The Spirit of Prophecy

Norman McNulty

Ouachita Hills College

The Testimony of Jesus

It is so good to be here at Wachita Hills this Sabbath weekend.

And we had a good drive over from Lawrenceburg, Tennessee this afternoon, well this morning and this afternoon.

And my wife and 2 girls are here but it's bedtime for them so they're not here tonight.

So you will see them in the morning but this is Joelle's alma mater for Academy so she's excited to come back and I've been here a few times and it's good to be back.

So thank you for the invitation to be here.

And before we get into our presentation, I would just like to offer a word of prayer.

Father in heaven, I just thank you so much for bringing us into the Holy Sabbath hours, and I just pray that you would be with us this weekend as we reflect again on the gift of the testimony of Jesus, the Spirit of Prophecy to your remnant church.

I pray that these presentations would be a blessing to all of us and that they would strengthen our faith in the message that you have given to us for this time of our history, I pray in Jesus' name, amen.

And for those of you who don't know me, again, my name is Norman McNulty, and I'm married to Joelle Domsticht.

And again, she graduated from here in 2002.

I went through Highland Academy in Tennessee and then Southern and then Loma Linda and I currently practice as a neurologist over in Tennessee.

But I certainly have a deep love for the message of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

And what we're going to be doing this weekend, we're going to be doing a four-part series on the Spirit of Prophecy.

I'll give you a bit of a preview for where we're headed this weekend right now.

So tonight I'm going to give my personal testimony on how the Spirit of Prophecy affected my life from a very early age, and then I'll have a few other stories that will connect to that.

Tomorrow we are going to look at the biblical framework for the role of the testimony of Jesus in the remnant church, and the role that the testimony of Jesus has with respect to the great controversy that is going on as the universe is watching.

So you'll certainly want to be here for church tomorrow.

In the afternoon, we're going to have 2 presentations.

The first 1 is going to be dealing with how we can use the writings of Ellen White, what's the role of her writings in the church, how inspired was Ellen White, what kind of a light is she to us as a people.

And then the last presentation is going to be dealing with common objections that certain critics have used against LMI.

Certainly we don't have time to go through every single issue, but we can at least deal with some of the principles.

And hopefully that will give you at least the foundation or framework to go back and study further.

So that's where we're headed this weekend.

So I'm going to go ahead and get into our message now for this evening.

And I want to share with you my personal testimony my personal testimony with respect to Ellen White.

And I started reading the writings of Ellen White when I was 9 years old.

And without a doubt, and I say this unashamedly, I do not apologize for this, without a doubt, in addition to the Bible, the writings of Ellen White, which I believe to be the testimony of Jesus, and I'll get into that tomorrow further, her writings, Jesus speaking through her writings to me, are the reason why I'm here tonight.

I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the influence of her writings in my life.

And I know that going through school all the way from grade 1 through the end of fellowship training after residency in Adventist institutions.

You couldn't be more of a product of the Adventist system than me.

I'm not trying to brag, but I'm just saying I went to elementary school in an Adventist school.

I went to medical school, residency and fellowship training, all in Adventist institutions.

And I can certainly tell you that in my time and all those years, I haven't even counted all the years that would be, I guess it would be 24 years, 25 years.

Many times there were Adventists who were Adventists, but they didn't believe in the writings of Ellen White.

And the place that they ended up in life was never a place that really led them to happiness, I can tell you that.

And even In the earliest years of my life, when I started reading Ellen White, when I was 9 years old, I had classmates who made negative remarks about her based on what their parents had told them.

And I have to say that I am so grateful for the parents that God blessed me with.

And you may not have, you know, all of us have a different testimony, so I'm not here to put my parents up above anybody else's parents, but all of us have parents who have strengths and weaknesses, but certainly 1 of the strengths that my parents, both of them, my father and my mother had was a strong belief in the writings of Ellen White as the testimony of Jesus being the spirit of prophecy.

And they encouraged me at a very early age to read her for myself.

And the way it actually started, I was in third grade at school.

And my teacher decided to have a, I don't know what you want to call it, I don't necessarily call it a competition, but a project where we would all read books and whoever read the most books would get a prize which was going to the ABC to buy a book of your choosing.

Well, when you're 9 years old that's pretty good.

Well, a lot of, there was a lot of different books in the library.

The book that I chose to read was Patriarchs and Prophets.

And I got through that book by the end of that project.

And admittedly, I didn't gain every spiritual insight that I could have gained, but at that time in my life, I immediately began to see as I read through that book that there was deep spiritual value to the content that was in that book.

And once I finished Patriarchs and Prophets at the age of 9, I decided that I was not yet done with her writings.

So I continued to read and by 2 years later, it took me 2 years, I read through all 5 volumes of the Conflict of the Ages series.

So that by the time I was 11 years old, I had read through the Great Controversy.

So when I would hear people say Ellen White was for her time, her writings don't really, they're not as relevant for us today as they were when she wrote them back then, I would always chuckle to myself saying, these people haven't even read the writings for themselves to know whether or not what they're saying is really true.

Because I knew from my own testimony, from my experience, that God was speaking to me, to my heart and to my conscience through the books that I was reading.

And as I progressed through the elementary school years into my academy years, 1 of my academy teachers 1 day, it was an experience I'll never forget.

And the name of the teacher and the name of the school will remain unnamed for now.

Although for those of you who know me, I guess would know where this happened.

My sophomore Bible teacher passed out a handout with a bunch of quotes from the Spirit of Prophecy.

I started looking at a lot of the quotes on that page.

Now, he had, they were a lot of one-liners, just 1 line from here and there.

At least they weren't a half sentence with ellipses.

I've seen people do that to try to make her look bad.

And the very first sentence at the top of the page was, and I couldn't tell you where it was from because this was, what year would have this been, I guess 1993, something like that.

And so that's 22 years ago, I don't remember, 22, 23 years ago, I don't remember exactly where the quote was found, but I do remember what the quote said.

And the quote said, God requires perfection of his children.

Now I was at a point in my life where I had heard various debates about the concept of perfection and I'm not going to get off onto that whole theological issue right now, but I had read enough of Ellen White at that point in my life to say, you know what, God is speaking through her when she writes.

And when I read that statement, I was at a point in my life where I had heard a lot of people questioning the possibility of whether or not God could perfect His people.

And when I read that one-liner, and I was, you know, 15 years old, maybe 15 or 16, I was like, wow, that answers the question.

That's immediately what I thought in my mind.

The teacher asked the question like this, does God really require perfection of his children?

And everybody else in the room was like, of course not.

All of my classmates were shaking their head no.

And I was disappointed and surprised that the teacher was deciding to try to undermine the credibility of LNY.

Well, interestingly, shortly after we read that statement, A number of statements were being made.

There were classmates who were saying, yeah, her writings were for her time, not for our time.

And they were going on with the usual type of statements.

And so the teacher asked the question, How many of you believe everything that Ellen White has ever said?

And it was interesting, I look back on that experience, not that I'm anything special, but when I raised my hand, that totally took the wind out of the sails of that teacher because he was basically there to say negative things about LMI that we can't really trust what she's saying and that's kind of discouraging considering that it was an Adventist school.

I don't think he taught Bible there after that year, thankfully.

And sadly, my understanding is that he may not be practicing as an Adventist anymore.

But I did have classmates come up to me afterwards, not even that day, but in the years that came as we went through school and said, you know, we really respect you for being willing to stand up for what you believe.

Sadly, I think all of my classmates who didn't raise their hands, none of them had read her writings other than class assignments where you read a chapter or a paragraph so that you can write an essay for your Bible class.

It wasn't something that had become real or personal for themselves.

And then I entered into my college years.

And I'll remember, some of you are in academy, so you might be able to relate to what I shared with you.

Maybe you're at a place in your life where some of the friends that you have, that you interact with, are questioning the validity of Ellen White and maybe that's where you are in your mind right now.

I would encourage you, if you have questions, read her for yourself.

There is a God in Israel

Well, a very happy Sabbath to each 1 of you.

And it's very good to be here at Ouachita Hills.

We've certainly been enjoying our time here.

It's nice to have Joelle and my girls here this morning.

They were ready for bed last night, but they're having a good time here as well.

And I know Joelle enjoys being back at her alma mater where she was here for several years.

Before we get into our message for this morning, I would like to have a word of prayer.

Father in heaven, we thank you so much that we can be here to worship you, and I just pray that you would speak now, that the words that I speak would not be my own, but that you would speak through me, and that we would have a deeper appreciation for the testimony of Jesus Christ and the remnant church.

And that by the end of this message, if there are any that are doubting, I pray that all would be convinced that truly there is a God in Israel.

The title for our message this morning is There is a God in Israel, And I certainly believe with all of my heart with the evidence that we can find from inspiration that God has clearly identified Himself as the leader of the movement that we are part of.

That we as Seventh-day Adventists are part of a movement that God is the leader of.

And what a privilege we have to be Seventh-day Adventists at this time of earth's history.

And as we look at our scripture reading, Revelation chapter 12 verse 17, the closing verse of the chapter in the book of Revelation that identifies this great controversy that is going on between Christ and Satan.

We read, And the dragon was wrath, or enraged, with a woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Now if you have any doubt as to what kind of wrath the dragon has towards this woman.

Just remember that at the beginning of the chapter, when this woman had a child, and she was paying to be delivered, The dragon was right there trying to destroy that child, which was Christ.

And if you think about it in a simple term, can you imagine the degree of wickedness or evil if a woman, a godly woman, was about to give birth to a baby and there was someone so sinister or so evil that they were trying to kill that baby as soon as it was born, That's the degree to how evil the devil is.

And that is the degree to how much wrath he has towards God's end time church.

The dragon is wrath with God's end time church.

And he has gone to make war with the remnant of her seed, the remnant of the seed of that woman, the woman who gave birth to Christ, who gave birth to the Christian church, who gave birth to a church that had to flee into the wilderness where she was persecuted for 1, 260 years.

And then at the end of time, before Jesus comes back, God has raised up a movement that would finish off the work that God raised up through Christ when he was here on this earth.

And so the dragon is enraged with this woman.

And there are 2 key identifying characteristics that I'm going to mention this morning.

And it is these 2 key identifying characteristics that show us why the dragon is wroth with a woman.

And it is because this woman, as scripture says, keeps the commandments of God and has the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Friends, we are living in a great controversy.

And we are part of God's remnant church which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

There is no other church on the face of the earth that professes to keep all 10 commandments.

And in that combination have the testimony of Jesus.

And I have found it fascinating in my brief 38 years, for some of you that may be a long time, for some of you that may seem like not so long, but in my 38 years I've been around long enough in enough places in various parts of the world that wherever I go, and I'm sure many of you can identify with this, that wherever I go the 2 things within the Remnant Church, within the Adventist Church that receive the most resistance are the concepts of obedience and the spirit of prophecy.

Everywhere I go, you could be in Nebraska, Maine, California, anywhere in the world, the Caribbean, Europe, Australia, wherever it may be, And you are going to meet resistance to the concept of obedience by grace through faith.

People will still be resistant to that idea.

And you meet resistance to the use and the belief of the testimony of Jesus Christ, which is the spirit of prophecy.

Just remember that we are in a great controversy war between Christ and Satan.

And God has raised up a church, a woman who keeps the commandments of God and has the testimony of Jesus Christ and Satan is going after whoever will uplift the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

You may hear common sayings of like, well nobody's perfect and we really can't obey anyway, can we?

Those are common things that are often said.

Let me read you a couple of verses from Scripture.

1 John 2 verses 3 and 4 which says, And hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments.

He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in Him." Friends, you better watch out.

If you are part of any movement or of any church, anywhere you may be, that says we cannot keep the commandments of God.

Scripture says, oh I know God, I'm a Christian, I'm following Him, But you're not keeping the commandments.

The Scripture says that you are a liar and the truth is not in you.

And that tells me that those who say that they don't keep His commandments, but they say that they know Him, they are being used by the devil as part of his end time attack against the remnant church.

Now this may not be popular, But friends we are living in a time where we have to get past the point of being afraid of teaching unpopular things from the pulpit.

Because we are living in a time where Jesus is coming soon and we need to give a clear, thus saith the Lord, that will prepare hearts and minds for what is soon coming upon this world.

Now is not the time for dumbing down the message, making people feel comfortable in a lukewarm, lay at a sea in state.

God is looking for messengers to rise up who will shake people out of their comfortable, lukewarm condition and realize that now is the time to stand on the Lord's side.

And obedience is under attack in the church.

Jesus also says in John 14 verse 15, if you love me keep my commandments.

Now if Jesus says if you love me keep my commandments, why then would we as humans say we can't keep them?

Because Jesus says if you love me keep my commandments.

As we are told in Inspiration, all of his bidding are enablings.

Praise God that God has given us grace that we can obey him.

I'm tired of a gospel that says I'm going to continue to live in a life of disobedience and discouragement and frustration and unhappiness, but at least God covers me while I'm living in such a life of discouragement, disobedience, frustration and anger.

Is that the kind of gospel you want to be living under?

Or do you want a Gospel where God says that we can be more than conquerors through Him who loved us, and that by His grace we can keep His commandments.

1 of the identifying characteristics of God's last day people who will be ready for Jesus to come, is that they will keep the commandments of God.

When we look at the book of Revelation, interestingly in Revelation 11, 19, we see in Revelation 11, 19 where it says, the temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in His Temple the Ark of His Testament.

Now those of us who study Scripture understand that in the part of the Temple of God where the Ark of the Testament is seen We understand, and you can see this in Hebrews 9, 4, and also in the Old Testament that within the Ark of the Testament was contained the 2 tables of the covenant, or the Law of God.

And so the most holy place is being opened where the Law of God is being revealed again.

And God is raising up a movement who remembers His law, who remembers His Sabbath.

And it's this remnant church that brings back a focus to the law of God that the devil is going after.

And in fact this law of God is the law that God writes into our hearts in the New Covenant in Hebrews 8, verse 10.

You also see this in the book of Jeremiah.

So this remnant church that the devil is attacking is the church of the new covenant.

And I might also add in Romans 7 verse 12 that God's law is described as being holy, just, and good, which is a transcript of Christ's character.

So the remnant is designed to be a transcript of the character of Jesus.

Now it just so happens that Jesus works through the testimony of Jesus Christ to develop that transcript of his character.

Thus the 10 Commandments and the testimony of Jesus are under attack.

2 Timothy 3 tells us that all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

Now let me show you, and I haven't taken the time to do this, I didn't mention this last night.

When you look at Revelation chapter 12 verse 17 we see that the remnant keeps the commandments of God and they have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Now there are some in higher academic circles that are now saying that the testimony of Jesus in Revelation 12, 17 is the testimony of how Jesus works in my life.

That's an idea that has started to gain traction in certain circles of Adventism.

But I'm here to tell you today that I do not believe that for a minute.

The testimony of Jesus is far deeper than that.

Revelation 19.10, which is a familiar passage, which develops this idea a little bit further.

Revelation 19.10 we read, And I fell at his feet to worship him.

And he said unto me, See thou do it not, I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus.

Worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Here John the Revelator is about to fall down and worship at the feet of an angel and the angel says, don't worship me I am of your fellow servants who have the testimony of Jesus.

And if you want to know what the testimony of Jesus is, it is the spirit of prophecy.

Now let me make it even clearer, the Bible makes it clear.

Revelation 22 verses 8 and 9 we see a very similar scene.

Revelation 22 verses 8 and 9 we read, And I, John, saw these things, and heard them.

And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel, which showed me these things.

This is very similar to Revelation 19.10.

Continuing on in verse 9, Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not?

For I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren, the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book, worship God.

Proper Use of the Spirit of Prophecy

It's good to see all of you back this afternoon.

I'm going to make an announcement before I have prayer, and that is I have some sticky notes in my hand here.

I'm going to put them on the table down front.

Those of you who would like to write questions, we're going to have a question and answer after the meeting or at the end of the meeting this evening.

So I don't claim to know everything about Ellen White or anything else for that matter.

But if you have some questions based on what you've heard, maybe I haven't addressed some things you have questions about, I'll be happy to take some questions later on this evening.

So I'm going to leave these down here and after the meeting this afternoon you can come and grab a sticky note, write a question out, and we'll take some questions this evening.

And I'm going to open our meeting now with prayer.

Father in heaven, we Thank you so much for this Sabbath that we've had together, and I thank you that we can come together now and learn more, and I pray that you will guide this afternoon meeting, that we will learn more, that will be helpful for us in our walk with you.

So last evening I shared my personal testimony and I told the story of Brother Stephen Smith who found out 27 years later that if he had simply followed the testimony he had received how different his life might have been.

And this morning we talked about how the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy and how it is under attack by the devil, but that we can know that there truly is a God in Israel who has spoken to us through Sister Y.

And sometimes the way he spoke through her, especially with the Salamanca vision as we talked about this morning is just a dramatic evidence of how God has used her to bless this church.

This afternoon we're going to spend some time talking about how we properly use the Spirit of prophecy.

And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to share a few thoughts about the level of inspiration that LM Y is at, and how we can properly use her individually and also in the church because I spent some time with my testimony and then I talked about how important her writings are.

But when it comes down to everyday life, how do we find value from her writings?

And for some of you this may seem pretty basic, but it's pretty foundational and if you're not properly using her writings or if you don't understand a proper use, you're missing out on a great blessing.

So as Seventh-day Adventists, how do we use the spirit of prophecy?

Well, you know, it's obvious that many Seventh-day Adventists don't properly use the spirit of prophecy and some may use her writings to beat people over the head, that may be true, but in this day and age I believe that the vast majority of misuse comes from the fact that people just simply aren't using her writings at all.

And if you want to make the worst mistake with Ellen White, that would be to simply ignore her or to not use her writings at all.

And I read the statement this morning and I'll read it again now.

This is Selected Messages, Volume 1, page 48.

The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God.

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Series

The Spirit of Prophecy

Answers to Objections About the Spirit of Prophecy

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

The Spirit of Prophecy

The Testimony of Jesus

49m

The Spirit of Prophecy

There is a God in Israel

51m

The Abomination and Desolation

51m

The Most Crucial Gift

52m

Revelation Made Simple

17. Prophetic Movement at End Time

1h 3m

Apologetics

Ellen White and the Spirit of Prophecy

1h 3m

GYC 2012 Seminar: Revolutionary Apologetics - The Adventist Edge

Jesus’ Apologetics on Prophets: EGW Outside Adventism

1h

The Spirit of Prophecy Matters

1h 5m

Apologetics

In Defense of Ellen White

1h

The Bible or Ellen White?

Part 2: How Inspiration Works

52m

Educational Excellence

50m

Ellen White Under Fire

1h 3m

Sound Doctrine