Response
Dear Friend,
Thank you for your encouraging comments.
I find that this kind of thoughtful discussion (as in the "Is Jesus = Michael the Archangel" post) does much to direct us to Scripture, and to cause us to grow closer to our Heavenly Father.
As you know, "unusual" teachings such as "Jesus = Michael" sometimes originate from individuals who claim (themselves, or by their followers) to be extra-biblical prophets. The benefit (to Biblical Christians) of such teachings, is it causes us to dig deeper into the Bible-- is that teaching true, or is it false? If it is true, and demonstrable from Scripture, let us embrace it wholeheartedly; if it is blatantly false as demonstrated from Scripture, let us reject it wholeheartedly; and where Scripture is unclear on that matter, let us leave the topic as "unclear from Scripture" rather than insist that the doctrine IS true (as some groups tend to do).
What can we say about such extra-biblical prophets? Despite the fact that I am NOT a cessassionist (i.e., a person who believes that no miracles happen today), I have almost always found extra-biblical prophets to not stand up to the tests-of-a-prophet that God provides us in Scripture (in Deuteronomy 13, and Deuteronomy 18, for instance). To be candid, I have not found a single extra-biblical "prophet" who has submitted themselves to the Biblical tests of a prophet and passed the tests.
The Bible tells us that it has ALL the information we need for Salvation and growth as Christians.
So what is the benefit of extra-biblical prophets? In practice, I have found that such "prophets" usually
- tell us what we already know or can learn from scripture, -- in which case they are perfectly valid "teachers" rather than "prophets" -- or
- cause us to "Major in the Minors", i.e., make some fringe group think that they are extra special because they "know" something that the rest of Biblical Christians dont know (from the Bible)... We see this being done all the time in various cults. (Please Note: I am providing general observations, and I am NOT referring to the SDA church as a cult).
I have found that there is psychological pressure on these "prophets" (since they claim to be a direct conduit of extra-Biblical information from God) to keep providing new information to their people. Part of their attraction (to the masses of their followers) is that they keep providing new information that their followers dont know, and so the followers "admire/ respect/ hold-in-awe" them because of the new information (which they think is from God)... When the followers are spiritual babies (as far as Bible knowledge is concerned), the "extra-biblical prophets" are able to provide them information and teaching from the Bible. However as their followers become aware of the general teachings of the Bible, the "prophet" is then under pressure to come up with new information that is not in the Bible. This is where many groups go off the deep end, and become cults. A group that hasnt quite got to the "cult" stage yet, typically moves gradually away from main-stream Biblical Christianity in their distinctives (doctrines that dont impact Salvation)... Once they move away in the verities (doctrines that do impact Salvation), they become a cult.
Please dont apply my statements above to the SDA (Seventh Day Adventist) church. As an example, though I disagree with some of the
teachings of Ellen White (and the SDA church) I have no problem the SDA church accepting Ellen
White as a teacher. However I dont see any warrant to accept her, or any other extra-Biblical
prophet as a prophet from God...
Wishing you the Peace and Love of Christ.