Participants: Karen Thomas, Delbert Baker
Series Code: IAA
Program Code: IAA000077
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00:30 Welcome to Issues and Answer, if you enjoy history,
00:34 if you enjoy religious history, 00:36 if you enjoy knowing what happened in 1800s 00:39 and how it is that Seventh-day Adventists 00:41 are looking forward to the second coming of Jesus 00:43 and what prophets may have been around at that time. 00:46 You may enjoy this program. 00:48 We're gonna talk about the life of William Foy 00:51 and this book "The Unknown Prophet" 00:53 by Dr. Delbert Baker. 00:55 Welcome to the program, Dr Baker. 00:56 Thank you. 00:57 Let me tell you a little bit about Dr Baker for those of you 01:00 who are new to meeting him, 01:02 he is a native of Oakland, California, 01:04 the 10th President of Oakwood College. 01:06 He is a pastor and editor 01:08 and administrators and a professor. 01:11 He has written six books, one is "Telling The Story," 01:15 "Make Us One Secret Keys," "Profiles of Service," 01:19 "From Exile to Prime Minister" and "The Unknown Prophet" 01:22 and that is what we're going to talk about today. 01:25 So where do we begin with this very interesting topic? 01:28 Well, it's a wonderful story to anyone who likes history 01:31 and Adventist history in general 01:33 more specifically advent history, 01:36 because really William Foy, this black man 01:39 who received visions prior to Ellen White 01:41 was in fact a member of the advent movement, 01:44 not the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 01:46 so there's a difference between the two. 01:48 But this gentleman who was converted in 1835 01:53 was born to a family that was raised 01:57 during very difficult time for black people. 02:00 But he came to know Jesus Christ 02:02 through a congregation's minister 02:03 by the name of Silas Curtis. 02:05 And following 1835, he felt that 02:08 God was impressing him to do something, 02:09 so he went to Boston Mass to go to the seminary, 02:13 to go into the ministry. 02:15 And it was there in Boston that in 1842 William Ellis Foy 02:19 received visions that preceded that of Ellen White. 02:23 And his visions had to do with the advent movement 02:26 talking about heaven to come and the glories and trials 02:29 and various things that happened. 02:31 A fascinating story and it really shows 02:34 that God was dealing more than 02:35 just with one person at one time, 02:37 but he had a grand plan and William for his life 02:41 brings that out in a very powerful way. 02:43 Now tell me about the advent movement, 02:45 what exactly was that? 02:47 The advent movement, a good question 02:48 because many people confuse the advent movement 02:50 with the Adventist movement 02:52 or the Seventh-day Adventist movement. 02:54 Now, the advent movement really preceded 02:55 the Seventh-day Adventist movement 02:57 and that was really started, the main spokesperson 03:00 for that movement was William... 03:01 Well, not William Foy 03:02 but I should say William Miller. 03:04 He was the, he was the major figure 03:07 and the character that so many people know about. 03:08 He was the one that had the conviction 03:10 that Jesus was coming soon. 03:12 And he was preaching in the 1830s and in the 1840s. 03:16 He had this deep conviction 03:17 that Christ was coming to earth soon. 03:20 And as a result of his conviction 03:21 he shared this and this small movement 03:24 of a few people blossomed into something great 03:27 and really magnificent that touched the entire country 03:30 and the world for that matter. 03:32 That's the advent movement. 03:33 Well, many people know about 03:35 the prominent figures like Lynch and Fitch 03:37 and other people who are part of the advent movement, 03:39 but few people know that there was a pretty significant 03:43 contingent of black people 03:44 who were part of the advent movement as well. 03:46 And William Foy was one of the individuals 03:48 when he was in Boston that heard about the movement 03:50 because, you know, Boston was like a center 03:52 to the advent movement during that period. 03:54 They had great rallies. 03:56 William Foy lived on Beacon Hill 03:58 or what they refer to as Nigger Hill. 04:00 And it was just a few blocks from where they have 04:02 these large gatherings of the advent believers. 04:05 Well, being a seminary student in the area 04:07 and wanted to know about ministry, 04:09 he was infected by this advent message-- 04:13 Now, what was happening-- That Christ is coming soon. 04:14 Around that time as far as with transitioning from slavery, 04:20 you know, was he in a part, was he a part of that at all? 04:23 Right, well, actually he was a freedmen so he was... 04:27 He had never been, 04:28 his generations had never been slave. 04:30 His parents, but not William Foy. 04:32 Okay. 04:33 So he had the advantage of being free 04:35 and so that why, that way he had the liberty 04:37 in the movement to go from place to place 04:39 and to do various things unlike many people 04:41 who were in slavery during that period of course. 04:44 And that's why he was able to go to Boston, 04:46 go to school and so forth 04:47 and he was in the black community. 04:48 We'll see was there that he came 04:51 to learn about the advent movement. 04:54 He was impressed with the message, 04:56 heard about the second coming, believed in it, 04:58 and he began to be a part of the advent movement, okay. 05:02 And I was following his conversion that in 1842 05:06 that he was on South Arch Street 05:08 at a Baptist church 05:10 and he was with a gathering of people 05:12 that he received his first vision 05:13 that was January 18, 1842. 05:17 And there he saw the glories of heaven 05:20 and the rewards that were coming to God's people 05:23 and he was powerfully moved by the wonderful things 05:26 that were to take place, 05:28 but his vision also talked about the trials 05:30 that they would go through. 05:31 And that was something that kind of burdened his heart 05:33 and so God then gave him this conviction 05:36 but in this vision he did not say to him, 05:39 you have to relate to others which have you seen. 05:41 Okay. Okay. 05:43 So William Foy received the message, 05:45 he was impressed by it and understood 05:47 that it had a great message for people 05:49 but because he was black 05:51 and because of the difficult times 05:53 that he was living in, he was hesitant to share it. 05:56 Well, certainly the name that you use 05:58 for where he resided maybe tells it all. 06:01 The times, so it probably would not have been 06:03 very well received if he had shared his vision 06:06 with other people outside of his community. 06:10 Absolutely and but that's really the way 06:11 it is always been, you know with biblical prophets 06:14 and people who God impresses to do something 06:16 that there is this challenge to share it 06:20 but then there's a reluctance, 06:21 if I shared how will the people receive it, 06:23 what might happen to me, these types of things. 06:26 And so William Foy was not exempt from that, 06:27 he struggled with it in, and yet he knew 06:30 that he had to share with others what he'd seen. 06:33 And so he carried this burden, he just had this on his heart, 06:36 you know, guide has shown me these things, 06:37 I have to tell people, but he didn't. 06:40 He felt impressed to tell it 06:42 but he didn't have the specific command to tell it. 06:46 And so it was a few weeks later in February 06:48 that William Foy received this second vision 06:51 and in this vision he most specifically saw 06:54 about the difficult times that were ahead of the Advent people 06:57 and what they had to go through before Christ would come. 07:02 This time the God told him you got to share with others 07:04 what you've seen. 07:05 He had the message this time. 07:07 There was no escape, there was no excuse, 07:09 he couldn't say, well, I have this wonderful message, 07:10 I should share it but, you know, I won't. 07:13 Specifically the guide said you must share with others 07:15 what you've seen and I will be with you always 07:19 and that was the conviction. 07:20 So he came out of that vision, people around him. 07:24 When you say the guide what do you mean? 07:26 Well, it was this guide that was with him in heaven 07:28 when he was taken to heaven 07:29 and he saw the glories of the world to come and... 07:31 Okay. What was it, an angel? 07:33 It was an angel. Okay. 07:34 That's clearly an angel, mighty powerful angel 07:37 that he said was his guide there 07:39 and was taken from place to place. 07:41 And it's amazing thing, Karen, that 07:44 what William Foy saw was very similar 07:46 to some of the early visions of Ellen White, 07:48 and in my book The Unknown Prophet, 07:50 I compared the two visions 07:53 or similar visions of the two individuals 07:55 and it's remarkable how God gave 07:57 similar scenes to Ellen White 08:01 that He also gave to William Foy. 08:04 But at any rate following the second vision 08:07 that's when he had the real commission, 08:09 the real burden. 08:10 And people wanted to hear it. 08:12 And he said that he knew he had to share it 08:14 but he was so scared. 08:17 He said, how will people accept this mission 08:19 or this vision from me a black man. 08:23 Now Loughborough, John Loughborough, 08:24 one of the early historians in the Adventist church 08:27 brings out how he heard William Foy preach. 08:29 He said he was a powerful preacher. 08:31 He shared the word with conviction 08:33 and he described him as the light skin black man. 08:37 Now many individuals assume from that 08:39 the fact that he's a light skinned, 08:40 he was a light skinned black man 08:42 that he was a mulatto 08:43 but that's really not substantiated by history. 08:45 There are many individuals who are light skinned 08:47 but that doesn't mean that they're mulatto meaning 08:49 that they had a white and black parent. 08:51 And when I researched and studied this out, 08:53 there is no evidence to suggest that, 08:55 in fact it's quite the opposite 08:57 that he in fact was not a mulatto. 08:59 But at any rate he knew that his, 09:02 the reception of this might be mixed, 09:04 but he had to tell it. 09:06 And so what happened is there's a wonderful story, 09:08 you can read it in the book, there's a great chapter on that 09:11 about how he struggled with it and finally some people 09:13 from the local churches in Boston went to William Foy 09:16 and they said, you know, we want to hear 09:18 what you have to say, you know, we knew you envisioned, 09:20 we understood that, we see that. 09:22 Now, this is from the white churches there? 09:23 White and black. Okay. 09:24 In fact, there's a mixed response, 09:26 white and blacks wanted to hear what he had to say. 09:29 He tried to put it off, but he couldn't. 09:30 And so they literally escorted him 09:32 one Sunday morning from his house Beacon Hill 09:36 to a local congregation there. 09:38 He walked in there and as he describes it 09:40 that he had probably or anywhere from 09:42 800 to 1,000 people assembled there to hear his message. 09:47 As he walked in and then this great fear came to him 09:49 and he saw all these people there 09:51 and he is overwhelmed with the weight 09:53 of the commission and what he had to do. 09:54 He said he is, he almost froze up there. 09:57 And he got up there in the front 09:58 and they were waiting for him to speak. 10:00 And he said to the person leading on the program, 10:02 he says listen, you've got to pray or do something like 10:04 how to get my thoughts together. 10:07 He talks about this by the way 10:08 in his little pamphlet that he wrote called 10:10 The Christian Experience, William Ellis Foy. 10:12 And he said that when his, when the guy was praying. 10:16 He said, all of a sudden this great peace came over him. 10:19 The sense of the God's presence 10:21 and he remembered the words of his guide 10:23 that said I will be with you always. 10:26 And he began to speak and as he spoke 10:27 he had such great freedom and such great fluency 10:31 that he sure did he said and whereas once it seemed like 10:33 each person there was like a mountain in themselves, 10:36 he said when he begin to speak, all of a sudden he said 10:38 he felt the power of God washing through him. 10:42 And he talked about as a wonderful experience, 10:44 a wonderful experience and he shared his message 10:47 and he was so relieved when he did so. 10:51 Well, you know this is, this is interesting. 10:53 I had always heard that there was another black man 10:57 who had received the vision 10:58 similar to Ellen White at the time. 11:00 But I didn't know he ever told it to anybody, 11:02 I had thought he didn't. 11:03 Was there anyone else that had 11:05 any type of vision like that at that time? 11:07 Karen, that, that your point is the point, 11:10 that I have underlined and emphasized in the book 11:14 The Unknown Prophet. 11:16 People confuse William Foy with a man who received visions 11:19 after him called Hazen Foss was in fact white. 11:23 So there are three individuals, there's William Foy, 11:25 Hazen Foss, then Ellen White. 11:28 And so you know Foss, Foy the name 11:30 could kind of confuse people, confuse the names. 11:32 And so they often mix the two but in fact what happened is. 11:36 And that's one reason why people confuse 11:38 but there's another reason. 11:39 William Foy in fact did pause in giving his visions. 11:43 History bears out that after he had this conviction, 11:45 after he shared his message like he did 11:48 with that congregation at Boston, 11:50 he did it several times. 11:51 In fact Ellen White herself 11:53 with her father heard William Foy preach. 11:57 And she said, it was a remarkable testimony 11:58 that he voiced, it really impressed with 12:00 what he shared and what he said. 12:02 Well, it was following that, that William Foy was concerned 12:06 about his livelihood and his family, he was married. 12:09 And he wondered how could he support himself 12:12 simply giving these messages and so from about June 12:15 until August of 1842, he did pause 12:18 and stop giving those visions during that period 12:21 and so he talks about this in his book as well. 12:24 Well, during that period when he was stopping, 12:26 he was working with his hands 12:28 earning a living for his family, 12:29 but he said he could never shake the conviction 12:31 that he had to tell what he had seen. 12:33 And he was never released of that burden. 12:36 And so in August, he once again had the conviction 12:40 he's got to share it 12:41 and he received four visions all total, 12:43 four visions all total. 12:45 I referred it to law that refers to the three, 12:47 the third vision with the three platforms 12:49 and I think there's a clear imagery 12:51 or symbolism to the Three Angels' Messages. 12:53 Okay, now for those of us who are not up to speed 12:55 on that platforms, 12:56 can you tell us a little bit about that? 12:58 Well, you know, the Three Angels' Broadcast 13:01 as ties in the word three as well 13:02 but Adventist know three, the number 3 well. 13:07 There's 3 this and 3 that and 7 and 12 and 14 13:10 various things like that. 13:11 But clearly the Three Angels' Messages 13:15 that the Advent movement 13:16 and the really the Adventist church 13:18 I should say really stressed 13:20 was integral to the whole movement. 13:23 The messages of Revelation 14 and about what God was seeking 13:26 to give the people at that time, 13:28 it's fully explained in Revelation Chapter 14. 13:30 It would be wonderful for readers who could read it. 13:32 If our listeners could read that passage 13:34 and just become acquainted with the messages. 13:37 But William Foy refers to these three 13:40 by the three platforms in his third vision. 13:43 Letting them know, I believe without question 13:46 that there had to be a full message 13:48 that was shared before Jesus would come, 13:52 and remembered in that that time, 13:53 all of the messages were not fully expounded in that period. 13:57 It's my conviction and my strong belief 13:59 that if individuals had fully understood his message 14:03 that some would have been spared 14:05 the great disappointment. 14:06 I mean that's a powerful point to think about. 14:08 That God really didn't want 14:10 people to be disappointed the way 14:11 they were just like He didn't want the disciples 14:12 would be disappointed when he was crucified. 14:15 He wanted to warn us to give us a kind of insight 14:17 before it happened. 14:19 Well, in anyway that's three platforms, 14:21 Ellen White refers to the fourth vision. 14:23 She said she had copies of all four 14:24 but she couldn't find them. 14:26 This is recorded by Dores Robinson, 14:28 I think it's about 19, shortly after 1900, 14:30 he talks about his interview 14:33 with Ellen White about William Foy. 14:35 Well, so he had the four visions. 14:38 He paused in 1842 the summer and because of his conviction 14:43 because he was not relieved of this conviction, 14:45 he once again started to preach and to share following August 14:49 and he continued to do so. 14:52 But I don't know if you want to go this yet 14:53 but it was a wonderful thing what happen is see, 14:56 he only received four visions. 14:58 He didn't receive the scores and hundreds of visions 15:01 like Ellen White. 15:02 I clearly see him as being a pre-disappointed prophet 15:05 not post-disappointed prophet. 15:07 Lot of folks are well, 15:08 if William Foy had been faithful, 15:10 he could have been a prophet like Ellen White. 15:11 No, no, I don't see that as being the case at all. 15:13 God had major prophets 15:15 and He had minor prophets in the Bible. 15:17 William Foy was a minor prophet 15:18 who received his visions before 1844, 15:22 Ellen White is what I consider a major prophetess 15:25 or prophet who received visions after 1844. 15:29 And surely the fact that she received these visions 15:32 as a young woman 17, 18 years of age 15:35 and then reflecting back on what she had heard, 15:37 it confirmed to her, that it was the Lord speaking. 15:40 Now, you're saying that she actually did hear Him 15:42 prior to her when she was a young girl... 15:44 Absolutely, you know, she received her vision, 15:46 first vision in December of 1844 as we know 15:50 and this was a time when William Foy 15:52 basically had received all his visions, 15:54 I don't have any record. 15:56 So that was good, he had four vision 15:58 that really were a message to those 16:00 that were involved in the Ad, 16:01 the general Advent movement which was world, 16:03 well, to the then known world I should say 16:06 between the United States and Europe at that time, 16:08 just heralding the second coming of Jesus. 16:11 But then there was this time prophecy 16:14 that the end of the 2,300 days 16:16 that a lot of people were kind of involved with 16:18 and focused on, but they're not knowing 16:20 when Jesus would come 16:22 that was the great disappointment. 16:24 You know, well stated 16:25 and I think this is absolutely, right 16:27 that it was never his purpose sort of plan 16:28 to received visions after that. 16:31 Following 1845 and up to that time Ellen White 16:34 of course heard him in, 16:37 in Maine I should say Portland in particular. 16:41 She and her father had visited him. 16:43 In fact, she saw his wife there and she was talking about 16:47 what a genuine experience he had. 16:49 Well, it was following that the William Foy moved 16:51 out of the Boston area. 16:53 And people don't know this and this really substantiates 16:56 out of the fact that he didn't stop sharing his message 16:58 for what his book bears it out in 1845. 17:01 He was preaching and teaching and he wrote out his visions 17:04 at least two of them, 17:06 so individuals could know about them 17:08 but he left that area 17:09 and went to East Sullivan area of Maine 17:14 and he was a pastor there, pastor of church until 1893. 17:19 And folks don't know this really 1870s 17:20 and then he died in 1893. 17:22 But he was faithful to the very end. 17:24 And I had the privilege of just traveling 17:27 through that area in searching all of his, 17:29 his steps in following where he was 17:31 and one of the thrills of my research a few years back was. 17:35 I met a man who knew someone who knew of William Foy. 17:38 This gentle black preacher who lived in the Sullivan area 17:42 and preached the gospel he said 17:44 and he was very, very much involved in local community. 17:47 He helped poor and homeless families. 17:49 He helped to build shelters for people in the area there 17:52 and had a wonderful ministry not public, not big time 17:56 but it was a very significant ministry. 17:59 Some people say, "Well, what about William Foy 18:01 and the Sabbath?" 18:02 I mean did he ever accept the Sabbath. 18:04 I have no evidence that he did 18:05 and there's nothing in my research that suggests 18:08 that he accepted the Sabbath. 18:10 But of course many people during that period, 18:11 many of the advent believers didn't accept the Sabbath 18:14 and really didn't fully buy into it 18:16 and didn't understand it and whatever 18:18 but they were blessed of God. 18:20 Ellen White speaks about seeing Finch and Lynch in heaven 18:24 in their part they played. 18:25 William Miller himself as we well know 18:28 was one who had the advent message, 18:30 but didn't fully understand all the intricacies 18:32 of the Sabbath and that type of thing. 18:34 But in anyway the point is that he was faithful 18:37 in the sharing of his commission. 18:38 He moved off the scene. 18:40 Now, I have to share this point because this shows the, 18:44 the linking between William Foy and Ellen White. 18:49 When Ellen received her vision, her first vision 18:53 and feeling that God was speaking to her. 18:56 She was speaking one time and Hazen Foss, 18:59 the white gentleman who received visions 19:01 after William Foy who was black. 19:07 Hazen Foss had this conviction 19:10 that he should share what he had received. 19:12 This is again before 1844 before that whole experience 19:16 and he said, "Well, I don't know 19:18 if it's to be true, 19:19 I don't know if this actually going to happen. 19:21 I don't know if God's going to really come through 19:23 and when the great disappointment happened, 19:25 I mean Hazen Foss and no one else wanted 19:27 anything to do with the movement. 19:29 And it seemed well, Ellen White says 19:32 that she was speaking one time and Hazen Foss heard her 19:36 and spoke to her after 19:38 and said be faithful to your commission 19:40 and you will receive the crown that I might have received. 19:44 What a shocking statement. 19:45 He was the man who refused to do it, 19:46 he said, I am not going to give it, 19:48 I'm not going to give the message, 19:49 even though he received a second vision 19:52 which had said that if you don't share these messages, 19:54 I'm talking about Foss now, 19:55 Hazen Foss that the Sprit of God 19:57 will be withdrawn from you. 19:58 He refused to do it and when he refused, 20:01 he had this impression come over him that he was a lost man 20:04 and that in fact the spirit had been withdrawn. 20:07 At that point he became very animated 20:10 and said I'll tell it, I'll tell it, 20:11 he pulls, he hastily pulls together 20:13 the little group of people and they come together 20:15 and he begins to try to share what he's seen. 20:18 And the people who attended said 20:20 it was the most terrible meeting they ever attended. 20:23 He said he couldn't remember anything God had shown him 20:25 and he said before the group, I'm a lost man. 20:28 He was a man who is disobedient, 20:30 he had rejected the message and refused to give it, 20:32 he said I'm a lost man. 20:34 And so later when he heard Ellen White give her visions. 20:37 He said to her, be faithful and you will receive the crown 20:40 that I might have received. 20:42 Now, that's Hazen Foss. 20:43 William Foy also heard Ellen White 20:47 and she records this account in her 1912 interview. 20:51 She says that she was speaking 20:53 and there was this man in the back of the room, 20:56 she says it was William Foy 20:59 and when she was speaking, she said he jumped up 21:01 and said it is just what I have seen, 21:03 just what I've seen, he was excited, 21:05 he was animated, he was praising God 21:07 for the message that she had received 21:09 and she said he said it so that it seemed like 21:12 it almost disrupted the meeting in a sense. 21:13 She said she felt that he thought a little embarrassed 21:16 or ill at ease by the way. 21:17 He was kind of carrying on and sharing what he had seen. 21:21 So she said that following that meeting, 21:23 she never heard anything about him again. 21:25 He moved off the scene and she said 21:28 but it's a remarkable testimony that he bore. 21:30 It's my impression from studying the, 21:33 the personality William Foy that he realized here 21:36 there was this marvelous transition that took place. 21:39 You see he had received these visions 21:40 and he had the raw data so to speak. 21:42 But he didn't have the interpretation. 21:45 Here comes Ellen White who has the vision, 21:46 she knows about the platforms 21:48 and all the messages that would take place. 21:50 But she is not simply the visions 21:52 but she has the interpretation along with it, 21:54 the advent message. 21:57 And I think that he clearly saw and understood 21:59 that God had passes on to another individual 22:03 and that she was faithfully proclaiming it. 22:05 He saw as he did when he jumped up and down 22:07 in that meeting that he didn't want 22:10 any kind of a conflict or burden 22:11 or problem or competition. 22:13 And so he saw this and he moves off the scene 22:15 and he goes to the southern part of Maine 22:18 and he what refer to the southern part of Maine 22:21 and he gives his ministry and shares his story, 22:23 never receiving other visions. 22:25 But faithfully proclaiming what he had seen 22:27 until his death in 1893 22:30 and it's a marvelous story when you see it, 22:31 that God is using different people in different ways, 22:35 a different diverse ethnic backgrounds, 22:39 the gender issues included there, 22:41 educated and not educated. 22:43 God wants to use anyone who is willing to be used 22:46 and he's a message that he wants to give. 22:48 And he would give it to those individuals 22:49 who are willing to share it. 22:51 Well, that sounds like the message of today's program. 22:55 There's like two individuals, two passive, 22:59 two different people had an opportunity to take, 23:01 one was follow and do whatever God says for you to do, 23:05 even if it's outrageous or even if it's unusual 23:08 or it's not been done before and one person said yes, 23:12 I'll go ahead and take that step 23:14 and the other person, just for whatever reason 23:17 there's not a lot of history on this other person, is there? 23:20 This is Hazen Foss. Right, Hazen Foss. 23:22 Yeah, he was relative to Ellen White through marriage. 23:24 And he was a man who knew about the advent message, 23:27 yeah, he was acquainted with it. 23:28 Okay, so he made a real decision. 23:31 And I was feeling kind of badly about this 23:33 and not to say I shouldn't be feeling badly about him 23:35 but he wasn't a novice on the topic. 23:39 Okay, he just made a decision, he did not want to do it. 23:42 He didn't want to do it, I mean 23:43 and many people can relate to that, 23:45 I mean here was a movement that was struggling 23:48 that was new after the great disappointment. 23:51 October 22, 1844 people didn't know 23:53 if they want to be a part of this movement. 23:55 And it was a challenge, it's a tough, 23:57 it's tough thing and people wanted to, 23:58 you know, protect their names, their reputation, 24:00 their livelihood and so it was a tough decision, 24:04 but Hazen Foss made a clear choice, 24:06 he said I will not give it, William Foy, did not do that. 24:09 In fact William Foy did fulfill his commission. 24:12 I think that's the difference we want to keep in mind there 24:14 and make very clear. 24:17 When I was studying my research 24:20 for this book The Unknown Prophet 24:22 that actually was published in 1986 24:26 by Review and Herald publishing Association. 24:30 The breakthrough came for me when I realize that 24:33 where some people said that 24:34 William Foy had rejected this message 24:37 and he wasn't faithful when he had his first vision 24:40 and he didn't share the others. 24:41 Ellen White was the one that really provided 24:44 the breakthrough for me when she said 24:45 that she heard him following 1842. 24:49 Give his message and she talked about 24:51 how remarkable it was, 24:52 what if she heard him after this time 24:53 when people said he had rejected 24:55 and they said he died, how could that be. 24:58 There's no way. 24:59 And that got me thinking about, 25:00 let me search this out and find out about this man. 25:03 And I was at Andrews University seminary 25:06 that I began my research there 25:09 that led me deeper and deeper into the subject. 25:11 And so you see that it's clear 25:14 and then there is this whole thing 25:16 to some people try to suggest 25:17 that it's a race issue or the fact that, 25:20 people want to make it seem like the black man rejected 25:22 but Ellen White was faithful, I don't really think 25:25 that's the case at all, I just think that between the-- 25:27 With the issue the names Foss and Foy. 25:30 The proximity of these two individuals, 25:31 the fact that one did reject and one didn't. 25:34 The fact that William Foy did pause 25:36 for a brief period during his time 25:38 and he didn't give the messages, 25:40 his visions but he started again. 25:43 I think people are just confused 25:44 and they don't know that much about it 25:45 as his life is never really researched and so forth. 25:48 And I'm just happy that we have an opportunity 25:51 now to hear the truth about it because it helps to clarify 25:54 a very, very important point in Adventists history 25:57 as it relates back on advent history and William Foy. 26:01 And the exciting thing to me though is 26:03 it doesn't stop there. 26:05 It goes on to say that God does communicate with his people 26:09 and we have this marvelous gift of the Spirit of Prophecy, 26:12 the writings of Ellen G. White, that we now have in book form 26:16 and CD-ROM and in other ways. 26:19 Incredible gift that God is using to speak to us today 26:23 if we would only take the time and read it 26:25 and apply it to our lives. 26:28 Well, I really appreciate your coming 26:29 on the program today, Dr. Baker. 26:31 And I have seen some studies actually as a program 26:36 that's been aired on 3ABN on the life of William Miller 26:38 and the advent movement. 26:40 And this is just a wonderful piece addendum 26:43 to that particular bit of history. 26:45 Again for those of you 26:46 who are interested in obtaining the book. 26:48 It is "The Unknown Prophet" by Dr. Delbert W. Baker. 26:53 And we'll have it on the 3ABN website 26:55 on how you can get a hold of this book. 26:57 It will be reprinted in paperback form 27:01 so that's going to be really convenient for our listeners 27:03 and as well viewers as well. 27:05 Would you consider this to be a book to share with people 27:08 who enjoy history? 27:09 Absolutely. Okay. 27:10 I think it's a great book. Okay. 27:12 Well, again if you'd like to know more about the book 27:15 "The Unknown Prophet" and about Dr. Delbert Baker, 27:18 you can go to the 3ABN website www.3abn.org 27:25 and you can obtain information about that 27:27 or you can call the 800 number that you see 1800-7523-226. 27:34 You know the point of this program 27:35 is that there always are two roads that we can take. 27:38 The Lord gives us a choice, 27:40 He doesn't force His will on any of us. 27:42 Why not choose life. 27:45 Choose God's way 27:46 and you'll be happy, you'll never regret it. 27:48 And look at the life of Ellen White, 27:50 if you want to study more about her, 27:52 how fulfilled and happy she was for doing God's will. 27:55 Have a blessed day in the Lord and see you next time. |
Revised 2016-01-28