Chapter 4—Warnings Against Deceptive Claims of the Spirit’s Guidance

[On November 12, 1908, there came to St. Helena, California, a zealous man, with his wife. They sought an interview with Mrs. White, and related to her remarkable experiences dating back for about three years. These experiences began to come to them after several days of fasting and praying for the Holy Spirit until, as they said, “great drops of sweat stood on our brow.” They believed that they had received the Holy Spirit as did the early apostles. They claimed to have spoken in tongues, and to have labored zealously for others that they might enter into a similar experience.

They had been arrested in the east on a charge of exercising mesmeric influence on a child. After hearing the case the attorney and the mayor had said that if they were not on the border of insanity, they were perilously close to it. They claimed that while in the jail they were told “through the Spirit” to act as though they were insane, with the result that God “put the fear on these men, so they were fearful to come inside” the cell.

They believed that the child whom they were charged with mesmerizing was gifted with the Spirit of Prophecy, and directed them where to go. They claimed that through prayer they had healed the sick, cast out devils, and had done many other wonderful works. Of this wife, the husband said, “The Spirit operates through her, and we believe that this is the gift of prophecy that is to be poured out on all flesh.”

The following statements were made by Mrs. White in reference to this and similar movements.—Compilers.]

God’s Work Characterized by Calmness and Dignity

Two weeks ago today, while I was writing, my son W. C. White came into my room and stated that there were two persons below who wished to speak with me. I went downstairs into our sitting room and there met a man and his wife who claim to follow the Word of God and to believe the Testimonies. They have had an unusual experience during the past two or three years. They seemed to be honesthearted people.

I listened while they related some of their experiences, and then I told them something of the work we had to do in meeting and opposing fanaticism soon after the passing of the time when we expected to see our Lord. During those trying days some of our most precious believers were led into fanaticism. I said further that before the end we would see strange manifestations by those who professed to be led by the Holy Spirit. There are those who will treat as something of great importance these peculiar manifestations, which are not of God, but which are calculated to divert the minds of many away from the teachings of the Word.

In this stage of our history we must be very careful to guard against everything that savors of fanaticism and disorder. We must guard against all peculiar exercises that would be likely to stir up the minds of unbelievers, and lead them to think that as a people we are led by impulse, and delight in noise and confusion accompanied by eccentricities of action. In the last days the enemy of present truth will bring in manifestations that are not in harmony with the workings of the Spirit, but are calculated to lead astray those who stand ready to take up with something new and strange.

I told this brother and his wife that the experience through which I passed in my youth, shortly after the passing of the time in 1844, had led me to be very, very cautious about accepting anything similar to that which we then met and rebuked in the name of the Lord.

No greater harm could be done to the work of God at this time than for us to allow a spirit of fanaticism to come into our churches, accompanied by strange workings which are incorrectly supposed to be operations of the Spirit of God.

As this brother and his wife outlined their experiences, which they claim have come to them as the result of receiving the Holy Ghost with apostolic power, it seemed to be a facsimile of that which we were called to meet and correct in our early experience.

Toward the close of our interview Brother L proposed that we unite in prayer, with the thought that possibly while in prayer his wife would be exercised as they had described to me, and that then I might be able to discern whether this was of the Lord or not. To this I could not consent, because I have been instructed that when one offers to exhibit these peculiar manifestations, this is a decided evidence that it is not the work of God.

We must not permit these experiences to lead us to feel discouraged. Such experiences will come to us from time to time. Let us give no place to strange exercisings, which really take the mind away from the deep movings of the Holy Spirit. God’s work is ever characterized by calmness and dignity. We cannot afford to sanction anything that would bring in confusion and weaken our zeal in regard to the great work that God has given us to do in the world to prepare for the second coming of Christ.—Letter 338, 1908.

Statements by Mrs. White in the Interview

I am telling you these experiences, in order that you may know what we have passed through.... Some [fanatics after 1844] would dance up and down, singing, “Glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory.” Sometimes I would sit still until they got through, and then I would rise and say, “This is not the way the Lord works. He does not make impressions in this way. We must direct the minds of the people to the Word as the foundation of our faith.”

I was but a mere child at that time, and yet I had to bear my testimony repeatedly against these strange workings. And ever since that time I have sought to be very, very careful lest something of this sort should come in again among our people. Any manifestation of fanaticism takes the mind away from the evidence of truth—the Word itself.

You might take a consistent course, but those who would be influenced by you might take a very inconsistent course, and, as a result, we should very soon have our hands full of something that would make it almost impossible to give unbelievers the right impression of our message and work. We must go to the people with the solid Word of God; and when they receive that Word, the Holy Spirit may come, but it always comes, as I have stated before, in a way that commends itself to the judgment of the people. In our speaking, our singing, and in all our spiritual exercises, we are to reveal that calmness and dignity and godly fear that actuates every true child of God.

There is constant danger of allowing something to come into our midst that we may regard as the workings of the Holy Spirit, but that in reality is the fruit of a spirit of fanaticism. So long as we allow the enemy of truth to lead us into a wrong way, we cannot hope to reach the honest in heart with the third angel’s message. We are to be sanctified through obedience to the truth. I am afraid of anything that would have a tendency to turn the mind away from the solid evidences of the truth as revealed in God’s Word. I am afraid of it; I am afraid of it. We must bring our minds within the bounds of reason, lest the enemy so come in as to set everything in a disorderly way. There are persons of an excitable temperament who are easily led into fanaticism; and should we allow anything to come into our churches that would lead such persons into error, we would soon see these errors carried to extreme lengths, and then because of the course of these disorderly elements, a stigma would rest upon the whole body of Seventh-day Adventists.

Fanaticism to be Seen Again

I have been studying how to get some of these early experiences into print again, so that more of our people may be informed, for I have long known that fanaticism will be manifest again, in different ways. We are to strengthen our position by dwelling on the Word, and by avoiding all oddities and strange exercisings that some would be very quick to catch up and practice. If we were to allow confusion to come into our ranks, we could not bind off our work as we should....

During the years of Christ’s ministry on earth godly women assisted in the work that the Saviour and His disciples were carrying forward. If those who were opposing this work could have found anything out of the regular order in the conduct of these women, it would have closed the work at once. But while women were laboring with Christ and the apostles, the entire work was conducted on so high a plane as to be above the shadow of a suspicion. No occasion for any accusation could be found. The minds of all were directed to the Scriptures, rather than individuals. The truth was proclaimed intelligently, and so plainly that all could understand.

How afraid I am to have anything of a fanatical nature brought in among our people. There are many, many who must be sanctified, but they are to be sanctified through obedience to the message of truth.

We cannot allow excitable elements among us to display themselves in a way that would destroy our influence with those whom we wish to reach with the truth. It took us years to outlive the unfavorable impression that unbelievers gained of Adventists through their knowledge of the strange and wicked workings of fanatical elements among us during the early years of our existence as a separate people.—Manuscript 115, 1908.

Counsel to the Brother and His Wife

Dear Brother and Sister L

Recently, in visions of the night, there were opened before me some matters that I must communicate to you. I have been shown that you are making some sad mistakes. In your study of the Scriptures and of the Testimonies you have come to wrong conclusions. The Lord’s work would be greatly misunderstood if you should continue to labor as you have begun. You place a false interpretation upon the word of God and upon the printed Testimonies; and then you seek to carry on a strange work in accordance with your conception of their meaning. You have even supposed that power is given you to cast out devils. Through your influence over the human mind men and women are led to believe that they are possessed of devils, and that the Lord has appointed you as His agents for casting out these evil spirits.

Your wife, in speech, in song, and in strange exhibitions that are not in accordance with the genuine work of the Holy Spirit, is helping to bring in a phase of fanaticism that would do great injury to the cause of God, if allowed any place in our churches.

My brother and sister, I have a message for you: you are starting on a false supposition. There is much of self woven into your exhibitions. Satan will come in with bewitching power through these exhibitions. It is high time that you call a halt. If God had given you a special message for His people, you would walk and work in all humility—not as if you were on the stage of a theater, but in the meekness of a follower of the lowly Jesus of Nazareth. You would carry an influence altogether different from that which you have been carrying....

The sincere desire to do others good will lead the Christian worker to put away all thought of bringing into the message of present truth any strange teachings leading men and women into fanaticism. At this period of the world’s history we must exercise the greatest of care in this respect.

Some of the phases of experience through which you are passing endanger not only your own souls but the souls of many others, because you appeal to the precious words of Christ as recorded in the Scriptures, and to the Testimonies, to vouch for the genuineness of your message. In supposing that the precious Word, which is verity and truth, and the Testimonies that the Lord has given for His people, are your authority, you are deceived. You are moved by wrong impulses, and are bracing up yourselves with declarations that mislead. You attempt to make the truth of God sustain false sentiments and incorrect actions that are inconsistent and fanatical. This makes tenfold, yes, twentyfold harder the work of the church in acquainting the people with the truths of the third angel’s message.—Letter 358a, 1908.

A Message to the Churches in California

To Our Brethren in California

Last night instruction was given me for our people. I seemed to be in a meeting where representations were being made of the strange work of Brother L and wife. I was instructed that it was a work similar to that which was carried on in _____, in the State of Maine, and in various other places after the passing of the time in 1844. I was bidden to speak decidedly against this fanatical work.

I was shown that it was not the Spirit of the Lord that was inspiring Brother and Sister L, but the same spirit of fanaticism that is ever seeking entrance into the remnant church. Their application of Scripture of their peculiar exercises is Scripture misapplied. The work of declaring persons possessed of the devil, and then praying with them and pretending to cast out the evil spirits, is fanaticism which will bring into disrepute any church which sanctions such work.

I was shown that we must give no encouragement to these demonstrations, but must guard the people with a decided testimony against that which would bring a stain upon the name of Seventh-day Adventists, and destroy the confidence of the people in the message of truth which they must bear to the world. The Lord has done a great work for His people in placing them on vantage ground. It is the duty of the church to cherish its influence. Precious are the words, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39^L). The words of inspiration carefully studied and prayerfully obeyed, will thoroughly furnish unto all good works.

As a denomination we need to look more continually to God for guidance. We are living in an evil age. The perils of the last days are upon us. Because iniquity abounds, Satan presumes to bring in all kinds of delusive theories upon those who have tried to walk humbly with God, and who are distrustful of self. Shall self-confident, fanatical men come to these humble souls assuring them that they are possessed of evil spirits, and after praying with them, affirm that the devil is cast out? Such are not the manifestations of the Spirit of God, but of another spirit.

I call upon every church to beware of being led to think evil of those who, because distrustful of self, fear that they have not the Holy Spirit. There are those who have followed their own ways instead of the ways of God. They have not acknowledged the light that God has graciously given; and because of this they have lost the power to distinguish between darkness and light. There are many who have heard much in regard to the path they ought to follow, but who ignore the requirements God makes of them. Their light does not shine in works that reveal the principles of truth and holiness. It is this class who in time of test will accept falsehood and erroneous theories for the truth of God.

Great light has been given to the people of God. Let our people awake, and go forward to perfection. You will be exposed to the fallacies of satanic agencies. Fearful waves of fanaticism will come. But God will deliver the people who will earnestly seek the Lord, and consecrate themselves to His service.—Pacific Union Recorder, December 31, 1908.