Prophets End With Old Testament

Did Prophets End With the Old Testament Bible?

God has always called prophets since the days of Adam.  When most people think of a prophet, they think of someone who tells the future, but that is only one aspect of a prophet’s mission.  A prophet’s real mission is to teach and testify about Jesus Christ and to speak the words that God gives him through the Holy Ghost.  A prophet is called by God to be a witness of Jesus Christ to the whole world.  In Acts chapter 10:43 we read:

To him [Jesus] give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

No prophet has ever lived who did not teach about Jesus Christ.  In Revelation 19:10, it says that, “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Critics of Mormonism claim that prophets ended either with the Old Testament or with the Bible as a whole.  It is easy to show that there were prophets after the Old Testament since Jesus Christ describes John the Baptist as a prophet:

For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he (Luke 7:28).

So there were definitely prophets in the New Testament.  The Apostle Paul later teaches that the Church of Christ is established on a foundation of prophets:

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone (Ephesians 2:19-20)

Later in Ephesians 4:11-14, Paul teaches that prophets, among other leaders, are given to us by God to help us come into the unity of faith.  Jesus warned his followers to beware of false prophets.  He said,

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect (Matthew 24:24).

If Jesus believed that there would be no more prophets, he would have warned them not to listen to anyone who claims to be a prophet.  However, he warns of false Christs and false prophets, and just as there is a true Christ, who is Jesus, so there are also true prophets.  The New Testament describes several people as prophets:

Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul (Acts 13:1).

And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them (Acts 15:32).

Some people are confused by the saying of Jesus in Luke 16:16 and claim that it refutes Mormon claims to have prophets.  It reads:

The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it (Luke 16:16).

However, in this context Jesus was referring to the Old Testament, which the Jews of His time referred to as the “Law [the Five Books of Moses] and the Prophets [the writings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc.].”  This is made clear by another passage where Jesus says, “These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me” (Luke 24:44).  When Jesus said that the law and the prophets were until John, he meant that the Old Testament prophecies and the Law revealed to Moses were fulfilled in Him by His sacrifice on the cross and that now the gospel and the law of the kingdom of God was in place.

Since we now know that there can be prophets and that God always sends prophets to teach His word and lead His Church, we can be sure that since Mormonism is the only the Church claiming to have prophets, we must investigate it seriously, and the best way to determine if these modern prophets are true or false is to study the revelations given to them in the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants.