Article

# Elijah - Number Six

Ten Tests

Author

Jeff Pippenger

Published

October 5, 2023

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Key Takeaways

- Mount Carmel and Mount Sinai Symbolism
- Tenth Test in Numbers 14
- Millerite and Final Movements
- Elijah Symbolism
- Doctrinal Tests
- Symbolism of “Ten”
- Final Test

We have been addressing the symbolism of Elijah and are now using the histories of Mount Carmel and Mount Sinai to illustrate a progressive testing process for the horn of Protestantism and a progressive political development for the horn of Republicanism that parallels the horn of Protestantism.

The last article was working through the rebellion of Numbers chapter thirteen and fourteen which identifies the tenth and final test for ancient Israel after their crossing of the Red Sea. The history aligns with the beginning movement of Millerite history, but also with the history of God’s ending movement. The work of all three angels of Revelation fourteen is accomplished by a movement at the beginning and a movement at the end.

> “The angel who unites in the proclamation of the third angel’s message is to lighten the whole earth with his glory. A work of world-wide extent and unwonted power is here foretold. The advent movement of 1840–44 was a glorious manifestation of the power of God; the first angel’s message was carried to every missionary station in the world, and in some countries there was the greatest religious interest which has been witnessed in any land since the Reformation of the sixteenth century; but these are to be exceeded by the mighty movement under the last warning of the third angel.” The Great Controversy, 611.

Between the history of the beginning movement and the ending movement, we find the history of the church of Laodicea. The angel that lightens the earth with its glory is clearly identified as a movement, not a church.

> “Of Babylon, at the time brought to view in this prophecy, it is declared: ‘Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.’ Revelation 18:5. She has filled up the measure of her guilt, and destruction is about to fall upon her. But God still has a people in Babylon; and before the visitation of His judgments these faithful ones must be called out, that they partake not of her sins and ‘receive not of her plagues.’ Hence the movement symbolized by the angel coming down from heaven, lightening the earth with his glory and crying mightily with a strong voice, announcing the sins of Babylon. In connection with his message the call is heard: ‘Come out of her, My people.’ These announcements, uniting with the third angel’s message, constitute the final warning to be given to the inhabitants of the earth.” The Great Controversy, 604.

All the prophets agree with one another and they all identify more specifically “the last days,” than they identify the days in which the prophecies were proclaimed. As an example of this phenomenon the angel of Revelation eighteen, was and is typified by the angel of Revelation ten. Both lighten the earth with its glory when it descends. Sister White identifies the first angel in the book Early Writings.

> “Jesus commissioned a mighty angel to descend and warn the inhabitants of the earth to prepare for His second appearing. As the angel left the presence of Jesus in heaven, an exceedingly bright and glorious light went before him. I was told that his mission was to lighten the earth with his glory and warn man of the coming wrath of God.” Early Writings, 245.

That angel of Revelation eighteen descended on September 11, 2001. It had been typified by the angel that descended on August 11, 1840. In Isaiah chapter six, Isaiah is shown the temple in heaven and God’s glory. In verse three of chapter six it identifies that the whole earth is full of God’s glory. That happens when the angel of Revelation eighteen descends.

> And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. Revelation 18:1.

Verse three of Isaiah six identifies the same history.

> And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. Isaiah 6:3.

Sister White brings Isaiah’s vision of the sanctuary together with the movement of Revelation eighteen.

> “The seraphim before the throne are so filled with reverential awe in beholding the glory of God that they do not for an instant look upon themselves with self-complacency, or in admiration of themselves or one another. Their praise and glory are for the Lord of Hosts, who is high and lifted up, and the glory of whose train fills the temple. As they see the future, when the whole earth shall be filled with his glory, the triumphant song of praise is echoed from one to another in melodious chant, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts.’ They are fully satisfied to glorify God; and in his presence, beneath his smile of approbation, they wish for nothing more. In bearing his image, in doing his service and worshiping him, their highest ambition is fully reached.

> “The vision given to Isaiah represents the condition of God’s people in the last days.” Review and Herald, December 22, 1896.

John in Revelation chapter ten and also in chapter eighteen, and with Isaiah in chapter six and including the commentary of Sister White, place all these illustrations of the earth being lightened with God’s glory at the same point in history. The whole earth witnessed the events that took place on September 11, 2001. The progressive history of the Millerite movement that concluded in 1863, typified the history when the mighty angel of Revelation eighteen descends with the history associated with the angel that descended in Revelation chapter ten. With these opening premises in place, we will return to the testing process represented in Numbers chapter fourteen. After Moses interceded for the rebels that wished to return to Egypt and stone Joshua and Caleb, God accepts Moses’ intercession.

> And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word: But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it. Numbers 14:20–24.

The history represented here in Numbers fourteen is the final test for ancient Israel and their failure secured for them death in the wilderness over the following forty years. The history is directly associated with Revelation eighteen for God there proclaimed that “as truly as” God lives “all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” It’s a very strong statement that God places in this historical record, and in so doing He emphasizes that the history represented in Numbers chapters thirteen and fourteen, pointed forward to the mighty movement of the angel of Revelation eighteen. Because Revelation eighteen is the end of the remnant people of God, the beginning of the remnant people of God is also illustrated in the passage we are considering in the book of Numbers.

On August 11, 1840, at the fulfillment of a prophecy of Islam of the second woe, the former chosen covenant people were tested by the message of Elijah that had just been proven to be correct.

On September 11, 2001, at the fulfillment of a prophecy of Islam of the third woe, the former chosen covenant people marked the beginning of the judgment of the living as the message of Elijah that had just been proven to be correct.

The Elijah message of the Millerite history was set within the context of prophetic time. The Elijah message on September 11, 2001 was set within the context of the repetition of history. September 11, 2001 repeated the history of August 11, 1840 for both dates represent a fulfillment of a prophecy of Islam, and both mark the descent of the angel, that Sister White said is “no less a personage than Jesus Christ.” Though Sister White never says the angel of Revelation eighteen “was no less a personage than Jesus Christ” as she does of the angel of Revelation ten, the angel of Revelation eighteen lightens the earth with “his” glory, and the Scriptures are clear that it is the glory of Jesus Christ that lightens the earth.

The instrument of judgment that brought about the test of the Protestants in the beginning was the Millerite movement as represented by Elijah. The instrument of judgment that brings about the test of Seventh-day Adventism at the end is the Elijah movement as represented by the one hundred and forty-four thousand. The symbol of Elijah has more than one meaning, and though he represents Miller and the Millerite movement, he also represents the one hundred and forty-four thousand.

> “Moses upon the mount of transfiguration was a witness to Christ’s victory over sin and death. He represented those who shall come forth from the grave at the resurrection of the just. Elijah, who had been translated to heaven without seeing death, represented those who will be living upon the earth at Christ’s second coming, and who will be ‘changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump;’ when ‘this mortal must put on immortality,’ and ‘this corruptible must put on incorruption.’ 1 Corinthians 15:51-53. Jesus was clothed with the light of heaven, as He will appear when He shall come ‘the second time without sin unto salvation.’ For He will come ‘in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.’ Hebrews 9:28; Mark 8:38. The Saviour’s promise to the disciples was now fulfilled. Upon the mount the future kingdom of glory was represented in miniature,—Christ the King, Moses a representative of the risen saints, and Elijah of the translated ones.” The Desire of Ages, 412.

The covenant people that are passed by are the majority of ten to two. Many are called, but few are chosen. The failure of the tenth test was based upon whether the evil report, or the good report of the Promised Land was rejected or accepted. Thus, the history here illustrated demonstrates that victory or defeat in the progressive testing history is premised upon a choice of two methodologies that interpret the same information.

All twelve spies saw the Promised Land, but two different conclusions were drawn concerning what the Promised Land represented. One report was motivated by human fear the other by faith. One manifested a desire to reject the leading of God and return to Egyptian slavery and the other report manifested a desire to trust the leading of God and move forward into the Promised Land.

In the Millerite movement, the majority also chose to return to the bondage of Babylon and become her daughters, and this was the manifestation of their decision to reject the prophetic message of the first angel. The faithful Millerites chose to follow the prophetic message of the first angel, even after the apparent failure at the first disappointment in the spring of 1844. The history of Numbers sets forth two different “reports” of the twelve spies, representing two different analyses of the same prophetic message. In 1863, Laodicean Adventism did not accept a prophetic message, they rejected a formerly established prophetic message. In 1863, Laodicean Adventism returned to and accepted the biblical methodology that opposed William Miller throughout his ministry. Those that rejected the prophetic message and desired to return to bondage were typified by the rebels of Numbers fourteen, who ultimately died in the wilderness.

The number ten, when considered as a symbol, as with all symbols has more than one meaning. Its symbolic meaning must be understood by the context of the passage where it is located. “Ten” as a symbol can represent persecution. It can represent a test. It can represent the ten-fold union of the kings of Europe, the northern tribes of Israel and the United Nations. In the church of Smyrna God’s people were to have tribulation for ten days.

> Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. Revelation 2:10.

The historians point to the persecution carried out by Diocletian in the history of Smyrna, for that being the most severe persecution of Smyrna’s history, and it lasted ten years. Other historians identify ten different persecutions in the history of Smyrna. Either way, they were carried out by Imperial Rome, which in Daniel seven is represented by ten horns. Those ten kings were the kings, typified by Ahab who committed fornication with the papacy, and were the tool of persecution the papacy used to accomplish the slaughter during the Dark Ages. “Ten” represents the state power that accomplishes the persecution for Jezebel. In Daniel chapter one “ten” symbolizes a testing period.

> Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat. Daniel 1:12–15.

In Numbers fourteen ancient Israel had provoked God ten times, representing ten tests over a period of time.

> But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice. Numbers 14:21, 22.

If you were to search the internet for the understanding of what specific rebellions represent the nine rebellions or failed tests from the deliverance at the Red Sea until the tenth test you will find a few variations of which of the failures of ancient Israel should be marked as one of those ten tests. I contend that the Red Sea deliverance that has been specifically identified as lining up with October 22, 1844, is the beginning of the ten tests, and therefore the place to begin counting the tests that arose from 1844 to 1863. There had been a progressive testing process that began in 1798 when the book of Daniel was unsealed, and that process covered the history of the first and second angel’s messages that concluded at the arrival of the third angel on October 22, 1844.

> “In Minneapolis God gave precious gems of truth to His people in new settings. This light from heaven by some was rejected with all the stubbornness the Jews manifested in rejecting Christ, and there was much talk about standing by the old landmarks. But there was evidence they knew not what the old landmarks were. There was evidence and there was reasoning from the word that commended itself to the conscience; but the minds of men were fixed, sealed against the entrance of light, because they had decided it was a dangerous error removing the ‘old landmarks’ when it was not moving a peg of the old landmarks, but they had perverted ideas of what constituted the old landmarks.

> “The passing of the time in 1844 was a period of great events, opening to our astonished eyes the cleansing of the sanctuary transpiring in heaven, and having decided relation to God’s people upon the earth, [also] the first and second angels’ messages and the third, unfurling the banner on which was inscribed, ‘The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.’ One of the landmarks under this message was the temple of God, seen by His truth-loving people in heaven, and the ark containing the law of God. The light of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment flashed its strong rays in the pathway of the transgressors of God’s law. The nonimmortality of the wicked is an old landmark. I can call to mind nothing more that can come under the head of the old landmarks. All this cry about changing the old landmarks is all imaginary.” The 1888 Materials, 518.

On October 22, 1844 the third angel arrived with a message in his hand.

> “As the ministration of Jesus closed in the holy place, and He passed into the holiest, and stood before the ark containing the law of God, He sent another mighty angel with a third message to the world. A parchment was placed in the angel’s hand, and as he descended to the earth in power and majesty, he proclaimed a fearful warning, with the most terrible threatening ever borne to man.” Early Writings, 254.

On October 22, 1844 an angel descended with a parchment in his hand that God’s people were to eat. The “landmarks” doctrines that are then identified are to either be eaten and accepted or rejected and not eaten. When the third angel arrived with the parchment in his hand, the message within the parchment represented six testing truths. Those six tests were identified as the “passing of time,” representing the twenty-three hundred year prophecy; the judgment, represented as “the cleansing of the sanctuary”; the three angel’s messages; “the law of God”; “the Sabbath”; and the state of the dead as represented as the “nonimmortality of the soul.”

Those six truths are of course interrelated, but they individually were identified as landmarks. Some may not wish to include the passing of time in this list, but obviously many rejected the truth that October 22, 1844 was a genuine fulfillment of prophecy. They failed that test, which of course prevented them from struggling with the tests that followed. God’s testing process has been repeatedly established as a progressive process that requires victory over the test you are first given, before you can be involved with the following test.

> “When we began to present the light on the Sabbath question, we had no clearly defined idea of the third angel’s message of Revelation 14:9–12. The burden of our testimony as we came before the people was that the great second advent movement was of God, that the first and second messages had gone forth, and that the third was to be given. We saw that the third message closed with the words: ‘Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.’ And we as clearly saw as we now see that these prophetic words suggested a Sabbath reform; but as to what the worship of the beast mentioned in the message was, or what the image and the mark of the beast were, we had no defined position.

> “God by His Holy Spirit let light shine forth upon His servants, and the subject gradually opened to their minds. It required much study and anxious care to search it out, link after link. By care, anxiety, and incessant labor has the work moved on until the great truths of our message, a clear, connected, perfect whole, have been given to the world.

> “I have already spoken of my acquaintance with Elder Bates. I found him to be a true Christian gentleman, courteous and kind. He treated me as tenderly as though I were his own child. The first time he heard me speak, he manifested deep interest. After I had ceased speaking, he arose and said: ‘I am a doubting Thomas. I do not believe in visions. But if I could believe that the testimony the sister has related tonight was indeed the voice of God to us, I should be the happiest man alive. My heart is deeply moved. I believe the speaker to be sincere, but cannot explain in regard to her being shown the wonderful things she has related to us.’

> “A few months after my marriage, I attended, with my husband, a Conference at Topsham, Maine, at which Elder Bates was present. He did not then fully believe that my visions were of God. That meeting was a season of much interest. The Spirit of God rested upon me; I was wrapped in a vision of God’s glory, and for the first time had a view of other planets. After I came out of vision, I related what I had seen. Elder B. then asked if I had studied astronomy. I told him I had no recollection of ever looking into an astronomy. Said he: ‘This is of the Lord.’ I never before saw him so free and happy. His countenance shone with the light of heaven, and he exhorted the church with power.” Testimonies, volume 1, 78–80.

Certainly, all these doctrinal tests are interconnected, but they are also tests that can be isolated, and they were progressively opened up to God’s servants. There are many churches who observe the seventh-day Sabbath, but who reject the message of the three angels. They reject the truth that judgment began on October 22, 1844, but still observe the Sabbath. These doctrinal tests are interconnected but represent six specific tests.

As just illustrated by Joseph Bates, the sea captain that was fully familiar with astronomy accepted the Spirit of Prophecy, which he had previously rejected. In December of 1844, Ellen White received her first vision and the seventh test arrived in the movement.

> “The Bible must be your counselor. Study it and the testimonies God has given; for they never contradict his Word. If the Testimonies speak not according to the word of God, reject them. Christ and Belial cannot be united.” Selected Messages, book 3, 33.

Shortly after the great disappointment Sister White endorsed an article which identified Christ moving from the holy place into the Most Holy Place on October 22, 1844. She recommended the publication to “every saint.”

> “I believe the Sanctuary, to be cleansed at the end of the 2300 days, is the New Jerusalem Temple, of which Christ is a minister. The Lord shew me in vision, more than one year ago, that Brother Crosier had the true light, on the cleansing of the Sanctuary, &c; and that it was his will, that Brother C. should write out the view which he gave us in the Day-Star, Extra, February 7, 1846. I feel fully authorized by the Lord, to recommend that Extra, to every saint.” A Word to the Little Flock, 12.

Her endorsement was of Crosier’s description of Christ’s movement to the Most Holy Place, but the article contained several erroneous teachings, including apostate Protestantism’s teaching that the “daily” in the book of Daniel represented Christ’s ministry. She therefore penned a clarification that first was published in 1850 and then later included in the book Early Writings. There she identified that “those who gave the judgment hour cry had the correct view of the ‘daily’.”

> “Then I saw in relation to the ‘daily’ (Daniel 8:12) that the word ‘sacrifice’ was supplied by man’s wisdom, and does not belong to the text, and that the Lord gave the correct view of it to those who gave the judgment hour cry. When union existed, before 1844, nearly all were united on the correct view of the ‘daily’; but in the confusion since 1844, other views have been embraced, and darkness and confusion have followed.” Early Writings, 74.

The subject of “the daily” in the book of Daniel became a symbol of Adventism’s return to the methodology of apostate Protestantism in the early part of the twentieth century, and today the correct Millerite understanding of “the daily” has been rejected by the theologians of Adventism. It has been rejected, in spite of Sister White clearly identifying that the Millerites were correct in identifying “the daily” as the satanic power of paganism. They rejected the truth of “the daily” not only in contradiction of her inspired endorsement that the Millerites understanding was correct, but also in direct contradiction of her straightly identifying that the false doctrine that teaches that “the daily” represents Christ’s sanctuary ministry was delivered by “angels that were expelled from heaven!”

> “And there was Brother Daniells, whose mind the enemy was working; and your mind and Elder Prescott’s mind were being worked by the angels that were expelled from heaven.” Manuscript Releases, volume 20, 17.

Her profound rejection of what Adventism now uses as one of its “dishes of fables” was so severe, because Daniells and Prescott took a symbol of satanic power (paganism) and assigned that symbol to Christ’s (His sanctuary ministry). This makes eight doctrinal tests.

The ninth test in the history leading to 1863 is the production of the second table of Habakkuk in 1850. The 1843 pioneer chart was produced in 1842, and is only called the 1843 chart because it predicted Christ’s return in 1843. The command to produce a second table of Habakkuk was given to Sister White in 1850. The production of Habakkuk’s two tables link the history of the first and second angels to the history of the third. In her grandson’s biography of her life and work, he provides an overview of the events that led to the production of the 1850 chart. He does so by selecting relevant comments of Sister White and adds his commentary in the overview.

> “On our return to Brother Nichols’ the Lord gave me a vision and showed me that the truth must be made plain upon tables and it would cause many to decide for the truth by the third angel’s message, with the two former being made plain upon tables.—Letter 28, 1850.

> “In this vision she was also shown that which would give James White courage to continue publishing:

> “I also saw it was as necessary for the paper to be published as for the messengers to go, for the messengers need a paper to carry with them containing present truth to put in the hands of those that hear, and then the truth would not fade from the mind. And that the paper would go where the messengers could not go.—Ibid.

> “Work on the new chart was begun at once, and opportunity was given to tell the brethren about it in the issue of Present Truth that James got out the next month:

> “The Chart. A chronological chart of the visions of Daniel and John, calculated to illustrate clearly the present truth, is now being lithographed under the care of Brother Otis Nichols, of Dorchester, Massachusetts. Those who teach the present truth will be greatly aided by it. Further notice of the chart will be given hereafter.—Present Truth, November, 1850.

> “By late January, 1851, the chart was ready and advertised for $2. James White was much pleased with it and offered it free to ‘those whom God has called to give the message of the third angel’ (Review and Herald, January, 1851). Some generous donations had helped meet the expense of publication.” Arthur White, Ellen G. White: The Early Years, volume 1, 185.

Speaking of the 1843 chart Sister White recorded that it had been directed by God.

> “The Lord showed me that the 1843 chart was directed by his hand, and that no part of it should be altered; that the figures were as he wanted them. That his hand was over and hid a mistake in some of the figures, so that none could see it, until his hand was removed.” Review and Herald, November 1, 1850.

When recording the light associated with the command to produce another chart in 1850, she provided the same divine endorsement of the 1850 chart as was given concerning the 1843 chart, while also identifying that other charts that were then being produced were not acceptable to the Lord. The command to produce a new chart was incorporated with a command to print a new publication.

> “I saw the chart-making business was all wrong. It originated with Brother Rhodes and was followed out by Brother Case. Means has been spent in making charts and forming uncouth disgusting images to represent angels and the glorious Jesus. Such things I saw were displeasing to God. I saw that God was in the publishment of the chart by Brother Nichols. I saw that there was a prophecy of this chart in the Bible, and if this chart is designed for God’s people, if it [is] sufficient for one it is for another, and if one needed a new chart painted on a larger scale, all need it just as much.

> “I saw that it was a restless, uneasy, unsatisfied, ungrateful feeling in Brother Case that desired another chart. I saw that these painted charts had a bad effect upon the congregation. It caused a light, chaffy spirit of ridicule to be in the meeting.

> “I saw that the charts ordered by God struck the mind favorably, even without an explanation. There is something light, lovely, and heavenly in the representation of the angels on the charts. The mind is almost imperceptibly led to God and heaven. But the other charts that have been gotten up disgust the mind, and cause the mind to dwell more on earth than heaven. Images representing angels look more like fiends than beings of heaven. I saw that the charts had for days and weeks occupied Brother Case’s mind when he should have been seeking heavenly wisdom from God, and should have been growing in graces of the Spirit and the knowledge of the truth.

> “I saw that if the means that has been wasted in getting out charts had been spent in getting out the truth clear before the brethren in publishing tracts, etc., it would have done much good and saved souls. I saw that the chart-making business has spread like the fever.” Manuscript Releases, number 13, 359; 1853.

She plainly states that “God was in the publishment of the [1850] chart by Brother Nichols,” and that there was “a prophecy [Habakkuk two] of this chart in the Bible.” She also identified that “the charts” [plural; 1843 and 1850] that were “ordered by God struck the mind favorably, even without an explanation.” Habakkuk two commanded the Millerites to make the vision plain upon tables, (in the plural), that he that read the two charts could run to and fro in God’s Word. The divine charts needed no added explanations, as was the case with Uriah Smith’s 1863 counterfeit chart.

> And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. Habakkuk 2:2.

The tenth test is the focus of this article. With the ten tests referenced by Moses in Numbers chapter fourteen the Hebrew scholars and other theologians produce a variation of guesses at which events in the history from the Red Sea deliverance to the rebellion of the ten spies might represent. The rebellion of that history provides a few variations to choose from, but it is certain the tenth test marks the beginning of forty years of death by attrition in the wilderness until all the rebels that were of the age of accountability were dead.

In like manner some may protest over my selection of these ten doctrinal tests, for there may be variations that seem better than what I am here setting forth. That being said, the tenth and final test is as clear as was the rebellion of the ten spies. It was the rejection of the seven times of Leviticus twenty-six. There are several prophetic proofs to uphold this identification.

In the next article we will begin to identify those prophetic witnesses that uphold the identification that the seven times of Leviticus twenty-six is the tenth and final failure of Laodicean Adventism.

> “When the power of God testifies as to what is truth, that truth is to stand forever as the truth. No aftersuppositions, contrary to the light God has given are to be entertained. Men will arise with interpretations of Scripture which are to them truth, but which are not truth. The truth for this time, God has given us as a foundation for our faith. He Himself has taught us what is truth. One will arise, and still another, with new light which contradicts the light that God has given under the demonstration of His Holy Spirit.

> “A few are still alive who passed through the experience gained in the establishment of this truth. God has graciously spared their lives to repeat and repeat till the close of their lives, the experience through which they passed even as did John the apostle till the very close of his life. And the standard-bearers who have fallen in death, are to speak through the reprinting of their writings. I am instructed that thus their voices are to be heard. They are to bear their testimony as to what constitutes the truth for this time.

> “We are not to receive the words of those who come with a message that contradicts the special points of our faith. They gather together a mass of Scripture, and pile it as proof around their asserted theories. This has been done over and over again during the past fifty years. And while the Scriptures are God’s word, and are to be respected, the application of them, if such application moves one pillar from the foundation that God has sustained these fifty years, is a great mistake. He who makes such an application knows not the wonderful demonstration of the Holy Spirit that gave power and force to the past messages that have come to the people of God.” Selected Messages, book 1, 161.

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