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

The Use of Prophecy in Church Today

mainly in the form of questions.15 I have grouped my own ideas and the questions of others under seven major headings. 1 6 My purpose here is not to give a quick checklist but to present the deeper, broader implications that will bring caution, reflection and openness to prophetic activity. The seven broad categories are:

• The source • The objective • The message • The person • The delivery • The recipient • The response

That seventh category is significant enough to warrant taking the entire next chapter, "Who Judges the Prophecies?" The actual procedure for the public evaluation of prophecy will be covered there. Judging prophecy is much like enjoying a good basketball game. The audience knows the rules and many have played the game themselves. The umpire calls any questionable moves and shots. But the game would lose the interest of players and audience alike if the rules were constantly being repeated and applied. Similarly the questions in this chapter sup ply the foundational concepts for discerning authentic prophecy. This the ological reasoning should be built into the Church, especially the leader ship, so that during a worship service we no more need to go through all the prophetic questions than the umpire must recite all the NBA basket ball rules. Having grasped the rules, you can simply enjoy the game.

The Source ofProphecy

1. Is this prophecy of God? The mystery of prophetic operation is dimin ished when we realize that it springs from one of three sources: 17

• The Holy Spirit-the Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth • The human self-the flesh, our old nature or carnal mind or soulish nature • An evil spirit-a lying spirit, the spirit of error The Holy Spirit will not discredit or misrepresent the Bible, for He is the Spirit of truth. A genuine prophecy follows the tenor of Scripture. A • 318