A Closer Look at Revelation 19:10


This letter deals more with how an SDA is being led astray by the enemy when they place EGW in a near worship status. It is a fact that she was a messenger, but in no way was she a prophet; and she absolutely approved writings that were inaccurate (as the Friday-Sunday crucifixion and rising. Many will say, "Oh but she was a messenger only," but in the same breath say, "BUT she passes all the Biblical points of a prophet" – You know as well as I, she WAS NO PROPHET.

I condensed the info (see article following this letter) of a writing I have; not from one of those devilish anti-EGW, Sunday keeping sites. Though not an SDA trac - it is biblically sound.

What Is The SOP According To The Bible?

In Rev. 19:10, the angel told John that he was a fellowservant and brother of his: that they BOTH had the testimony of Jesus; and that the testimony of Jesus IS THE SOP. He did not say that their own, or ANY OTHER INDIVIDUAL'S testimony of Jesus is the SOP. And, in other words, he who had the testimony of Jesus HAS THE SOP-EVEN IN OUR DAY.

"And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the REMNANT OF HER SEED, WHICH KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, and have the TESTIMONY OF JESUS "(Revwlation 12:17).
The people who will be ready to meet the bridegroom when He comes will be those that keep the commandments, and have the testimony of Jesus.

The testimony of Jesus consist of the gospel in its completeness. All true followers of the Bible who keep all 10 commandments have the SOP.

Since the testimony of Jesus is the SOP, do we not have the right to expect the SOP to be manifest among the believers that constitute God's remnant? Since the remnant saints have the testimony (SOP), therefore it can not belong to ONLY ONE INDIVIDUAL, but again ALL who have the testimony of Jesus.

Not only do the remnant saints have the SOP, but the many martyrs because they also had the testimony of Jesus- that can not be disputed.

These martyrs suffered horribly by the millions during the 1260 years of papal persecutions for the same testimony of Jesus that the remnant which the dragon persecutes have -they both have (had) the testimony, therefore have the SOP.

A VERY CLOSE OBSERVATION of Revelation 19:10 reveals that the 'SOP' is not the same as 'the gift of prophecy.' Very importantly, notice the difference. The testimony of Jesus IS NOT the gift to prophesy, BUT is the spirit of prophecy; that it includes the whole prophetic revelation, witness, proof, gospel, and testimony of Jesus. Instead of the testimony of Jesus being one of the gifts of the Spirit, the gift RATHER CONFIRMS the testimony. The early church had ALL the gifts, and these gifts and signs and wonders confirmed the Word. Prophesying is different than prophecy and was one of these gifts (I Cor, 1:4-7; 12:7-10;and 28-31: 14:1-5. and 29-32, and 39,40. It is clear that the gift of prophecy DOES NOT belong to ANY ONE individual only, but all (who have the gift ) may prophesy. We have records of prophets being in the early church, BUT THAT GIFT WAS NOT VESTED IN JUST ONE PERSON ONLY (Acts 13:1, 11:27 ).

" Let the prophets (plural) speak two or three, and let the others judge. If ANYTHING be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. For ye may ALL ( that is, the prophets ) prophesy ONE by ONE, that ALL may learn. and all may be comforted"
1 Cor. 14:29-31

The prophesying in this case IS preaching- preaching and expounding that which has been revealed. One who promotes the truth in various ways is prophesying the testimony of Jesus.

There are two kinds of prophesying, and two classes of prophets. brought to view in the Bible. Those prophets continuing to the end, testify or preach the ORIGINAL prophecies. Prophesying in the other case was foretelling future events that had NOT YET BEEN REVEALED, RECORDED, OR TOLD, but which God revealed to His servants directly, to be told or written. THESE WERE THE ORIGINAL PROPHECIES. This class of prophesying IS COMPLETE (again, IS COMPLETE) (Rev. 22:18)– We NEED NOTHING IN ADDITION TO THE testimony of Jesus which is the SOP.

Please reader - can the following have been any clearer:
" For Moses truly said unto the fathers. A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto your brethren like unto me: him shall ye hear in all things he shall say unto you" (Acts 3:22).
" For all the prophets and the law prophesied UNTIL JOHN" ( Matt 11:13).

"God at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, HATH IN THESE LAST DAYS spoken to us by the Son" Heb 1:1,2).

Note: No where in this statement does it say one individual would speak afterwards any additional needed knowledge for our being a part of the remnant, no more that there was one individual who was among the millions of martyrs who spoke additional testimony from themselves, The martyrs, the remnant have their testimony- the SOP was and is the gospel of Jesus. The commandment keepers true prophet is Jesus who is alive, not any human afterwards that is labeled 'the SOP' by that individual and/or their followers. It just isn't Biblical.

Too many have been deceived by depending on the guidance of a human head to lead the church. Take ONLY the infallible word of God for your guide, for "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction..." It doesn't say, "Amy future and additional knowledge..."

The windup of Jesus' testimony is a VITAL WARNING as follows: " For I testify unto every man that heareth the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues...And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of THIS PROPHECY. God shall take away his part out of the book of life..."

I take the stand that I will stick by the Bible and the Bible only. I will not say as I did for years, that EGW's writings are the SOP and that they are just another book of the Bible. (Most SDA's wont say that, but they believe it—I know this as I did so for 27 ½ years!
She was an excellent leader and good student of the Bible, a great promoter of the Sabbath, etc., a smart writer, and Christian, and one of the best compilers's of writings (i.e., DA), but she was a human and made mistakes. At least three examples; (and there are many more), right off thw top–she was wrong about Jesus being crucified on Friday and arose on Sunday.

2nd – she brought into the church the Methodist practice (then) of a quarterly communion service. Communion is clearly at night on the 14th of Nisan – the first full moon after the vernal equinox. That is when Jesus washed the disciples feet and had the last supper–that is Biblical.

3rd – EGW mistakenly writes that a few of the lost (brute, unintelligible slaves types) will burn up immediately, some of the lost several minutes or hours and some for many days- That is inaccurate. That is a refined and reduced teaching from the protestant churches, via Rome of an eternal burning. Hey, just think; if you were condemned to burn 7 days , would that not be an eternity??Just think, a loving God is not in the torturing business. We will die an eternal death; but just take Sodom , do you believe that God let some perverted freak in Sodom burn when it rained fire, twisting and screaming, any more than an 8 year old Sodom resident?. Do you think God is the kind of God that would let one who laughed at Noah and steeped in sin, choke to death with water in his lungs when drowning, longer than some 14 year old. Just remember the 7 that got on the ark weren't all that good,; look at what they did right after getting off the ark–BUT the difference was, they GOT ON the ark (that says a lot). Just because the world was totally destroyed doesn't mean that all who drowned were sinners in need of a punishing death. They just didn't for some reason get onboard- a 4 year old would be a perfect example; they choked to death from water in their lungs, the same as the super sinner.

EGW was a sinful human as we, she had baggage from her serious Methodist upbringing. There is much more; Jesus is a mediator, mot an investigator- Man, he already knows everything.
A person is on dangerous ground when they in reality place her not too far below Gabriel. They wont say such, but they are doing so.
Be strong, don't be afraid to check things out- blindly following is not what God wants.

GAH

“I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10).

The angel told John that he was a fellowservant and brother of his; that they both (John included) had the testimony of Jesus; and that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The angel did not say that their own or any other individual's testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And, in other words. he who has the testimony of Jesus has the spirit of prophecy.- even in our day. Notice the following:

“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 12:17).

The people who will be ready to meet the bridegroom when He comes will be those who keep all 10 commandments of God, and who have the testimony (or faith) of Jesus (Rev. 14:12-14).

Naturally the question arises in our minds, “What is the testimony of Jesus?” The word “testimony” means witnessing evidence, or proof. The testimony of Jesus consists of the gospel in its completeness, of both testaments, which testifies of Christ, and declares the way of salvation (John 5:39; I Cor. 1:6 2:1; II Tim. 1:8; Rev. 1:1; Rom. 1:16).

Since the testimony of Jesus (the gospel in its entirety, and especially the book of Revelation 1:2,3) is the spirit of prophecy, have we a right to expect the spirit of prophecy to be manifest among the believers that constitute God's remnant PEOPLE? Yes, the remnant saints have the testimony of Jesus (or the spirit of prophecy), therefore, it clearly does not belong to one individual, but ALL of the remnant (true gospel and commandment followers) who have the testimony of Jesus have also the spirit of prophecy.

Not only do the remnant saints have the spirit of prophecy (the testimony of Jesus), but the many martyrs thru the years had the testimony of Jesus (Rev. 6:9). Rev. 17:6 shows who the beheaded ones of Rev 20: 4 are. “ And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgement was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God...” These approximately 50,000,000 martyrs of the 1260 years of papal persecutions suffered for the same “testimony of Jesus” that the remnant which the dragon persecutes because they keep the commandments (all 10) of God and have the testimony of Jesus,” (Rev. 12:17) will have to suffer. The Greek Emphatic Diaglott also translates this passage as “testimony of Jesus” instead of “ witness for Jesus,” as is found in the King James translation. At any rate, the terms are very closely related, for “testimony” means “witnessing evidence.”

A close observation of this text, Rev 19:10, will reveal that the “ spirit of prophecy” is not the same as “the gift TO prophecy.” Very importantly, notice also the difference in spelling. The testimony of Jesus IS NOT the gift to PROPHESY, but is the spirit of prophecy; that is, it includes the whole prophetic revelation, witness, proof, gospel, and testimony of Jesus Christ. Instead of the testimony of Jesus being one of the gifts of the Spirit, the gifts rather confirm the testimony (I Cor. 1:6,7; Mark 16:20; Heb.2:3,4). The early church had all the gifts. The gift of prophecy does not belong to one individual only, but all (who have the gifts) may prophesy. We have records of prophets being in the early church, but that gift was not vested in just one person only (Acts 13:1; 11:27).

“ Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. If anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. For ye may ALL (that is, the prophets (Note: plural) prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all be comforted” (I Cor. 14:29-31).

The prophesying in this case is preaching–preaching and expounding that which has been revealed, Webster also defines prophesying: “To preach; to expound; to foretell; and so forth.” The scriptures which testify of Christ reveal many future events through the Spirit (John 14:26) to students of prophecy who understand revealed prophecy and thus prophesy unto others what will transpire in the future, thereby exhort and warn them.

There are two kinds of prophesying, and two classes of prophets, brought to view in the bible. Those prophets continuing to the end, testify or preach the original prophecies. Prophesying in the other case was foretelling future events that had not yet been revealed, recorded, or told, but which God revealed to His servants directly, to be told or written. These were the original prophecies. That class of prophesying is complete (Rev. 22:18).

“ For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto your brethren like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you” (Acts 3:22).

For all the prophets and the law prophesied UNTIL JOHN” (Matt.11:13).
“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in TIME PAST unto the fathers by the prophets, HATH IN THESE LAST DAYS SPOKEN TO US BY HIS SON” (Heb. 1:1,2).

Christ the prophet, priest, and king, promised to be with us, even in this age, therefore, He is in the church today. “ Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:20). Many that have been considered so-called prophets after John have died, but our true Prophet that speaks to us in these last days is still alive and speaks to us through His testimony, the testimony of Jesus.

“ Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (I John 4:1).

Too many are deceived by depending on the guidance of a human head to lead their church, “ Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord” (Jer. 17:5).

Take the infallible word of God ONLY for your guide, for “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine...(II Tim. 3:16,17).

The windup of Jesus' testimony is a warning as follows: “ For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, THAT IF ANY MAN SHALL ADD UNTO THESE THINGS, GOD SHALL ADD UNTO HIM THE PLAGUES THAT ARE WRITTEN IN THIS BOOK...