RULE FIVE-TRUE PROPHECIES ARE FULFILLED

There is a statement made by Moses relative to the true and the false prophets, found in the eighteenth chapter of Deuteronomy, which, in our consideration of rules for discerning true and false prophets, may be designated as rule five. He says: “And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? when a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.” Verses 21, 22.PGGC 71.3

The same thing is also found in the following scriptures: “Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?” Lamentations 3:37. Of the prophet Samuel it was said, “All that he saith cometh surely to pass.” 1 Samuel 9:6. “When the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the Lord hath truly sent him.” Jeremiah 28:9.PGGC 72.1

It is now over fifty-eight years since the writer first saw Mrs. E. G. White in prophetic vision. During these years many prophetic statements have been made by her relative to things that would take place. Some of these predictions relate to events already fulfilled, and some are in process of fulfilment, while others are still future. As to those relating to the past or present events, I know not of a single instance of failure. Before noting some of the predictions made during these fifty-eight years, it may be well to note some that were made previously, which were in print in 1852.PGGC 72.2

Before me lies a book published by Joseph Bates, in January, 1849, entitled “A Seal of the Living God.” In the book is an account of a vision given to Mrs. White in the home of Otis Nichols, Dorchester, Massachusetts, on the evening of November 18, 1848. At that time there was a condition of war, rioting, and confusion, which began on the twenty-second of February of that year, in the city of Paris, France, and had spread to over thirty of the principalities, states, and governments of Europe. Modern Spiritualism began its “rappings” at Hydesville, New York, about the same time that the stir among the nations began. The first-day Adventists claimed that this stir among the nations was the rally to the battle of the great day of the Lord, and that the “rapping spirits” were the spirits of devils, going forth to gather the nations, as predicted in Revelation 16:14, and that the Lord was immediately coming.PGGC 73.1

At that time the few who had begun to observe the seventh-day Sabbath had just discovered, from the seventh chapter of the book of Revelation, a “sealing message,” which must go forth to prepare a people to stand in the great day of the Lord. These few said, “The last great battle can not come yet; for here is a sealing work to prepare a people to stand in that great day.” Mr. and Mrs. White and Mr. Bates were the three public laborers who were then teaching the Sabbath truth and the “sealing message.” They, with the few who had already accepted the message, were among the very poor of the world.PGGC 73.2

On the evening already mentioned, these laborers and other brethren met at Otis Nichols’s home, to pray the Lord to guide them in publishing the “sealing message” to the world. As they prayed, Mrs. White was taken off in vision. While in vision, she said of the Sabbath truth: “It is the seal! That truth arises, and is on the increase, stronger and stronger. It is coming up! It arises, commencing from the rising of the sun. Like the sun, at first cold, it grows warmer and sends its rays. The angels are holding the four winds. It is God that restrains the powers. The angels have not let go; for the saints are not all sealed. When Michael stands up, this trouble will be all over the earth. They [the winds of war, etc.] are just ready to blow. There is a check put on because the saints are not sealed. Yea, publish the things thou hast seen and heard, and the blessing of God will attend.”PGGC 74.1

At the time that vision was given, it did really look as if the nations of the world would soon be in a “whirlwind” of war. Of the situation, United States Senator Choate said, “It has seemed to me as if the prerogatives of crowns, and the rights of men, and the hoarded-up resentments of a thousand years, were about to unsheathe the sword for a conflict in which blood shall flow, as in apocalyptic vision, ‘to the bridles of the horses.’”PGGC 74.2

In a few months the nations were all quiet again; but this change came on so unexpectedly that Horace Greeley, in speaking of it in the New York Tribune, said, “It was a great wonder to politicians what started all that turmoil of the nations, but a greater wonder still what stopped it all so suddenly.”PGGC 75.1

After coming out of the vision already spoken of, Mrs. White said to her husband: “I saw that you must begin to print a paper, small at first; but as you send it out to the people, they will read it, and will send you money with which to print it. It will be a success from the first. From that small beginning it [the publishing work] was shown to me as streams of light that went around the entire world.”PGGC 75.2

The few believers had faith in that prediction, but were without money to begin the work. Many prayers were offered to God to open the way. In June, 1849, the way opened, Mr. White having opportunity to mow forty acres of grass with a hand-scythe. With the money thus obtained, in July, 1849, he printed the first number of a small paper entitled Present Truth. During 1849-50 eleven numbers of this paper were printed. In No.5 we read this statement, which was written by Mr. White: “The money our readers have sent in has been more than enough to print the paper. With the remainder we have met the expenses of Mrs. White and myself as we went from place to place to hold meetings.” So it was a “success from the first.”PGGC 75.3

How from that “small beginning” has the published truth “gone around the world”! At the present time Seventh-day Adventists have twenty-seven publishing houses in different parts of the world. In these houses over seventy steam-power presses are used. This truth is issued from these offices in sixty-seven languages of the world. The literature of the denomination in these languages consists of over 2,700 different books, pamphlets, and tracts, and 126 periodicals, either weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Each one of the smallest papers is about the size of the first paper, Present Truth. Up to January, 1911, over eleven million dollars’ worth of the books had been sold. Publishing houses, sanitariums, schools, and missions are established twice around the world-both north and south of the equator. That prediction which looked “preposterous” to our opponents in 1848, is surely in a well-advanced state of fulfilment in 1911.PGGC 76.1