January 25, 2024 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Ted N.C. Wilson, President, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Greetings, friends! Today we are going to be talking about gifts—and one very special gift in particular.
You know, I think we all enjoy receiving gifts—not only for what they are, but because they show us that the one giving us the gift cares about us. And as much as we enjoy giving and receiving gifts from those we love and care about, God is the greatest gift giver of all.
In Matthew 7:11 we read, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
Some of God’s gifts, known as “Gifts of the Spirit,” are listed in 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and Romans 12. These are given to various individuals as God sees fit. As listed in these chapters, prophecy is one of the gifts that God has given to certain people throughout history—both men and women have received this gift. A person with this gift receives special insight from the Holy Spirit so they can share these messages from God with others.
As Seventh-day Adventists, we embrace the significance of all the spiritual gifts, including prophecy, recognizing that God is the One who bestows these gifts. Based on criteria given in Scripture, we accept Ellen G. White, one of the founders of the Adventist Church, as a modern servant of the Lord and prophet. I believe that the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy are believable and true because Ellen White and her prophetic ministry pass the four biblical tests of a prophet:
In addition, her life and work are verified by physical manifestations during visions, the timeliness of her work at the end of time, the certainty and fearlessness of her pronouncements, the high spiritual plane of her work and the practical nature of her explanations about multiple aspects of the Christian life.
Our Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Belief #18, titled “The Gift of Prophecy,” states:
“The Scriptures testify that one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is prophecy. This gift is an identifying mark of the remnant church and we believe it was manifested in the ministry of Ellen G. White. Her writings speak with prophetic authority and provide comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction to the church. They also make clear that the Bible is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested.” [Insert:adventist.org/gift-of-prophecy/]
You see, friends, the Spirit of Prophecy was given to nurture and assist God’s last-day movement with instruction from heaven. It is described by the Bible as one of the two characteristics of God’s last-day, remnant church. Revelation 12:17 says: “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
Revelation 19:10 goes on to explain that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
You see, the two distinctive characteristics of God’s people are so plain: people who keep the commandments of God —and have the testimony of Jesus, which the Bible identifies as the “spirit of prophecy.” The commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus, or the Spirit of Prophecy, come from the same source: God Himself.
As Seventh-day Adventists, we don’t portray the Spirit of Prophecy as part of the Bible or equal to the Bible. As Ellen White herself indicated, the Spirit of Prophecy is to lead us to the Bible. However, I fully believe that the Spirit of Prophecy is inspired by the same heavenly inspiration as that of the Bible since it is the testimony of Jesus.
Sadly, today there are constant attacks on the Spirit of Prophecy. There are those who disparage, downgrade, and repudiate these inspired writings. This is not surprising, as God revealed this to Ellen White, and those who attack her writings are actually fulfilling them!
In Selected Messages, Book 1, page 48 we read:
“The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God. . . Satan will work ingeniously, in different ways and through different agencies, to unsettle the confidence of God’s remnant people in the true testimony. . . There will be a hatred kindled against the testimonies which is satanic. The workings of Satan will be to unsettle the faith of the churches in them, for this reason: Satan cannot have so clear a track to bring in his deceptions and bind up souls in his delusions if the warnings and reproofs and counsels of the Spirit of God are heeded.”
Friends, we are seeing determined efforts to attack Ellen White’s writings and make it “of none effect.” The Word of God and the Spirit of Prophecy are both products of heavenly inspiration and are thus accurate accounts describing the great controversy between good and evil, between Christ and Satan. This is why the devil is determined to destroy the truth found in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy.
The testimony of Jesus, which is the Spirit of Prophecy, is integral to the Advent movement. I believe that the Spirit of Prophecy is one of God’s greatest gifts to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It focuses on Christ and His Word, and it portrays God’s plan for His people living at this end-time and waiting for Christ’s soon second coming.
The Spirit of Prophecy is as relevant today as it was when it was written. It is accurate, uplifting, instructive, and powerful as it points to Christ and to the Holy Bible. It is truly the testimony of Jesus.
“Our faith increases by beholding Jesus, who is the center of all that is attractive and lovely,” she wrote. “The more we contemplate the heavenly, the less we see desirable and attractive in the earthly. The more continually we fix the eye of faith on Christ, in whom our hopes of eternal life are centered, the more our faith grows” (In Heavenly Places, p. 127).
Friends, I urge you to have a strong commitment to reading the Word of God and the Spirit of Prophecy, and to following God’s instructions for His last-day remnant people who are proclaiming Christ’s powerful messages of salvation and prophecy.
You can have free access to all of the writings of Ellen White in multiple languages at the URL shown at the bottom of the screen.
Let’s pray together just now.
Father in Heaven, Thank you for giving the gift of prophecy to prophets down through the ages. Thank you for giving the testimony of Jesus and the Spirit of Prophecy to Ellen G. White and helping us to know instructions and those things which are helpful to us in all areas of life. So many areas. Lord, we thank you for the special regard that you have for your people, that you would take time to carefully outline how we are to live, how we are to understand the beautiful truths in Scripture. We know that the Spirit of Prophecy points people back to Christ and to the Holy Word. Thank you for this magnificent gift given to the Seventh-day Adventist Church and to all people. May we value it and use it all through the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name, we ask it. Amen.