Last night, in vision, I was standing before an assembly of our people, bearing a decided testimony regarding present truth and present duty. After the discourse, many gathered about me, asking questions. They desired so many explanations about this point and that point, and another point, that I said, “One at a time if you please, lest you confuse me.”
And then I appealed to them, saying: “For years you have had many evidences that the Lord has given me a work to do. These evidences could scarcely have been greater than they are. Will you brush away all these evidences as a cobweb, at the suggestion of a man’s unbelief? That which makes my heart ache is the fact that many who are now perplexed and tempted are those who have had abundance of evidence, and opportunity to consider and pray and understand, and yet they do not discern the nature of the sophistries that are presented to influence them to reject the warnings God has given to save them from the delusions of these last days.”
Some have stumbled over the fact that I said I did not claim to be a prophet, and they have asked, Why is this?
I have had no claims to make, only that I am instructed that I am the Lord’s messenger... Early in my work I was asked several times, Are you a prophet? I have ever responded, “I am the Lord’s messenger.” I know that many have called me a prophet, but I have made no claim to this title. My Saviour declared me to be His messenger. “Your work,” He instructed me, “is to bear My word. Strange things will arise; and in your youth I set you apart to bear the message to the erring ones, to carry the word before unbelievers, and with pen and voice to reprove from the Word actions that are not right. Exhort from the Word. I will make My Word open to you... My Spirit and My power shall be with you.
“Be not afraid of men, for My shield will protect you. It is not you that speaketh; it is the Lord that giveth the messages of warning and reproof. Never deviate from the truth under any circumstances. Give the light I shall give you. The messages for these last days shall be written in books, and shall stand immortalized, to testify against those who have once rejoiced in the light, but who have been led to give it up because of the seductive influences of evil.”—Manuscript 63, May 26, 1906, “A Messenger.”
Reference: E.G. White, "The Upward Look," p. 160.
