Watchout For WOLVES: Keys To Discerning Authentic Ministries & Evaluating Doctrinal Trends
✓ If my prophetic utterance proves to be inaccurate or does not come to pass, am I willing to take personal responsibility for it without blaming others for the result? Would I be willing to make a public statement acknowledging my error? All of these questions will help the prophet minimize mistakes in the area of prophecy. But if this is to truly take place, a heartfelt desire for the serious evaluation of prophecy must be in the spirit of everyone who seeks to prophesy. The New Testament seems to have prophets working together in tandem with either apostolic ministries or other prophetic ministries (Acts 13:1; 15:32). Paul indicates that in the context of prophetic ministry, the prophets should serve as a check and a balance to each other. “Let two or three prophets spe ak, and let the others judge” (1 Corinthians 14:29 NKJV). There is no question that those who have been called by God to be prophetic voices to God’s people have a special sensitivity to what God wants to say to His people. As prophetic ministries function together in the same setting, they should have a similar sensing of what God is trying to communicate to a person or to a congregation. This is one reason why Paul undoubtedly encourages only two or three to speak, because in any given context they would all be receiving a similar message. How many times does a message have to be spoken before it is in effect delivered? The Bible answers this question also when it declares repeatedly that in the “mouth of two or three witnesses le t every word be established” (2 Corinthians 13:1). 2. Judgment Level #2 – Other Prophetic Ministries
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