oh, i agree wre need to test the spirits. but if the early church used prophecy does it not still apply today? we are in the Church Age still, the same age that Paul and peter etc were in? why would not God speak to us as we have the same anointing and Holy Spirit that christians did then?
On this point it might be worth asking what prophecy meant to Paul and the other Apostles.
In the Jewish tradition prophecy wasn't predicting the future, or divining secrets; but rather prophecy was nevuah, literally "speaking on behalf of", a navi (plural navi'im) is a spokesperson. The ancient prophets of Israel were servants of God who spoke on behalf of God, proclaiming the word of God. To proclaim both judgment and salvation.
The casual description of prophecy happening in the churches is interesting, because if it means people literally standing up and saying God told them to say something then there is a rather clear
lack of that happening in the early church. But it does make sense if prophecy was understood as proclamation, that is,
preaching. That the gift of prophecy, and the exercise of prophecy is the
preaching of the word. Because we certainly do see this happening in the early church.
This is one of those cases where I think we have modern people reading the Bible and instead of looking to see maybe what has been going on, historically, in Christianity they decide they know better and begin thinking they are going to recreate what the first century Church looked like.
The problem is, when someone does that, they aren't conforming to the first century Church, they are simply developing their own religious practices and then attributing them to the apostles; rather than looking at what the apostles actually did, and the apostolic practice which has been retained in Christianity since the beginning.
What if i told you God had saved me from suicide through the way He has comforted me? saved me from condemnation, revealijg to me that i am His child and saved from His wrath? yes the Bible sys it, and i could have read it in the word, but i could not believe it. i needed Jesus to come to me and remind me what the Word says. i believed God was wrathful angry and punished me. i ha dno idea of my identity in Christ and that my sins had been paid for, all the sins i will ever commit as long as i receive that forgiveness and repent? i do not understnad those who say God doesnt speak to us today
also none of what God shows me is flattery. i never get prophecies fo rpeople saying "you are going to be rich and have an easy life." what i have heard is Jesus remind me that am His. and how much He loves me. there i snothing in Bible to contradict this. we, Abraham;s children, are the apple of His eye. accepted in the Beloved. i dont care if a demon spoke that truth to me, it is stil truth. all truth is Gods truth said St Augustine. even familar spirits speak truth (Acts 16)
My goal isn't to judge. My goal is to caution against fringe religious practice and to place the Gospel foremost.
I grew up in an environment that put a lot of focus on "experience". And while I don't believe that anyone in my church intended any harm, the unfortunate reality was that for me the pursuit of experience was destroying me from the inside. The literal hours I spent, locked in my room, music turned up so no one could hear me, laying face on the floor crying out to God. Because all I wanted was for God to love me. When the fat was cut away, the religion I was consuming basically was saying that I should be able to experience God's presence, feel His love, and know that I am saved.
Know that I am saved.
That was the kicker. Like how does one know they are saved? Because everything I was basically being told my entire young life was that if you're saved you know you're saved, and if you don't know if you're saved then you aren't. So that was the key piece, knowing. I remember me at eight years old talking to my dad, asking him how I could know I'm saved. He told me that when I had asked Jesus into my heart when I was four years old if I had meant it. Well I didn't know. I mean, how could I right? I was a child. But then as I got older, that question never went away, it just got bigger. I've always been an overthinker, and also very self-critical; second guessing myself, and deeply afraid of failure. Tell me that my eternal fate is all riding on me "meaning it" when as a child of barely four years old? So I begged God, that if I wasn't saved, that I would be saved. But how could I
know?
Experiences are subjective. Feelings are fleeting. My own mind a whirlwind of madness and doubt.
What I needed, and what ultimately saved me from my own mind, was hearing the Gospel. Really, really hearing it.
Christ died for me.
Christ died for you.
Oh so I believe the Gospel, but do I really? How can I know I do? Well, frankly, it doesn't matter. Yeah, I'm a whirlwind of madness and doubt. Yeah, I'm a sinner. Yeah I keep screwing up. Yeah my feelings and thoughts betray me. Yeah I am at war with myself. Yeah to all these things.
Christ died for me.
Christ died for you.
No there's hardly any consistency from one day to the next, it's up and down, side to side. I'm depressed, I'm anxious, I sin more times than I don't. Yes to all that.
Christ died for me.
Christ died for you.
God didn't ask me my permission, He did it all without me. And then He had the audacity that I should hear, and be baptized, and should now believe upon Him. Audacious is His kindness. Relentless is His mercy. Unshakeable is His grace.
A sinner, me, a wretch, me.
Christ died for me.
Christ died for you.
-CryptoLutheran
