Greater Light-5 quotes

2) “As the end draws near, and the work of giving the last warning to the world extends, it becomes more important for those who accept present truth to have a clear understanding of the nature and influence of the Testimonies, which God in His providence has linked with the work of the third angel's message from its very rise....

“In ancient times God spoke to men by the mouth of prophets and apostles. In these days He speaks to them by the testimonies of His Spirit. There was never a time when God instructed His people more earnestly than He instructs them now concerning His will, and the course that He would have them pursue.” Testimonies, vol. 5, p 654, 661.

“At that time [after the 1844 disappointment] one error after another pressed in upon us; ministers and doctors brought in new doctrines. We would search the Scriptures with much prayer, and the Holy Spirit would bring the truth to our minds. Sometimes whole nights would be devoted to searching the Scriptures and earnestly asking God for guidance. Companies of devoted men and women assembled for this purpose. The power of God would come upon me, and I was enabled clearly to define what is truth and what is error.

“As the points of our faith were thus established, our feet were placed upon a solid foundation. We accepted the truth point by point, under the demonstration of the Holy Spirit. I would be taken off in vision, and explanations would be given me. I was given illustrations of heavenly things, and of the sanctuary, so that we were placed where light was shining on us in clear, distinct rays.” Gospel Works, p. 302.

“We must follow the directions given through the Spirit of prophecy. We must love and obey the truth for this time. This will save us from accepting strong delusions. God has spoken to us through His Word. He has spoken to us through the Testimonies to the church, and through the books that have helped to make plain our present duty and the position that we should now occupy.” Testimonies, vol. 8, p. 298.

“...the Lord has given me much light that I want the people to have; for there is instruction that the Lord has given me for His people. It is light that they should have, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. This is now to come before the people, because it has been given to correct specious errors and to specify what is truth. The Lord has revealed many things pointing out the truth, thus saying, "This is the way, walk ye in it."--Letter 127, 1910.” Selected Messages, book 3, p 32.

“I recommend to you, dear reader, the Word of God as the rule of your faith and practice. By that Word we are to be judged. God has, in that Word, promised to give visions in the "last days"; not for a new rule of faith, but for the comfort of His people, and to correct those who err from Bible truth.” Early Writings, p. 78.

These inspired passages reveal that God gave the Spirit of Prophecy to Ellen White to specify to His people “the course that He would have them pursue” and “the position that we should now occupy” in these last days. God’s will is that sister White’s writings are to clearly “define what is truth and what is error“, to “correct specious errors and to specify what is truth”, “to correct those who err from Bible truth”, which will “save us from accepting strong delusions“ in these last days.

3) Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the Author of the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. They both speak with only one word of truth, which means that there is no contradiction between them!

This inspired passage reveals that sister White never contradicts the Bible. This is because they are both just 1 word - the word of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. They both shine with only 1 light of truth - the sun of righteousness Jesus Christ.

4) ”God is either teaching His church, reproving their wrongs, and strengthening their faith, or He is not. This work is of God, or it is not. God does nothing in partnership with Satan. My work...bears the stamp of God, or the stamp of the enemy. There is no halfway work in the matter. The Testimonies are of the Spirit of God, or of the devil.” Testimonies, vol. 5, p 671.

This inspired passage reveals that the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy are either from God or from the Devil. The writings of sister White are either all truth or all error; either all light or all darkness! There are no grey areas with the Spirit of Prophecy! It is either all light of truth or all error of darkness. This further means that you cannot pick and choose what you want to believe and what you don’t want to believe. If the Spirit of Prophecy disagrees with your opinions, ideas, interpretations and beliefs regarding what the Bible teaches, then it is your opinions, ideas, interpretations and beliefs that are in error and are false, not the Spirit of Prophecy. It is the Lord God Jesus Christ speaking directly to you through the writings of Ellen White, and if you reject her writings in one or more areas, then you are actually rejecting the Lord God Jesus Christ and Bible truth.

“There are many who interpret that which I write in the light of their own preconceived opinions. You know what this means. A division in understanding and diverse opinions is the sure result.

“How to write in a way to be understood by those to whom I address important matter, is a problem I cannot solve. But I will endeavor to write much less. Owing to the influence of mind upon mind, those who misunderstand can lead others to misunderstand, by the interpretation they place upon the subjects from my pen. One understands them as he thinks they should be, in accordance with his ideas. Another puts his construction upon the written matter, and confusion is the sure result.-- Letter 96, 1899.” Selected Messages, book 3, p 79-80.

“This is the reason that men and women do not always see their errors and mistakes, even when these are pointed out to them. They claim to believe the testimonies that come to them, until the message comes that they must change their plans and methods, that their character-building must be altogether different, else the storm and tempest will sweep it from its foundation. Then the enemy tempts them to justify themselves....

“But I tell you in the name of the Lord that the words of this writing are from God. If you choose thus to dispose of the matter, you show the measure of your faith in the work that the Lord has given His servant to do.--Letter 13, 1902.” Selected Messages, book 3, p 80 par 3-4.

These inspired passages clearly reveal that some who claim to believe that God gave Ellen White the Spirit of Prophecy interpret what she writes in the light of their own opinions or ideas or interpretations. And then the following steps can occur.

- Then a conflict begins in their heart on whether to humbly accept what sister White writes and change their opinion, or to proudly reject what she writes and maintain their belief.

- If they choose to follow Satan’s suggestion and reject what the Spirit of Prophecy states is truth, they feel that they must justify their chosen rejection by telling other people.

I hope you all can see more clearly this controversy between God and Satan, this battle between light and truth, and sadly it will only continue to grow until the end because Satan hates the writings of Ellen White.

“Satan is an expert in quoting Scripture, placing his own interpretation upon passages, by which he hopes to cause us to stumble....we must constantly guard against the devices of Satan”. Great Constroversy, p 530.

“In these days many deceptions are being taught as truth. Some of our brethren have taught views which we cannot endorse. Fanciful ideas, strained and peculiar interpretations of the Scripture are coming in. .Some of these teachings may seem to be but jots and tittles now, but they will grow and become snares to the inexperienced.

“Unless we are individually wide awake to discern the workings of the Holy Spirit, we shall certainly stumble and fall into Satan's pitfalls of unbelief.” Selected Messages, book 1, p 169.

These inspired passages reveal that Satan places his own interpretation or strained and extreme views upon particular Bible verses and then suggests these false interpretations and extreme views to our mind, hoping we will accept these as our own so that he can secure us in his deep pit of darkness.

How do you know that your particular interpretation of Bible verses are not from the Devil? How do you know that your particular interpretation is not a strained and extreme view from Satan? “To the law (Bible) and to the testimony (Spirit of Prophecy)”. But if you doubt the writings of Ellen White, then you no longer can detect your interpretation, or that your extreme view, is actually error from the Devil, and now you are secured in his trap. The Devil is actively attacking the Spirit of Prophecy so that he can keep souls believing his darkness to the loss of their souls, instead of being set free by the truth!

“I am again and again reminded that I am not to try to clear away the confusion and contradiction of faith and feeling and unbelief that is expressed. I am not to be depressed, but am to speak the words of the Lord with authority, and then leave with Him all the consequences.

“I am instructed by the Great Physician to speak the word that the Lord gives me, whether men will hear or whether they will forebear. I am told that I have nothing to do with the consequences, that God, even the Lord Jehovah, will keep me in perfect peace if I will rest in His love and do the work He has given me.--Letter 146, 1902.” Selected Messages, book 3, p 75 par 2-3.

“I have a work to do for those who will be helped, even if the light given does not harmonize with their ideas. They will recognize the light from God, because they have the fruits of the work which the Lord has been pleased to do through His humble instrument in the last forty-five years. They acknowledge this work to be of God, and are therefore willing to be corrected in their ideas and to change their course of action.

“But those who will maintain and retain their own ideas, and because they are corrected, conclude that Sister White is influenced to take a certain course of action which is not in harmony with their ideas...could not be benefited. I would not consider such friends to be of any value in a hard place, especially in a crisis. Now you have my mind. I do not want to do the work of God in a bungling manner. I want to know what duty is and move in harmony with the Spirit of God.--Letter 3, 1889.” Selected Messages, book 3, p 78-79.

These inspired passages reveal that God has provided enough evidence to prove that He gave the Spirit of Prophecy to Ellen White, which means that all her writings are inspired of God. We now have a choice to make in humbly following this lesser light so that we can correctly understand the greater light of the Bible, or to proudly reject her writings believing she is not inspired of God and then follow our own even dimmer light. This is an either / or decision, because we cannot pick and choose.

8) For those who choose to accept all of the testimonies of Jesus, but are troubled by what others are saying about her writings and tempted to doubt what the Spirit of Prophecy states is truth, here is something that will help you.

God gave Ellen White the Spirit of Prophecy in fulfillment of Bible prophecy (Joel 2:28-32; Revelation 6:12-17), “the testimonies God has given...never contradict His Word” (3SM 32), because the writings of sister White “bears the stamp of God”, has “nothing in partnership with Satan” (5T 671), and I am a humble, submissive follower of God willing to be reproved, corrected and instructed by “the law and...the testimony” (Isaiah 8:20) so that I can know and follow the truth through God’s grace and power.

Repeating this over and over to yourself will aid you in overcoming the temptations of the Devil to doubt any of sister White’s writings, and will help keep you in the correct pathway of all the truth which God mercifully has provided in these last days.


	"LET THERE BE LIGHT" Ministries home \| Sermon Quotes GREATER and LESSER LIGHT, part 5 quotes 1) “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, [it is] because [there is] no light in them.” Isaiah 8:20. 2) “As the end draws near, and the work of giving the last warning to the world extends, it becomes more important for those who accept present truth to have a clear understanding of the nature and influence of the Testimonies, which God in His providence has linked with the work of the third angel's message from its very rise.... “In ancient times God spoke to men by the mouth of prophets and apostles. In these days He speaks to them by the testimonies of His Spirit. There was never a time when God instructed His people more earnestly than He instructs them now concerning His will, and the course that He would have them pursue.” Testimonies, vol. 5, p 654, 661. “At that time [after the 1844 disappointment] one error after another pressed in upon us; ministers and doctors brought in new doctrines. We would search the Scriptures with much prayer, and the Holy Spirit would bring the truth to our minds. Sometimes whole nights would be devoted to searching the Scriptures and earnestly asking God for guidance. Companies of devoted men and women assembled for this purpose. The power of God would come upon me, and I was enabled clearly to define what is truth and what is error. “As the points of our faith were thus established, our feet were placed upon a solid foundation. We accepted the truth point by point, under the demonstration of the Holy Spirit. I would be taken off in vision, and explanations would be given me. I was given illustrations of heavenly things, and of the sanctuary, so that we were placed where light was shining on us in clear, distinct rays.” Gospel Works, p. 302. “We must follow the directions given through the Spirit of prophecy. We must love and obey the truth for this time. This will save us from accepting strong delusions. God has spoken to us through His Word. He has spoken to us through the Testimonies to the church, and through the books that have helped to make plain our present duty and the position that we should now occupy.” Testimonies, vol. 8, p. 298. “...the Lord has given me much light that I want the people to have; for there is instruction that the Lord has given me for His people. It is light that they should have, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. This is now to come before the people, because it has been given to correct specious errors and to specify what is truth. The Lord has revealed many things pointing out the truth, thus saying, "This is the way, walk ye in it."--Letter 127, 1910.” Selected Messages, book 3, p 32. “I recommend to you, dear reader, the Word of God as the rule of your faith and practice. By that Word we are to be judged. God has, in that Word, promised to give visions in the "last days"; not for a new rule of faith, but for the comfort of His people, and to correct those who err from Bible truth.” Early Writings, p. 78. These inspired passages reveal that God gave the Spirit of Prophecy to Ellen White to specify to His people “the course that He would have them pursue” and “the position that we should now occupy” in these last days. God’s will is that sister White’s writings are to clearly “define what is truth and what is error“, to “correct specious errors and to specify what is truth”, “to correct those who err from Bible truth”, which will “save us from accepting strong delusions“ in these last days. 3) Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the Author of the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. They both speak with only one word of truth, which means that there is no contradiction between them! “The Bible must be your counselor. Study it and the testimonies God has given; for they never contradict His Word.--Letter 106, 1907.” Selected Messages, book 3, p 32. This inspired passage reveals that sister White never contradicts the Bible. This is because they are both just 1 word - the word of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. They both shine with only 1 light of truth - the sun of righteousness Jesus Christ. 4) ”God is either teaching His church, reproving their wrongs, and strengthening their faith, or He is not. This work is of God, or it is not. God does nothing in partnership with Satan. My work...bears the stamp of God, or the stamp of the enemy. There is no halfway work in the matter. The Testimonies are of the Spirit of God, or of the devil.” Testimonies, vol. 5, p 671. This inspired passage reveals that the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy are either from God or from the Devil. The writings of sister White are either all truth or all error; either all light or all darkness! There are no grey areas with the Spirit of Prophecy! It is either all light of truth or all error of darkness. This further means that you cannot pick and choose what you want to believe and what you don’t want to believe. If the Spirit of Prophecy disagrees with your opinions, ideas, interpretations and beliefs regarding what the Bible teaches, then it is your opinions, ideas, interpretations and beliefs that are in error and are false, not the Spirit of Prophecy. It is the Lord God Jesus Christ speaking directly to you through the writings of Ellen White, and if you reject her writings in one or more areas, then you are actually rejecting the Lord God Jesus Christ and Bible truth. 5) What happens when we become confused between what we read in the Bible versus what we read in the writings of Ellen White? “There are many who interpret that which I write in the light of their own preconceived opinions. You know what this means. A division in understanding and diverse opinions is the sure result. “How to write in a way to be understood by those to whom I address important matter, is a problem I cannot solve. But I will endeavor to write much less. Owing to the influence of mind upon mind, those who misunderstand can lead others to misunderstand, by the interpretation they place upon the subjects from my pen. One understands them as he thinks they should be, in accordance with his ideas. Another puts his construction upon the written matter, and confusion is the sure result.-- Letter 96, 1899.” Selected Messages, book 3, p 79-80. “This is the reason that men and women do not always see their errors and mistakes, even when these are pointed out to them. They claim to believe the testimonies that come to them, until the message comes that they must change their plans and methods, that their character-building must be altogether different, else the storm and tempest will sweep it from its foundation. Then the enemy tempts them to justify themselves.... “But I tell you in the name of the Lord that the words of this writing are from God. If you choose thus to dispose of the matter, you show the measure of your faith in the work that the Lord has given His servant to do.--Letter 13, 1902.” Selected Messages, book 3, p 80 par 3-4. These inspired passages clearly reveal that some who claim to believe that God gave Ellen White the Spirit of Prophecy interpret what she writes in the light of their own opinions or ideas or interpretations. And then the following steps can occur. - When they read something that contradicts their opinions or beliefs, a misunderstanding and a division occurs as to what is truth to them. - Then a conflict begins in their heart on whether to humbly accept what sister White writes and change their opinion, or to proudly reject what she writes and maintain their belief. - Then Satan enters into this conflict and temps them to cling to their opinions and reject the Spirit of Prophecy. - If they choose to follow Satan’s suggestion and reject what the Spirit of Prophecy states is truth, they feel that they must justify their chosen rejection by telling other people. - They help spread this misunderstanding to others who then may become confused on what to believe. I hope you all can see more clearly this controversy between God and Satan, this battle between light and truth, and sadly it will only continue to grow until the end because Satan hates the writings of Ellen White. 6) Satan knows the Scriptures better than we do, and he knows what deceptive twist to place on verses in order to lead us from truth. “Satan is an expert in quoting Scripture, placing his own interpretation upon passages, by which he hopes to cause us to stumble....we must constantly guard against the devices of Satan”. Great Constroversy, p 530. “In these days many deceptions are being taught as truth. Some of our brethren have taught views which we cannot endorse. Fanciful ideas, strained and peculiar interpretations of the Scripture are coming in. .Some of these teachings may seem to be but jots and tittles now, but they will grow and become snares to the inexperienced. “We have a decided work to do. Let not the enemy cause us to swerve from the proclamation of the definite truth for this time, and turn our attention to fanciful ideas. “Unless we are individually wide awake to discern the workings of the Holy Spirit, we shall certainly stumble and fall into Satan's pitfalls of unbelief.” Selected Messages, book 1, p 169. These inspired passages reveal that Satan places his own interpretation or strained and extreme views upon particular Bible verses and then suggests these false interpretations and extreme views to our mind, hoping we will accept these as our own so that he can secure us in his deep pit of darkness. How do you know that your particular interpretation of Bible verses are not from the Devil? How do you know that your particular interpretation is not a strained and extreme view from Satan? “To the law (Bible) and to the testimony (Spirit of Prophecy)”. But if you doubt the writings of Ellen White, then you no longer can detect your interpretation, or that your extreme view, is actually error from the Devil, and now you are secured in his trap. The Devil is actively attacking the Spirit of Prophecy so that he can keep souls believing his darkness to the loss of their souls, instead of being set free by the truth! 7) What if people tell us that some of the writings of sister White cannot be trusted to teach Bible truth, and then we become confused on what to believe? What should we do? “I am again and again reminded that I am not to try to clear away the confusion and contradiction of faith and feeling and unbelief that is expressed. I am not to be depressed, but am to speak the words of the Lord with authority, and then leave with Him all the consequences. “I am instructed by the Great Physician to speak the word that the Lord gives me, whether men will hear or whether they will forebear. I am told that I have nothing to do with the consequences, that God, even the Lord Jehovah, will keep me in perfect peace if I will rest in His love and do the work He has given me.--Letter 146, 1902.” Selected Messages, book 3, p 75 par 2-3. “I have a work to do for those who will be helped, even if the light given does not harmonize with their ideas. They will recognize the light from God, because they have the fruits of the work which the Lord has been pleased to do through His humble instrument in the last forty-five years. They acknowledge this work to be of God, and are therefore willing to be corrected in their ideas and to change their course of action. “But those who will maintain and retain their own ideas, and because they are corrected, conclude that Sister White is influenced to take a certain course of action which is not in harmony with their ideas...could not be benefited. I would not consider such friends to be of any value in a hard place, especially in a crisis. Now you have my mind. I do not want to do the work of God in a bungling manner. I want to know what duty is and move in harmony with the Spirit of God.--Letter 3, 1889.” Selected Messages, book 3, p 78-79. These inspired passages reveal that God has provided enough evidence to prove that He gave the Spirit of Prophecy to Ellen White, which means that all her writings are inspired of God. We now have a choice to make in humbly following this lesser light so that we can correctly understand the greater light of the Bible, or to proudly reject her writings believing she is not inspired of God and then follow our own even dimmer light. This is an either / or decision, because we cannot pick and choose. 8) For those who choose to accept all of the testimonies of Jesus, but are troubled by what others are saying about her writings and tempted to doubt what the Spirit of Prophecy states is truth, here is something that will help you. What you need to remember and repeat to yourself are the following facts of truth: God gave Ellen White the Spirit of Prophecy in fulfillment of Bible prophecy (Joel 2:28-32; Revelation 6:12-17), “the testimonies God has given...never contradict His Word” (3SM 32), because the writings of sister White “bears the stamp of God”, has “nothing in partnership with Satan” (5T 671), and I am a humble, submissive follower of God willing to be reproved, corrected and instructed by “the law and...the testimony” (Isaiah 8:20) so that I can know and follow the truth through God’s grace and power. Repeating this over and over to yourself will aid you in overcoming the temptations of the Devil to doubt any of sister White’s writings, and will help keep you in the correct pathway of all the truth which God mercifully has provided in these last days.