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

Guidelines for Testing Prophetic Utterances

tortion....No one who has experienced prophecy can question its tremen dous value for the church of today." 6

The Implications of Testing

Three key texts substantiate the need to test or evaluate prophecy: 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21, 1 Corinthians 14:29 and 1 John 4:1.The first two references are significant because in the context of each Paul discusses the functioning of prophecy in the local church.The third passage refers to the ability to discern the spiritual origin of a prophecy: Is it from the Spirit of God or from other spirits? From the time that local church congregations began to form, the pos sibility of prophetic problems was apparent, so it was deemed reasonable to subject prophetic utterances to evaluation. "Indeed," comments Cecil M.Robeck Jr., "it seems Paul never saw the gift of prophecy as sep arate from the necessity of evaluation." 7 Fee adds: "The awe with which many contemporary charismatics hold prophecy and 'prophets,' which in effect causes them almost never to be 'tested,' stands in basic contra diction to this Pauline injunction." 8 The English word generally used for evaluating prophecy is testing. Although two different Greek words are used in the New Testament, both carry the same basic meaning as that of the English word.The chart on the next page illustrates. I particularly like the way Williams renders the first two texts: "Stop treating the message of prophecy with contempt, but continue to prove all things until you can approve them, and then hold on to what is good." And, "Dearly beloved, stop believing every so-called spiritual utterance, but keep testing them to see whether they come from God...." Testing prophecy in the local church should not be a factious but rather a health-ensuring activity! Let's say I go to the doctor for a checkup and my blood test indicates that my cholesterol level is too high.If the good doctor tells me I must exercise more and eat fewer fatty foods, I should not get upset at him! Similarly when an orchard owner checks out the fruit of one of his trees, he is exercising a healthy, positive concern.And when an ancient trader took a coin offered him and hastily weighed it on his hand-held scales, he was merely assuring himself that the coin was true and what it purported to be. Some might feel uncomfortable about "judging" or "testing" the prophecies of others, but it is of utmost importance. Keep in mind this succinct, practical, five-point synopsis by Graham Cooke: "Firstly, that it is scriptural and right to do so. Secondly, that no person's ministry is 315 •