Why Was This History So Long
Neglected?
Until 1988 there was a strange
reticence to recognize these facts of our history.14 The
situation was similar to what prevails even now among the Jews,
who picture Jesus as a clever and gifted rabbi but ignore or deny
that He was the Son of God, the true Messiah. They still maintain
that their ancestors did not reject or crucify Him, but lay the
blame instead on the Romans.15 Since 1988 several books and
magazines have been published officially that frankly tell the
truth about our 1888 history, for example: What Every Adventist
Should Know About 1888, by Arnold Wallenkampf, and the
February 1988 Ministry magazine.
Speaking of the 1888 history, Ellen
White said that we were "just like the Jews."16 Until
1988, our "official" histories generally maintained: (1)
The 1888 message was merely "the same doctrine that Luther,
Wesley, and many other servants of God in the popular churches had
been teaching;"17 "the recovery, or the restatement and
new consciousness, of their faith in the basic doctrine of
Christianity;"18 "a re-emphasis" of what the
Evangelical churches had believed all along and that Seventh-day
Adventists had finally gotten wise enough to believe.19 (2) Our
"leading men" in general gladly accepted the message:
"the rank and file of Seventh-day Adventist workers and laity
accepted the presentations at Minneapolis and were
blessed,"20 and the 1888 Conference "stands out as a
glorious victory,… the final outcome was good,… rich in both
holiness and mission fruitage."21
Many Seventh-day Adventists have
now been shocked to discover that this is not true. The 1888
message was the "beginning" of the Loud Cry rather than
a mere "reemphasis" of Lutheranism or Calvinism. The
first clear recognition of this to come from our presses occurs in
Dr. L.E. Froom’s Movement of Destiny (1971):
1888 truly signaled the
beginning of the "time" of the Loud Cry and Latter
Rain—and significantly of the inception of the added light
and power of the Augmenting Angel of Rev. 18:1.22
We entered the "time of the
Latter Rain and Loud Cry" in 1888 as verily as in 1798 we
entered the "time of the end." … He who denies that
the Loud Cry began to sound in 1888 impugns the veracity of the
Spirit of Prophecy. He who asserts the Latter Rain did not then
begin to fall challenges the integrity of God’s message related
to us.23
The Common Denominator of All History
NOTES:
-
As early as 1893, a General Conference president recognized
that animosity toward facing the history of 1888 had become a
serious problem, so that even talking about it was resented (O.A.
Olsen, GCB 1893, p. 188): "The very idea that one
is grieved over the mention of 1888 shows at once the seed of
rebellion in the heart." This continued resentment is
well known today. [Return to
text]
-
See, for example, Max L Dixmnt, Jews, God, and History
(NY.: Simon and Schuster, 1962) pp. 138-142. [Return
to text]
-
See RH Apr. 11 and 18,1893; Special Testimonies,
Series A, No. 6, p. 20; CWE 30, (MS 13, 1889); FE
472; 5T 456, 457; TM 78, 79; Special Testimonies to
Review and Herald Office, pp. 16, 17; TCV 292 (MS
9,1888), 297, 300 (MS 15,1888); RH Mar. 11 and Aug.
20,1890. [Return to text]
-
L.H. Christian, The Fruitage of Spiritual Gifts, p.
239. [Return to text]
-
A.W. Spalding, Origin and History of Seventh-day
Adventists, Vol. 2, p. 281. Some still maintain this
confused view. See George Knight, Angry Saints, pp.
40-43, 53, 58, 96, 128, 140-150. [Return
to text]
-
M.E. Kern, RH Aug. 3,1950, p. 294; N.F. Pease, By
Faith Alone, pp. 138, 139, 207, 227; The Faith That
Saves, pp. 22, 39; Froom, MD 319, 320. [Return
to text]
-
"Second General Conference Report" (Further
Appraisal of the Manuscript 1888 Re- Examined), General
Conference, Sept. 1958, p. 11. [Return
to text]
-
Christian, op. cit., pp. 219, 225, 245.
[Return to text]
-
MD, p. 570. [Return
to text]
-
Ibid., p. 667. [Return
to text]
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