The Heaviest Price

Speaking of the price of spiritual leadership, the very fact that Mrs. White declared that God had given to her visions was perhaps the heaviest price she had to pay. At the beginning of this book we referred briefly to the spiritual uncertainty through which even loyal members of the Advent Movement passed as they considered accepting Mrs. White’s claim that God had given to her visions. Their very questioning was inevitably a source of spiritual distress to Mrs. White. But it was as nothing compared to the questioning, yes, and the ridicule, that came from critical onlookers. To them the very idea that she claimed to have the gift of the Spirit of prophecy was enough to brand her either as a fraudulent, crafty deceiver, or a weak-minded, deluded fanatic. In other words, the claim in itself was a condemnation.WBEGW 116.2

The reasoning of the critical onlookers might be summed up thus: The world has ever been troubled with false prophets, people who for one reason or another have said strange things and led men astray. Various patently false movements have claimed to have a prophet as a leader. Therefore the Seventh-day Adventist Church that Mrs. White helped to create is simply one more exhibit of a false religious movement, and she, of a false prophet.WBEGW 117.1

But such reasoning, though plausible, has the fatal defect of failing to take note of certain scriptural facts. First: Through the long ages of Biblical times, the distinguishing mark of God’s true movement in the world was the presence of prophets who spoke for God and led His people. Second: The gift of prophecy is one of the gifts of the Spirit for the church in post-Biblical days. (See 1 Corinthians 12:7-10; Ephesians 4:11-13.) Third: The Bible specifically declares that the gift of the Spirit of prophecy is to be a distinguishing mark of the “remnant” people of God when Satan, the “dragon,” is making his last attempts to overthrow God’s truth in the earth. (See Revelation 12:17; 19:10.)WBEGW 117.2

We did not have to wait for the critical-minded to tell us that the world has ever been troubled with false prophets. Bible writers have related this sorry fact many times and have warned against the danger of listening to such prophets. But do they hasten on to declare that all who claim the prophetic gift are frauds? No. How could they without branding themselves frauds? On the contrary, the apostle John declared, “Try the spirits whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1). And the mighty evangelist Paul, who more than once raised his voice against impostors, emphatically admonished the church, “Despise not prophesyings” (1 Thessalonians 5:20).WBEGW 117.3

From these and many other passages of Scripture we rightly conclude that the prophetic gift belongs in the true church of God, even to the end of time. And we believe that when we “try the spirits” we may rightly conclude that Mrs. White proves to be, not a fraud, but someone who is in the true prophetic succession.WBEGW 118.1