what exactly makes one a prophet?

[missmuffet]

Prophets were foundational to the early Church.If the purpose of a prophet was to reveal truth from God,why would we need a prophet today if we have the completed Revelation from God in the Bible?

[Sevenseas]

That is a gift that is included in the listing in the NT that God bestows as He wills.  We are actually told to desire spritual gifts and especially prophecy.

 

There is a distinction between Old and New Testament prophecy.  The gifts are for the building up of the church...not the building; the believers.

 

People may sometimes assume that certain things are no longer valid today because they either do not study what the Bible says concerning the gifts or because

they were taught they have ceased.

 

The passage that is usually used to try and make a case for cessation is:

 

If I speak in the tongues^a of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^b but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love 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. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11When 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. 12For 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.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

 

I Corinthians 13

 

As Paul plainy states that our current state is as someone looking at a reflection in the mirror, to assume that everything but the written word has become extinct, is an error.

 

Some have teaching as a gift...most people will accept that gift no problem...it makes no sense to say that teaching is no longer needed and we cannot accept half of

the verses and disregard the rest because we are uncomfortable with it or have erroneously been taught they are no longer in use

[kwikphilly]

Blessings BoPeep!

      Praise & Glory to God & a good morning to you Beloved........I agree,it would seem that way but I do believe that as in 1 Cor 14:3 when Paul addressed the church at Corinth & explained that those that prophesy do so for edification & the building up,encouraging,comforting,strengthening & exortation(paraphrase)that it still stands for us today,for our good & to God be the Glory!

                                                                                          With love-in Christ,Kwik

[God calls me Olivia]

 i am curios about this. see i hear god speaking to me all the time i have been shown the near future i have seen missiles raining down seen ppl being attacked and slaughtered by demons be cause  of the anti christ i have seen the rapture happen many times i have met jesus and the father been taken to hell while being safe with jesus and much more. i know lots of ppl have experienced the same things but that doesnt make one a prophet does it?

see i dont recieve a word from god to warn ppl i am actually nothing special at all. i dont know some divine secret knowledge i cant predict anything i only see what he chooses to show me. honestly the title of a prophet is far to special for me.

but others on the other hand now they may have what is needed. ihave seen many false prophets but i know God has a chosen selected few as well. but what makes them a true prophet?

The only prophets left to come are the two shown in Revelation chapter 11: "And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” ⁴ They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.”^{[a] 5} If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. ⁶ They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.

⁷ Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. ⁸ Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city—which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where also their Lord was crucified. ⁹ For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. ¹⁰ The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth."

 

Luke 13:33 says, "Nevertheless I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day; for it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem."  So anyone who claims to be a prophet but perishes outside Jerusalem, wasn't really a prophet. Prophets are appointed by God.

 

This is different than having the gift of prophecy, or having visions and dreams which God can reveal to whom he pleases. "AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,' God says, 'THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS; 18EVEN ON MY BONDSLAVES, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN, I WILL IN THOSE DAYS POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT And they shall prophesy" (Acts 2:17-18).

[Guest]

i don't understand the point of your post. it seems pretty condemning, i am not a prophet but i do receive dreams and visions. so who exactly was this pointed to?

 

 

The Times,

 

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 Peter 2:1

 

They Are A-Coming~!

 

And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God,I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: Acts 2:17-18

 

Stand Fast Beloved

 

Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. 1 Corinthians 16:13

[johz77]

the problem most of us christians have is that its sometimes hard to tell if it is God speaking or our unfruitful mind.   how can a child know the whispering voice of His Father? you see the more you closer you stay with the new testament. the better you understand the voice of God. note, i didnt say old testament, bcos God was dealing with fallen man. i am using the new testament bcos it is in the new testament that we really see how the Father demonstrated His love for us. so as you keep reading the new testament you will know if your gift of prophesy is being given a much measure or who is talking in your inside. but i believe God is steering something in your inside. as you continue in His word, His spirit in you will increase the more. bless you