xiv
Spiritual Gifts, Volume 3
to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon
all flesh, and your sons and
your daughters shall prophesy, and your
[20]
young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;
and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those
days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.” The “Former Rain” was
given on the day of Pentecost, and enjoyed by the early Christians, to
cause the Gospel seed to germinate and take root. The “Latter Rain”
is coming to ripen the golden harvest for the garner of God. Take care,
dear reader, lest unbelief in you quench the Spirit, and shut you away
from this great blessing designed for “them that believe.”
2. “Despise not prophesyings.” We are here warned of one of the
dangers of the last days. The pretensions of Ann Lee, the mother of the
Shakers, the corrupt prophets of Mormonism, and the one thousand and
one of Satan’s medium prophets, devoted to the cause of spiritualism,
with all its baseness, have struck the world with disgust at anything
like the supernatural. The devil got these things up to not only destroy
many souls by them, but to disgust and drive others as far as possible
to unbelief in regard to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Hence the danger
of indiscriminately despising all prophesyings.
3. “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” The three
declarations, “Quench not the Spirit; despise not prophesyings; prove
all things, hold fast that which is good,” have a close relation to each
other. Therefore the “all things” to be proved, do not mean every thing
in the wide world, for this would be imposing an unreasonable tax
upon believers; hence the expression must be limited to the subject of
[21]
prophesying. Despise not prophesyings, but prove them, and separate
the genuine from the counterfeit coin of the devil; and that which is
good, which is from the Spirit of God, which will stand the test, hold
fast. We will here give three rules by which true and false prophesyings
may be known:
1.
Matthew 7:15-20
. “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.”