Message of the Latter Rain - Kelvin M. Duncan

When the "latter rain" began, more than 100 years ago, there were some
among us who did not realize that the time of the latter rain had come and
were looking for it to come sometime in the future. For this reason, Ellen
White would write, on March 2, 1897, "Unless we are daily advancing in the
exemplification of the active Christian virtues, we shall not recognize the
manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain. It may be falling on hearts
all around us, but we shall not discern or receive it."[12]
Evidently, in this passage, Ellen White was not merely speaking of a
danger which the people of God would face in the future. Although the
warning would be applicable in the future, her primary concern was to warn
her contemporaries of what was already transpiring at that time.
The "latter rain" had begun to fall. The "loud cry" had "already begun."
Yet there were those among "us" who did not "discern or receive it." Ellen
White lamented the fact that "some felt annoyed at this outpouring, and their
own natural dispositions were manifested. They said, ‘This is only
excitement; it is not the Holy Spirit, not showers of the latter rain from
heaven.'"[13]
She was declaring that it was the latter rain. They said it was "not
showers of the latter rain." So she pleaded with the brethren: "Let us, with
contrite hearts, pray most earnestly that now, in the time of the latter rain, the
showers of grace may fall upon us."[14]
The Rain Rejected
"We" had been given the warning right from the beginning. "God will
withdraw His Spirit unless His truth is accepted."[15] The reception or
rejection of the "truth," which constituted the message of the latter rain, was
the key that would shape the future of the movement. The opportunity to
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