turned aside from the purpose for which they were brought into existence.”

The Death of James White

When I sat with the hand of my dying husband in my own, I knew that God was at work. While I sat there on the bed by his side, he in such feverness, it was there, like a clear chain of light presented before me: The workmen are buried, but the work shall go on. I have workmen that shall take hold of this work. Fear not; be not discouraged; it shall go forward.

It was there I understood that I was to take the work and a burden stronger than I had ever borne before. It was there that I promised the Lord that I would stand at my post of duty, and I have tried to do it. I do, as far as possible, the work that God has given me to do, with the understanding that God was to bring an element in this work that we have not had yet.

God would raise up others that would bring in an element to the work which they had not had yet. After James’ death, Ellen White was at the point of death herself. When she recovered, she sought the Lord’s will for her life. In an interesting dream, she received her answer. Her work of writing was of utmost importance; sharing through pen what God had shown her years before and that should be put before the people. She was also shown that more precious jewels of light were to be shared with God’s people:

“Ellen Dreams of James After His Death—A few days since I was pleading with the Lord for light in regard to my duty. In the night I dreamed I was in the carriage, driving, sitting at the right hand. Father [James White] was in the carriage, seated at my left hand. He was very pale, but calm and composed. ‘Why Father,’

I exclaimed, ‘I am so happy to have you by my side once more! I have felt that half of me was gone. Father, I saw you die; I saw you buried. Has the Lord pitied me and let you come back to me again, and we work together as we used to?’

He looked very sad. He said, ‘The Lord knows what is best for you and for me. My work was very dear to me. We have made a mistake. We have responded to urgent invitations of our brethren to attend important meetings. We had not the heart to refuse. …’

‘Now, Ellen, calls will be made as they have been, desiring you to attend important meetings, as has been the case in the past. But lay this matter before God and make no response to the most earnest invitations. Your life hangs as it were upon a thread. You must have quiet rest, freedom from all excitement and from all disagreeable cares. We might have done a great deal for years with our pens, on subjects the people need that we have had light upon and can present before them, which others do not have. Thus you can work when your strength returns, as it will, and you can do far more with your pen than with your voice.’

He looked at me appealingly and said, ‘You will not neglect these cautions, will you, Ellen? … We ought to have gone to the Pacific Coast before, and devoted our time and energies to writing. Will you do this now? Will you, as your strength returns, take your pen and write out these things we have so long anticipated, and make haste slowly? There is important matter which the people need. Make this your first business. You will have to speak some to the people, but shun the responsibilities which have borne us down.’

‘Well,’ said I, ‘James, you are always to stay with me now and we will work together.’ Said he, ‘I stayed in Battle Creek too long. I ought to have gone to California more than one year ago. But I wanted to help the work and institutions at Battle Creek. I have made a mistake. Your heart is tender. You will be inclined to make the same mistakes I have made. Your life can be of use to the cause of God. Oh, those precious subjects the Lord would have had me bring before the people, precious jewels of light!’ I awoke. But this dream seemed so real.

After Ellen White recovered following the death of James, she moved to Healdsburg, California, to seek rest and quiet where she could once again take up her work on volume 4, The Great Controversy. Early in August, 1882, Ellen White bought a two-story house on Powell Street which bordered the town. In late August, while in Oakland, she suffered serious illness that lasted several weeks. As she began to recover, she pleaded to be taken to the Health Retreat at St. Helena, but she did not improve there. As the time for the California camp meeting to be held at Healdsburg drew near, she requested to be taken back to her Healdsburg home. She wished to be strong enough to bear her testimony at the camp meeting. It was her hope, and the hope of her family, that in the environment of the camp meeting she might experience a renewal of life and strength.

Camp meeting opened in early October, 1882, in a grove about half a mile from her home. Although very feeble and hardly able to leave her bed, at noon on the first Sabbath she gave instruction to prepare a place in the large tent where she could hear the speaker. A sofa was arranged for her on the broad speaker’s stand, and she was carried into the big tent and placed upon it. Those nearby observed not only her weakness but also the deathly paleness of her face. Recalling the experience some years later, Ellen White said that not only was the large tent full, but “it seemed as if nearly all Healdsburg was present.”

It's a Miracle

All at once I felt a power come upon me, like a shock of electricity. It passed through my body and up to my head. The people said that they plainly saw the blood mounting to my lips, my ears, my cheeks, my forehead.

Every eye in the audience seemed fixed on her. Mr. Montrose, a businessman from the town, stood to his feet and exclaimed, “We are seeing a miracle performed before our eyes; Mrs. White is healed!” Her voice strengthened, her sentences came clear and full, and she bore a testimony such as the audience had never heard before. J. H. Waggoner filled out the story in his report in the Signs:

Her voice and appearance changed, and she spoke for some time with clearness and energy. She then invited those who wished to make a start in the service of God, and those who were far backslidden, to come forward, and a goodly number answered to the call.

Uriah Smith, who was present, reported in the Review and Herald that after the miraculous healing “she was able to attend meetings … as usual, and spoke six times with her ordinary strength of voice and clearness of thought.” Referring to the experience, Ellen White said, “It was as if one had been raised from the dead. … This sign the people in Healdsburg were to have as a witness for the truth.” This event, which seemed to be a turning point in her physical condition, opened the way for a strong ministry. In reporting her two-month illness, she remarked that she had expected it would gradually pass. Instead, she was healed instantaneously:

For two months my pen has been resting; but I am deeply grateful that I am now able to resume my writing. The Lord has given me an additional evidence of his mercy and loving-kindness by again restoring me to health. By my recent illness I was brought very near to the grave; but the prayers of the Lord’s people availed in my behalf. …

When the first Sabbath of the meeting came, I felt that I must be upon the camp-ground, for I might there meet the Divine Healer. … The people saw me in my feebleness, and many remarked that to all appearance I was a candidate for the grave. Nearly all present marked the change which took place in me while I was addressing them. … Divine power has wrought a great work for me, whereof I am glad. I was able to labor every day during the meeting, and several times spoke more than one hour and a half. My whole system was imbued with new strength and vigor. A new tide of emotions, a new and elevated faith, took possession of my soul. …

Before my sickness, I thought that I had faith in the promises of God; yet I find myself surprised at the great change wrought in me, so far exceeding my expectations. I am unworthy of this manifestation of the love of God. I have reason to praise God more earnestly, to walk in greater humility before him, and to love him more fervently than ever before. I am placed under renewed obligation to give to the Lord all that there is of me. I must shed upon others the blessed radiance which he has permitted to shine upon me.

A Promise Kept

As he sat a little apart from the body of the congregation in the large tent one gloomy Sabbath afternoon, he listened to Ellen White preach “the gospel of His grace” with, as Uriah Smith stated, “extra ordinary strength of voice and clearness of thought.” Waggoner would later describe his experience as being as real as that of Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus. This experience would guide him in the study of the Bible for the rest of his life and prepare him for taking that message of divine grace to a church languishing in a Laodicean condition. Clearly, God had kept His promise to Ellen White a year before and was raising up other workers to take the place of James White. He was also placing on their hearts the same burden of presenting Christ in all of the Bible, and giving a fuller view of the plan of salvation and righteousness by faith. Waggoner would write of this experience several times throughout his lifetime:

There are some scenes that are landmarks in my experience, beginning with my first conviction of sin, after the reproof of the Spirit and then the revelation of Christ crucified for me, while you were speaking at the Healdsburg camp- meeting in 1882. That has been a light upon my way, that has guided me in all my study of the Bible, and which has got brighter and brighter.

It was during a talk given by you [Ellen White] twenty-one years ago [1882] that I received the light which has been the great blessing of my life and which so far as I have kept it in view, has guided me in the study of the Bible. Therefore I have always had peculiar evidence of the fact that God has used you for a special work in His cause.

Many years ago, the writer sat in a tent one dismal rainy afternoon, where a servant of the Lord was presenting the Gospel of His grace; not a word of the text or texts used, nor of what was said by the speaker, has remained with me, and I have never been conscious of having heard a word; but, in the midst of the discourse an experience came to me that was the turning point in my life. Suddenly a light shone about me, and the tent seemed illumined, as though the sun were shining; I saw Christ crucified for me, and to me was revealed for the first time in my life the fact that God loved me, and that Christ gave Himself for me personally. It was all for me. If I could describe my feelings, they would not be understood by those who have not had a similar experience, and to such no explanation is necessary. I believe that the Bible is the word of God, penned by holy men who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and I knew that this light that came to me was a revelation direct from heaven; therefore I knew that in the Bible I should find the message of God’s love for individual sinners, and I resolved that the rest of my life should be devoted to finding it there, and making it plain to others. The light that shone upon me that day from the cross of Christ, has been my guide in all my Bible study; wherever I have turned in the Sacred Book, I have found Christ set forth as the power of God, to the salvation of individuals and I have never found anything else.

At that time Christ was set forth before my eyes ‘evidently crucified’ before me. I was sitting a little apart from the body of the congregation in the large tent at a camp meeting in Healdsburg, one gloomy Sabbath afternoon. … All that has remained with me was what I saw. Suddenly a light shone round me, and the tent was more brilliantly lighted than if the noon-day sun had been shining, and I saw Christ hanging on the cross, crucified for me. In that moment I had my first positive knowledge, which came like an overwhelming flood, that God loved me, and that Christ died for me.

God and I were the only beings I was conscious of in the universe. I knew then, by actual sight, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself; I was the whole world with all its sin. I am sure that Paul’s experience on the way to Damascus was no more real than mine. … I resolved at once that I would study the Bible in light of that revelation, in order that I might help others to see the same truth.

It was only a short time after this experience that by God’s providence Waggoner would meet A. T. Jones and together they would bring a “most precious message” to the church. It was God’s intent that when the latter rain message was accepted it would soon go to the entire world with a loud cry.

A. T. Jones was born in 1850, and unlike Waggoner, did not grow up in an Adventist home. He joined the army at age twenty and had served for fourteen months before some Adventist publications fell into his hands. On August 8, 1874, Jones was baptized in Walla Walla, Washington Territory. For weeks he had been “earnestly seeking the Lord,” and a few days earlier he had received “bright evidence of sins forgiven.” After his conversion and baptism, he immediately joined I. D. Van Horn in evangelistic work and raising up churches in the Northwest. In 1877 he was married to Frances Patton and was ordained as a minister the following year. Unable to attend further training at Battle Creek, Jones had to rely on his love for reading for his education. Early on, he became one of the most well-read defenders of religious liberty.

Only a few months before the Healdsburg camp-meeting, Ellen White penned words which carry significant meaning in light of Jones’ and Waggoner’s conversion experiences. God would choose men that were taught by God rather than the schools of the day:

In the last solemn work few great men will be engaged. … But it may be under a rough and uninviting exterior the pure brightness of a genuine Christian character will be revealed. …

God will work a work in our day that but few anticipate. He will raise up and exalt among us those who are taught rather by the unction of His Spirit than by the outward training of scientific institutions. … God will manifest that He is not dependent on learned, self-important mortals.

Ellen White also wrote of the Church’s great need for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to make it’s work effective. But what was the condition of God’s people? The True Witness was still calling for repentance. Backsliding had become chronic and true revival was needed. Only the quickening power of the Holy Spirit through the gospel would remedy the situation:

We should pray as earnestly for the descent of the Holy Spirit as the disciples prayed on the day of Pentecost. If they needed it at that time, we need it more today. Moral darkness, like a funeral pall, covers the earth. All manner of false doctrines, heresies, and satanic deceptions are misleading the minds of men. Without the Spirit and power of God it will be in vain that we labor to present the truth.

The Lord has not closed heaven to us, but our own course of continual backsliding has separated us from God. …

Will you heed the counsel of the True Witness to seek the gold tried in the fire, the white raiment, and the eyesalve? The gold is faith and love, the white raiment is the righteousness of Christ, the eyesalve is that spiritual discernment which will enable you to see the wiles of Satan and shun them, to detect sin and abhor it, to see truth and obey it.

There is altogether too little of the Spirit and power of God in the labor of the watchmen. The Spirit which characterized that wonderful meeting on the Day of Pentecost is waiting to manifest its power upon the men who are now standing between the living and the dead as ambassadors for God. The power which stirred the people so mightily in the 1844 movement will again be revealed. The third angel’s message will go forth, not in whispered tones, but with a loud voice.

Nothing but the life-giving influences of the gospel can help the soul. Pray that the mighty energies of the Holy Spirit, with all their quickening, recuperative, and transforming power, may fall like an electric shock on the palsy-stricken soul, causing every nerve to thrill with new life, restoring the whole man from his dead, earthly, sensual state to spiritual soundness. You will thus become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust; and in your souls will be reflected the image of Him by whose stripes you are healed.

God had not given up on His people. He had kept his promise to Ellen White. He was preparing workmen who would bring in “an element in this work that we have not had yet.” Workmen who would be able to “preach Christ more,” that the “most precious message” of an “in dwelling Christ” so vital for God’s people, would be proclaimed. This was in order that the church, and the world, “should know more of Him upon whom all our hopes and success here, and of Heaven hereafter, depend.” Heavenly plans were set in place that the “mighty energies of the Holy Spirit” might soon fall upon the church and renew their palsy-stricken souls.