Another question may well be asked: “Are you authors giving us a balanced picture of this thing? Or are you painting too dark a picture of the real situation?”
We have seen that from 1888-1901 there was no true change in the spiritual attitude of the church leadership that made it possible for the Lord to renew His outpouring of the Latter Rain. The “testimony of Adventism’s peerless witness,” Ellen G. White, is so emphatic that there can be no question regarding its “balance.” In fact, there is no “balance” between truth and error.
There never has been any question regarding the Lord’s presence with His people during those dark years of wandering. In their original document of 1950 the authors emphasized their firm confidence in the Lord’s presence with His people and His blessings on them from 1888 until now. They said:
There are a few who wished to advance with Christ [in the post-1888 era] into the larger spiritual experiences of the finishing of the work, both in their own hearts and in the world. The general body (of leaders especially) were not ready. God had, therefore, to alter His purpose, and remain with His people. If they would not keep step with Him, He must at least keep step with them —1888 Re-examined, pages 124, 125, original document.
The remnant church, enfeebled and defective as she is, is still the supreme object of His regard. The long Detour of wandering which we brought upon ourselves must lead us in the fulness of time to the Christ whom we spurned at Minneapolis. In self-abhorrence and deep repentance, we shall find Him.—Ibid., p. 137.
In other words, our post-1888 era has been equivalent to Israel’s forty years of wandering in the wilderness following their failure to enter the Promised Land at Kadesh-Barnea. All but two had to die in the wilderness, yet the pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night failed not; God was with His people, but not in a program of conquering Canaan. In the same way the Lord has truly been with His people since 1888, but not in the outpouring of the Latter Rain and proclamation of the Loud Cry. Each generation has desperately tried to find evidence of the outpouring, but history has always pointed to the future.