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The Duty of a Prophet.—The chief function of a prophet of God is to give to the
world a divine witness that Jesus is the Christ and that, as our great Redeemer, lawgiver
and source of life, he is appointed by his Father to be the God of this earth. In modern
times, the Lord has raised up such a witness in the person of Joseph Smith.
A scripture often quoted by the Prophet Joseph Smith is found in John's
Revelation, chapter 19, verse 10, where an angel stated to the apostle on the Isle of
Patmos: "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Explained Joseph Smith:
If any person should ask if I were a prophet, I should not deny it, ... for according
to John, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy; therefore, ... if I be a true teacher
and witness, I must possess the spirit of prophecy, and that constitutes a prophet; and
any man who says he is a teacher or preacher of righteousness, and denies the spirit of
prophecy, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; and by this key false teachers and imposters
may be detected. (Documentary History of the Church, 5:215-16; hereafter cited DHC.)
Here, then, is the fact of the matter: If a man has the testimony of Jesus—the true
testimony from divine sources that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and the earth's
great source of light and life—he must also possess the spirit of prophecy; and possession
of that spirit constitutes him a prophet.