In a past post, I wrote about a theme in Proverbs regarding the importance of our words. We learned about the things the Bible teaches about our speech and how we should use our language to glorify God. Our words are important, because they are what we use to express ourselves to each other. Our words are important because they are a window to our hearts. Our speech reflects the things that we value. Our speech and our words are also important because God himself uses HIS speech and HIS word to communicate what HE values to us. We can say that we have a relationship with God because we have studied what is in His word. When we say we love God, its very important to know who we’re talking about when we say that. The way that happens is by becoming familiar with his word. That means studying the Bible. And when we study the Bible, we learn something else about the Word of God. The word of God isn’t just scripture, but the word of God was with God in the beginning and the word of God was God. The word of God had a role in creating the universe. And the word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. We know the word of God when we look at the life of Jesus. That is why words are so important. For us, our words should honor God. God’s word not only points us to Jesus, but God’s word IS Jesus. This is all review, but it brings us to a place where it makes sense to jump out of proverbs and in Hebrews, and we’ll start there. Hebrews 1:1
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways,
The book of Hebrews starts by saying that God used to use prophets to speak to the world. Who are they?? Prophets were people who were charged with speaking the word of God on behalf of God.
When studying Old Testament scripture, people often categorize different sections of the Old Testament. The first 5 books are the torah, then historical books (like first and second Kings, Samuel, Chronicles), then wisdom books (like Psalms and Proverbs, Song of Songs). The last 17 books of the Old Testament were from the prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel were major prophets. and Hosea, Joel, Amos and others, they are known as the minor prophets. Their words came to pass and are widely accepted as true, both among Jews and Christians. The words of the prophets were tested and determined to be actually the words of God, so they have become scripture. So who are prophets? They are people who were charged to speak on Gods behalf. They would bring messages from God and would be God’s voice or mouthpiece. When you read those books, the messages would often begin with “This is what the LORD says” or they would end them with “Thus saith the lord”. To lie about this was (and still is) a very serious offense to God. So much so, that the Old Testament law prescribed the death penalty to false prophets. Lets take a look at those relevant verses. There are a few things that need to happen to determine if a prophet is true or false. First is what the prophet foretells Accurate??? Deut 18:20-22
20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.”
21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.
Verse 20- If the prophet says something that God didn’t command, The penalty is death. That’s a harsh penalty. Look at verse 21. I like when the Bible asks the question thats on everyone’s mind, in order to clarify what’s said. “You may say to yourselves.. How can we know?” Verse 22. Does it come to pass? Is it true? If not, don’t listen to them. Prophets needed to be 100% accurate. Not a statistical favorite like >50% . They needed to be 100%. If not, they can be dismissed. The Bible says don’t be alarmed. Really? If I presumed to be a prophet, and what I said didn’t happen, I would be VERY alarmed! I could be put to death. It seems like a harsh penalty, but you need to understand what’s really being said here. You might say, “But we’re all humans, and we make mistakes, right?” It’s true We often say things that God doesn’t command. People frequently say unbiblical things. Personally, I know I do, and I am a pastor!! But what verse 20 is talking about is MUCH more serious than just saying a stupid comment, or blurting out something that doesn’t honor God. The false prophet is saying something, and claiming that it is God’s words. So when the prophet is a false prophet, he is saying whatever he wants, whatever is his agenda, and when he does it, he’s pretending to be GOD to get his point across! False prophets are not just saying something false. They are saying something false, but attributing their words to GOD. They are usurping God’s authority, misrepresenting him, and potentially discrediting God and His character and integrity. So to see if a prophet is real, first the prophet has to be perfectly accurate. Second.. Does their prophecy point to God? Deuteronomy 13:1-5
13 If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. 5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to turn you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.
So in Deuteronomy 13, there’s a Guy who predicts something. A prophet! He makes a prediction… And it happens! So is he a true prophet? No. He’s happened to be right in a prediction he made. But look at his content! Is he pointing you closer to God, or is he drawing you away from God? This was an important distinction to the Jews. If somebody is an accurate predictor of events, that doesn’t mean they are a prophet. The crux of the matter isn’t “what do they predict and did it happen?”, but what do they think about God. Do they encourage you or point you toward God? This is important for us to understand too. People that make good predictions on future events might be good gamblers or bookies, or stock pickers but they aren’t prophets. Accuracy is one thing, but so is Content!! There are many smart people out there who are accurate, or say things that happen to be true. If you go to a new age “enlightenment center” or even a self help seminar, you may hear some interesting things. Some of the things they say might even be true, some things might be useful advice. But you need to ask yourself, by listening to this person, are they encouraging me onward towards God? By believing what they tell me, will I fall more and more in love with God and the Salvation that God has given me, or not? So that’s how we determine whether or not someone is a false prophet or a real one. Accuracy and Content of the message. What do we do when we suspect that we are being influenced by false doctrine?
I am not the kind of pastor who says you are going to hell if you read the Celestine prophecy or watch the movie “The secret” or go to a tarot card reading. For the record, I can’t endorse any of those things, and the tarot cards or consulting dead spirits is strictly forbidden in the Law. But that being said, there’s a lot of stuff out there that you could come in contact with. And if you end up in a situation where you’re exposed to that kind of strange teaching, it’s important to have your defenses up. You need to think critically, and be prepared to weigh what you are being told. The best way to do that is to understand truth from the Bible. Have a strong foundation and know Scripture. Even if you don’t know scripture inside and out, you should at least be skeptical and be prepared to ask, “what does God SAY about this? What is his WORD, because his Word is the authority” It’s ok not to know right off the bat, but you should be prepared to do a little research, if the answer isn’t right there in your mind. Acts 17:11
Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
This is a remarkable passage, first because it shows that it’s good to question what you are hearing. And second, look who they were questioning? Paul. So what? Well, Paul has written more books of scripture through his various letters than any other Biblical author. If there was anybody who was trustworthy, if there was anyone throughout history known to be regularly inspired by the Holy Spirit (besides Jesus himself) it was Paul. If the Bible calls questioners of Paul’s message noble, then we should really be comfortable questioning anybody and everybody. Like the Bereans, we should be eager to hear about God, and diligent to examine the Scriptures to weigh the truth of it.
Let’s use an example: For instance, if someone tells me that my positive thoughts attract other positive things, and outcomes, I might think, “that’s an interesting idea. I wonder if there’s any Biblical foundation for that claim” If I don’t know the answer, that’s FINE, but it means I need to search, and look for scriptural confirmation or refutation for that. If someone tells me that by mentally picturing success, I can make that success happen, I need to be familiar their claim and then take it to my Bible studies. When I study the Bible, I should have those types of questions or claims in the back of my mind. Is Idea A, B, and/or C Biblical?? In this example, Do my thoughts or mental pictures of success create a successful reality? If that’s true, does that make me God? Do my electrical signals in my brain have the power of a creator? So days later, when I am reading or studying my Bible, I read a passage that reminds me that God is sovereign.. So… it’s not my positive or negative thoughts that have creative power in the universe.. Thinking positively is good, but the reason it is good is because Scripture tells us positive things to think about. There are many positive thoughts and ideas in the Bible. Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We have promises that nothing can take us away from the hand of a loving God. Nothing can separate us from His love. Not death , life, angels, demons. When we read this verse, we think positively and it’s based on Truth.. We are adopted children of the most high. These are positive thoughts, and there are so many more things.. And we should think and meditate on these Biblical truths. Why?? The Bible tells us to think about positive thoughts. Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
OK, Paul tells the Philippians to do that, but why? What’s the benefit to thinking positively? Because the Bible tells us that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. Romans 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
We build positive thoughts and think a certain way because we are training our minds to be transformed in renewal. But the renewing of our minds happens under the authority of God’s power, through the work of His Holy Spirit, and according to the truth of his Word. Not because some movie or new age book says so. And when our minds are transformed by these Biblical positive thoughts? Look at the end of Romans 12:2 We become better at testing and approving what God’s will is. We become more like the Berean Jews in Acts 17. We are better at not just hearing things with eagerness, but weighing those things against doctrine! So we can test and approve what God’s will is. Be prepared to hear and understand what others believe, even people who disagree with you. You can find little bits of wisdom from all different types of sources Christian or non-Christian. But remember 2 Corinthians 10:5
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
There are happy, touchy-feely, spiritual new-age ideas out there. But Biblical ideas are the ones that have power. Biblical doctrine is sharp like a double edged sword. Our beliefs come from scripture which has the authority of the most high God, the Sovereign Lord, the Creator of the universe. When you hear something interesting from somebody who doesn’t believe in Jesus, listen carefully. Figure out if there’s any real truth or if it’s just fluff. We can take any ideas under the sun and give them consideration. But when we do that, we should be prepared to take those thoughts captive, and make sure if there’s any take away from what you’re being told, it is obedient to Christ and to Sound Doctrine. If it isn’t obedient to Scripture, throw it away. If you aren’t sure, ask a pastor; there should be no shame in asking anyone! Maybe it will give us some new ideas for sermons or Bible studies. It’s OK not to know, but it’s not OK to not care enough to try and find out.
In this world, you will hear lots of pleasant sounding things, but beware, because they could be false doctrine. And Biblical truth has a gritty realness to it. It’s not all rosy and perfect. There is some bitter to what we believe. We were dead in our transgressions, but GOD gave us life. We are sinners. But God cleanses us from sins, and Forgives us. We were enslaved to sin! But if The Son has set us free, we are free indeed! We are messed up. But GOD is working in us, renewing us with his Holy Spirit. We fail. BUT in all things GOD is working for the good of those who believe and are called according to his purpose. We can’t do right. BUT (2 Corinthians 9:8) God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. Can we do the right thing? Not on our own! We are not able to choose Good, but because of his grace and mercy GOD calls us to good works.. (James 1:7) Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Know Scripture. Know the Word of God. That’s how we prepare for all sorts of strange doctrines and false prophets.
What about real prophets? Do prophets even still exist? If a prophet is a messenger of God’s word, does that make pastors prophets? Am I giving a prophecy in this blog post? If you define a prophet as somebody who speaks the words of God, then whenever I quote scripture in the proper context, I am acting as a prophet because I am speaking directly from scripture, which we know to be God’s word..
But I don’t think that definition is entirely accurate. By that definition, anyone who quotes scripture could be called a prophet. But Let’s go back to Hebrews 1.
1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways,
Remember, Prophets are people who God USED TO speak through. In the past. When God had something new to say, he’d bring up or raise up a new prophet. So why is that something in the past?
1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.
Prophets who bring new words of God are a thing of the past, because we are in what the author calls “these last days”. What’s different about these last days? God has spoken to us by His Son. Jesus Christ… Do we need prophets anymore? That’s not how God speaks to us. The issue of prophecy is debated among different denominations. Some believe that prophets still exist and speak. Others think there are no longer prophets. This passage in Hebrews seems to support the idea that there are no more prophets. Lets take a look at the other side. In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul writes about prophecy and the order of worship.
14 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. 2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. 3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. 4 Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.
If you read 1 Corinthians 14 in it’s entirety, you’ll find a few things out. First thing, people who speak in tongues at church without any interpretation haven’t really read this part of the Bible. But more on our topic, you see that Paul considers prophecy as a gift of the Spirit. It’s a gift of the Spirit that we should eagerly desire. Now 14:3 talks about the purpose of prophecy. It is used for strengthening, encouraging, and comfort. If you look ahead to verses 24-25 you see that this prophecy is something that is helpful for an unbeliever or an inquirer. A prophecy in this sense will help them feel convicted of their sins but also help them to see the reality of the presence of God. The prophecy should basically illuminate a sinful heart, and draw the hearer of the prophecy to God and to forgiveness. That is the basic message of the Gospel. 1 Corinthians 14:29 gives another important nugget about this prophecy.
29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.
We need to weigh what’s being said. Just like those Berean Jews from Acts did when Paul spoke. That means that the prophecy found in the New Testament needs to be weighed, judged, and considered. Not everybody who speaks prophecies is right. New Testament Prophecy is NOT something that’s authoritative or infallible like Scripture. Like everything else that we hear in the world, we need to compare what we hear with what scripture says. How is this different than an Old Testament prophet? The Old Testament prophet was how God spoke to the ancestral Jewish people. But now God speaks to us by his Son. A New Testament prophet has a gift from the Holy Spirit, and it’s a Spiritual gift of encouragement, strengthening, or comforting God’s people. Their words of encouragement, if truly inspired by the Holy Spirit, are from God, but they are not authoritative like Scripture. New Testament Prophets have no new doctrine. There’s nothing that a New Testament Prophet adds to scripture. These NT prophets and prophecies are tools in instruction or encouragement. Remember, God speaks to his people now through the Son. Therefore, how good a “New Testament Prophet” is can only be determined by one thing, and that’s whether or not they point the listener to the Son.
I’ve attended churches where people prophecy and they say things that are somewhat ridiculous. They make Godly sounding predictions that they think I’d want to hear like, “God is going to make you big and famous”. Or “this ministry will be world wide.” Now, maybe those statements are encouraging to somebody who wants to be famous, or has grandiose ambitions, but how does that edify or build up God’s church? Many “prophecies” I have heard don’t edify a church, but puff up the ego of an individual. They all need to be weighed.
I’ve been to other churches that have time during the worship service to prophecy. Usually it involved one person reading a verse or two, and attempting to use that verse to encourage certain people or certain groups of people struggling in some way. This type of prophecy seemed more in line with what 1 Corinthians 14 teaches, because it was Christ centered and was used to edify the people of God. Of course, those prophecies needed to be weighed and considered too. Anytime someone reads scripture, it’s crucial to get the context of the verses read, so that there is no misquoting or misinterpreting what is being quoted. Let’s Read what John says about prophets. 1 John 4:1-3
4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
We need to Test the spirits. Do they acknowledge Jesus Christ? Not just acknowledge that He’s a nice concept or idea or a cool guy. Did he come in the flesh? Is he the Son of God? Did He die for our sins?? Do the words of the prophets edify and strengthen according to scripture? Or are they coming up with new doctrine that’s contrary to what’s already been written? There should be no new doctrine, no new revelations. Any Prophecy should reveal Jesus Christ, who has already been revealed to us. There is a lot more that can be said. But in the interests of your time, I will temporarily put to rest the debate about whether prophecy still exists by offering my thoughts. If there are still prophets and prophecies, they are not authoritative. They should be weighed and considered. These prophecies should draw you closer to God. They should urge you to dig deeper into scripture to search for yourselves.
Personally, I think that there IS adequate biblical support for the concept of modern day New Testament prophecy. But to avoid confusion, I wish there were a separate word with a separate definition than the Old Testament prophets. I think a better idea or word for Prophet might be Teacher, or Encourager. In my mind, based on what’s in 1 Corinthians 14, A modern NT prophet is someone who knows scripture and can wield it like a skilled swordsman. They need to be aware of needs in the church, and ready to combat lies, anxieties, struggles, and doubts with the appropriate handling of the word of God. Clearly if prophecy exists in the present, it is something that’s distinctly different than what we’ve seen before Jesus. Because as the Bible says in Hebrews, in these last days, God has spoken to us by his Son. God doesn’t use prophets to speak to us, He uses his Son. In closing, let’s read a final passage, 1 Corinthians 13:8-12
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
If prophecy still exists, there will come a time when it no longer does. A time when we see God face to face. Until that time, whether we call it prophecy or not, let us encourage one another all the more. Let us be a people who edifies and strengthens each other. Let us speak truth from the Scriptures and let us Magnify Christ in all the things we do and say to each other.