There Are Prophets And Then There Are Prophets

In my last post we looked at the Bible's warnings about turning to mediums and psychics who predict the future and claim the ability to contact the dead. You may note that I did not deny their existence or their ability to deceive, especially since they are undoubtedly guided by what the Apostle John calls the spirit of the antichrist. That spirit is under the control of the prince of this world, the great deceiver, Satan (Luke 11:15-19; John 8:44; 12:31; Eph. 2:2).

You will also note that I listed a number of the members of God's kingdom with psychic abilities, from Jacob to the Apostle John. I called them psychic, not because they are "natural born" with such abilities, but because they were chosen by the LORD God to receive revelations in dreams and visions.We must, however, do some further sorting out, especially since the matter of the gift of prophecy has become a source of confusion and contention among us Christians. To help us in this matter I turn to the Apostle Paul's discussion in his first letter to the Corinthians.

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus is accursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except in the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. - 1Cor 12:1-11 ESV

What does the Apostle refer to as he speaks about varieties of gifts, of service and of activities (vv. 4-6)?   The word for gift (charisma in Greek) means nothing more or less than simply gift. It does not refer to the so-called charismatic movement, often pushed today in various discussions of spiritual gifts. It is often used in a quite non-charismatic manner, for example, in the following:

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. - Rom 5:15 ESV  

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Rom 6:23 ESV 

I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. - 1Cor 7:7-8 ESV 

. . . you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift [granted] to us through many. - 2Cor 1:11 NKJV

 As the Apostle emphasizes in Romans 5:15, everything is given as God's gift, unearned, undeserved and unmerited. And gifts are just that, free. That's what grace (charis in Greek) means. Beginning with the salvation that Jesus Christ won upon the cross, God pours out His grace, enabling believers to acknowledge that Jesus is LORD (YHWH of the OT), Emmanuel, God with us. This is the working of the Holy Spirit who creates and empowers such faith.

That same Spirit gives to God's people a wide variety of gifts, abilities or ways of serving and diverse activities or powers. In many ways the Spirit is always manifested or revealed for the good of every member of the Body of Christ. So NT records the Spirit giving revelations or visions to certain men and women, also called prophets in the NT, as they were in the OT.

Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). - Acts 11:27-28 ESV  

While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit, 'This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'" - Acts 21:10-11 ESV

 These prophets differ from the Apostles and those who inherited the apostolic office from the original Apostles. The revelations of these prophets were sporadic, specific to the situation and for a particular time. This is also why Paul emphasizes the need for another gift, namely the ability to distinguish, sort out and discern whether these prophets are truly guided by the Holy Spirit or by another spirit not from God, for there were and always will be false prophets (Acts 13:6; Titus 1:12; Rev. 16:13, etc.).

I leave open the question of whether such prophets still exist within the Body of Christ. Does God still speak to certain people in dreams and visions, revealing specifics about what is to happen to certain persons or even to entire nations? Perhaps. None of us may tell the LORD what He can and cannot do. However!! in all of this we need those with gifts to discern and distinguish between what is from the Holy Spirit and what is from the spirit of the anti-Christ as John urges (1 John 4:1-3).

At another time I will carry on with this discussion about gifts and the so-called charismatic movement.