The Return of the Latter Rain: Articles by Ron Duffield

A Promise Kept_~ Part 1
By Ron Duffield
The Return of the Latter Rain vol 1
from chapter 1 The Early Years
Published in the New England Pastor March/April2011
newenglandpastormagazine.blogspot.com

The Great Controversy Vision & the Death of James White

During the weekend of March 13 and 14, 1858, James and Ellen White attended meetings at Lovett’s Grove, Ohio. On Sunday afternoon, a funeral service was conducted by James in the schoolhouse where the Sabbath meetings had been held. When he had finished speaking to the full house, Ellen arose and feeling urged by the Spirit of the Lord to bear her testimony, began to speak words of comfort to the mourners. While speaking, she was taken off in vision and for two hours through divine revelation the Lord opened before her “the great controversy of the ages between Christ and Satan:”

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.^{^[i]}

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.^{^[ii]}

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.”^{^[iii]}

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.^{^[iv]}

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.^{^[v]}

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.^{^[vi]}

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 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.^{^[vii]}

In February 1881, James White expressed his desire that Adventist ministers spend more time presenting Christ. But they must themselves have more than just a theory of Christ; there must be “an indwelling Christ.” True to his own words James began to emphasize Christ in all his sermons and in his dealings with others. Such was the result of dwelling on Christ more fully:

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.^{^[viii]}

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. . . . 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.^{^[ix]}

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. . . . 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.”^{^[x]}

James had made up his mind. He would rather die than live to see changes come into Battle Creek into the work for which he had poured out his life and soul. Within days, as he and Ellen headed off together in a carriage for a campmeeting, James became chilled and soon developed a severe sickness. By the end of the week it was evident that unless the Lord healed him, he would pass to the grave. It was there, as Ellen White sat by the side of her dying husband, that the Lord gave her a promise for the future of the work:

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.^{^[xi]}

[i] Arthur L. White, Ellen G. White: The Early Years (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1985), p. 366.

[ii] This would later be published with other material under the title Early Writings. 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.

^{^[iii]} Arthur L. White, Ellen G. White: The Progressive Years (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Pub.

Assn., 1986), p. 33.

^{^[iv]} Ibid., pp. 34-72

^{^[v]} Ibid., pp. 73-238, 381.

^{^[vi]} Ibid., pp. 70-72; The Early Years, pp. 24-31.

[vii] Ellen G. White, Life Sketches, p. 247.

[viii] James White, “Eastern Tour,” Review & Herald, Feb. 8, 1881, p. 88.

[ix] Ellen G. White Manuscript 6, Sept. 1881.

[x] Ellen G. White, Testimonies, vol. 1, pp. 106-107.

[xi] Ellen G. White Manuscript 9, “Responding to New Light,” Feb. 3, 1890; in 1888 Materials, p. 540, emphasis supplied. This description of Ellen White setting by her dying husband was given years later as she preached to those leaders gathered at the 1890 General Conference. She made a direct connection between this promise that God had made and the message that was being presented by Jones and Waggoner, which so many were at that time rejecting.

A Promise Kept ~ Part 2
By Ron Duffield
The Return of the Latter Rain vol. 1
From chapter 1 The Early Years
Published in the New England Pastor May/June 2011newenglandpastormagazine.blogspot.com

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. But as James considered the condition of things in Battle Creek in the weeks that followed, he came to the position that he would rather die than live to see changes come into the work for which he had poured out his life and soul. Within days, however, he developed a severe sickness and by the end of the week it was evident that unless the Lord healed him, he would pass to the grave. It was there, as Ellen White sat by the side of her dying husband, that the Lord gave her a promise for the future of the work:

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. ^{^[1]}

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 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.” ^{^[2]}

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. ^{^[3]}

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. As the time for the California campmeeting 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 campmeeting her testimony at the campmeeting.^{^[4]}

Campmeeting 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.” ^{^[5]}

J. H. Waggoner, editor of the Signs of the Times, spoke that Sabbath afternoon “on the rise and early work of the message, and its progress and present state.” ^{^[6]}

Waggoner also presented signs that showed that the day of God was very near. When he had finished his address, Ellen White turned to her son Willie and Mrs. Ings, who were at her side, and said, “Will you help me up, and assist me to stand on my feet while I say a few words?” They aided her to the desk. “For five minutes I stood there,” she later recalled, “trying to speak, and thinking that it was the last speech I should ever make—my farewell message.” With both hands she steadied herself at the pulpit:

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 .^{^[7]}

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.^{^[8]}

Uriah Smith, who was also 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.”^{^[9]}

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.^{^[10]}

There was more than one miracle that took place at the 1882 Healdsburg campmeeting. Young E. J. Waggoner, son of J. H. Waggoner, at 27 years of age attended the campmeeting where Ellen White was miraculously healed. E. J. Waggoner was born to Adventist parents in 1855. He grew up in Michigan, and later graduated from Battle Creek College where he also met and married his wife Jessie Moser. Waggoner then left Battle Creek to pursue a medical degree, which he obtained from Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, graduating in 1878.^{^[11]} After receiving his M.D. degree, Waggoner returned to work

in the Battle Creek Sanitarium until around 1880 when he moved to California. It was here, at the 1882 Healdsburg campmeeting, that Waggoner had a most remarkable experience as he sat a little apart from the body of the congregation listening to Ellen White preach.^{^[12]} Waggoner would later describe his experience

as being as real as that of Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus:

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. ^{^[13]}

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.^{^[14]}

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.

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.^{^[15}^{^]}

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.”^{^[16]}

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.^{^[17]}

Only a few months before the Healdsburg campmeeting, 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.^{^[18]}

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.”^{^[19]} 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. That the church, and the world, “should know more of Him upon whom all our hopes and success here, and of Heaven hereafter, depend.”^{^[20]} 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.

[1] Ellen G. White Manuscript 9, “Responding to New Light,” Feb. 3, 1890; in 1888 Materials, p. 540, emphasis supplied. This description of Ellen White setting by her dying husband was given years later as she preached to those leaders gathered at the 1890 General Conference. She made a direct connection between this promise that God had made and the message that was being presented by Jones and Waggoner, which so many were at that time rejecting.

[2] Ellen G. White to W. C. White, Letter 17, Sept. 12, 1881, pp. 2‑4.

[3] Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 4 would not be finished until October 1884. Nine months later, on July 25, 1885, Ellen White, with her son W. C. White and several others, headed to Europe for a two-year stint, returning in July, 1887. While in Europe she would once again be led to take up her work on a revision and addition to Volume 4 as she spent time in the land of the Reformation (see: Arthur L. White, The Lonely Years, pp. 249, 291, 374). God was preparing this book, The Great Controversy, for wide distribution in the United States and around the world. The 1888 edition of The Great Controversy was published just in time to meet the Sunday law crisis developing in America.

[4] The following paragraph and section are adapted from, Arthur L. White, The Lonely Years, pp. 203-205.

[5] Ellen G. White, Letter 82, Feb. 28, 1906.

[6] J. H. Waggoner, Signs of the Times, Oct. 26, 1882.

[7] Ellen G. White, Letter 82, Feb. 28, 1906.

[8] J. H. Waggoner, Signs of the Times, Oct. 26, 1882.

[9] Uriah Smith, “Close of the California Campmeeting,” Review and Herald, Oct. 31, 1882, p. 680.

[10] Ellen G. White, Letter 82, Feb. 28, 1906. See also, Ellen G. White, “My Health Restored,” Signs of the Times, Nov. 2, 1882, p. 484.

^{^[11]} Clinton Wahlen, Selected Aspects of Ellet J. Waggoner’s Eschatology and Their Relation to His Understanding of Righteousness

by Faith, Master’s Thesis, Andrews University, July, 1988, p. xiii. Clinton states: “All of the published sources are inaccurate in stating that

EJW received his M.D. from Bellevue Medical College, although he apparently took one session of classwork there.” See also: Pearl W. Howard to L. E. Froom, Jan. 17, 1962, p. 1 (Document File #236, Ellen G. White Estate, Washington, D. C.).

[12] The fact that Ellen White was healed on October 7, 1882, and mentions nothing of the “gloomy day” (possibly rain or fog in that area during the month of October), leads me to believe that Waggoner’s experience took place on October 14, 1882, the second Sabbath of the Campmeeting.

[13] E. J. Waggoner to Ellen G. White, Nov. 3, 1903. See also, E. J. Waggoner to Ellen G. White, Oct. 22, 1900.

[14] E. J. Waggoner, The Everlasting Covenant (International Tract Society, 1900), p. V. See also, E. J. Waggoner, “Confession of Faith,” May 16, 1916.

[15] “Jones, Alonzo T,” SDA Encyclopedia, vol. 10, p. 832.

[16] A. T. Jones, American Sentinel (nondenominational), July 1923, p. 3; in George R. Knight, 1888 to Apostasy, p. 15.

[17] Marlene Steinweg, “A. T. Jones: Editor, Author, Preacher,” Lest We Forget, 4^th Quarter, 1997, p. 2.

[18] Ellen G. White, Testimonies, vol. 5, pp. 80, 82, written June 20, 1882.

[19] Ellen G. White Manuscript 9, “Responding to New Light,” Feb. 3, 1890; in 1888 Materials, p. 540.

[20] James White, “Eastern Tour,” Review & Herald, Feb. 8, 1881, p. 88.

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Articles by Ron Duffield