The manifestation of the spirit of prophecy in the church at any time is the witness of Jesus to His own true church; and as a rule, whenever He has had a true church in the world willing to obey the truth and "walk in love," He has borne witness to its integrity, and to its being His own recognized church, by the manifestation of the gift of the spirit of prophecy in such a church. And this fact is worthy of taking into account in the identification of the Lord's true church in the earth at any point of time.
The true manifestation of the spirit of prophecy is always the direct effort of Jesus Christ to reach His people, individually or collectively, with messages of love in the way of reproof, warning, guidance, counsel, safeguards, and knowledge of impending events, which, if heeded, will prove to be for their "good always," and will finally result in their eternal salvation. Who, therefore, can spurn "the spirit of prophecy"?
To concede that God has ever spoken to His church by the gift of prophecy, is to admit the possibility of His speaking to His church in this manner at any time when the church is walking in the light of His truth.
It is a matter capable of the fullest proof, that for more than threescore years the spirit of prophecy has been manifested in the church that is keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, or, in other words, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, not in a general sense, but in a very definite sense.
How blessed the thought that "in the time of the end," when "every wind of doctrine" is blowing, and amidst the confusion of a multitude of voices inviting mankind to fasten their hopes for eternity to man-made creeds, Jesus should have foreseen the dangers and the perplexities, and should have employed His strongest witnessing power to identify His remnant church! And how infinite is His love, how tender His watch-care, when we recognize that at the very time when Satan works with "all power and signs and lying wonders" to deceive, He witnesses in His church by that Spirit which alone can detect and point out all errors and deceptions, even "the spirit of prophecy"!