It is well-known that many groups, not just Latter-day Saints, believe in the post-biblical continuation of the prophetic office, in some form or another. One group would be the Seventh-day Adventists who believe that Ellen G. White was a prophetess. The following, from a popular SDA theological work, explains their belief in post-NT prophets. What is interesting is that many texts used (e.g., Matt 24:11, 24; Joel 2:28-31) are texts Latter-day Saints also appeal to in order to support post-biblical prophets:
The Prophetic Gift Just Before the Second Advent. God gave the gift of prophecy to John the Baptist to announce Christ’s first advent. In a similar way we may expect Him to send the prophetic git again to proclaim the Second Advent so that everyone will have the opportunity to prepare to meet the Saviour.
In fact, Christ mentions the rise of false prophets as one of the signs that His coming is near (Matt. 24:11, 24). If there were to be no true prophets during the time of the end, Christ would have warned against anyone claiming that gift. His warning against false prophets implies that there would be true prophets, as well.
The prophet Joel predicted a special outpouring of the prophetic gift just before Christ’s return. He said, “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; and also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord” (Joel 2:28-31).
The first Pentecost saw a remarkable manifestation of the Spirit. Peter, citing Joel’s prophecy, pointed out that God had promised such blessings (Acts 2:2-21). However, we may ask whether Joel’s prophecy reached its ultimate fulfillment in Pentecost or whether there must yet be another, more complete, fulfillment. We have no evidence that the phenomena in the sun and moon that Joel spoke of either preceded or followed that outpouring of the Spirit. These phenomena did not occur until many centuries later (see chapter 24 of this book). Pentecost, then, was a foretaste of the full manifestation of the Spirit before the Second Advent. Like Palestine’s early rain, which fell in the autumn, shortly after the crops were planted, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost inaugurated the dispensation of the Spirit. The complete and final fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy corresponds to the latter rain, which, falling in the spring, ripened the grain (Joel 2:23). Likewise, the final bestowal of God’s Spirit will take place just before the Second Advent, after the predicted signs in the sun, moon, and stars (cf. Matt. 24:29; Rev. 6:12-17; Joel 2:31). Like the latter rain, this final outpouring of the Spirit will ripen the harvest of the earth (Matt. 13:30, 39), and “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 2:32).
The Prophetic Gift in the Remnant Church. Revelation 12 reveals two major periods of persecution. During the first, which extended from A.D. 538 to A.D. 1798 (Rev. 12:6, 14; see chapter 12 of this book), loyal believers suffered intense persecution. Again, just before the Second Advent, Satan will attack “the remnant of her offspring,” the remnant church that refuses to give up allegiance to Christ. Revelation characterizes the loyal believers who make up the remnant as they “who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 12:17).
Hat the phrase “the testimony of Jesus” speaks of prophetic revelation is clear from later conversations between the angel and John/
Near the end of the book the angel identifies himself as “’your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus’” (Rev. 19:10) and “your fellowservant, and of your brethren the prophets” (Rev. 22:9). These parallel expressions make it clear that it is the prophets who have “the testimony of Jesus.” This explains the angel’s statement that “’the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy’” (Rev. 19:10).
Commenting on this text, James Moffat wrote, “’For the testimony or witness of (i.e., borne by) Jesus is (i.e., constitutes) the spirit of prophecy.’ This . . . specially defines the brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus as possessors of prophetic inspiration. The testimony of Jesus is practically equivalent to Jesus testifying (xxii.20). It is the self-revelation of Jesus (according to [Rev.] 1:1, due ultimately to God) which moves the Christian prophets.”
So the expression the Spirit of prophecy can refer to (1) the Holy Spirit inspiring the prophet with a revelation from God, (2) the operation of the gift of prophecy, and (3) the medium of prophecy itself.
The prophetic gift, Jesus’ witness “to the church through the medium of prophecy,” comprises a distinctive characteristic of the remnant church. Jeremiah lined the demise of this gift with lawlessness. “The Law is no more, and her prophets find no vision from the Lord” (Lam. 2:9). Revelation identifies the possession of the two as distinctive characteristics of the end-time church; its members “keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”—the prophetic gift (Rev. 12:17).
God gave the prophetic gift to the “church” of the Exodus to organize, instruct and guide His people (Acts 7:38, KJV). “By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved” (Hosea 12:13). It comes as no surprise, then, to find that gift among those who are involved in the ultimate exodus—the escape from sin-polluted Planet earth to the heavenly Canaan. This exodus, which will follow the Second Advent, is the final and complete fulfillment of Isaiah 11:11: “It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left” . . .
Post-Biblical Prophets and the Bible
The prophetic gift produced the Bible itself. In post-Biblical times it is not to supersede or add to Scripture, because the canon of Scripture is now closed.
The prophetic gift functions in the endtime much as it did in the time of the apostles. Its thrust is to uphold the Bible as the basis of faith and practice, to explain its teachings, and to apply its principles to daily life. It is involved in establishing and edifying the church, enabling it to carry out its divinely appointed mission. The prophetic gift reproves, warns, guides, and encourages both individuals and the church, protecting them from heresy and unifying them on Bible truths.
Post-Biblical prophets function much like prophets such as Nathan, Gad, Asaph, Shemaiah, Azariah, Eliezer, Ahijah, and Obed, Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, Simeon, John the Baptist, Agabus, Silas, Anna, and Philip’s four daughters, who lived in Bible times, but whose testimonies never became a part of the Bible. The same God who spoke through the prophets whose writings are in the Bible inspired these prophets and prophetesses. Their messages did not contradict the previously recorded divine revelation. (Seventh-day Adventists Believe . . . A Biblical Exposition of 27 Fundamental doctrines [Washington, DC.: Ministerial Association General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 1988], 220-22, 222-23)
Elsewhere (Ibid., 229 n. 8), there is an interesting discussion about the term “testimony of Jesus” (Rev 19:10), a popular text amongst Latter-day Saints:
The expression “testimony of Jesus” is best understood as a subjective genitive, not an objective genitive. “Two translations are possible: a) The testimony (witness) about or concerning Jesus (objective genitive) = what Christians witness about Jesus. ‘Who bears testimony to Jesus’ (RSV). b) The testimony (witness) from or by Jesus (subjective genitive) = messages from Jesus to the church. The evidence from the use of this expression in the book of Revelation suggests that it should be understood as a subjective genitive (a testimony from or by Jesus), and that this testimony is given through prophetic revelation” (Holbrook, “Modern Prophet,” p. 7).
As one of the evidences Holbrook quotes Rev. 1:1, 2: “’The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants . . . and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: who bare record of the Word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.’ In this context it is evident that ‘the Revelation of Jesus’ designates a revelation from or by Jesus to John. John bears record of this testimony/witness from Jesus. Both genitive expressions make the best sense in context as subjective genitives and agree with Christ’s closing words in the book: ‘He which testifieth (witnesses) these things, saith, Surely I come quickly’ (Revelation 22:20)” (ibid., pp. 7, 8).
