The phone buzzed at 5:04 in the morning. Nadège reached for it in the dark. It was a voice message. Forwarded many times.

A deep, loud voice filled the little bedroom in Brooklyn. "I am a prophet of God. The Lord showed me a great fire coming on Haitian families this month. Only the ones who send a seed offering of seventy-seven dollars — and forward this message to ten people — will be covered!"

Nadège sat up. Her heart was pounding. Her son was in Port-au-Prince. Her mother was in Les Cayes. What if it was true? What if she did nothing, and something happened?

Her thumb was already on the "forward" button. Then she stopped. She called the one person she always called when she was afraid — Tant Odile, eighty-two years old, who lived two floors down.

Tant Odile listened to the whole message without a word. Then she said, "Come down. Bring the phone. And bring your Bible."

Tant Odile was about to ask one simple question. It is a question that can protect you from every false voice — and help you hear the true one. Keep reading. We will come back to that kitchen table.

God has always spoken

Here is the good news first: our God is not silent. He is not a far-away God who leaves His children guessing. The prophet Amos wrote:

All through the Bible, God chose men and women to carry His messages. Moses. Deborah. Samuel. Elijah. Isaiah. Daniel. God told Israel how He did it: "I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream" (Numbers 12:6).

These prophets did not make up their messages. Peter explains where the words came from:

A true prophet is like a mail carrier. The letter is not his. He did not write it. His job is to deliver it — faithfully, without changing a word.

The clearest Word of all: Jesus

And then God sent more than a messenger. He sent His Son.

If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. Every true prophet, before Him and after Him, points to Him. After His resurrection, Jesus walked with two sad disciples, and "beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27).

That is the heart of prophecy: it leads you to Jesus.

A promise for the last days

Did the gift of prophecy stop when the Bible was finished? God made a promise through the prophet Joel:

Look who is in that list: sons and daughters. Old men and young men. Servants and handmaids. God's gift does not ask about your money, your skin color or your title.

On the day of Pentecost, Peter said this promise had begun to come true: "this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel… in the last days" (Acts 2:16-17). And Paul lists "prophets" among the gifts Christ gave His church "for the edifying of the body of Christ" (Ephesians 4:11-12).

So yes — God still speaks. But that is exactly why we must learn to tell His voice from the others.

Don't despise it. Don't swallow it. Test it.

Paul gives the church a balanced rule in just a few words:

Two mistakes are possible. One is to laugh at everything and say, "God doesn't speak anymore." The other is to believe everything someone says in a loud voice. The Bible says: do neither. Test it. John says the same thing:

How do you test? God gives us clear tests in His Word:

• Test 1 — Does it agree with the Bible? "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isaiah 8:20).
• Test 2 — Does it lift up Jesus Christ? "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God" (1 John 4:2).
• Test 3 — What is the fruit? Jesus warned about false prophets "in sheep's clothing" and said, "Ye shall know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:15-16).
• Test 4 — Does it build up, or tear down? True prophecy speaks "to edification, and exhortation, and comfort" (1 Corinthians 14:3) — not panic.

And one more thing: God's gifts are never for sale. When a man named Simon tried to buy the power of the Holy Spirit, Peter answered: "Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money" (Acts 8:20).

The testimony of Jesus

The book of Revelation describes God's faithful people at the very end of time:

What is "the testimony of Jesus"? Revelation explains it. When John fell down to worship the angel who brought him the message, the angel stopped him: "See thou do it not… worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Revelation 19:10).

Did you notice? Even an angel refused to be worshiped. A true messenger never wants the glory. He says, "Worship God."

The Seventh-day Adventist Church sums up this Bible teaching like this: the Scriptures testify that prophecy is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit; this gift is an identifying mark of God's remnant church; Adventists believe it was manifested in the ministry of Ellen G. White, whose writings bring comfort, guidance, instruction and correction to the church — and make clear that the Bible is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested (see Fundamental Belief #18, "The Gift of Prophecy," in the Church's own words).

Ellen White herself never asked anyone to put her writings above the Bible. She described her work like this: "the Lord has given a lesser light to lead men and women to the greater light" (Colporteur Ministry, p. 125). The greater light is the Bible. And the Bible leads to Jesus.

So do what the believers in Berea did. They "searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11). Test everything — even what you read here — by the Book.

God still speaks — through His Word, His Son, and His Spirit. The gift of prophecy is real and promised for the last days. And every voice must be tested by the Bible, which always leads to Jesus.

The question at the kitchen table

Tant Odile put her old Bible on the table. The cover was soft as cloth. She pushed her glasses up and asked her one question:

"Pitit mwen — what does the Book say?"

They opened it together. Isaiah 8:20: "To the law and to the testimony." They looked for Jesus in the voice message. He was not there — only fire, fear and seventy-seven dollars. They read Acts 8:20 about the gift of God that cannot be bought. And they read 1 Corinthians 14:3: true prophecy brings comfort.

"This message brought you no comfort," Tant Odile said gently. "It brought you fear. My God does not sell His protection. He gave His Son for free."

Then she turned to Joel 2:28. "But do not throw away the gift because of the fake. God still speaks, chérie. When a message lifts up Jesus, agrees with this Book, and makes you love God more — hold fast to that."

Nadège did not forward the voice note. Instead, she sent ten people a verse: "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." Then she called her son in Port-au-Prince, just to hear his voice. He was fine. He was sleepy. And he laughed when she said, "I love you, and God loves you more."

There are many voices today. Only one Voice made heaven and earth — and He still speaks through His Word. When you are afraid, ask Tant Odile's question: "What does the Book say?"

(Nadège and Tant Odile are an illustrative story, drawn from what many families live; any resemblance to specific people or messages is coincidental.)

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