The Impossible Possibility
by Rolf J. Pöhler How did God communicate to his prophets? What are the biblical tests of a true prophet? What is conditional prophecy? Are prophets fallible? Why do we believe that Ellen G. White’s visions and prophet dreams were from God? These are the key questions of this week’s Sabbath School lesson. As diverse as they are, they all focus on one crucial issue: How can we distinguish true prophets and/or prophecies from false/fake ones? Ever since Sabbatarian Adventists regarded Ellen White as a recipient of the gift of prophecy, they have offered several criteria by which to test her (or any) prophetic claim. Among them, the unusual physical phenomena accompanying her visions have been mentioned frequently. However, they do not constitute a normative test for the authenticity of a prophet or the authority of his/her message. It is not the supernatural character of his/her visionary experience, but the divine origin of his/her message, that constitutes the hallmark of a...