The Fallacy and Risk Factor Associated With the Appellation:

“Self-Appointed Prophet”

Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

 

Acts 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

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The Spirit of the Lord has prompted me to warn of one of the most ignorant and danger fraught of all the attempts to discredit a person who comes to God’s people with a God-given message of warning; that is to accuse that person of being a self-appointed prophet if the message is truth that cannot be disproven. The proper course regarding any message that comes to God’s people is delineated by the Spirit of Prophecy. One is to carefully and prayerfully study the message and if it can be proven that the messenger is errant, that should be pointed out point by point. However, if the message cannot be proven wrong, the message should be embraced as a warning from God to His people.

 

But alas, it is far easier to readily brand the messenger a self-appointed false prophet! But such a course may lead to the loss of eternal life by indicting warnings from God and the Holy Spirit as being false. That is speaking against the Holy Spirit and the Bible says that is unpardonable sin. After you have branded truth as being false, what other appeal does God have to send to you? cf. Heb. 6.

 

Some have determined that if God has anything to say to them, He can tell them personally. That is an attempt to tell God that you don’t accept His appointed way of appealing to His people, for He has told us that some will dream dreams, have visions and prophesy. He has even told us to “covet to prophesy.” So it is a high offense against the Holy Spirit when we decide we will accept only what God personally tells us.

 

I ask you friend, if one has a dream or a vision and relates that vision, how is he/she self-appointed if such ones relate what they were shown? Who else would be qualified to relate the dream or vision? It was a common practice in Jewish Synagogues to ask any man upon entering if he had a message from the Lord; that if one believed he had a word from the Lord, he could state it.

 

Note that many of the prophets in the Bible begin their treatise with the words: “The Word of the Lord came to me…”  Were such prophets self-appointed because they announced that they had received word from the Lord? Notice these examples:

 

1Ch 22:8 But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.

 

Jer 2:1 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

 

Jer 18:5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

 

Eze 12:17 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

 

Eze 12:26 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

 

·       The first concept you should think of when you hear the words “self appointed prophet” from anyone, is IGNORANCE on the part of any person(s) who speak those words.

·       The next concept you should think of is WHERE IS THE PROOF OR DISPROOF of what the prophet (messenger) says? Is the person who accuses one of being a self-appointed prophet a foolish detractor, or has he/she followed the instruction of the Spirit of Prophecy as to how to meet a controverted message coming to God’s people?

·       Does the message of the messenger contradict God’s Word in the Bible or the Spirit of Prophecy?

·       Does the message fulfill all the requirements of the Weight of Evidence Formula as given by the Spirit of Prophecy, to wit:

 

Weight of Evidence Formula: "1. Every word must have its proper bearing on the subject presented in the Bible 2. All Scripture is necessary, and may be understood by diligent application and study 3. Nothing revealed in Scripture can or will be hid from those who ask in faith, not wavering 4. To understand doctrine, bring all the scriptures together on the subject you wish to know, then let every word have its proper influence and if you can form your theory without a contradiction, you cannot be in error 5. Scripture must be its own expositor, [interpreter] since it is a rule of itself. If I depend on a teacher to expound to me, and he should guess at its meaning, or desire to have it so on account of his sectarian creed, or to be thought wise, then his guessing, desire, creed, or wisdom is my rule, and not the Bible." E.G. White, Second Advent Review and Herald, 11-25-84, pr. 24.

 

It is an awesome and wonderful freedom and privilege granted by our God, that we are permitted to form a theory based on all the weight of evidence and that if our theory does not contradict one word of all the weight of evidence, we cannot be in error! The Word of God is that all encompassing and self-protective. That is a marvelous mystery of the Word. Praise the Lord God!

 

·       Carefully examine the teaching of those who make the accusation “self-appointed prophet” to see if their teachings meet with the weight of evidence formula test.

·       It is all too easy to generally brand a message or messenger as false. Always ask for POINT BY POINT REFUTATION OF THE MESSAGE, and if the detractor refuses and/or cannot do this, you will know that the person is a satanic accuser of the brethren and that he/she should be avoided as you should avoid speaking to Satan as Eve did, lest you be led astray by the spirit of Satan and his fallen, devil angels.

·       In the case of Vern Bates and Art Abbott, they do away with about 9/10ths of the Spirit of Prophecy. Does that meet the weight of evidence formula test? Does that meet the Bible or Spirit of Prophecy test of truth? Nay! So for YOUR OWN SAKE, I pray that you can begin to see the fallacy and seriousness of the oft too carelessly cited appellation “self-appointed prophet!”

·       Prophets (messengers) often make personal mistakes. Jones and Waggoner surely did because they both ultimately sided with Kellogg’s pantheism. Does that make their message on righteousness by faith wrong? Do we throw the baby out with the bathwater? Some very foolish virgins do just that because of some mistakes made by the weak and erring men and women God appoints as His messengers.

 

Kellogg, Jones and Waggoner imbibed gross, unpardonable sin apostasy by embracing pantheism. However even the faithful amongst God’s appointed messengers are weak and erring, but they don’t imbibe unpardonable sin apostasy.

 

Weak and Erring -- "As the Elder Brother of our race He (Christ) knows that the messengers whom He sees fit to send are WEAK, ERRING men but to all who give themselves wholly to His service He promises divine aid." E.G. White, Acts of the Apostles, p. 56.

 

“On the other hand, the leaders among God's people are to guard against the danger of condemning the methods of individual workers who are led by the Lord to do a special work that but few are fitted to do. Let brethren in responsibility be slow to criticize movements that are not in perfect harmony with their methods of labor. Let them never suppose that every plan should reflect their own personality. Let them not fear to trust another's methods; for by withholding their confidence from a brother laborer who, with humility and consecrated zeal, is doing a special work in God's appointed way, they are retarding the advancement of the Lord's cause.” {9T 259.1}

 

Education Snobbery

 

A lot of Adventists worship at the altar of education. They will not accept anything from one they believe to be inferior in this area. Many will perish for that stance of pride. They will scorn and mock the less than perfect grammar and/or educational attainment of God’s appointed messengers.

 

“God can and will use those who have not had a thorough education in the schools of men. A doubt of His power to do this is manifest unbelief; it is limiting the omnipotent power of the One with whom nothing is impossible. Oh, for less of this uncalled-for, distrustful caution! It leaves so many forces of the church unused; it closes up the way so that the Holy Spirit cannot use men; it keeps in idleness those who are willing and anxious to labor in Christ's lines; it discourages from entering the work many who would become efficient laborers together with God if they were given a fair chance.” {9T 259.2}

We had all better be most careful before we attribute anything associated with the truth to satanic agencies lest we commit unpardonable sin:

"They [the Pharisees] attributed to satanic agencies the holy power of God, manifested in the works of Christ. Thus the Pharisees sinned against the Holy Ghost. Stubborn, sullen, ironhearted, they determined to close their eyes to all evidence, and thus they committed the unpardonable sin." E.G. White, RH Jan. 18, 1898. SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 5. p. 1092.

"Some full and free confessions were made, and some who had been wavering expressed their confidence restored. These referred with great feeling to the discourse of Brother White in the afternoon on the unpardonable sin, and expressed their great thankfulness that though they had gone far in their opposition to the work of the Holy Spirit, they had been kept from that great sin of attributing its operations to the agency of Satan." Ellen G. White Volume 2 The Progressive Years 1862-1876, p. 198.

I can promise you before the Lord God Almighty, that some who will read the words of this document have committed that great sin of attributing the operations of the Holy Spirit via my warning message to God’s people to the agency of Satan. We should beware of ever making that grave mistake of eternal consequence.

“The Lord has shown me that precious souls are starving, and dying for want of the present, sealing truth, the meat in due season; and that the swift messengers should speed on their way, and feed the flock with the present truth. I heard an Angel say, “speed the swift messengers, speed the swift messengers; for the case of every soul will soon be decided, either for Life, or for Death.” {RH September 1, 1849, par. 8}

Note by Ron: I think of all the precious souls who are indeed starving and dying for the want of the present, sealing truth of the 9/10ths of the Spirit of Prophecy that Vern Bates and Art Abbott discard as being altered by SDA leaders! Surely they have spoken and worked against the Holy Spirit. The Lord has shown me that just as surely their ignominious fate is sealed.

“I saw that those who had the means, were required to help speed those messengers, that God had called to labor in his cause, and as they went from place to place, they would be safe from the prevailing pestilence. But if any went that were not sent of God, they would be in danger of being cut down by the pestilence; therefore all should earnestly seek for duty, and be sure and move by the direction of the Holy Spirit.” {RH September 1, 1849, par. 9}

“What we have seen and heard of the pestilence, is but the beginning of what we shall see and hear. Soon the dead and dying will be all around us. I saw that some will be so hardened, as to even make sport of the judgments of God. Then the slain of the Lord will be from one end of the earth, to the other; they will not be lamented, gathered, nor buried; but their ill savor will come up from the face of the whole earth. Those only who have the seal of the living God, will be sheltered from the storm of wrath, that will soon fall on the heads of those who have rejected the truth.” {RH September 1, 1849, par. 10}

In Hope, {RH September 1, 1849, par. 11}

E. G. White

God will permit those who are not sent of Him to be cut down by the pestilence. I recall many leaders of my own age bracket who viciously opposed my warning message from the outset have long since passed away. They died an early death from cancer. It does not pay to fight Jerusalem city hall in heaven!

In the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,

—rwb