Your argument that we need not look for any prophetic guidance in these last days is not rooted in the Bible or the teachings of Jesus for it plainly tells us to not “despise prophesyings” (1 Thess. 5:20) and to believe in His prophets and so shall we prosper (2 Chron. 20:20). We are also commanded to hear ye the Rod and He who hath appointed it (Micah 6:9). So please hear the following presentation which proves that we need latter day prophets to rightly understand and divide the word of Truth.

Pleadings of the Holy Ghost:
“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation.” 2 Pet. 1:19, 20.
But the hue and cry of the opposition is, Away with prophecies at this time! For all the prophets and the law

“Prophesied Until John.” Matt. 11:13.

If the aforequoted scripture means that there were to be no more prophets after John, then there should have been none since that time. And were this the meaning, then the Scriptures would contradict themselves, for they bear evidence that while Christ was the Son of God, He was also “a prophet.” Luke 24:19. And although John the Baptist never wrote a single prophetic utterance, yet he was rated by Christ with the greatest of the prophets (Luke 7:28). Also Matthew, Mark, and Luke, under the Spirit of Inspiration, wrote concerning Christ and His work. Likewise John, Peter, and Paul, and others contemporary with them, prophesied in their own right of many things to come. All these are Scripturally accorded the title “prophet.”

Jesus Himself testifies that the book of Revelation is a prophecy, for the angel “who bare record of the Word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw” says: “Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.” Rev. 1:2, 3. “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.” Rev. 22:18.

Now the fact that this prophecy was written nearly a century after John the Baptist was beheaded, is historical acknowledgment that the prophets did not cease with him. Thus in misconstruing Matthew 11:13 so as to make John the last of the prophets, the opposition is attempting to substitute for the gift of prophecy in the Christian era, “private” (uninspired) interpretations of the Scriptures. And in doing this, they are led either to ignore or to try to explain away the irrefutable statement of Paul: “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues” (1 Cor. 12:28) — absolute evidence that the second of the eight gifts to the church in the Christian era, is prophets.

While most of these gifts, especially tongues and governments, are zealously sought after by the Christian churches, the one — “prophets” — that was despised by the Jews, is wholly rejected by almost all Christendom! Thus the spirit that instigated the killing of the ancient seers at the hand of the Jewish leaders, is today doing virtually the same sort of destructive work through organized opposition.

While ascribing praise and honor to the dead prophets who were slain by the forefathers, the Jews rejected the living prophets, thereby bringing upon themselves the Master’s mournful pronouncement:

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.” Matt. 23:29, 30.

Present-day Christians who despise the gift of prophecy in this age, and also deny that the Old Testament Scriptures have any application in the gospel dispensation, are thereby rejecting all the prophets, while at the same time acknowledging that they were the servants of God. So such church-members continue to build and garnish the tombs of the prophets as did the Jews who claimed to believe in Moses but, when tested, were found to be liars. In like manner most Christians today profess to believe the whole Bible, yet teach that all the laws and statutes, all the warnings and condemnations, apply only to the ancient Jews, whereas the graces they eagerly bosom within the Christian church!

The present-day so-called gift of tongues is gibberish, and is no more the Biblical gift than is Sunday the “sanctified” Sabbath day; and the gift of governments is degenerated into an institution of prerogatives, formalities, goals, and the like, which, in their present low estate, are naught but agencies which in effect militate against the Truth and neutralize the piety of the church. In this state of affairs, do the best of these professed Christians of today seem better than the worst of yesterday’s Jews? {TN6: 8.1}

“Awake, awake,” cries the Word, “loose thyself from the” man-wrought “bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.” Isa 52:2. “Quench not the Spirit,” O church of God! “Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” 1 Thess. 5:19-21.

Do not longer overlook the fact that the gift of prophets is second in order, and the gifts of governments and diversity of tongues are last. Mark, therefore, that those who despise the gift of prophecy but exalt the gifts of governments and tongues, are manifestly pulling the cart from its rear end, and are going in the wrong direction. To them Christ is saying: “Knowest not that thou are wretched and miserable, and poor and blind, and naked.’ Rev. 3:17.

Those who on the one hand contend that there were to be no prophets after John the Baptist, and who on the other hand profess to believe in the New Testament Scriptures which were written after John’s death, are themselves in darkness, and are, by their private (uninspired) interpretations of the Scriptures spreading a cloud of darkness wherever they go. May God have mercy on them all.

In the light of these facts Jesus’ statement that “all the prophets and the law prophesied until John,” obviously has a wholly different meaning from what has been taught by uninspired men. When it is illuminated by the same Spirit Who indicted it, the resultant interpretation is trouble-free, revealing that Christ separated the prophets into a twofold classification — those until John and those after him.

Sacred history shows that the prophets in the first division received the Word directly from God through the medium of His Spirit. They were not obliged to prove any part of their prophecies by the writings of the preceding prophets. Whereas the prophets in the second division are appointed by the unction of the Spirit to interpret the writings of the prophets of the first division.

This all-important distinction and division shows that the Old Testament Scriptures contain the light of our salvation for both periods — Jewish and Christian. And when one considers that the former period is called the “typical” dispensation, and the latter the “antitypical,” then evidence upon evidence rivets the conclusion that the New Testament gospel is based on the gospel of the Old unfolded.

Since the Scriptures explain that the church in all ages has been led into truth only through the gift of prophecy, the Christian has no choice but to conclude that God’s will and plan for this time is just as it was for times past; that is, that the knowledge of salvation be imparted through the writings of the Old Testament prophets, as interpreted by those upon whom, as the scroll unfolds, He bestows the same Spirit by which He moved upon “holy men of God” “in old time.” 2 Pet. 1:21. “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Mal. 3:6.

God would have ever kept Christendom unified through Inspiration, revealed truth, but uninspired men would not humble themselves and forego their own private interpretations, with the tragic result that they have brought the present shameful sectarian confusion.

Such an anarchy of opinion on the Scriptures existing not only between one denomination and another, but also within the ranks of each one itself, makes clear that they are not led by the Spirit Whom Christ sent to “guide…into all truth” so that all believers in Him might be as one.” –Tract No. 6, pp. 4-10