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Boulder257
Guest
Why did prophecy end with the death of John the Apostle?
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Usagi
Guest
Public revelation ended with the death of John (or shortly thereafter – there seems to be a bit at the end of John’s Gospel written by someone else after the apostle died, to counter rumors that John was supposed to be immortal).
God could, and does, still raise up prophets to speak for Him to societies and powerful people, but they would be reinforcing the message of public revelation or applying it to specific problems rather than revealing entirely new things.
As to why God chose to have public revelation end at that specific time, we don’t know. Presumably He was done revealing everything He wanted to reveal this side of Heaven, and there was no benefit in stretching it out any longer. Protestants would likely point to the completion of the New Testament around the same time, but of course that’s basically just saying the same thing – there were no inspired books after the end of the first century/maybe the very beginning of the second because God stopped inspiring people to write them.
This is one of those “why” questions (like “why did God create the universe at all,knowing that He’d have to fix it later” or “why did Jesus come when He did, and not right after the Fall or in our globally connected era”) that basically boils down to “Because God chose to do it that way, and we won’t know more than that unless we get to ask Him in Heaven.” We can presume, since it’s God we’re talking about, that He made the wisest and best choice in each case, and we can try to speculate on what would have made alternatives less good or wise, but speculation is the best we can do.
Usagi
God could, and does, still raise up prophets to speak for Him to societies and powerful people, but they would be reinforcing the message of public revelation or applying it to specific problems rather than revealing entirely new things.
As to why God chose to have public revelation end at that specific time, we don’t know. Presumably He was done revealing everything He wanted to reveal this side of Heaven, and there was no benefit in stretching it out any longer. Protestants would likely point to the completion of the New Testament around the same time, but of course that’s basically just saying the same thing – there were no inspired books after the end of the first century/maybe the very beginning of the second because God stopped inspiring people to write them.
This is one of those “why” questions (like “why did God create the universe at all,knowing that He’d have to fix it later” or “why did Jesus come when He did, and not right after the Fall or in our globally connected era”) that basically boils down to “Because God chose to do it that way, and we won’t know more than that unless we get to ask Him in Heaven.” We can presume, since it’s God we’re talking about, that He made the wisest and best choice in each case, and we can try to speculate on what would have made alternatives less good or wise, but speculation is the best we can do.
Usagi
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MrXindeed
Guest
It didn’t.
Ellen White is the John the Baptist for our day, she is the herald of Christ’s soon Second Coming!
I would suggest reading The Great Controversy.
Ellen White is the John the Baptist for our day, she is the herald of Christ’s soon Second Coming!
I would suggest reading The Great Controversy.
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JamesTheJust
Guest
“God works in His own ways” is the only answer I can come up with. As with our parents during our childhood, we can’t know or understand God’s reasoning, but we can know that He did it with our best interests in mind.
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smichhertz
Guest
The proper term is “Public Revelation” which ended with the death of John.
The reason is simple: We know all that is necessary for salvation. No one can claim that the fullness of God’s revelation to the world wasn’t out there after this point.
There, of course, can still be private revelation.
The reason is simple: We know all that is necessary for salvation. No one can claim that the fullness of God’s revelation to the world wasn’t out there after this point.
There, of course, can still be private revelation.
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adrift
Guest
We are warned against false prophets such as Ellen White. I suggest you read this
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seagal
Guest
I heard somewhere that it was because John was the last living apostle, the last first-hand witness to Jesus’ ministry. As anther poster said, we already know everything we need for salvation
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rfournier103
Guest
I am curious about this myself.
How do we know? I can accept that it did, but this is a very good question. Do we know the oldest source of this statement?
How do we know? I can accept that it did, but this is a very good question. Do we know the oldest source of this statement?
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Boulder257
Guest
That’s kind of where I am with it. I accept it, but I would like some source information to help me make this point to others…
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Ingeniero
Guest
this was very enlightening. Thank you.
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Della
Guest
The last prophecy ended with John because he was the lasting living Apostles to whom Christ directly gave his revelation. Jesus is God’s last word/revelation to man. We need no others. The Apostles were commissioned by Jesus to take his word/Gospel to the whole world. The word they took to the world was not their own revelation but that of Christ himself. Other so-called prophets, such as Ellen White, Joseph Smith, or Mohammed are false prophets for they do not speak in Christ’s name and/or they do not have the authority from God to do so. Any Church approved visions/locutions/apparitions are not additions to the one revelation of Christ, but are only aids to faith, as are any such spiritual events/written works, such as those by the Saints.
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dmar198
Guest
I don’t think St. Bernadette, Sister Lucia, Sister Agnes, Saint Mary Faustina, and other recipients of divine apparitions would say prophecy has ended. They received divine visions of the Lord and His saints just like the Old Testament prophets did, and their messages, like the Divine Mercy devotion and the water of Lourdes, have gone out to all the world. God is still speaking to His people. What has ended was public revelation, but God still gives heavenly messages to His saints and those messages are meant for the building up of their faith and the faith of all who have ears to hear. They are just as much prophets and prophetesses as were the seers of Samuel’s time.
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Della
Guest
These are not public revelations, as you said, but private ones that add nothing to the faith once given. They are helps to faith, but that’s all they are. It may be confusing to some to say that revelation is ongoing when it isn’t. Sorry to nitpick but people read one sentence and then go tell others their misconceptions based on “what I read on CAF.”
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smichhertz
Guest
That’s a good point. I spent a year “lurking” on CAF long before I even created an account. For every 1 poster, there’s probably 10 lurkers.Sorry to nitpick but people read one sentence and then go tell others their misconceptions based on “what I read on CAF.”
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