Introducing the Prophet Among Us

A boy once had to whitewash a fence around his front yard when all the other boys were heading for the swimming hole. He con­vinced them that his task was so fascinating that they all begged to help him. Consequently, the fence was whitewashed in record time, and they all went swimming.

Can we not borrow from that boy's psychologi­cal approach when the time comes to present the Spirit of prophecy to our readers? Suppose he had gone at the problem from this angle: "I know that you don't want to help me whitewash this fence. You're in a hurry to get to the swimming hole, and I'd rather go along with you than bother with this job. I don't suppose you want to help me, do you?"

No one would have been interested. Instead, he represented that task as being so much fun, so al­luringly different, that his companions just natur­ally wanted to get in on the fun themselves.

Do we ever make the mistake of presenting the Spirit of prophecy from a negative angle? Or do we make it seem the most natural thing in the world to accept the presence of the "abiding gift" in the Seventh-day Adventist Church ? Do we in­spire others with a desire to share the possession that affords us such adequate warning, such sure guidance, such comforting protection?

Here we must part company with our illustra­tion. That boy had no inner conviction that white­washing the fence was a fascinating activity for a summer morning. He was merely doing a good job of play-acting to serve his own ends. But we shall never persuade others to accept a belief that is unpopular, almost unheard of, and opposed to le's past beliefs, unless we ourselves first believe it, then love and appreciate it—and make use

At first it is well to allow our students to "cut their Adventist teeth" quite naturally on such por­tions of the gift as are suited to beginners, without explaining to them that Ellen G. White possessed supernatural powers. Statements culled from Pa­triarchs and Prophets or from The Desire of Ages may be used to buttress illustrations from the Old and New Testament in the weekly lessons. But we should take care to use only such material as can readily be seen to comment on texts within our readers' grasp. At this stage Mrs. White should be presented as a clear and lucid author with a knack for making Bible stories stand out in detail. It will be sufficient to comment thus : "Here is what one author has to say along that line. Doesn't she bring out the thought clearly?"

After our students have become used to appreci­ating Ellen White's grasp of Bible themes, most of them will welcome the opportunity to borrow the book from which these quotations are being read. Then as they taste and find it good, we may con­tinue to lend them as many books as they have time to digest, being very careful in our selection. Any of the Conflict Series, Ministry of Healing, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, and, of course, Steps to Christ, will provide a rich back­ground for deeper appreciation later. Not all the writings are suitable, or even safe, for such early presentation. Early Writings and the volumes of the Testimonies will arouse questions that we are not prepared to satisfy at this stage.

Suppose some precocious student soon exclaims, "Why, this book is wonderful! I've learned more Bible from it than all my years of churchgoing have taught Me. This author must have been in­spired." Let us stoutly resist the temptation to make the obvious ecstatic retort, "She was!"

Just because the contractor delivered the roofing to a house ahead of schedule, you would not at­tempt to put it on, would you, before the walls were solidly put up and fastened securely in place ? Neither would you discard it. Just tuck that pre­cious remark safely away in some corner of the memory for future reference. We have building work to do before we can safely draw conclusions.

let us show the gift of proph­ecy as God's way of remaining with His people when rebellion had made man a renegade. We might have been left outside the pale, forever cut off from our Father's house. He was under no ob­ligation to draw aside the curtain and give us com­forting glimpses into His plans for our future and His concern for our present. Yet He has prom­ised to do nothing until He first lets us know about it through the gift of prophecy. Wonderful, compassionate heavenly Father, who still reveals His love and lets us know that the door is wide open for us to come home ! Surely this is good news that every child of God should know.

Next, let us unfold the practical outworkings of the gift in the lives of Noah, Moses, Abraham, Joseph, Elijah, Jeremiah, Daniel, John the Baptist, Paul, and John the revelator; then show how the same priceless gift was bequeathed by Christ to the infant church until such time as we all grow up to the fullness of His stature and come into the unity of the faith that He had and taught. We should still possess that gift, should we not? We have not grown tall enough or broad enough, spir­itually, have we ? We are still not united in the faith as He expects to find us when He returns. Then we cannot afford to dispense with any of His gifts.

Point out that the gift of prophecy disappeared for a time long ago. No one of the great Reforma­tion churches ever claimed the gift. Then we must show the close relationship between the law and the prophets, and that persistent disregard of the former nullifies the gift of the latter. No one would wonder at the hopelessness of teaching alge­bra to a boy who would not bother to master the multiplication tables. Added light can be given only on the basis of the use of light previously im­parted. If it is consistently ignored, future educa­tion is at a standstill. On the other hand, lessons faithfully learned presuppose more and more les­sons to learn, until the student has learned all that the teacher has to impart.

When the proper sequence of obedience to God's known will, and further revelations of that will, are grasped, the cessation of that gift during peri­ods of national apostasy will seem but the natural thing. So, too, will be the restoration of the pro­phetic gift to a people willing to follow as God directs.

When we have gone this far, our students may even help us out by saying : "Well, then, if Sev­enth-day Adventists are the people who are finish­ing what the Reformation only began, if they really are obeying all God's commandments, then they ought to have the gift of prophecy restored to them, ought they not?" Now you go on from there!