toldailytopic: Are there modern day prophets? If so, how can you distinguish them fro

[Nathon Detroit]

The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for July 19th, 2011 10:00 AM

toldailytopic: Are there modern day prophets? If so, how can you distinguish them from the false prophets?

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[elohiym]

Yes, there are modern day prophets. How do I distinguish them from false prophets? Easy. Isaiah 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

 

[zoo22]

Are there modern day prophets? Maybe. I don't know how to distinguish them from false prophets...

I suppose I'll just have to keep buying the videos they're selling and figure it out that way.

 

[elohiym]

Are there modern day prophets? Maybe. I don't know how to distinguish them from false prophets...

Jesus said, "By their fruits ye shall know them." Matthew 7:16.

 

[The Berean]

I guess it depends how one defines "prophet". I believe God gifts some people with "prophetic" words. By this I mean I mean words of encouragement, edification, and confirmation. Some people probably wouldn't consider this to be prophetic, though.

I'll give an example from my own life. About 10 years ago I took a trip to my old college town. One of my friends that came with me wanted to take us to her old church. So we attended service. After the service my friends told us that one of the church members would like to pray for us. At this time I was considering starting a fellowship at my work. I knew several other Christians and we had talked about it. But I wasn't sure I had the time or the leadership skills to do this. We gathered in a room after service and my friend's friend greets us. She starts praying for us. She prayed for me for a few minutes then she says that God will use me in full time ministry but that my full time ministry will be at my work. I was blown away by this. This "prophetic word" was very specific.

So I started the Christian fellowship at work and it was a true blessing. We had a weekly Bible study on Wednesdays and a prayer time on Fridays. We shared the Gospel with many people at work. We didn't even seek these people. They came to us!

 

[tetelestai]

Are there modern day prophets?]

Nope

 

[Sherman]

toldailytopic: Are there modern day prophets? If so, how can you distinguish them from the false prophets?

In answering this let's take a walk through scripture both old and new Testaments.

Deuteronomy 18:20
But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.
A real prophet has to speak for the LORD and no other god.
Deuteronomy 18:22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
A real prophet would be 100 percent accurate.

It is important to note that the vast majority of the prophecies in the Bible concern Israel. Ninety percent of the Bible speaks about the promises, prophesies, and covenants that God made to the nation Israel.

Now let take a look at prophets during the time of Paul's ministry.
1 Corinthians 14:29
Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.

1 Corinthians 14:32
And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.

1 Corinthians 14:37
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.

These Church era prophets were subject to accountability from others in the church.

Are there prophets today? I doubt it. All I have seen have been Hog Wash artists. One only has to read prophetic newsletters to see what I mean. Hal Lindsay, and Jack Van Impe are not the real thing. The bring all the focus on themselves and not on God. They don't even preach the word. This probably due to the fact we now have the written word. There is no need to have prophets today.

 

[Krsto]

In answering this let's take a walk through scripture both old and new Testaments.

Deuteronomy 18:20
But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.
A real prophet has to speak for the LORD and no other god.
Deuteronomy 18:22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
A real prophet would be 100 percent accurate.

It is important to note that the vast majority of the prophecies in the Bible concern Israel. Ninety percent of the Bible speaks about the promises, prophesies, and covenants that God made to the nation Israel.

Now let take a look at prophets during the time of Paul's ministry.
1 Corinthians 14:29
Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.

1 Corinthians 14:32
And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.

1 Corinthians 14:37
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.

These Church era prophets were subject to accountability from others in the church.

Are there prophets today? I doubt it. All I have seen have been Hog Wash artists. One only has to read prophetic newsletters to see what I mean. Hal Lindsay, and Jack Van Impe are not the real thing. The bring all the focus on themselves and not on God. They don't even preach the word. This probably due to the fact we now have the written word. There is no need to have prophets today.

I think Berean's testimony is why we do need prophets today and why they are a valuable tool in God's hand. The bible gives principles which we can apply in our life and ministry but it can't possibly get specific enough to encourage us in all that we do to the extent God can get specific through the ministry of a prophet.

You mention Lindsay and Van Impe, shameless hucksters taking advantage of old ladies and their fears. If this is your only idea of the prophetic ministry you need to get out more Inzl.

 

[Sherman]

I guess it depends how one defines "prophet". I believe God gifts some people with "prophetic" words. By this I mean I mean words of encouragement, edification, and confirmation. Some people probably wouldn't consider this to be prophetic, though.

I'll give an example from my own life. About 10 years ago I took a trip to my old college town. One of my friends that came with me wanted to take us to her old church. So we attended service. After the service my friends told us that one of the church members would like to pray for us. At this time I was considering starting a fellowship at my work. I knew several other Christians and we had talked about it. But I wasn't sure I had the time or the leadership skills to do this. We gathered in a room after service and my friend's friend greets us. She starts praying for us. She prayed for me for a few minutes then she says that God will use me in full time ministry but that my full time ministry will be at my work. I was blown away by this. This "prophetic word" was very specific.

So I started the Christian fellowship at work and it was a true blessing. We had a weekly Bible study on Wednesdays and a prayer time on Fridays. We shared the Gospel with many people at work. We didn't even seek these people. They came to us!

I straddle the fence on this. I am not sure that this is prophecy. This is more of a Barnabas kind of thing, words of encouragement. I am not one to put God in a box. He has come up with a few surprises in my own personal life too.

 

[Krsto]

Yes, there are modern day prophets. How do I distinguish them from false prophets? Easy. Isaiah 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

Most prophetic words I have heard, and I have heard a lot of them, are neither biblical nor non-biblical. If they were then we wouldn't need them, we would just need to read the bible and get all we need from that.

As you mentioned in another post we will know them by their fruits which leads me to doubt TOL's self-professed prophet, Aimiel, is serving God with his gift though it's quite possible he has an operating gift. I just don't see him using it to the body's betterment. But of the prophets I've known, most all are good Christians with integrity and certainly qualify as elders in a church but that said their prophetic utterances need to be taken with a grain of salt because like the bible, they are subject to interpretation even if the minister relays God's words 100% accurately and of course they can't always so about all we can say is if it comes to pass it was from God and if not it wasn't. Of course how long do we give God before we say it didn't come to pass? He does have our whole lifetime to make good if it was indeed a word from God.

 

[Krsto]

I straddle the fence on this. I am not sure that this is prophecy. This is more of a Barnabas kind of thing, words of encouragement. I am not one to put God in a box. He has come up with a few surprises in my own personal life too.

Well if the person giving the encouragement doesn't know the person he is ministering to from Adam then God had to have given the knowledge of his ministry so that seems in line with the ministry of Agabus in Acts 11 & 21, who is called a prophet and encouraged the saints.

 

[Totton Linnet]

I believe the ministry of prophet is valid for the church today as the ministry of apostleship, but I cannot say I have witnessed either. Paul taught in his prison letters that apostles and prophets were the gifting of the Holy Spirit for the church.

 

[The Berean]

Well if the person giving the encouragement doesn't know the person he is ministering to from Adam then God had to have given the knowledge of his ministry so that seems in line with the ministry of Agabus in Acts 11 & 21, who is called a prophet and encouraged the saints.

I just want to make it clear. I had never met the lady that prayed for me. In fact I haven't seen her since that night 10 years ago.

 

[kmoney]

The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for July 19th, 2011 10:00 AM

toldailytopic: Are there modern day prophets? If so, how can you distinguish them from the false prophets?

Are there modern day prophets? Probably. Possibly. I see no real reason to doubt it.

True vs. False? I guess you tell that by their prophecies happening or not. :idunno:

 

[Krsto]

I just want to make it clear. I had never met the lady that prayed for me. In fact I haven't seen her since that night 10 years ago.

Yup. And had you not had that miraculous word from the Lord you might not have taken the plunge to go ahead and do that ministry and you and the Kingdom of God would have been the worse for it.

 

[Tambora]

toldailytopic: Are there modern day prophets? If so, how can you distinguish them from the false prophets?

To be honest, at his time I ride the fence on this one.
I've seen good arguments both ways.

I may lean a little more toward "No" based on the following.

Amos 3
(7) Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
​

Seems to imply that God will not do anything that is not revealed by the prophets.

And then we have .....

Matthew 11
(13) For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
​

With it's corresponding verse of Like 16:16 seems to imply that the law and prophets were complete by the time of John the Baptist.


And we also have this:

John 5
(46) For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.
(47) But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
​

Seems to imply that any words coming from Christ would agree with what was already established in the law and prophets.


But I leave my options open for now!!!!!

 

[Frank Ernest]

Of course there are modern-day prophets. They have names like Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, the Apostle John, et alia.

 

[red cardinal]

The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for July 19th, 2011 10:00 AM

toldailytopic: Are there modern day prophets? If so, how can you distinguish them from the false prophets?

Nope - no prophets of God, today. Are there modern day self professed prophets? Thousands upon thousands of them and you can't tell that they are any different than psychics. They use the exact same mode of operation >>> make mistakes, make general foretellings, predict the future, encourage people, help them make decisions based on the "spiritual" realm. The only difference is that the self made prophets have "the anointing" and claim they hear "God" and psychics have a "6th sense" and claim they hear from spirits. A horse of a different color is still a horse. It's all a false spirit. I speak from experience.

 

[Krsto]

Nope - no prophets of God, today. Are there modern day self professed prophets? Thousands upon thousands of them and you can't tell that they are any different than psychics. They use the exact same mode of operation >>> make mistakes, make general foretellings, predict the future, encourage people, help them make decisions based on the "spiritual" realm. The only difference is that the self made prophets have "the anointing" and claim they hear "God" and psychics have a "6th sense" and claim they hear from spirits. A horse of a different color is still a horse. It's all a false spirit. I speak from experience.

Perhaps you lack discernment to be able to tell the genuine gifts of the spirit from the imposters who operate the same way but do not minister in the name of Christ and don't set people free to love God and serve him.

 

[The Berean]

Let me throw these questions out there. What does a prophet do? What is his role?