Charismatic Experiences In Early Seventh-day Adventist History

Chapter 1—Report of the Interview

Brother and Sister Mackin stated that they had felt impressed by the Holy Spirit to make a special trip West in order to interview Sister White regarding some unusual experiences through which they had been passing. During the Week of Prayer nearly three years before they had united with their little church at Findlay, Ohio, in a special season of seeking God for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. CEESDAH 20.1

Ralph Mackin: In the Week of Prayer reading for that year, every article was directed to the people to seek for the Holy Spirit. We set aside in our little church three days for fasting and prayer, and we fasted and prayed for three days—that is, not constantly together, but we felt the need of a deeper work and felt the necessity of coming into possession of more of the Spirit of God. We began to study from that time on the work of the Holy Spirit, from the Bible and the Testimonies, and especially from volume 8 and volume 7, and Early Writings, and also the little book made up of a collection of leaflets and entitled, Special Testimonies to Ministers and Workers. This we found to be a most precious volume to us. It shows how in times past men who had been called of God were treated, et cetera. CEESDAH 20.2

The message that the Lord gave me particularly was to follow the life of the apostles. In the first place, in Matthew 18:1-3, when the apostles came to the Saviour, we read: CEESDAH 20.3