The Spirit of Prophecy Services in the Peninsular Malaysia Mission seeks to promote an understanding of, and the appreciation for the prophetic guidance, mercifully bestowed upon the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the life and ministry of Ellen G. White®, by:

• Making available, as many as possible, the writings of EGW to our believers in their own tongue, thereby
• Encouraging the study of the Inspired writings, in addition to the Bible, the sole basis of our faith and practice, and in the process,
• Preparing a remnant who will stand through the last great conflict with evil, and come through faultless, before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.

Spirit of Prophecy Director, 2009 – 2011.

What is the “Spirit of Prophecy”?
The term “spirit of prophecy” occurs only once in the Bible, only in Revelation 19:10; but the readers in John’s day knew exactly what John meant by this phrase. They were familiar with this expression, which was frequently used in the Aramaic translation of the Old Testament. For example, Genesis 41:38 in the Aramaic paraphrase of the Old Testament text says, “Pharaoh said to his servants, ‘Can we find a man like this in whom there is the spirit of prophecy from the Lord?’”1 And in Numbers 27:18 the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua, son of Nun, a man who has within himself the spirit of prophecy, and lay your hand on him.”2

For the early Christians the “spirit of prophecy” was a reference to the Holy Spirit, who imparts the prophetic gift to God’s messengers. This also becomes evident when we compare Revelation 19:10 with 22:8, 9.

19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him,
But he said to me, “See that you do not do that!
I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus.
Worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

As compared to

22:8, 9 I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who
showed me these things.
Then he said to me, “See that you do not do that!
For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”

The situation in both passages is the same. John falls at the feet of the angel to worship him. The words of the angel’s response are almost identical, yet the difference is significant. In Revelation 19:10 the brethren are identified by the phrase, “who have the testimony of Jesus.” In Revelation 22:9 these brethren are simply called “prophets.”

According to the principle of interpreting Scripture with Scripture, this leads to the conclusion that “the spirit of prophecy” in 19:10 is not the possession of church members in general, but only of those who have been called by God to be prophets.

In summary, we can say that one of the identifying signs of the remnant church, which according to prophecy exists after the 1,260-day period, i.e., after 1798, is the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy, or the prophetic gift. The Seventh-day Adventist Church, from its very beginning, has believed that in fulfillment of Revelation 12:17 the spirit of prophecy was manifested in the life and work of Ellen G. White.

Testing a Prophet
How do we know that the prophetic gift in Ellen White’s case was genuine and not a counterfeit? The Bible provides several guidelines for testing the prophetic gift.

1. Dreams and Visions—Numbers 12:6. In Scripture, genuine prophets received prophetic dreams and visions. During her 70-year ministry from 1844 to 1915, Ellen G. White received approximately 2,000 visions and prophetic dreams.
    
2. Agreement With the Bible—Isaiah 8:20. What a prophet claims to have received from God must be in harmony with the rest of God’s Word, because God does not contradict Himself (Ps. 15:4; Mal. 3:6). Although Ellen G. White was not a trained theologian, her messages are in harmony with Scripture.
    
3. The Witness to Jesus—1 John 4:1, 2. Anyone familiar with the writings of Ellen White, such as the books The Desire of Ages or Steps to Christ, will have to admit that she not only accepted all that the Bible teaches about Jesus, but that she continually pointed people to Him as their Lord and Savior.
    
4. Fulfilled Prophecy—Jeremiah 28:9. The proof of a true prophet lies, in part, in the fulfillment of their predictions. Although Ellen White’s work did not primarily consist of predicting the future, she did make a number of predictions that have been fulfilled in a remarkable way.3
    
5. The Orchard Test—Matthew 7:20. The orchard test takes time. Ellen White lived and worked for 70 years under the critical eyes of millions of people, largely skeptical, doubtful, suspicious, and in some cases openly hostile. Any fault or inconsistency was and still is exposed with great satisfaction by her opponents. Nevertheless, the fruit of her life and labor attests to her sincerity, zeal, and Christian piety.

While counterfeit prophets may pass one or two of these tests, a true prophet will pass them all. Ellen White certainly did. God’s gracious guidance through the prophetic gift of Ellen White should make us more aware of the responsibility we, as the remnant church, have; and it should spur us on to finish the work God has given us to do.

¹Bernard Grossfeld, The Targum Onqelos to Genesis, The Aramaic Bible, ed. Martin McNamara (Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical Press, 1988), p. 138.
²Ibid., Targum Onqelos to Numbers, p. 145.
³See Herbert E. Douglass, Messenger to the Lord (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press, 1998), pp. 158-163.

(Condensed and Adapted from Dr. Gerhard Pfandl’s article in The Adventist World)

WHO IS EGW?
http://www.whiteestate.org/about/egwbio.asp


Issues & Answers Regarding Inspiration and the Life and Work
of Ellen G. White®
http://www.whiteestate.org/issues/issues.asp