John Norton Loughborough (1832-1924) - 92 Years. “The boy preacher” The Last of the Adventist Pioneers (One of the 144,000)

Ellen White considered this man her "Pastor".

"The influence of Elder Loughborough is valuable in our churches. Just such a man is needed, one who has stood unwaveringly for the light that God has given to His people, while many have been changing their attitude toward this work of God. I say let Elder Loughborough do a work that is suffering to be done in the churches. The Lord would have his voice heard as was John’s, telling the things he has seen, and that which he has heard, which he himself has experienced in the rise and progress of the third angel’s message." – {1888 716.3, Ellen G. White}

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:

Daniel 11:40-45 in reference to “The King of the North” is Turkey and not Papal Rome. Elder John Loughborough made this very clear in response to a inquiry on this subject. The close of human probation will be a surprise for many that believe otherwise.

For 75 years he was a faithful and true witness for the Protestant Adventist faith. Both Sister White and Elder Loughborough began preaching the Protestant Advent Three Angel's message at the age of seventeen, she in 1844 and he in 1849.

https://sites.google.com/site/howtoperformmiracles/sabbath/pioneers/steven-nelson-haskell

What does Protestant mean? one who makes or enters a protest. Remember Tony Palmer? "the protest is over"? What protest? The protest of protestants! The protest of Protestants against Roman Catholic doctrines! Roman Catholic doctrines were formed by merging truth with error. Or heathen pagan doctrines, beliefs with Christianity, Bible believing Christians. Those who would not conform were persecuted and killed, martyred. Non-conformers are called heretics or fanatics. But what does the apostles say about HERESY? See Acts 24:14 "But this I confess unto thee, that after the Way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets". Jesus says I AM THE WAY in John 14:6. Jesus said I am not come to bring peace, but a sword. The Word of God is a double edged sword. Old and New Testaments, double edged sword. It is the weapon God's people use. It is a part of the Amour of God.

Someone who believes in the Bible. A fundamentalist. Someone who obeys God's laws above manmade traditions/habits that come into conflict with the Word of God. A member of any Protestant church denomination denying the universal authority of the Pope and affirming the Reformation principles of justification by faith alone, the priesthood of all believers, and the primacy of the Bible as the only source of revealed truth; broadly : a Christian not of a Catholic or Eastern church.

Can you find a PROTESTANT denomination today? No! Why? Because all are 50c13 non-profit tax-exempt denominations. IF they protest against sin today they will lose their tax-exempt status and owe back taxes retroactive to their filing date for a 50c13! This would bankrupt the church, which would have back taxes, interest and penalties tacked onto the 50c13 entity - which they could not afford, so the IRS, the Pope's debt collection agency would confiscate church properties, businesses, all assets operating under the auspices of the church umbrella - the 501c3 EIN number!

“In reviewing our past history, having traveled over every step of advance to our present standing, I can say, Praise God! As I see what God has wrought, I am filled with astonishment, and with confidence in Christ as leader. We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way (Early Pioneer Doctrines 1840-1894) the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history" Ellen White, CET 204.1; Ms 139, 1901 (December 19, 1892) par. 28.

Watch this video promoting J. N. Loughborough: The Last of the Adventist Pioneers by Brian E. Strayer to see more pictures of Loughborough and his wife here.

In the late-1840s John Norton Loughborough was nicknamed “the boy preacher”; later in the 1850s he was called “the little preacher.” Loughborough never grew taller than 5’4” and never weighed more than 125 pounds. In truth, he was a little man, but one who cast a long shadow. When he died in 1924 at age 92, he was revered as a Protestant Seventh-day Adventist and as “the last of the pioneers.”

Ellen White writes: "My dear babe was a great sufferer. Twenty-four days and nights we anxiously watched over him, using all the remedies we could for his recovery, and earnestly presenting his case to the Lord. At times I could not control my feelings as I witnessed his sufferings. Much of my time was spent in tears, and humble supplication to God. But our heavenly Father saw fit to remove my lovely babe.

December 14, I was called up. My babe was worse. I listened to his labored breathing, and felt his pulseless wrist. I knew that he must die. That was an hour of anguish for me. The icy hand of death was already upon him. We watched his feeble, gasping breath, until it ceased, and we felt thankful that his sufferings were ended. When my child was dying, I could not weep. I fainted at the funeral. My heart ached as though it would break, yet I could not shed a tear. We were disappointed in not having Bro. Loughborough to conduct the funeral services, and my husband spoke upon the occasion to a crowded house. We followed our child to Oak Hill cemetery, there to rest until the Life-giver shall come, and break the fetters of the tomb, and call him forth immortal.

After we returned from the funeral, my home seemed lonely. I felt reconciled to the will of God, yet despondency gloom settled upon me" SPIRITUAL GIFTS, VOL. 2, PAGE 296, Ellen White.

This term is appropriate for the man who had pioneered Adventist evangelism in the Midwest in 1853, California in 1868, and the British Isles in 1879. In addition, he sent the first boxes of tracts to Pitcairn Island and Haiti in the 1870s and helped launch the ship Pitcairn in 1890 which led to the conversion of the entire island. His preaching tours across Europe, Australasia, and Africa between 1896 and 1910 greatly strengthened Adventist mission work and institutions. Although he teamed up with many evangelists and tent masters, Loughborough developed his own unique style of doing evangelism. Rather than pass the offering plate during his meetings, he crafted wooden contribution boxes which he nailed to the pulpits in his tents to receive voluntary offerings, which usually exceeded his expenses. During the Civil War, he demonstrated his patriotism by flying the American flag from the center pole, by praying with Union soldiers passing through, and by allowing the army brass to use his tent for recruitment during the day (after which they guarded it by night). While most Adventist preachers focused on Bible prophecies as indicators of the nearness of Christ’s coming, Loughborough created several full-color charts showing the “Wonders in the Heavens” (bizarre celestial signs) that proved the Second Advent was near at hand. When electricity became available, he created lighted transparency signs to advertise his meetings in Oakland and San Francisco. Likewise, despite the reservations of some church leaders, he remained firmly convinced that faith healings (following James 1:5) were the work of the Holy Spirit. As a boy during the Millerite Movement, he had witnessed miraculous healings. He saw pioneers instantly restored to health in response to prayers and anointing in New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and California in the 1850s and ’60s. He and A. T. Jones participated in at least two faith healing services (one at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, the other at Decatur, Illinois in 1891), in which John described the instant healing of dozens of individuals as “a green spot in the heavenly journey” and “the nearest approach to a Pentecostal outpouring of the spirit of God [that] I have witnessed since 1844.” Click here to open a pdf history of Elder Loughborough.

Elder J. N. Loughborough (one of the 144,000) accepted the Sabbath at Rochester, New York, in 1852, as a result of the preaching of J. N. Andrews. It was here that he first met Elder James and Ellen White. He and his family had gone through the 1844 disappointment as believers. From the age of 17, Loughborough was a lay preacher for the First-day Adventists. A month after he was introduced to the Sabbath by J. N. Andrews, he began preaching for the movement that later would become known as the PROTESTANT Seventh-day Adventist Church. A vision given to Ellen White helped him to begin when he doubted whether he could support his family. Relating this vision Ellen White said: "Brother Loughborough is holding back from his duty to preach the message, trying to get means for his support. The Lord told me to say, 'Decide to preach the message and the Lord will open the way for your family's support.'"--Divine Predictions Fulfilled, pp. 25-27. He had been selling sashlocks, but it had not gone well. Down to his last three cents, he gave his wife a penny for thread and a penny for matches. While she was gone, a man came to the door and ordered $60 worth of sashlocks. Loughborough made a profit of more than thirty dollars on the sale. His ministry was begun.

Loughborough was the youngest to be ordained to the ministry, being only 22 years old in 1854. After discussing it with James White, he decided to sell complete sets of old pioneer Adventist publications issued by our Protestant press at that time--35 cents' worth. It was a success from the beginning. In 1868 he pioneered SDA work in California with D. T. Bourdeau. He spent five years in England, beginning in 1878, and served as president of several conferences after returning to the United States. In 1892 Loughborough published the first Seventh-day Adventist history, The Rise and Progress of Seventh-day Adventists, later revised and expanded as The Great Second Advent Movement. He also published The Church, Its Organization, Order, and Discipline in 1907. This book served for several years as a church manual, until an official manual was adopted in 1932. Though Loughborough is more often remembered as an administrator and church historian, in his early ministry he was a successful public evangelist and conducted the first tent meetings. In 1856 he became discouraged and decided to go to Waukon, Iowa, to farm. James and Ellen White went to Waukon by horse and sleigh to persuade him to return. Their winter trip across the plains and the frozen Mississippi River is a story of God's care. The Whites persuaded Loughborough to return to the ministry, and he never wavered again, though times were difficult in the beginning. In 1869 he went to California in company with D. T. Bourdeau as the first "missionary" to that State.

Loughborough saw Ellen White in public vision more often than any other person, with the exception of her husband, James. Late in his life he claimed to have witnessed more than 50 public visions. On several occasions, these visions included physical phenomena. He was also present in Rochester, New York, when she prayed for the healing of the pressman, Oswald Stowell. Stowell had been given up by the physician to die. He was healed and back at work in two days. Loughborough joined James and Ellen White in advocating the Third Angel's Message in 1860. Often they traveled together, in public ministry to God in the name of His Son. He died at age 92, in 1924, after more than a half-century of service to God. Source.

Although it may seem strange today, all the early SDA pioneer Adventists in the early 1860s were resistant to plans for church organization. A contributing editor to the church paper declared that even selecting a name for the scattered Adventist groups would be “wrong” and that such an action “lies at the foundation of Babylon.”

At the bottom of this vocal and stiff resistance was the keen memory of how the Millerites were rejected by the Protestant churches in 1844. Early pioneer Adventists believed that all church organizations were “Babylon” and they experienced what it meant to “come out” of church organizations (Rev. 18:4). In 1860 some Adventists believed that church organization would again lead to Babylonian tactics. Retreating back to Egypt and adopting doctrines of the Catholic Church instead of obey keeping true to the Three Angel's Messages (Revelation 14:6-12) the early SDA pioneers worked so hard to share. The early SDA pioneers did not want to form a Church organization because it would try to control the work and cause many people to be lost like the modern Catholic Adventist 501c3 denomination today. Neal C. Wilson who said 36 years ago after officially changing Doctrine #2 regarding to the Trinity from the 1872 Fundamental Beliefs of ALL the faithful SDA early pioneers at the Dallas Texas 1980 General Conference Session"...There is another universal and truly catholic organization, the Seventh-day Adventist Church" (Review, March 5, 1981, page 3).

F. C. Gilbert (1867-1946) discusses Loughborough's experiences with Ellen White's visions in his book "Divine Predictions of Mrs. Ellen G. White Fulfilled", especially her predictions involving slavery and the onset of the American Civil War.

After much discussion, however, Adventists in the early 1860s chose their name, organized conferences, and provided for a system to credential ministers. But there was another fear that some saw—with organization would come a creed!

In Battle Creek, October 5, 1861, when the Michigan Conference was organized, the wording of the resolution included “covenanting to keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus Christ.” Some felt strongly that even these words suggested a creed.

One well-known quote by Loughborough appeared in an October 8, 1861 Review and Herald article (now the Adventist Review), in which he was quoted speaking against the formation of creeds:

J. N. Loughborough declared that “the first step of apostasy is to get up a creed, telling us what we shall believe. The second is to make that creed a test of fellowship. The third is to try members by that creed. The fourth is to denounce as heretics those who do not believe that creed. And fifth, to commence persecution against such. I plead that we are not patterning after the churches in any unwarrantable sense in the step proposed.”

After others spoke, James White, in his inimitable fashion, made a comprehensive statement that had lasting significance. It included: “I take the ground that creeds stand in a direct opposition to the gifts. Let us suppose a case: We get up a creed, stating just what we shall do in reference to this thing and that, and say that we will believe the gifts too.

“But suppose the Lord, through the gifts, should give us some new light that did not harmonize with our creed; then, if we remain true to the gifts, it knocks our creed all over at once. Making a creed is setting the stakes, and barring up the way to all future advancement. God put the gifts into the church for a good and great object; but men who have got up their churches, have shut up the way or have marked out a course for the Almighty. They say virtually that the Lord must not do anything further than what has been marked out in the creed.

“A creed and the gifts thus stand in direct opposition to each other. Now what is our position as a people? The Bible is our creed. We reject everything in the form of a human creed. We take the Bible and the gifts of the Spirit; embracing the faith that thus the Lord will teach us from time to time. And in this we take a position against the formation of a creed. We are not taking one step, in what we are doing, toward becoming Babylon."

Daniel 11:40-45 in reference to “The King of the North” is Turkey and not Papal Rome. Elder John Loughborough made this very clear in response to a inquiry on this subject. The close of human probation will be a surprise for many that believe otherwise.