"True & False Prophets" - Foundations of Faith - Pastor Doug Batchelor

welcome friends to our special foundations of faith program we're glad that each of you are here thank you so much for the local group I know some people that have come from other states and we sure appreciate your regular attendance we have thousands who are watching online and on television and we're very glad you're here during this special series we're talking about some of the themes of revival and Reformation and going through a number of important Bible subjects where I think if the reformers were alive today what would they say the church could do to get back to the Bible and return to the faith that was once delivered to the Saints you know as time goes by it seems like Christian doctrines people get stuck in a certain belief and they're not willing to progress and return to the foundational teachings of Christianity we know the church went through a great time of darkness and we haven't totally emerged from that yet tonight we're going to be talking about a theme connected with inspiration and prophecy but as we always do I'd like to begin with an amazing fact back in 2007 Eva the nurse guy who was a championship German paraglider was in New South Wales for the annual championship and all these paragliders it's kind of like hang gliding with a parachute they gather together now I've done hang gliding before and I'll tell you it's pretty scary you jump off a mountain with a big kite on your back you feel like you've been captured by a pterodactyl there's nothing under you and paragliders are it's just basically a big parachute and they feel pretty vulnerable but um I did it once before behind a ski boat well that's different they do this where they catch the hot air drafts and they see who can go the farthest and stay up the longest she was part of this competition and the weather changed and some massive thunder clouds developed and she and one other paraglider got caught into the updraft of a thundercloud the head of it was fifty thousand feet high and she radio they had a radio on when she had a GPS tracker on and she radioed to her team and she says I'm going up 65 feet a second and I can't do anything and soon she was caught up in this cloud she was being beaten by hail the cold wind and she kept going up up up well eventually she fainted she saw she radioed she says my clothes are frozen to the bar and she couldn't even open her hands and then she blacked out 40 minutes later she woke up and she was descending from the cloud mazing Lee the the paraglider kept gliding through the whole storm even though she was unconscious the other paraglider they got caught up in the same storm from China was not as lucky he was found 50 miles away perished she eventually woke up she had serious frostbite she had bruises all over she was still flying though she had ice all over her paraglider and she remembered being caught up in this clown she saw the glory of this this cloud and the lightning was flashing all around her and eventually she was able to make a safe landing she curled up into the fetal position to try to warm up radioed her team and they found her they checked her GPS and they confirmed what they had on their readings that she had gone up over 32,000 feet no oxygen no spacesuit that's where the Jets fly and somehow she had survived she went 12,000 feet higher than the prior record you know every now and then somebody has an out-of-this-world experience and they see things and they experience things that almost nobody sees in experiences in the Bible the Apostle Paul said I knew a man that was caught up to the third heaven and saw things that are incomprehensible and heard word words that cannot be repeated and this is what John says in Revelation - I was about to write what the seven thunders uttered and the angel said no you can't write that some people have had genuine supernatural experiences and we're gonna talk about that and how to discern the true from the false so our study tonight is dealing with true and false prophets and so I've got a lot to cover pray for me as we continue together I'm gonna go through a series of questions it just helps me to organize the thoughts in a way where you can copy down the scriptures and we can make the best points in this study first question what primary warning did Jesus give about the last days the Lord was telling us in Matthew 7 beware of what kind of prophets false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravenous wolves now some of you saw that picture you didn't even get it right okay one of those is not a sheep but you know the Lord talks about wolves even Paul said I know that after my departure Grievous wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock and even from among your own selves people will arise and so the Lord said be careful and again you read Matthew 24 speaking of the second coming by the way that'll be part of our last presentation Sabbath morning we hope you'll come talking about the second coming of Jesus but Christ warned us in that passage many false prophets will rise up and deceive many and so he's warned us even in the last days there's gonna be false prophets now we already know there's some kooky false prophets out there in the world how many of you have heard of Nostradamus they keep making documentaries and websites and different things about Nostradamus who gave his prophecies in these very vague strange utterances that you could mean almost anything and people do that this could mean that it could mean this and and then you got Edgar Cayce had his prophetic dreams why he was laying on the couch and Jean Dixon who was the Prophet to the stars supposedly and I'm not so much worried about the tabloid profits that we see we already confirmed some of you like me read the headlines on those tabloid magazines when you check out and frequently they contain prophecies for the coming year and someone did a study years ago I read that they took 205 prophecies that were issued in a year by a number of so-called prophets and at the end of the year they looked at them and they said only 5% could be said to have been reasonably fulfilled well you know if you shoot a shotgun up into the clouds you got a better chance of hitting a duck anybody can do that that doesn't make you a prophet so I'm not worried about the false prophets that are out there in the world it's when they come in the name of the Lord in the church so the Lord said they're wolves in sheep's clothing second question what types of false prophets are considered or condemned rather in the Bible and it gets very specific about a category of false prophets the Lord says we need to be on guard to avoid one that uses divination fortune-telling tarot cards who eg boards they didn't have that back in Bible times you know we G word is a Milton Bradley game but it delves into the supernatural and it talks about and you've by the way that Scripture was in Deuteronomy and here's another one Deuteronomy 1810 an observer of times what we would call today an astrologer not to be confused with legitimate study of the Stars which is astronomy nothing wrong with astronomy it's when you start looking up in the sky and saying oh you know you get the Scorpio and this rising and it's the Age of Aquarius and and you think that's gonna have some bearing on what's happening from day to day in your life you really break it down logically and philosophically and you understand it's absurd and the Bible says don't have anything to do with it I don't even look at that what my horoscope would be in the paper just for curiosity shouldn't have anything to do with these things an enchanter or sometimes we call them a magician and the Bible talks about these in the Old Testament and the New Testament there is one named Simon in the New Testament and he even wanted to know if he could by the Holy Spirit remember reading about that I think it's Acts chapter 8 and so but you know we're not talking about the clown that comes to the birthday party and divides the banana what we're talking about people who you know claimed to have these special powers to work wonders and they use trickery to deceive people and get influenced and then there's witches and this would be and of course that's Deuteronomy 1810 it's forbidden and the Bible is pretty clear under a theocracy Moses said you shall not suffer a witch to live now I'm not recommending we go out and repeat the witch burnings of Massachusetts because but just to let you know how strongly the Bible forbad this consulting with the devil and some people say oh yeah that's black magic but I'm a I'm a white witch I'm a good witch like you know Wizard of odd you got the bad witch you got the good witch and our wicker Christian should have nothing to do with these works of darkness Ephesians tells us Deuteronomy 18 11 a charmer a person who cast spells or charms they make the voodoo dolls and they got they know how to somehow do something to objects and make them supernatural and say oh this has got some powers it's the stone it's the ring and it's learned a baleen in the dark side when you do those things and a lot of it is what you would call hocus-pocus they also says in Deuteronomy 18 do not be involved with someone who is a consult with familiars spirits here's one that I put up recently died named Sylvia Browne and she claimed to be able to consult with a dead matter of fact I've got a couple of interesting facts on her particular business you could call her up and she would give you a reading for about $700 for 30 minutes and she had a business that made three million dollars a year but her predictions were not true police would actually call her up have you ever heard about police consulting psychics to find a missing person they do that well I think they ought to ask for a refund because in 2002 Brown informed the parents of an 11 year old Shawn Hornbeck who had disappeared earlier that year that he had actually been kidnapped by a dark-skinned Hispanic man with dreadlocks and was now dead Hornbeck was found alive in 2007 his kidnapper was Caucasian and had short hair in November 2004 Brown told the mother of a kidnapping victim Amanda berry who had disappeared 19 months earlier she's not alive honey brown also claimed that she had a vision of Barry's jacket in the garbage with DNA on it Barry's mother died two years later believing her daughter had been killed because of Sylvia Browne Berry was found alive May 13 May 2013 left that parent with hopelessness on Larry King Sylvia Browne was being interviewed in 2003 3 she said she was gonna die at the age of 88 she died in 2013 at the age of 77 wasn't a prophet and so there's a lot of false prophets out there making a lot of money so you need to be careful about that a wizard that's just a male witch or psychic and Deuteronomy and you'd be surprised how prominent educated people people in show business they're always talking about oh yeah my zodiac or yeah this person I would like to have a seance and talk to Abraham Lincoln I think we were surprised a few years ago when after someone tried to kill Ronald Reagan Nancy Reagan would consult her astrologer regarding his calendar because she was so afraid she thought at least it would give her some hope that there was some control I think we've read about Mary Todd Lincoln who also went to seances and she ended up going mad and her son had to have her committed and Hillary Clinton took a lot of jesting because she years earlier said she was trying to consult Eleanor Roosevelt to get some advice on being the first lady and so you know this also happens among other world leaders I just picked three first leaders and I tried to be fair to Republicans and one Democrat our prophet still part of God's plan for his church now this is a part I really want you to take a breath and pay attention some people think you know Jesus said don't listen to false prophets and so don't have anything to do with anybody that says they're a prophet well as soon as you hear about a prophet automatically we're automatically suspicious but what does the Bible say about prophecy in the church in the last days Acts chapter 2 verse 17 and it will come to pass in the last days says the Lord I will pour out of my spirit on all flesh and your sons and your daughters will prophesy come out to pass when last days does God seem to teach there will be prophecy in the last days what about Malachi 4 verse 5 behold I send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the Great and dreadful day of the Lord and he will turn the hearts of the father's to the children and the hearts of the children to the father's lest I come and smite the earth with a curse and those are the last words in the Old Testament so I think it's reckless for us to say there's no prophets in the last days look at this verse from Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 now I want you to look at it very carefully because I got like four slides that cover the verse and he himself gave some to be apostles some prophets some evangelists and some pastors and teachers why did he give them for the equipping of the Saints for the work of ministry for the edifying that means building up of the body of Christ how long till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ God says like I've given you these things I've given you Vangelis and prophets and pastors and apostles for this purpose till the end and so I think we still need these things Bible says John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah and the disciples asked Jesus is John the Baptist he's Elijah gonna return and Jesus said Elijah will come and Elijah has come I wondered what that meant he says well he did come in John the Baptist but jesus also said he will come meaning before the great and dreadful day of the Lord others are going to come in the spirit and the power of the Elijah to do a similar work of reformation and revival I frankly think God's gonna have many of them if God had one John the Baptist to prepare the world for Jesus first coming it wouldn't surprise us if he had a hundred and forty-four thousand and he the first one came to prepare Israel and so you might want a hundred and forty-four thousand to prepare the whole world for his return but he is gonna give the gifts of his spirit to his church question for well God's endtime Church have the gift of prophecy you go to Revelation now and in chapter 12 it says in the dragon was wroth with a woman we've talked about this but in case some missed it want to repeat it who is the dragon in this prophecy saying we all agree and he's Roth with the woman what does that woman church husbands love your wives even as Christ loved the church I'd like in the daughter of Zion to a delicate and comely woman his church is compared to the Bride of Christ so the devil especially hates this woman because she does has a couple of characteristics he goes to make war with a remnant of her seed her descendants who keep the commandments of God they don't adhere him they keep him and that doesn't mean 80% do you nor everybody in prison keeps some of them some of the time right I mean most of you keep them when you're sleeping God is wanting people who'll keep them also when they're awake keep the commandments of God and have what the testimony of Jesus Christ and what does that mean fortunately the Bible gives us the answer an angel tells us exactly what that means if you look in Revelation 19 verse 10 john falls down to worship this angel and the angel says do not do that I am your fellow servant of your brethren that have the testimony of Jesus Christ same thing that says the woman would have worshipped God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy the Word of God is called the law and the prophets two characters appear to Jesus on top of this Mount of Transfiguration you remember their names Moses and Elijah Moses is a great lawgiver Elijah the great prophet law of God the command the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus you read in Isaiah chapter 8 verse 16 and verse 20 verse 16 says vying to the testimony seal the law among my disciples two kinds of people in the last days one has the mark of the beast the other has a seal of God now think about this seal of God it says in the forehead you know that great statement here o Israel the Lord our God is one thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart mind soul and strength and these words I command you this day that's found in Deuteronomy 6 Deuteronomy 5 is the Ten Commandments being repeated Deuteronomy 6 Moses saying these words I command you this day he had just repeated the Ten Commandments shall be in your heart you'll bind them for a sign on your hand they shall be as frontlets between your eyes the law of God in the mind and in the hand and the actions and in the thoughts this is a sign of the seal of God and so God's people are gonna have that they're gonna have the law and they're gonna have the prophets number five to whom does the Lord reveal his final plans it says surely the Lord God will nothing unless he reveals his secret unto his servants of profits whenever God gets ready to do anything significant in history you look in Bible history he calls a prophet when the Lord was getting ready to destroy the world with a flood did he raise up a prophet what was his name no when the Lord was going to call his people out of slavery and weld them into a nation did he raise up a prophet what was his name yeah actually raised up three prophets a trinity of prophets and they were all related Moses was a prophet right Miriam was a prophet Aaron was a prophet can you imagine being Amram and Jochebed to have three kids that say they're prophets and you'd say it's time to do the dishes now Lord's told me Aaron's supposed to do the dishes today I'd be tough all three were prophets that's what the Bible says so whenever God is going to do something significant before he has the Babylonians come to destroy them does he raised up prophets to warn them Isaiah Jeremiah warned about it when they were in captivity before they came back God Daniel Ezekiel God raises up his prophets when Jesus made his first coming to God raised up prophets not only did he have John the Baptist but even when Christ was a baby there's Simeon prayed a prophecy Jesus Oh mother prayed and it was an inspired prayer it's in Scripture and so God raises up prophets for significant times now wouldn't it seem to you that before the Lord comes again in the end the world and the final things of prophecy would we still need the gifts of the Spirit makes sense to me now when you talk about prophets in the last days be honest with me if somebody walked up to you and said let me tell you something I'm a prophet your laugh gave it away what would you think isn't that right so how open are you to what the Bible says is going to be a gift of the Spirit let's face it on Mount Carmel back in the days of Elijah there were how many false prophets between four and eight hundred it depends on if you're including the prophets of Bale and the prophets of Asherah if but at least let's say four hundred how many true prophets on the mountain that day one same ratio in the world today might even be worse there are so many false prophets that were very skeptical about believing there might be a true one out there which makes it really tough if you're an Elijah or if you're a true prophet in the last days I believe the gift of prophecy is still alive I believe that there are modern examples of prophecy I believe that there are more prophets together and just in case you think I'm gonna make an announcement my announcement as I am NOT one of them I think there are more prophets to come I think that there have been some who have come recently that maybe haven't been recognized one of them has the name Ellen White have you heard of Ellen White I believe she was a true prophet and she came up during a time when there were a lot of false prophets and people are naturally very suspicious and now how do you know if someone says I'm a prophet how do you know you just you know use the gut check or do you it is there a criteria that we can use in the Bible to find out if that claim is true first of all she never called herself a prophet prophet but she did say I have had messages from God I have been told to deliver now if that's true you know people come up to me I can't tell you how often it happens they come up dating this bastard I got got to talk you've got a caucus okay so well I have a message from God for you I had a people somebody drove cross-country they wanted me to just cancel my schedule and spend time with them they said God told me that you're supposed to talk to me I said well I'm waiting for him to tell me because you know whenever people tell you I got a message from God and because the Bible says beware of false prophets they think automatically that means beware of any profits but couldn't Jesus have said be aware of anybody who claims to be a prophet he didn't say that he said beware of the false ones were there problems with false prophets in the Old Testament yeah Jeremiah was surrounded by false prophets have you ever read the story about Mike hiya Mike ayah who he went and had an audience before a hab and King Jehoshaphat and Mike ayah said if you go to battle you're gonna die and all these other true false prophets were saying oh no go fight you're gonna defeat the Syrians at ramoth-gilead fight fight fight win win win and Mike I said if you come back and peace God has not spoken by me and they have thought well you know he is a prophet of the Lord I better take extra precautions and so he put on all his armor he stayed on the outskirts of the battle he pulled your Hacha fat yeah you dress up like a king and go right down into the thick of it I have thought I'm gonna make the prophecy fail and the Bible says an arrow by chance found the joints of his armor and hit a vital artery and he bled to death and Mike aya was put into prison for telling the truth all the other prophets were on the Kings payroll and so Old Testament they had plenty of false prophets back then and there's plenty today but I think there's true so we've got to be careful not to become cynical and jaded and say what are the criteria in the Bible to find out if someone is a true prophet amen are you willing to look with an open mind I believe Helen white was a prophet not because she said so or not because someone else said so but because of the evidence I see all right let's look at some of that what is the most important test of a person if they're gonna be a prophet first of all you read in Isaiah chapter 8 verse 22 the law into the testimony it's like what we just said testimony of Jesus spirit of prophecy if they do not speak according to this word it is because there is no light in them so the first test of a prophet this is the complete Word of God I don't believe we should say we're adding anything to it doesn't revelation say we're not to add to this but because the Bible do not add to this doesn't mean that God does not still inspire people keep in mind there are prophets in the Bible who even wrote books that are not in the Bible it tells you it's in the writings of the Prophet Josh sure it's in the writings of the Prophet GAD they're not included in Scripture they had local messages for a particular time and so just because a person's a prophet doesn't mean their writings become part of scripture you see what I'm saying and so as soon as you say I believe that God spoke through somebody and and that they made a prophetic utterance when John HUS was being burnt at the stake filled with a spirit he made a prediction he said in a hundred years God is gonna send you a man that you cannot silence and he will expose these things it was a hundred years later Martin Luther formed his thesis and was nailed to the doors of Wittenberg Church I think that was a prophecy that HUS made at that time and it obviously came true so let's not rule out God's right to still speak through people does that sound fair I don't what about Ellen White does she meet this criteria what was her attitude about the Bible you reading the book great controversy in one of her classics the people of God are directed to the scriptures as their safeguard against the influence of false teachers and the delusive power of spirits of darkness so closely will the counterfeit resemble the true that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures by their testimony she doesn't say my testimony by their testimony every statement and miracle must be tested she said the final criteria is the Bible the Word of God and this is what the Apostle said all Scripture is given by inspiration of God the Apostles were always pointing back to the Bible as a criteria someone who was alive at the last public meeting he actually was a church leader William a Spicer he commented and said I remember the last words this faithful servant ever spoke in the General Assembly of the movement and here's what she said her final words she held up the and she was over 80 years of age she said brethren and sisters I commend unto you this book now you know there have been a lot of other people that were raised up and they said we're prophets they started different movements but they say that there's other writings that are more important in the Bible I know there's a lot of lovely latter-day saint Mormon people out there I've got some that are friends but I'd have to respectfully disagree with their approach to prophecy they believe in prophecy but they think Joseph Smith is a fresher revelation than the Bible because when I show them certain things in the Bible they say well we know the Bible says that but Joseph Smith has a fresh revelation well that automatically means the Bible suspect if you can do that the Bible needs that be the last word amen by the way in our church even in the baptismal vows it says that the Bible is our only rule of faith and practice it's the scriptures the Word of God so what's the second test of a prophet well you can read in 1st John 4:2 hereby you know the Spirit of God every spirit that confesses Jesus is come in the flesh is of God and if they don't confess that Jesus has come in the flesh they're not of God any of you ever read that beautiful classic called the desire of Ages one of the people that worked at the Library of Congress said there are thousands of books that are written on the life of Christ but they believed that was the most beautiful of all the books and I'll tell you you read that book you'll know that this author believed in the inspiration of Jesus the incarnation of Jesus the divinity of Christ and that's one of the criteria always pointing to Jesus you know when a prophets always saying look at me you think that's what the devil wanted that's the ego but Ellen White was such a humble person you ever read the Gospel of John you notice John never even wants to mention his name he's always saying the disciple whom Jesus loved he was very selfless and always pointing to Jesus you read through the writings of Ellen White read the book steps to Christ and you say wow this person is just lifting up Christ they're pointing to the scriptures they're not saying no no I'm supposed to eclipse the Bible in some way what's the third test of a prophet you read in Jeremiah 28 verse 9 when the word of the prophets shall come to pass then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent them when someone makes a prediction and it doesn't happen you start saying oh wait a second Noah said there's gonna be a flood there was a flood and so if a prophet is making prophecies and they don't take place then their criteria their claim is dubious just a few of thousands of examples that could be cited where Ellen White made predictions very bold predictions and they were proven true one that's very dramatic is if if you read in the book life sketches in 1902 Ellen White wrote not long hands these cities will suffer under the judgments of God San Francisco and Oakland are becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah and the Lord will visit them in wrath and then you go to she's not talking about the general second coming but a specific judgment then now go to April 16 1906 notice the date please Ellen White wrote during the vision of the night I stood on an eminence from which I could see houses shaken like a reed in the wind buildings great and small were falling to the ground pleasure resorts theaters hotels and the homes of the wealthy were shaken and shattered many lives were blotted out of existence and the air was filled with the shrieks of the injured and the terrified she said that on April 16 and it's confirmed that's that's when she wrote that down April 18 1906 have you heard of the San Francisco earthquake hundreds died thousands were left homeless half the city burned it was a great national catastrophe and it did affect both San Francisco and Oakland now something and I I'm just something that I want you to think about she made another interesting statement and I don't know if I miss applying it forgive me if it sounds like but in the book last day events page 113 Ellen White wrote on one occasion when in New York City I was brought in the ninth season called upon to behold buildings right she's where New York City buildings rising story after story towards heaven now you realize those buildings were not that tall when she wrote this the next scene that pass before Mia was an alarm of fire men looked at the loft ugly lofty and supposedly fireproof buildings and said they are perfectly safe you know when the first airplane struck their first tower and people started to leave the building and Port Authority said everything's okay you can go back building safe but these buildings were consumed as if made a pitch they did not have aircraft fuel in her days but it would burn like pitch the black smoke the fire engines could do nothing to stay the destruction the firemen were unable to operate the engines I thought that's very interesting I'm I don't know just something to think about number nine what's the fourth test of a prophet and then this is not an exhaustive list of what the different tests are but it's giving the primary ones you can read in the Bible Matthew 7 verse 16 you shall know them by their fruits one of the fruits in the person's life so they have a godly life david koresh that he was a prophet when he had a harem and you know just his life was totally outrageous he's firearms to you know attack people and Marshall Applewhite told everybody to commit suicide and Jim Jones had affairs with all of his followers and stole their money and you look at their lives and doesn't take long to say there are not prophets but even though Ellen White she was a precocious healthy young girl she had an accident when she was about nine years old was injured and was very sick and many didn't think she'd live 17 years old she was at a prayer meeting and she was caught off in division and God called her and said he had a message that he wanted her to take to the world no word nobody would have ever dreamed that from 17 she would live 70 years and have thousands of dreams and visions that came true and a whole movement would rise up at least in part because of her guidance through the Holy Spirit so that it's grown into now the fastest-growing Protestant Church in the world you'll know them by their fruits jesus said Gamaliel said look if God is not with us it'll fall apart on its own but obviously God is doing something mrs. White's most enduring monument aside from her godly life this was written in an obituary in a newspaper I believe this is in saint alina the time of her death not by a church member mrs. White's most enduring monument aside from her godly life and conversation was her published works which tend to the purest morality lead to Christ into the Bible and bring comfort and consolation to many a weary heart she has done what she could and now being dead through her writings yet speaketh people that knew her and her neighbors say you know she was a humble godly housewife mother she was a fastidious housekeeper she always was bringing people into her home she adopted neighbors and other kids and was always trained just a good citizen a loving person nobody could ever say otherwise about her Mary did the same man you know one of the things that I think is interesting she had four boys two of them died before they reached adulthood which was not uncommon in the 1800's they had a very high mortality rate so she felt that the pains of life but her kids that did survive they both believed she was prophets you know you can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time but you can't fool your family and when they after a long life say mother was a prophet God spoke through her she lived what she talked about well it's hard to get around usually expect someone to publish a kiss-and-tell later but everybody that knew her said she was the same you'll know them by their fruits and you'll know by the fruit of their ministry now having said all that let me just remind you prophets were also people they're human you know if you invited the Prophet over to your house for dinner and they said can you please pass the salt you would not say who write that down pass the salt what does it mean oh yeah they're just they talk like you and I talk I've got a friend she has since passed away her name was Lolita Simpson she'd met Ellen White her mother was a personal friend of Ellen White Lolita Simpson's father was a famous evangelist called W W Simpson some of you maybe have heard his name just did a tremendous work he became ill Helen white wrote a letter to lolitas mother and said do all you can God's doing a great work for him well he died of a brain tumor and she said oh I must not have done everything right and Ellen White said no no I just was saying what it wasn't a prophecy I'm just saying you know what anyone would say he's been doing a great thing and so you profits for people let me give you some Bible examples samuel is told by god i want you to go pick one of the sons of Jesse and anoint him as king so samuel is standing there with Jesse's at least six of the seven sons and he looks at the tall firstborn Elya tall dark and handsome Samuel says surely the Lord's anointed is before me and God said no you're wrong Samuel that's not him so it's the last one you would think Nathan the prophet comes to David and David says you know I want to build a temple Nathan said go for it David God is with you Nathan walks away and God says Nathan you got to go back and talk to David I didn't tell you to say that I don't want David to build the temple he's a bloody man I want his son Solomon to build it Nathan went back and said you know David first time I was just talking like a friend God told me thus said the Lord you're not supposed to build the temple but I get everything ready your son will build it am i right and you got several examples in the Bible where you see people were prophets even Miriam who was a prophetess had to be rebuked by the Lord because she was the scrim in 18 against Moses wife who is he Theo peon and God forgave her he punished her but he then forgave her prophets were people peter was a prophet Paul had to rebuke him because Peter was discriminating when the Jews came to visit the Gentiles he'd act like he didn't know the Gentiles anymore prophets were people and so just so everyone understands God takes normal people and he gives some inspired messages and she was a human but when she says God showed me something you better take it very seriously because that's puts things in a different category now Ellen White was instrumental in raising up the seventh-day Adventist Church but she wasn't the only one she was actually one of many you know one of the most intriguing characters if you've ever read the autobiography of Joseph Bates and have you ever read it what an adventure this he he was really the senior statesman in the early movement of the seventh-day Adventist Church God brought these people together they were from all different denominations now the whites background was mythos James white was a Christian and some were Congregationalists and Joseph Bates I think was Presbyterian and and the Baptist's and you had all these different people they said let's find out what the Bible really says and they came together in study groups and they would pray and they would study and periodically Alan white would be brought in division and God would give added light and point to the scriptures sometimes in vision she hold up a Bible and she'd say here the verses I want you to look at so God used her simply to magnify what was already in his word are miracles definite evidence that someone is a true prophet can the devil do miracles yeah I'd be careful they are the spirits of Devil's working miracles and I think I already mentioned Hugh don't forget that the magician's of Pharaoh could reproduce the miracle of God when Moses through his serpent his in through a serpent down through his rod down and it became a snake when some are called were some women also called to be prophets in the Bible yes now while you may have noticed it's true that there were no women that you would find that were priests or apostles there are many women that were prophets in the Bible you have Exodus 15 verse 20 Miriam was a prophetess the sister of Aaron you can read in Luke 2 verse 36 now there was one Anna a prophetess the daughter fen ul the tribe of Asher you can read in the New Testament about Philip who was an evangelist who had four virgin daughters who did what prophesied I will pour out my spirit on all flesh your sons and your daughters will prophesy some people have said well Ellen why can't be a prophet because she's a woman I had a lot of women prophets he had Deborah in the Old Testament God hold up and there's others I'm yeah their names escape me right now but there are many in the Bible so in what ways does God speak to a true prophet I was a number of mechanisms numbers 12 verse 6 says if there is a prophet among you I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vision my vision is different than a dream you could be standing up and and have a vision numbers 12 verse 6 and 7 it also says I can speak to him mouth to mouth and God spoke to Abraham mouth to mouth he spoke to Moses in Isaiah and many others that way he might talk through an angel sometimes an angel would speak to Ellen White she actually had the gamut sometimes in dreams at night visions when she was a week sometimes through angels and you can read that in Zechariah 4 verse 1 the angel talked with me again and came over the course of her life she had about 2000 visions and those visions were on just everything you can imagine and when she was in vision some who observed her wrote some very interesting things I've got just a brief statement here from Jan Loughborough who saw her and vision about fifty times and he said that in passing in division she would give three enrapturing shouts of glory glory glory which echoed and re-echoed the second and especially the third would be fainter but more thrilling than the first the voice resembling one of quite a distance from you and going out of hearing for about four or five seconds she seemed to drop down like a person in a swoon she appeared like she'd faint or one having lost his strength then she would seem to be instantly filled with superhuman strength sometimes rising up at once you know the Bible says that Daniel and John had strengthened them when they were in visions and she'd walk around the room there were frequent movements of the hands and the arms pointing to the right or left all these movements were made in a very graceful manner and whatever positioned the hand of the arm might be placed it was impossible for anyone to move it people would try when they saw her envision to like stop her motions and if she'd throw him around the room they couldn't stop her many people observed her in vision her eyes were open but she did not blink they'd hold a mirror to her mouth she did not breathe but her color was all normal and some of these visions for the last 40 minutes or longer her eyes were open but she did not blink she does not breathe and it says the prophets weren't in division says there was no breath in me so you see some of these things in the Bible you see they had the supernatural strength but listen to some of the predictions that she made she said for instance she only had a third grade education but you know that she has written more than any other woman in American history that right there all I get you to say I have to find out I mean pretty hard to meet that criteria she wrote on education and right now seventh-day Adventist Church operates nearly 7,000 schools around the world second only when it comes to Christian schools to the Catholic Church on health hundred and sixty seven hospitals and sanitariums she wrote widely on health and listen to just some of the things she wrote on health medical science speaks children who used tobacco are more likely to go on and use in sequence alcohol marijuana and other illegal illegal drugs what at Ellen White's say about Bridgeway drugs you might say our gateway drugs she said um the appetite for tobacco is self-destructive it leaves leads to a craving for something stronger from mented wines and liquors all of which are intoxicating very thing that she said medical science says some of this I think you find in the back of Neil nedley's book and called proof positive lately I have read of the death of many men their deaths were almost always attributed to the failure of the heart but in reality it was because of the use of tobacco and liquor that has poisoned the system of them science said it's as a result of cardiovascular disease as a result of smoking and certainly we know drinking as well Ella white said grains fruits nuts and vegetables impart a vigor to the intellect that's not affordable by a more complex and stimulating diet medical science tells us meat contains a substance that impairs brain activity and lacks substance that the brain needs to function well and so you can just see all through her writings our knowledge of science she was a vegetarian most of her life I'll be talking a little more about this later in this week you can continue to come and you'll hear about these things on publishing she says I God has told me to write and she wrote and it wasn't just the same thing on such a broad scope of things everything from education to health to organization to publishing and as a result 65 publishing houses and branches around the world she wrote in testimonies volume 8 years ago the Lord gave me special directions that buildings should be erected in various places in America Europe and other lands for the publication of literature containing the light of present truth and that's what's happened and it's gone around the world and so all the things that she said God had said that we should do that started just with a little group and prayer meetings she said God's told me this is going to be streams of light going around the world and it's happened France and it is still going and growing faster than you can imagine and you I'm running out of time the American Library of Congress has recognized Ellen White as the fourth most translated author in the world the most translated female author in the world and the most translated American author in the world that's pretty amazing when you think about it what three things does paul recommend when it comes to considering prophecy Paul said despise not prophecies in others if someone has a prophecy listen to it consider it these are gifts of the Spirit I believe in all the gifts I believe the devil has a counterfeit for every gift prophecy tongues he's got a counterfeit but the true gifts are still there we should not despise and neglect them prove all things do the test and then hold fast to that which is good that's what we're inviting you to do and if you're in doubt try it for yourself prove it pick up the book steps to Christ and read that let me know what you think pick up the book desire of Ages see if it brings you closer to Jesus if you really want to be stirred read that book great controversy it changed my life john has been singing for you we've been friends for many years you in the back there somewhere John know you've probably taken a nap right now he was also led to the Lord from reading the book great controversy and with also inspire with a passion to share the good news with someone else what does that jehosophat say in second chronicles 2020 believe in the Lord your God and you will be established notice this part believe his prophets and you will prosper it'd be hard for me to tell you how much this has changed my life Jesus has warned us the tendency is for people to reject the true Jerusalem the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to you you know in my life I was living in a cave I read the Bible I accepted Jesus it totally transformed me and then I went to all these different churches and I didn't seem to find that they could agree I said Lord you got one Bible one Jesus one Holy Spirit makes sense there's one truth would you please show me what the truth is why is there so much division somebody special deliverer came to me 3500 feet up on the desert cave and gave me the book great controversy I was 17 years old I had been through all kinds of Bible studies and even different religions I read that book it changed my life I've never turned back and so I'm just recommending to you what has been a tremendous blessing to me I hope that you will taste and see that the Lord is good how many of you are willing to apply the biblical criteria to discover that these things are are true or if they meet the criteria of a prophet is that your plan god bless you friends I'll pray for you that that's the case after our clothes we'll have prayer after we finish don't forget our facebook questions in just a moment [Music] you

Channel: Aaron

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Length: 52min 12sec (3132 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 08 2017