SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS around the world are aware that something unique and important is going on in prayer meeting services in thousands of our churches.
Testimony Countdown classes are awakening a tremendous spiritual interest among our people. In case some of my readers are not familiar with the Testimony Count down plan, may I explain:
Testimony Countdown is a prayerful effort to bring into focus upon the hearts of Seventh-day Adventists the message of the three volumes of Testimony Treasures (and in some places the full nine-volume set of the Testimonies') using the evening class idea as an instrument of communication.
In North America, in Australia, in South America, in Great Britain, in the Far East, and in other places the program has been launched in an effort to familiarize Seventh-day Adventists with the neglected but reformatory messages found in the Testimonies. Ellen White was instructed to say to members in our Seventh-day Adventist churches:
Study the Testimonies. They are written for our admonition and encouragement upon whom the ends of the world are come. If God's people will not study these messages that are sent to them from time to time, they are guilty of rejecting light. Line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little there a little, God is sending instruction to His people. Heed the instruction; follow the light. The Lord has a controversy with His people because in the past they have not heeded His instruction and fol lowed His guidance. --Letter 292, 1902.
In connection with this same counsel Mrs. White was specific about how this study course might be implemented: "I ad vise that these directions and warnings and cautions be read to our people at some time when they are gathered together." --Ibid.
Now, the Wednesday night prayer meeting hour would provide an opportune time for our people to "gather together" and engage in this important study. This would be better than the Sabbath morning eleven o'clock hour or the Sabbath school period.
Early in the month of January, 1969, a pilot program of Testimony study was con ducted in the Takoma Park, Maryland, church. Ten Wednesday-night services were held, each meeting one hour and fifteen minutes in length. Attendance was most encouraging with fourteen hundred to sixteen hundred people packing the church auditorium every Wednesday night.
As Seventh-day Adventists--including church leaders, professional people, and laymen--opened the volumes of the Testimonies, they found them unique, up to date, and suitable to the needs of the 1970's. There is an X-ray quality to the prophetic messages of the Spirit of Prophecy that exposes the needs of church members and reveals also the adequacy of God's grace to fill these needs. The Holy Spirit is present wherever these books are studied prayerfully.
The Testimonies are a countdown, a counting off as it were of the period of time remaining until Jesus comes. As we read these inspired volumes we get the impression that we are near the final "lift-off" and the translation of the saints to heaven.
It is true, brethren and sisters and fellow workers, that the church today is living on borrowed time. Again and again in the Spirit of Prophecy writings Mrs. White wrote that "the Lord would have come ere this" if there had not been earthly hindrances, indicating that the days of grace were prolonged to extend mercy to God's people. Probation has been extended to give the church just a little more time to prepare and to finish the work.
The countdown idea suggests that soon Christ will come for His people. In this program the elements of revival, reformation, and evangelism are strong. An awakening of spiritual life, a genuine renewal of spiritual power results in every church where this program is undertaken.
Each program is a composite in which the appointed teacher reviews one of the volumes of the Testimonies. Each class member has a guidebook with quiz sheets. These small guidebooks are now available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. Other guidebooks are being translated and prepared for Testimony Count down classes in Europe and around the world.
Time is allowed for questions and answers, and exciting stories about Sister White and her work are told. These recount God's providences in connection with prophetic guidance in the development of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. Historical reviews are presented, the knowledge of which makes it easier to understand why Sister White wrote as she did on different subjects and at different times. In volume 8 of the Testimonies, for example, she dis cusses the subject of pantheism and the personality of God in the atmosphere of the apostasy of the well-known Seventh-day Adventist physician, J. H. Kellogg.
One minister said, "I have never taken part in any program in my life that I have enjoyed more than this. Testimony Count down has been like a camp meeting every Wednesday night." All of the pastors are enthusiastic as are the church members in general.
We are living near the close of time and these Testimonies were written for us to day. They are up to date. They apply now. Many of our people are beginning to recognize this.
While the Spirit of Prophecy emphasis is currently strong in Europe and in the rest of the world, we must recognize God's voice speaking to the church, calling us all to a higher plain of spiritual life and service.
