Too many Prophets.

[rdclmn72]

A thriving business with plenty of prophets to choose from, today is unique in the way people can really be taken by any number of players that exploit the gullible.
Prophets are a rare breed with a heavy price to be paid, its not the most rewarding calling with considerable opposition to the message.

Prophets operate under tight constraints;
The word and spirit are one, - its the functional aspect to all biblical prophecy.
Nathan prophesied under the orders of the king, - the prophet is under the local pastors' authority, a real game changer.

For those observers with many years to judge by, they can tell you that a real biblical prophet is very hard to find and that a prophecy per believer per lifetime is par for the course.

 

[Nanopants]

A thriving business with plenty of prophets to choose from, today is unique in the way people can really be taken by any number of players that exploit the gullible.
Prophets are a rare breed with a heavy price to be paid, its not the most rewarding calling with considerable opposition to the message.

Prophets operate under tight constraints;
The word and spirit are one, - its the functional aspect to all biblical prophecy.
Nathan prophesied under the orders of the king, - the prophet is under the local pastors' authority, a real game changer.

For those observers with many years to judge by, they can tell you that a real biblical prophet is very hard to find and that a prophecy per believer per lifetime is par for the course.

Nathan prophesied to the king.

And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. -1 Cr 12:28

Unless you think your pastor is an Apostle, on par with a real Apostle, then according to this prophets have higher authority.

 

[Calebt]

Hello brother,

We also have to discern so-called prophets these days. I will share a dream I had which I shared with a member of the fellowship I go to. It was a dream with a false Jesus wrapped around all good works, the name it was done in was a false religion and an ambassador of this false religion appeared from behind the billboard. My brother said that this is a prophecy about false Christs, false prophets appearing.

There's a problem I notice all around and that's people believing these so-called prophets, a tsunami was going to hit Australia in 2000, things were going to happen, this and that but no one is testing the spirits that come to them that tell them this stuff. It's a really evil spirit that's causing this, the spirit of the antichrist which denies that Jesus came in the flesh. We have to have our guards up against all so-called teachers, "prophets", "apostles", if anyone starts seeking the glory for themselves with their "prophecies" then I believe they have not been sent by God. For the gift of prophecy can be asked for from God but it is a gift and I think too many people are putting more importance on the gifts, their gifts than on Christ, the Christ who came in the flesh.

I have had alot of dreams about different Jesus', different Lords so there seems to be alot of that going around and we can be deceived, even us Christians can be deceived by them if we do not test the spirits for Satan masquerades as an angel of light and his ministers pretend to be ones of righteousness.

I know I have to get right with God before I start going off into my ministry as I heard in a dream a voice say, "prophetic ministry Sydney" also I am 27 years old and have just come back to Christ after years of folly. I WAS the lost son and now I have returned, I have to walk down the road of repentence before I can do whatever God - our Father has in store for me. I believe if someone wants to prophesy, they have to know that - that is their ministry and in doing so, have to let the Almighty train them up - I have also had a dream where I have been training. We must discern, have our guards up and not believe what anyone says because we're close, I believe, to the coming of the antichrist. A dream I have had where a name was revealed along with a number, and dreams which feel very ends-time-ish point to this and even if we have dreams, we must ask God - Lord, was this from you? This is something I must do and we must also continually test to see if it was from the LORD Almighty because many false prophets and teachers are going out into the world without confirming it through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And we must, and they anyone who is prophesying must point everything back to the cross - to the finished work, Jesus has done for us. We are living in a very confusing age but we should not let anything shake us from the truth. I have read that a prophet's job is to encourage, strengthen and edify members of the Church. I am uncomfortable with titles, I wish we were all just called servants of the Lord, members of Christ.

John the Baptist was a prophet, was he not? And look at his ministry, it was so simple - it was "Repent for the Kingdom of God is near" and he baptized brothers and sisters in the water. The truth is simple, this is what I believe and so can our ministries, it's just sometimes our will, will complicate it and cause confusion. The truth of the Gospel is simple, it was made so people whether educated or not could understand it.

The Holy Spirit will teach us things that no man can teach us and when we are led by the spirit, things just become clearer for me. I have to start relying more and trusting more on the spirit and be led by it and not my flesh, when the flesh takes charge it is really forceful and rushing and confusing but when I'm led by the spirit - things just fall into place.

God bless, my bro.

 

[Calebt]

And you can see I am not ready yet though because I am talking about myself alot, I guess I can just talk about my experiences as I'm still growing in Christ. Look at me trying to justify myself and my words, boo hoo, anyway - for a true prophet to appear on the scene, we just have to discern to know if they are really sent from God, I guess? I know I'm nowhere near ready yet and I will rebuke all condemnation I place on myself with Romans 8:1 but Christ is the beginning of our ministry, the centre of our ministry and the end of our ministry and our ministry will not end for if we are in Christ we will share in his eternal glory.

So discern what's out there, brother, ask our Father how to discern and for discernment. This should help you know what is from God and what isn't. Sometimes the enemy will try to come in and say - you are judging a fellow Christian!!! Just ignore it because I feel it is very good to discern as no one who is in Christ should be deceived by...

False doctrines (that introduce things outside of the Word and mix it with the Word, this can be very cunning).
Distortion of the Word.
Turning the focus on yourself on what you can do to better yourself rather than what God can do too
Taking the focus off of Christ and onto financial prosperity, yes, you can be blessed but to have a whole sermon talking about money, it sort of deceives some of us into putting more importance on money than God.
I think theology is not good for us at all. It can lead some of us astray and this goes back to false doctrines. Doctrines can be the result of theology? I heard the Catholic Church has a doctrine about the origin of the human soul - completely and utterly demonic. If God wanted us to know then he would have told us in the Word, the fact is everything came from him so as you can see I'm not a fan of theology.

Pretty much anything which centres around me, me, me instead of Christ, Christ, Christ or anything that centres around sin, sin, sin, if anyone teaches condemnation or to probe after your sin or bad things are happening to you because you are sinning, find this out, don't listen to it. God will expose all the things in your life that you need help with, people who do this tie up heavy burdensome loads for people to carry but they themselves aren't willing to lift a finger. They were doing this to people under the Law and they are doing this to people under the Grace through Christ.

God gave us POWER, LOVE and a SOUND MIND.

God gave us power to overcome all the things in the world, to overcome the enemy, to overcome everything the world cooks up and throws at you. The "other power" is worldly power which makes you want more, more, more, and is pretty much there to feed your flesh so you can boss others around. God's power is divine, rich, fulfilling to your spirit and self and is a power to help others not to hurt, the world's power appeals to your flesh and is meant to "get ahead in life", "be top dog" and hurt others.

Come away from the world, that's a voice I heard the other week. The world is not doing us any favours and it just takes, takes, takes from us. God is gracious in that he is patient and loving with us and if we ask, we shall receive and overcome this world.

Guards up on everything on the Internet. Alot of confusion can come by what people read, just go straight to God and the Word and Christ. Just go straight to the Word for the answers and ask God to help you see things through the Holy Spirit and remember, Christ is our teacher - no one else and discern through Christ. Christ through all things, even read the Old Testament with Christ in mind and things might perhaps become clearer to you.

What were we talking about again? Sorry, once I start typing, I just go on and on. Ah, prophets. Yeah, just discern, brother and always ask God to help you through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who came in the flesh.

 

[rdclmn72]

The quote comes from the OT.
The other quote is to touch not his anointed, it didn't stop kings from killing prophets...
The NT equivalent is to have the local prophet under authority.

 

[Biblicist]

For those observers with many years to judge by, they can tell you that a real biblical prophet is very hard to find and that a prophecy per believer per lifetime is par for the course.

Last Sunday week I sat down at a table in our church foyer before the meeting to do a quick check on a passage. While I was there, I was approached by a member of a missionary team who was in the foyer to support a specific mission enterprise who I later realised was from another church; after a few moments he gave me a prophetic word regarding a specific 'anointing' that he felt was upon me.

Now I tend to get a bit iffy with the modern buzz word of "the anointing" but I understood where he was coming from. The main point of my post is to say that I think that it might have been 10-15 years since anyone had given me a direct prophecy.

 

[NorrinRadd]

Nathan prophesied to the king.

And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. -1 Cr 12:28

Unless you think your pastor is an Apostle, on par with a real Apostle, then according to this prophets have higher authority.

Where do you see "authority" mentioned in that passage?

Where in the NT do you see an apostle exercising "authority" in a church he himself did not establish?

 

[tturt]

posted: For those observers with many years to judge by, they can tell you that a real biblical prophet is very hard to find and that a prophecy per believer per lifetime is par for the course.

According to some, it's very hard to find a real Christian, too.

Sometimes people's observations get taken as the standard; therefore, anything outside of that is ungodly. Numerous problems exist though with this including everyone's observation is different and sometimes it's even against what Scripture states. Look at any thread on tongues - lots of opinions. Sometimes Bible study is like scientific research, we find the results that we're expecting to find - just like researchers. Yes, we all hold our opinions in high regard.

 

[Nanopants]

Where do you see "authority" mentioned in that passage?

Where in the NT do you see an apostle exercising "authority" in a church he himself did not establish?

The interesting thing about the authority of apostles and prophets is that it is derived from mere proximity to the Word of Truth. It isn't derived from themselves. You don't have to accept their authority to be judged by the Word which they speak, and even false prophets are used for judgment.

 

[Always in His Presence]

Where do you see "authority" mentioned in that passage?

Where in the NT do you see an apostle exercising "authority" in a church he himself did not establish?

Very astute observation.

 

[Calebt]

All judgements are left up to the Father. So we shouldn't let anyone judge us for it's what in our hearts that really matter. If you say you are a Christian and on the outside, in some way have the appearance of one (I don't know how but Western Christianity seems to have an image that you are to look proper, right at all times, I've seen Joel Osteen preach about this - you're image to look "good" for the excellence of God then I'm wondering "what about the poor and needy Christians out there, that don't have money to buy the latest Armani shirts and polos?), forget image, it's what's inside that counts and we are in spirit that believe that Christ who came in flesh is our Lord and Saviour.

So I'm just like... Western Christianity, you are so confusing sometimes to me. Inside what counts I believe.

 

[StevenL]

BEWARE of church "prophets".

 

[football5680]

Any so called prophet must prove it. We must question and test every single prophet who claims they come from god. Jesus told us that there would be many false prophets so if god wants us to follow somebodies message then he would give us a sign.

 

[Biblicist]

Any so called prophet must prove it. We must question and test every single prophet who claims they come from god. Jesus told us that there would be many false prophets so if god wants us to follow somebodies message then he would give us a sign.

The only so called 'sign' that we need to see if a person is a genuine prophet is when their prophecies have been shown to be true. Once a congregation are satisfied that an individual has been able to demonstrate that their prophecies are reliable then they can be seen as holding the local congregational office of a prophet.