Until 1988 there was a strange reticence to recognize these facts of our history. 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: "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. 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. 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." 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;" "the recovery, or the restatement and new consciousness, of their faith in the basic doctrine of Christianity;" "a re-emphasis" of what the Evangelical churches had believed all along and that Seventh-day Adventists had finally gotten wise enough to believe. (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," and the 1888 Conference "stands out as a glorious victory,… the final outcome was good,… rich in both holiness and mission fruitage."
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.
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.