Prophesy Today - One of the Spiritual Gifts?

[Elizabeth]

This thread will deal with whether the Prophesy Gift that was conferred upon the early church is still in operation today. Keith and John will attempt to re-create their original posts on this subject which went missing. This will continue with Miriam's "Different Times" thread. The questions is does the gift of prophesy continue into modern times, or did it cease with the apostles??

I apologize for the inconvenience of all of this and hope the new threads will confer more clarity on the forums.

Only by grace,

Elizabeth

[RAP]

"Love never fails; but whether prophecies, they shall be done away; or tongues, they shall cease; or knowledge, it shall be done away." JND

done way - katargeo; future, passive, indicative. The passive voice means that this will happen to prophecies and knowledge. That is, they will be acted upon. They will be stopped rather than stopping by themselves. The indicative is a simple statement of fact.
cease - pauo; future, middle deponent, indicative. The middle voice is almost always translated as active. That is tongues are stopping by themselves. The indicative is a simple statement of fact.

Another way then to translate this verse is:

Love never stops; however prophecies will be stopped, tongues are stopping, knowledge will be stopped.

Maranatha!

[anne]

I tend to beware of a prophetic utterer and if he/she added thus said the Lord I would be very very wary.
Why would we need anyone to tell us about prophecy..It is written
Or why do I need to listen to the Charismatic man or woman tell me they have had a ''word from the Lord'' about me, if I myself have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus.
Maybe I am wrong but God has not shown me otherwise.
therevwas a little woman who went up to my daughter the other day and said ive had a word, and God told me your going to the wrong church (baptist) you should be speaking in tongues to receive the full blessings from God. Is God speaking to her? or was she speaking what she wanted her to do, it's hard to say that is not so when someone is saying God has told me.
If you do believe prophecy is of today then you would have to believe all the sign gifts are to.

[Elizabeth]

Dear Anne,

It is very interesting that you should make this post today. I just finished as telephone conversation today with a friend of mine whose very well-meaning friend (Pentecostal) told her that she had a word of knowledge from the Lord in which He has instructed her to tell my friend that her husband is a wonderful person, how could she possibly leave him and that she should get down on her knees and pray for forgiveness, etc., etc. This is a woman who has NO knowledge of the marital situation in the slightest. I think it is presumptuous, though the person meant well, as I told my friend.

Your thoughts, please!

E

[jpurssey]

Anne,

I agree with you that we should be wary. We need to be discerning when someone makes claims like this.

These claims may be as a prophetic utterance, or, to get around cessation beliefs, could be called a Word from the Lord or a leading of the Holy spirit.

I would consider whether the person making the claim is trying to satisfy their own need for assurance of their faith. If someone accepts what bthey say they could take it as confirmation of their own spirituality.

I would also consider whether in traditions where there is an emphasis on being 'guilty sinners' this is used to exploit this, either consciously or unconsciously. There are a significant number of people who do not see that they are being arrogant or presumptuous even if they have a loving motive.

Edited to insert omitted word 'consider' in final paragraph.

[Elizabeth]

Another case in point is Pat Robertson, TV Evangelist and Pentecostal preacher quite recently said that the reason for the earthquake in Haiti was because around 200 years ago the Haitians had made a pact with the devil and this is God's answer to them for doing that. Most of Christianity was astounded and refuted such a statement.

We had a slight earthquake here about 5 years ago - then it could happen here or anywhere else along the western seaboard especially in the California region.

This is the kind of thing that is detrimental to the testimony of Christianity.

Only by grace,

E

[jtheb]

I would agree that one should be very sceptical of "messages from the Lord"

But some are accurate.

One of the popular evangelical celebrities accounts how he was on a plane and realised that a man sitting near him was intending to leave his wife and was on his way to his girl friend.
He spoke to the man and said " What you are intending to do it wrong" The man responded positively and returned to his wife.
Sorry I can't give the reference to the book where I read this. Nor prove its accuracy.

[jpurssey]

From your account it does not appear that any special knowledge was required apart from what he learnt from his fellow passenger, or did the fellow passenger not communicate by any means anything about his situation?

[jtheb]

and realised that a man sitting near him was intending to leave his wife and was on his way to his girl friend

No! The passenger had not spoken to him. This was a knowledge that came spontaneously to him.

[Elizabeth]

What bothers me about Pat Robertson is that when he was attempting to run for the office of President of the United States he felt that his main qualification was "a Word of Knowledge" that he would receive from God. That, to me, is scary. Pat has demonstrated that he has got some of God's "Words of Knowledge" slightly mixed up in the translation.

My suggestion would be to consult the little black book and see if God habitually goes against his written word. I don't think He does.

Just my opinion!

E

[jpurssey]

and realised that a man sitting near him was intending to leave his wife and was on his way to his girl friend

No! The passenger had not spoken to him. This was a knowledge that came spontaneously to him.

It's just that there are a lot of things he could have (over)heard and other non-verbal communications that could have betrayed the passenger's intent. Some people are very perceptive. I don't have enough information to reject the possibility that the person unconsciously ascribes his powers of perception to being a word from the Lord.

Elizabeth,

I am afraid that Pat has his own special ego glasses with which he reads the bible and he isn't letting the Word of God speak to him through the word of God. What would be really scary is a large proportion of people being deceived by him.

[Elizabeth]

Elizabeth,

I am afraid that Pat has his own special ego glasses with which he reads the bible and he isn't letting the Word of God speak to him through the word of God. What would be really scary is a large proportion of people being deceived by him.

John,

That is EXACTLY what has happened. He has a tremendous following in the States. I know he does a lot of good as well. Many of the people from his ministry were in Haiti with medical supplies, food and water the very next day after the earthquake. I would not like to minimize the good that he does, but speaking for God seems scary to me. Speaking for God, as our Lord Jesus said is feeding the hungry, visiting those in prison, comforting the sad, etc.

Elizabeth

[jpurssey]

Elizabeth,

You might like Donald Millers response.

[Elizabeth]

Thanks, John for the reference.

I still fail to see how people from North America and so-called born again persons can blame people for natural disasters which have befallen them.

I don't get it no matter how someone might try to excuse Pat Robertson's attitude. He has become very RICH because of the gospel??? Haiti is the poorest country in this world. You might be interested to know that Past President Clinton has stated that the Canadian population has per capita contributed the most to this terrible disaster in this world. I am not God and I do not presume to interfere with His judgments. By which statement I mean that I have no idea why natural disasters occur.

My judgment is that Haiti is the poorest country in the world because of its corrupt leaders. Its exiled Dictator, as we speak is trying to withdraw $300M from Swiss banks for his own use. Go figure!

E

[anne]

Part of the Kinddom now doctrine that Robertson and many Charismatic believe in is that the Christian has the authority to prepare and set the Kingdom up, they believe that a great outpouring has to happen before Christ can come back.
So instead of God having the authority over His Sons return Robertson and others believe the authority is with them.