Prophets or fortune tellers

[Faulty]

Listening to a pastor recently and he had prayed for someone to be healed but they weren't healed until the next day. So he asks Yahweh - why? He said when I healed his blindness, I didn't want your face to be the first thing he saw. hehehehe Yahweh tries to help us with our pride. The pastor, teacher, apostle, missionary, etc. are lead by The Holy Spirit as well as prophets - and all believers. No one is 100% correct no matter which part of the body they function.

Yahweh expects us to be gullible enough to believe He has spoken and still speaks. Sometimes He uses us imperfect as we are and just as He always has. Ever wonder why He just doesn't give the sermons audibly, physically help the poor, etc. then it would be done perfectly? Why doesn't everyone have a Damarcus Road experience?

You're still confusing catagories. A prophet is not 100% correct when he speaks in his own name, by his own will, but he better be 100% accurate when saying "The Lord said...".

Deut 18:
21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.


I think many have taken this particular verse out of context, and developed erroneous doctrines concerning the accuracy of prophecy. But if we compare it with many of the other passages of scripture that show examples of actual prophecy in action, we can see that word for word strict accuracy that stands the test of the ages is not always the case!

Examples we've discussed repeatedly:

1. Jonah's entire career as a prophet to Nineveh was "false".
2. Nathan as a prophet told David to go ahead and build the temple. Later God told him the opposite.
3. Hezekiah moved the heart of God and nullified the entire word of prophecy he had just heard.


Word for word strict accuracy is not something we see with today's prophets. I believe with a careful reading of scripture, we can also see that it didn't necessarily take place in the Bible either! The verse quoted above can then be seen to apply to signs and wonders predicted by a prophet, such as rain in the case with Elijah, and the sun moving back ten steps when Hezekiah asked for a sign as proof. If these didn't come to pass, then the words spoken would have been discarded. But many prophecies do not have time limits, or are not meant to happen for hundreds of years. So word-for-word accuracy is not a very efficient means of testing a prophet!

Every one of those prophecies were true, with the exception of point 2. When Nathan said to build the temple, he was speaking on his own, and was later corrected by God, which is a perfect example of my response to tturt. When Nathan spoke of his own mind, he could be (and was) wrong, but when God spoke in correction, it was 100% accurate.

The other two were also 100% correct, just like when Jesus said "unless you repent, you will likewise perish". These words are true. Had Ninevah and Hezekiah not repented, they would of known exactly how true judgment is on those who refuse to seek the Lord for forgivness and mercy. If you are a christian, you should understand this concept in a very personal way.

The 'almost-sometimes' prophet for God doesn't exist, except in the magical land of unicorns, care bears, and other mythical creatures.

 

[Tobias]

Every one of those prophecies were true, with the exception of point 2. When Nathan said to build the temple, he was speaking on his own, and was later corrected by God, which is a perfect example of my response to tturt. When Nathan spoke of his own mind, he could be (and was) wrong, but when God spoke in correction, it was 100% accurate.

The other two were also 100% correct, just like when Jesus said "unless you repent, you will likewise perish". These words are true. Had Ninevah and Hezekiah not repented, they would of known exactly how true judgment is on those who refuse to seek the Lord for forgivness and mercy. If you are a christian, you should understand this concept in a very personal way.

The 'almost-sometimes' prophet for God doesn't exist, except in the magical land of unicorns, care bears, and other mythical creatures.

Well, I don't have a problem with it as long as you are applying the same grace you give to biblical prophets to their modern day counterparts.


All too often, people are very forgiving of biblical characters, but then are very strict to follow the letter of the Law when it comes to contemporaries. This is not a new problem however, as Jesus encountered the same thing in his day.

Matthew 23: 29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!


The Pharisees were busy judging Jesus based upon their own, faulty interpretation of scripture; while on their days off they were building monuments in praise of the prophets of old. So when I see this same attitude applied to the prophets of our time, it is difficult to sit back and say nothing!

We do have an epidemic of so called prophets being very careless in their accuracy of speaking the word of the Lord. I do not wish to excuse them! However, we could also say that both Jonah and Nathan were also careless, in that Jonah didn't mention to his audience that repentance would change the heart of God, and Nathan didn't take the time to seek God first before first giving his own opinion. Thus opening up a possible classification of "mistaken prophet of God". The scriptures refer to both of them as true prophets, and never mentions the possibility that either of them were ever considered false.

Typically our doctrine has only made provision for two types of prophets, ones that are 100% right all the time, and those that make a mistake (no matter how small) are considered False Prophets. But IMO this is not a biblically justifiable position.