6 More Principles to Discern New Testament Prophets by RON CANTOR for Charisma News
Note: This is Part 2 of a two-part series. To read the first six signs of true prophets, read Part 1 here.
In this hour where so many are calling themselves prophets, I thought it would be good to do a little teaching on what the Bible teaches about prophets.
This is by no means exhaustive, and I am sure some may disagree. But it is a subject with which we should be familiar. The first six of these 12 principles can be found in this previous article. Here are the final six:
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- Prophecy is more than predicting things that come to pass. I heard a prophecy about a cure or vaccine for coronavirus coming from Israel, but I read articles about that six weeks ago. It is in the news. Prophecy is never for the purpose of simply predicting. That is what psychics do. Just getting it right is not biblical prophecy. The reason Agabus was shown the famine was so the church could collect funds for the saints in Jerusalem. Prophecy has a purpose; it comes to “edif[y] the church” and is “for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort” (1 Cor. 14:3-4).
Prophecy comes to encourage us when everything else says the opposite. David’s prophecy that he would be king was not needed when he killed the giant, but during the decade in which he was running from Saul. It gave him hope and strength. Joseph needed an angel to tell him how Miriam got pregnant. The other Joseph in Egypt didn’t just interpret Pharaoh’s dream, but had supernatural wisdom on how to manage the coming famine. So just saying, “I see such and such happening in the future” is not what we see from prophets in the Bible.
- Independent prophets giving words to the nation is not seen in New Testament. No one lone prophet should be speaking for the Lord to the nation(s) during a pandemic. Prophets should consult with apostles and other prophets, praying and submitting words to each other first, as in Acts 13 and 15. There is no such thing as independent ministries in Acts, and there is no such thing as unaccountable leaders. Even Paul submitted to James and the elders in Acts 21.
