Dream

[EricH]

I read a testimony about a group of Armenians who left Armenia (pre-Soviet days) from a prophetic word that they needed to leave before disaster came. This prophetic word also gave them directions for where to immigrate to where they would be safe (the person who gave the prophecy didn't know world geography ver well, either, but accurately detailed where to go).

Not long after the group left, the ones who stayed behind because they didn't believe the prophetic word to be a word from the Lord were massacred by an invading army.

Are prophets still needed? I'd say so.

I agree that the gift of prophecy is still functioning. The question is not is it functioning. The question is the nature of the information received and its relationship to scripture.

[Christ's Free Servant]

I read a testimony about a group of Armenians who left Armenia (pre-Soviet days) from a prophetic word that they needed to leave before disaster came. This prophetic word also gave them directions for where to immigrate to where they would be safe (the person who gave the prophecy didn't know world geography ver well, either, but accurately detailed where to go).

Not long after the group left, the ones who stayed behind because they didn't believe the prophetic word to be a word from the Lord were massacred by an invading army.

Are prophets still needed? I'd say so.

nebula,

That is interesting that you said that, because when God gave me the visions Nov of 2004 of what is coming, one of the things he showed me is that there will be cities of refuge for the survivors. And, he showed me that my city is to be Downtown Rock Hill, SC. Our downtown is deserted, but as I walked down there, I could see through his eyes how he was going to transform it as a Christian community to house his "army." I don't believe he has said to go there ahead of time, but that we are to go there after the disaster hits. I believe he will preserve the people and places he wants to preserve no matter where we are at the time. I believe he has promised that if we hide in the shelter of his wings, he will protect us. So, I am fully expecting to go downtown when this is over and to build a Christian community there that will be self-governed and self-supporting. The Lord even had our Bible study group march around some of those buildings for seven days Nov of 2004, and when we finished, the Lord assured me that "it is finished." He said the walls were coming down. I asked him later if he meant to destroy those buildings or preserve them, and he told me he would preserve them and that would be our "promised land" while we are still here.

The Lord also had me Nov 29th of 2004 take a 12 hour walk from downtown to my house with just the clothes on my back and he had me disgard all things of value to me. I did not know where I was going, only that I had to tell people that the kingdom of God is near and they need to repent and believe the Good News because Jesus is coming soon. I am not the kind of person to do that, but I obeyed and went, even though I did not know where I was going, and even though even my own family members thought I was crazy (like Jesus family). Later I asked the Lord to show me the purpose of the walk, and he led me to passages of scripture where he had his prophets from the past "act out" prophecies. I believe that is what he had me do. What was interesting to me is that it was on November 29th, a Monday, and I walked in a figure 8, though I did not know that until I retraced it on a map with the help of my husband who walked with me and knew where I had walked. I also have no sense of direction. God uses people like that, you know, to show that it is God doing it and not them. Anyway, Katrina hit New Orleans on August (8) 29th and it was a Monday and people were out walking the streets not knowing where they were going and they definitely left all their worldy goods behind and they ended up in "cities of refuge."

[Christ's Free Servant]

I agree that the gift of prophecy is still functioning. The question is not is it functioning. The question is the nature of the information received and its relationship to scripture.

EricH,

I agree! We must test all prophecies against scripture. But, here is the tricky part. What do we use as our guide? Some people feel that if it is not specifically in scripture, then it is not from God, but I disagree. That would be to say that God does not speak specifically to people today about specific situations in their lives, but I believe he does. Also, the word of God is ALIVE. That means God is still breathing life into it and he can speak to us about anything through it as long as what he says does not contradict with scripture as a whole.

For instance, I might read the story of David & Goliath. If I am a person who believes that the Bible is only meant for the specific situations in which it is referring to, then the OT becomes nothing more than a history book. But, it is still alive! So, when I read the story of David & the giant, God speaks to me and says "I will give you that kind of courage if you will believe in me." Now, did that story say that? No! Was that a specific teaching in that passage of scripture? No, but it could be implied. And, there are many, many more examples I could give you.

What I am trying to say is that God still speaks to us today about real things in our present lives just like if he is sitting right here in my living room with me and he says "Sue," and I say "what, Lord," and then he goes on to tell me what he has in mind and what he has planned, not just in general, but specifically for me and my life and my city and my country. I mean, the USA did not exist back then, so they did not write about it, but don't you think God has a plan for us? And, don't you think he would want to tell those who will listen what that plan is?

Now, if you are a pre-trib rapture person (not you specifically), then you figure God is just going to rapture you out at some point in time and you don't even have to worry about the rest. So, then what is the point in studying prophecy? Why did God tell us all that? Just so Tim LaHaye could make it into a nice novel series for everyone to enjoy? NO! He has a plan for us that is not spelled out specifically in scripture, but yet it goes along with scripture. So, what we have to do is see what his general plan is for the last days and then ask him to show us what that means for us and what he wants us to know, if we need to know anything, and he'll show us.

But, I was not looking for end times stuff, which is the weird thing. I did not even like studying end times because I did not understand it. But, God decided he was going to teach me anyway. In 2004 I made a decision to read through the Bible in a year. I read through the entire Bible many times, but usually I had favorite books that I read over and over again and I had books that I generally ignored. So, this time I read it from cover to cover, except I admit I did skip over geneologies, lists of names, and Leviticus, because I've read it before and I did not see the practicality in my life today. So, I was just reading through the scriptures, seeking God's face like I normally do, asking him to reveal his will to me, as was my common practice, when WOW! It was like the prophecies came alive for the first time to me and God was showing me how they applied to me, to my family and to America.

If you read about prophecies in scripture and you read about false prophets in the NT, the people we are to watch out for are not the ones calling for disaster and repentance and judgment of God. The ones we are to watch out for are those who say what our ears want to hear, who say "peace and safety" when there is no peace, and who do not confront sin and who do not lead people away from their sin, but even give them license to sin. Do you know that one of the fastest growing teachings in the church today is that repentance and obedience to God are not necessary for salvation? They say they come later, but that if a person continues to sin he still has his ticket into heaven because of some prayer he prayed. These are the ones you need to be concerned about. They are giving people a license to continue in their sin and they are giving them a false hope of eternal life based upon some words they spoke. If you see a prophet of God calling for repentance and calling for people to see that faith=obedience=repentance, then you know they are hearing from God. That does not mean to say that they have everything right. We still need to test everything that is said to see if it adds up.

[nebula]

Sue -

Your accounts remind me of something that happened to me.

I was walking home from the store down the street one night. As I was walking, I had a sudden urge to pray in tongues. So I prayed and prayed and prayed. By the time I got home, I still felt like praying, so I continued walking and just walked around the block getting this prayer out. A few times, I could have sworn I said, "America" in there. So, although I don't know what the prayer urgency was in my spirit, I figured it must have something to do with America (obviously!).

What made the memory stick with me, though, was that as I was approaching my street, I had this "sense" or "picture" or something of a plane crashed on and around the houses there. We live under a flight path of the BWI airport, mind you. It was a brief flash I had, but it completely took me by suprise.

I can't say I know what it all meant or was or whatever, but I just - with my mind this time - prayed over those houses - and mine being just a few houses down from these - that at best they'd be spared should something indeed happen, or at least the people be spared. I didn't know what else to do.

I didn't think to record the date this happened or anything. Nor have I mentioned this to anyone before.

It's like another dream I had which had all signs of having some significance to it, whether prophetic to the ones I saw in the dream, or to myself in a symbolic way, I don't know. But because I can't descibe it good, and it just seems odd in what I saw, and because I know some people will reject it just because they don't believe in the prophetic word period, I've been reluctant to share.

All I can do is pray that what I saw in this case can be spared from happening or lessened if it should occur.

[Christ's Free Servant]

Sue -

Your accounts remind me of something that happened to me.

I was walking home from the store down the street one night. As I was walking, I had a sudden urge to pray in tongues. So I prayed and prayed and prayed. By the time I got home, I still felt like praying, so I continued walking and just walked around the block getting this prayer out. A few times, I could have sworn I said, "America" in there. So, although I don't know what the prayer urgency was in my spirit, I figured it must have something to do with America (obviously!).

What made the memory stick with me, though, was that as I was approaching my street, I had this "sense" or "picture" or something of a plane crashed on and around the houses there. We live under a flight path of the BWI airport, mind you. It was a brief flash I had, but it completely took me by suprise.

I can't say I know what it all meant or was or whatever, but I just - with my mind this time - prayed over those houses - and mine being just a few houses down from these - that at best they'd be spared should something indeed happen, or at least the people be spared. I didn't know what else to do.

I didn't think to record the date this happened or anything. Nor have I mentioned this to anyone before.

It's like another dream I had which had all signs of having some significance to it, whether prophetic to the ones I saw in the dream, or to myself in a symbolic way, I don't know. But because I can't descibe it good, and it just seems odd in what I saw, and because I know some people will reject it just because they don't believe in the prophetic word period, I've been reluctant to share.

All I can do is pray that what I saw in this case can be spared from happening or lessened if it should occur.

nebula,

Thank you so much for sharing that! I know it is a scary thing to share these things, because we know they will be met with skepticism and criticism, but we know that we have nothing to fear of man. What can man do to us? The Bible asks that rhetorical question. It says we should not be afraid of those who can kill the body, but we should be afraid of the one who can kill the soul (something like that), meaning the one who can send us to hell.

I used to let fear control me so much. I really thought man had power over me. God took me through a lot of hard knocks to demonstrate to me that he is the only one I should fear.

I'm glad you obeyed God and I'm glad you prayed in your spirit and with your mind. Just keep praying! Just keep asking God what to pray and what to do.

God Bless you for your obedience!

[Giaour]

These "prophesies" are hardly anything new.

Revelations and other books in the Bible clearly state what is going to happen.

Why do we need modern day "prophets" when everything we need to know is already wriiten down in the word of God?

You say you neither "tested" nor "despised" anything...you just had a question. Why is it then you FIRST declare "These 'prophesies' are hardly anything new."?

Are these prophecies hardly anything new? Show us how.

CFS wrote about a big storm and the clouds looking like blood.

Staying off the water etc.

That is why I said it was nothing new.

Revelations tells us the the sky will look like blood.

Everything in the water will die.

Big storms etc.

[felix]

These "prophesies" are hardly anything new.

Revelations and other books in the Bible clearly state what is going to happen.

Why do we need modern day "prophets" when everything we need to know is already wriiten down in the word of God?

You say you neither "tested" nor "despised" anything...you just had a question. Why is it then you FIRST declare "These 'prophesies' are hardly anything new."?

Are these prophecies hardly anything new? Show us how.

CFS wrote about a big storm and the clouds looking like blood.

Staying off the water etc.

That is why I said it was nothing new.

Revelations tells us the the sky will look like blood.

Everything in the water will die.

Big storms etc.

I see what you are saying. However, what revelation speaks of occurs at the end-time. Today I do not think there can be such ones as "end-time" prophets for this has been spoken in Revelation. As long as it confirms Revelation then it is bibilically sound. However, when one should speak of judgement that is coming NOW it is quite different.

I have had a dream of Rita where people from Houston would be rushing north and there would be a lot of traffic. Yet later it was prophesied that Rita would not hit Houston. As you know the words of the prophets of God were right. Rita steered clear of Houston which was TOTALLY UNEXPECTED BY METEOROLOGISTS. Just because someone is prophesying of Judgement does not automatically mean they are refering to the End-Times. In this manner these "prophecies" which you seem to be refering to are not "hardly anything new". Rather it is meant for us now though it could be we are nearing the End-times.

[Guest yod]

No rhema (prophecy) can contradict the logos....yet there should also be some kind of verifyable confirmation.

[Giaour]

No rhema (prophecy) can contradict the logos....yet there should also be some kind of verifyable confirmation.

Huh?

Can you explain this to me?

[Guest yod]

When the Lord is leading you out of the light of your own knowledge and into the darkness of the unknown, HE will provide a path for you to stand upon or teach you to fly.

rhema - spoken word

logos - written word

No rhema (prophecy) can contradict the logos....yet there should also be some kind of verifyable confirmation.

Example; A "prophet" says that God is going to make you rich or healed or famous or married or whatever your desire is.

Sounds great, huh? Doesn't God want to give good gifts to His children? Isn't He able to do that with any of us anytime He wishes? Unfortunately that doesn't line up with the Word "be content in all situtions" so it can't be true of everyone in every circumstance. God is more interested in our character than our possessions.

If a rhema lines up with the logos AND there are enough (faithful) saints hearing this, you still should get some kind of confirmation in your own spirit.

If every other person in the world confirms a word that goes against the logos, then it should be disregarded.

Is that clear as mud now?