So, you think you're a prophet?

[GandalfTheWise]

If you think you are a prophet, this might be a good article to double check your calling.  Back in college, I remember getting the Last Days Ministries newsletters (which came monthly as I recall).  I remember getting one with a big title "So you think you're a prophet?" on the front cover and being rather excited.  I remember going up to my dorm room, sitting down to read it, and being stunned to my core as I read it.  Over 30 years ago, God used this message to bring some sanity to my life. 

https://www.lastdaysministries.org/Groups/1000086203/Last_Days_Ministries/Articles/By_Keith_Green/Keith_Green_The/Keith_Green_The.aspx

If the link does not work, it is the message entitled "Keith Green: The Man Behind the Message" which can be found in the articles section.  Here are a few excerpts:

The Prophet Syndrome

I'm sure you know someone in your fellowship who has all the earmarks of being a potential "prophet." They don't beat around the bush, but they say exactly what's on their mind. They aren't very popular, but they don't care because they believe that they're "being persecuted for righteousness' sake." They're always finding fault with almost everything and rarely have a kind word to say. They say to be "kind" would be phony for them. They know that the fruit of the Holy Spirit includes such things as kindness, gentleness, self-control, and long-suffering, but they say that most people misinterpret those Scriptures, "and besides, there's a lot more in the Bible about zeal and judgment and the wrath of God, etc. …" And the thing that usually happens to these misguided souls with all the rough edges is that somebody tells them, "Hey! I know what you are, you're a PROPHET!" And then they say to themselves, "Wow! That's why people are so down on me all the time! Why that's just the way they treated Elijah and Jeremiah and... and even  Jesus!!! Hey! I'm just like Jesus!" And then they start getting "words from the Lord" and all the rest that comes along with being a "prophet." The saddest thing about all this is whenever someone is brash, obnoxious, or loud, we label him a "prophet."

But you know, deep down inside, most of them really do want to please God, but now they're so insulated from criticism and protected from rebuke (because they think they're a rejected "prophet") that no one can help or reach them. And unless God intervenes in their lives, they cannot truly be used in any long-term way because of their unteachable, uncorrectable spirit.

One of the main problems for them is that most of what they see as wrong, really IS wrong! But they have little love or grace to share the truth with - they just aim their big cannons and BOOM! They blow their hearers to bits.

What Is A Prophet?

First of all, he would be a CHRISTIAN - he would be like Jesus. Yes, he would hate sin like Jesus, but more importantly. he would love sinners like Jesus! He would not be arrogant, but he would be a broken man who was softened by many nights alone in prayer. He would be loving, kind, and gentle, always seeking to get the truth across in the most direct way, and yet never offending anyone if he could help it.

The prophet, above all, would be a man of God. He would seek to display all the qualities of love found in I Corinthians 13. He would not be easily provoked or moody or unduly harsh - but patient, merciful, and slow to anger. He would not seek to be a prophet, nor glory in that position, but just like Gideon, Jeremiah, or Moses, he would ask God to make sure he was the man of His choice before he would speak out against sin and hypocrisy. (Judges 6:36-40; Jer. 1:6; Ex. 3:11-12)

 

I'd encourage people to click the link and read the entire article.  Having given up my self-selected mantle of Elijah over 3 decades ago was one of the best spiritual moves of my life.  God's purpose and promises for my life are so much bigger than walking around nitpicking everyone and everything I see wrong.  I've come to see that is true of every child of God.  His purpose and promises will cause us to build, grow, encourage, and adorn our lives and others' lives with spiritual blessings and good works in an atmosphere of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control.  

The net result of my decision to humble myself within the body of Christ was twofold.  I left behind ignorant arrogant zeal that burned deeply within me (and tended to scorch those around me).  I embraced passion for holiness, maturity, peace, gentleness, kindness,  joy, and wisdom.  I have no regrets whatsoever.  Indeed, I'm thankful God put this message from Keith Green in my path to halt the madness.  I used to reject many of God's children (bought and redeemed through Christ's work) because they didn't fit my standards of right, wrong, and holiness.  I can't imagine how many people I would have discouraged and disheartened and mislead over the years if I hadn't decided to humble myself and join the rest of the body of Christ instead of being a prophetic lone-ranger righting the wrongs of the church and world.  I'd probably now be a bitter lonely old man sitting at a keyboard by myself firing off bitter angry posts on the internet convinced that I was one of the only real Christians left in the world.   Instead, I'm an easy going veteran of many spiritual battles that can calmly stand up and return fire and drag people to safety as needed.

[DJ7]

We can only be a prophet if called by God through another prophet. And has to always be confirmed through 2-3 other words. We can't call ourselves anything unless we have had multiple words from others to confirm it.

[Debp]

A topic worth bumping up...

[Sower]

So, you think you're a prophet?

I have known a couple of believers that were/became like/similar above.
They were friends.
Absolutely nothing, nothing, would penetrate their understanding/belief  of scripture.
Most people, and most churches, to them,  got 'it' wrong.
There was loss of fellowship.
Loss of membership.
Moving from church to church, leaving a trail behind them.
I believe they glory in their "persecution" (for Christ).
Hearing them publicly, I was embarrassed for them.
Some others I have seen try preaching their 'enlightenment' here.
Shouting abominations we are already sadly aware of.
Most become recognizable quickly.
I believe they eventually discover people are just not listening to them,
and they run out of new prospects.
As one friend was a very solid Christian, I do not understand.
He could only allow himself to talk.
Would not listen, or reason.
Never thought of him as a prophet. (for sure)
I gave up.

Are there actually God ordained prophets today?   scripture...
Besides their fruits, how would you know/test them?
I do not now, or in the past, know a prophet, personally.
I use the bible, and my unction of the Spirit.

1Jn_2:20  But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

 

 

 

[missmuffet]

Do we have prophets today? If the purpose of a prophet was to reveal truth from God, why would we need prophets if we have the completed revelation from God in the Bible? 

Edited May 28, 2019 by missmuffet

[Michael37]

24 minutes ago, Sower said:

Are there actually God ordained prophets today?   scripture...
Besides their fruits, how would you know/test them?
I do not now, or in the past, know a prophet, personally.
I use the bible, and my unction of the Spirit.

1Jn_2:20  But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

There is a type of prophecy referred to in the NT that is simply "speaking forth God's Word" as a consequence of the "charisma" or gifting that is a normal function of being a Christian.   

1Co 14:1 Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy.

1Co 14:3 But he that prophesies speaks unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

1Co 14:31 For you may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.

1Co 14:37-40
(37)  If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
(38)  But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.
(39)  Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.
(40)  Let all things be done decently and in order.
 

There's a very handy word that comes to my mind whenever I encounter someone claiming to be "a prophet". It's the word "false", and if what they speak doesn't align with the Word of God or doesn't prove to be true then putting the word "false" in front of their self-acclaimed title is no trouble to me.

[ayin jade]

4 minutes ago, Michael37 said:

 

There's a very handy word that comes to my mind whenever I encounter someone claiming to be "a prophet". It's the word "false", and if what they speak doesn't align with the Word of God or doesn't prove to be true then putting the word "false" in front of their self-acclaimed title is no trouble to me.

I dont think that can be emphasized enough.

[shortangel]

sounds like a really good article,  i know there are true prophets & prophetesss & then there are false prophets & prophetess,  we must be discerning about if a prophet or prophetess says something that they may say it's a word from the Lord but does it come to pass or not

[GandalfTheWise]

I had originally started this thread in response to some posters on this site who seemed to view themselves as God's chosen spokespersons for truth and were starting to gang up on people they disagreed with. I think the OP and article linked to goes well beyond sign gifts and applies to anyone who zealously believes that they are God's spokesperson for His Truth and feel themselves to be near infallible.  It is about when being right becomes more important to us than demonstrating Christlike character.  The very tone of our word and actions can deny the message we are trying to speak.

With regard to prophecy existing today, I think one clear distinction which has to be made is between global revelation meant for the entire church across time regarding doctrine and fundamentals versus local revelation which is meant for particular situations for individuals and local bodies.   As a practical matter, most Christians act much the same and tend to agree on this.  They consider the Bible as the final revelation and authority on doctrinal matters but yet comfortably talk about God's guidance (which is for all intents and purposes revelation) for particular situations in their lives.  I think the debate is mostly a matter of getting bogged down in semantics.

The vast majority of Christians I've known personally and heard testimonies from have comfortably talked about God speaking to them, giving guidance, and other such types of present day revelation.  The person who testifies to being prompted by God to do something (usually some sort of feeling they are supposed to do something) is testifying of revelation of a type.  At least some of what is listed in Acts as prophecy or some type of revelation is related to local isolated matters of guidance or encouragement rather than general doctrinal teaching.  One church I went to often had prayer times after services and I was part of the prayer teams.  There were times where someone would request prayer for something particular and as we were praying specific things would come to mind (that often seemed very random to us) that we'd then pray about.  It was common afterwards that the person would say that that was something they were thinking about but hadn't mentioned.  More than once it was something that they'd never told anyone.  Most Christians I know comfortably and freely talk about such things and this across a range of denominations and ministries.  Some circles of Christians refer to these types of things as prophecy, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, and relate them to the sign gifts.  Other circles of Christians attribute it to the indwelling Holy Spirit guiding us in truth and call it something like inspiration or guidance.  As far as I can tell, they're just using different words and explanations for the very same thing.

I'll close this post with one story.  As part of a prayer team, we were praying for a man who was recovering from a car accident and had many issues that related to pain, job loss, and finances.  As we  were praying, the word sleep just kept popping into my head.  I ignored it the first couple times but it kept coming back.  I snuck in a quick prayer as we were wrapping up that this man could sleep comfortably.  As we finished, he said that he hadn't had a good night's sleep since the accident but didn't think that was worth mentioning since he'd never slept well even before that.  The next week he came back and specifically waited in line for our prayer team to pray again.  The first thing he said was that he'd slept better in the past week than he could remember in a long time.  In some circles, this would be called prophecy or a word of knowledge and a healing of some type.  In other circles, it would be referred to as something else.  I'd guess that few Christians would deny God was reaching out a hand of comfort to tangibly demonstrate His love and encouragement to a child walking through a very dark place.

[frienduff thaylorde]

13 hours ago, Michael37 said:

There is a type of prophecy referred to in the NT that is simply "speaking forth God's Word" as a consequence of the "charisma" or gifting that is a normal function of being a Christian.   

1Co 14:1 Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy.

1Co 14:3 But he that prophesies speaks unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

1Co 14:31 For you may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.

1Co 14:37-40
(37)  If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
(38)  But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.
(39)  Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.
(40)  Let all things be done decently and in order.
 

There's a very handy word that comes to my mind whenever I encounter someone claiming to be "a prophet". It's the word "false", and if what they speak doesn't align with the Word of God or doesn't prove to be true then putting the word "false" in front of their self-acclaimed title is no trouble to me.

This breaks my heart to have to say this ,  but every one that I have seen call themselves a prophet ,  UPON examing what they taught or the word they gave .

IT WAS FALSE man .    FALSE .   However , with that being said , I do believe there are still true ones out there .   BUT rest assured they walk as did CHRIST

and wont be RUSHING in front of TVS and being made popular .   They will be quite discreet my friends .     Any man who is a prophet or even spiritual

FEEL free to test that .   

What was the one thing JESUS made sure to tell those apostels and desciples when they came back rejoicing because they had power over the spirits and the spirits were subject unto them .

I BEHELD satan as lightning fall .  SEE , satan had been given wonderful and truly blessed gifts from GOD .  BUT IT TURNED right to HIS HEAD and filled him full up with his own self .

He marvled in the gifts , NOT IN THE ONE WHO HAD GIVEN the GIFTS .

SO I repeat what JESUS said ,    REJOICE not that spirits and such are subject to you , rejoice not in that ye have the POWER ,  REJOICE INSTEAD that your names are wrote above .

BE HUMBLE .   For many men have stumbled and fell at the root of pride .     MANY .