Further Study: Read Ellen G. White, “The Inspiration of the Prophetic Writers,” pp. 15-23 in Selected Messages, book 1.
“Yet now when I send you a testimony of warning and reproof, many of you declare it to be merely the opinion of Sister White. You have thereby insulted the Spirit of God. You know how the Lord has manifested Himself through the Spirit of prophecy. Past, present, and future have passed before me. I have been shown faces that I had never seen, and years afterward I knew them when I saw them. I have been aroused from my sleep with a vivid sense of subjects previously presented to my mind and I have written, at midnight, letters that have gone across the continent, and arriving at a crisis, have saved great disaster to the cause of God. This has been my work for many years. A power has impelled me to reprove and rebuke wrongs that I had not thought of. Is this work of the last thirty-six years from above or from beneath? In these letters which I write, in the testimonies I bear, I am presenting to you that which the Lord has presented to me. I do not write one article in the paper, expressing merely my own ideas. They are what God has opened before me in vision—the precious rays of light shining from the throne.”—Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 27.
Discussion Questions: 
As a class, read your answers to Sunday’s study and compare notes on which prophets members were able to relate to. Which prophets were picked, and why?
Some people have worked on the assumption that some parts of the Bible are more inspired than others. Though it’s true that some parts might be more relevant to us today than others, that’s radically different from the idea that some parts are more inspired than others. What’s the great danger of taking such a position? As you think about it, ask yourself the following questions: Who decides which parts are more inspired than others? What criteria does one use to make that determination? Where does the authority to make these decisions come from? What happens when people disagree about which parts are more inspired than others?
Think about the life and teachings of Ellen White during her long years of ministry. Despite the large amount of misinformation out there about her and her ministry, and despite the frequency with which her writings have been abused, what great evidence and reasons do we have for believing in the reality of her prophetic gift?
| I N S I D E Story | ||
| Saved by a Watermelon by HOMER TRECARTIN The 12 members of a small church in Dubuque, Iowa, planned evangelistic meetings. They asked Elder Dave Weigley to lead out. For three months before the meetings were scheduled to begin, the members prayed for Elder Weigley, the meetings, and the people who were searching for something better in their lives. As time for the meetings drew near, Pastor Weigley remembered a girl he had studied with a year earlier in Florida. She wanted to clean up her life and start over, but she didn't know how to break free from her current situation. She had thought about moving back to Iowa to be near her family. She hoped that a move would give her the new start she needed. Weigley called the local elder in Florida and asked about the girl. The elder remembered her first name, Sharon, but he couldn't remember her full name. He knew that she moved north, but he did not know where she had gone. Weigley urged the local elder to pray for this girl. If she was in the Dubuque area, he wanted to invite her to the meetings. On the first day of the meetings, a young woman entered the rented hall, walked up to a greeter, and said, "Hi, I came to see Pastor Weigley." The greeter took her to the local pastor. "I am Pastor Wagly," the man said, smiling. The young woman looked at him and said slowly, "No, you're not the man I'm looking for." Laughing, the man said, "Oh, you mean the other Pastor Weigley. Our names sound the same, but they are spelled differently. Let me take you to Pastor Dave Weigley." The pastor escorted the young woman to a back room where Elder Dave Weigley was preparing his message. When the two walked through the door, Pastor Weigley's mouth dropped open. "Sharon!" he exclaimed, "How did you come to be here?" Sharon laughed. "I moved here shortly after I met you last year. It's been good for me to start over again. Then yesterday my mom invited me over for watermelon. She covered the table with newspapers to catch the juice, and we sat down to eat and talk. As I was eating, my eye fell on an advertisement for some prophecy meetings. Then I saw your name, and I decided right then I had to come." Sharon attended the meetings faithfully and was baptized. God doesn't always send a bright light and loud voice to catch someone's attention, as He did with Saul. Sometimes He uses simple things—such as a juice-soaked newspaper ad on the kitchen table.
DAVE WEIGLEY is president of the Columbia Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and lives in Maryland, USA. Homer Trecartin is planning director for the Office of Adventist Mission at the General Conference. | ||
| Produced by the General Conference Office of Mission Awareness. email: info@adventistmission.org website: www.adventistmission.org |
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