Let the Testimonies be judged by their
fruits. What is the spirit of their teaching? What has been the
result of their influence? "All who desire to do so can
acquaint themselves with the fruits of these visions. For seventeen
years God has seen fit to let them survive and strengthen against
the opposition of Satan's forces and the influence of human agencies
that have aided Satan in his work."
"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." [VOL. 4, P.
230.]
As 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?" [VOL.
5, PP. 64, 65 (1882).]
Christ warned His disciples: "Beware
of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their
fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt
tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth
evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth
good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by
their fruits ye shall know them." Here is a test, and all
can apply it if they will. Those who really desire to know the
truth will find sufficient evidence for belief.
