Your Sons & Daughters Shall Prophesy - Prophetic Gifts Today In The New Testament Church

Did Prophecy Cease-or Does It Continue?

spiritual agenda was expected to continue uninterrupted until the com ing of Christ, which necessitated the continuation of those five ministries to hold, guide and govern the Church. I cannot believe, after reading the clear operating procedure given for the Church in Ephesians 4:11-13, that Farnell is right when he says: "The gift of prophecy played a vital role in the foundational aspects of the church.With the church firmly established through the ministry of the first-century apostles and New Testament prophets, prophecy passed from the scene." 14 Are we to pay no heed to the essential, supernatural teach ings of the early Church? Are we to write off the ministries and gifts that made the early Church great? God forbid! I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are writ ten in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book. Robert L. Thomas, a strong cessationist, explains his viewpoint of these verses: "With the completion of the last book of the New Testament, the gift of prophecy became obsolete... . Since the Book of Revelation covers events occurring from the time John wrote it until the eternal state, any alleged prophecy subsequent to the book of Revelation is counterfeit." 15 Prophecies given in first-century churches were never intended to be an addition to the Scripture.A prophetic utterance bringing comfort to a band of persecuted Christians was in no danger of replacing, supersed ing or being added to the Bible. Prophecy received by Timothy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery was not equated with Scripture. Rather, these two examples illustrate the "now word" of encouragement inspired by the Spirit to help God's people at a specific time and place. Let me use a personal illustration. My second daughter, Debbie, was soon to move with her family from Sanjose, where we all lived, to another city in northern California. She wanted to be a teacher but had no cre dentials or even a collegedegree to meet the standards.Then David Schoch, a prophet of God, visited our church for prophetic presbytery meetings and told her with no explanation that she need not worry about having a teaching certificate. After moving, Debbie enrolled her children in the large Christian school there. The fascinating story is too long to tell here, but suffice it to say she did, in fact, become a very popular sixth-grade teacher, and then a third-grade teacher in that school.This unusual story is not meant to excuse a lack of education or to advocate hiring teachers 237. S. Revelation 22:18-19