Some Conclusions

The work of the prophet in history has never been easy. Again we are reminded that the greatest barrier to understanding for many is human pride and an unwillingness to change or admit wrong. Bible prophets, as well as Ellen White, had no choice about (1) receiving the prophetic call, (2) when the visions would come, or (3) what the visions would contain. It should not surprise us that thirty years after she began her work, Ellen White wrote to a friend:HPEGWW 24.2

I have felt for years that if I could have my choice and please God as well, I would rather die than have a vision, for every vision places me under great responsibility to bear testimonies of reproof and of warning, which has ever been against my feelings, causing me affliction of soul that is inexpressible. Never have I coveted my position, and yet I dare not resist the Spirit of God and seek an easier position.—Letter 2, 1874.

The prophetic role was an awesome one. To say that you were speaking for God was no small claim. Jeremiah tells of the Lord’s anger with false prophets who claimed to be speaking for Him: “I will bring evil upon them,” the Lord said. “I am against the prophets….that use their tongues, and say He saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams,….and cause my people to err by their lies and by their lightness” (Jeremiah 23:12, 31, 32).HPEGWW 24.3

The Lord not only asks us to prove Him, but also to test and prove His prophets. We are urged to “try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). There is no need to blindly accept every message that comes to us from those who claim to speak for God. We are to study the messages, proving and testing them. When this work is done carefully and prayerfully and we have determined that God has truly spoken, then the prophet’s message tests us.HPEGWW 25.1

Washington, D.C.

May 30, 1978