There's no difference between "having" the testimony of Jesus Christ and "having" the spirit of prophecy. They're one and the same thing:

"...for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Revelation 19:10.

And both are the spiritual gift of prophecy, as manifested in Ellen White, Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, etc.

The Bible tells us God is love, yet that doesn't mean love is God. One can have the testimony of Jesus without having the gift of prophesy, can't one? That is, the text tells us that the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus (i.e. it testifies of Him) but one can testify of Christ without having the spiritual gift Moses, John the Baptist, etc. had.

How come Sister White was the last one we know of to have the Spirit of Prophecy? I find something off with what the Bible says regarding the Spirit of Prophecy and how man is applying it. Consider what the Bible says:

quote:

---

10 and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

---

Verse 10 states that it is a group of people that have the spirit of prophecy.

Prophecy in verse 10 means the following:

quote:

---

1) prophecy

a) a discourse emanating from divine inspiration and declaring the purposes of God, whether by reproving and admonishing the wicked, or comforting the afflicted, or revealing things hidden; esp. by foretelling future events

b) Used in the NT of the utterance of OT prophets

1) of the prediction of events relating to Christ's kingdom and its speedy triumph, together with the consolations and admonitions pertaining to it, the spirit of prophecy, the divine mind, to which the prophetic faculty is due

2) of the endowment and speech of the Christian teachers called prophets

3) the gifts and utterances of these prophets, esp. of the predictions of the works of which, set apart to teach the gospel, will accomplish for the kingdom of Christ

---

Examples used in the Bible for the phrase of prophecy as revealed in verse 10 can be seen found on the following link:

Of Prophecy

After reading the verses the spirit of prophecy enables people to utter divinely inspired words from God to give to the people. The examples of the verses using "of prophecy" clearly indicate and point to prophets and their messages given by God to kings,rulers, and people. This is the real deal!
God Bless,
Will

What about the things Paul write in 1 Corintians? It appears he meant that prophecy should be more common in a christian community than tounges is in your average pentecostal church.

Tom, in 1 Corinthians 1:6,7 Paul calls "the testimony of Christ" a "gift," as in a spiritual gift. So in Bible parlance, the "testimony of Christ," or "testimony of Jesus" is more than merely having something to say about Jesus. It is the actual gift of prophecy.

This is seen again by comparing Revelation 19:10 with Revelation 22:9 --

Revelation 19:10
"...thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus..."

Revelation 22:9
"...thy brethren the prophets..."

We need to let the Bible define its own terms.

Thomas, Paul didn't say that prophecy should be more common than tongues. He said that it was a more preferred, higher gift.

(For that matter, the "tongues" that are seen in Pentecostal churches today aren't the true gift of tongues at all; they're a satanic counterfeit.)

This is from Clarke's commentary:

quote:

---

The testimony of Christ is the Gospel which the apostle had preached, and which had been confirmed by various gifts of the Holy Spirit, and miracles wrought by the apostle.

---

I agree with John here. Of course the "testimony of Jesus" is the "word of God", because this is implied by the parallelism (Rev. 1:2; 1:9). It could refer to the word of God as received through a prophet (that is, the message), or to the word of God as received by a prophet (that is, the gift). But Rev. 12:17 and 19:10 are referring to the latter. The indicatives for this are:
1) How could the mere possession of the Word of God be a distinctive trait of any particular religious group, since all christian religious groups have the word of God?
2) It is specifically said that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, which means not the word of prophecy, but the gift of prophecy.

The spirit of prophecy <=> the gift of prophecy. There is a common thread here that do link both of these and also join in with the average believer (if not today so at least in Johns day).
Could it be that the Spirit of prophecy is the giver of the gift of prophecy, the Holy Spirit that is to indwell and lead all believers after baptism? This would include John aswell as Ellen but not only that, it ought to also include all of us who are christians participating in this thread.

Thomas,

"The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy".

Wouldn't it be rather unusual for a Person to be called a testimony?

The "faith of Jesus" (Rev 14:12) and the "testimony of Jesus" (Rev 12:17) are identifying characteristics of God's last day church - the SDA church.

What does it mean to have the faith of Jesus? I believe it means to excerise the same kind of saving faith that Jesus exercised.

By comparison, I also believe it makes sense to conclude that having the "testimony of Jesus" means to have the same kind of testimony that Jesus had, namely, "the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." (John 14:30) This can and must be our testimony, too.

However, it seems clear to me that the use of the phrase "having the testimony of Jesus" in the Revelation means that the SDA church possesses, and rightly employs, the prophetic writings of Sister White. That is, the Church will not, in the end, make of "none effect" her inspired counsel and testimonies. Amen.