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

Guidelines for Testing Prophetic Utterances

wonderful,clear,bell-tone quality-the ring of authenticity-character izes a true prophetic message.Such prophecy produces good feelings and continues to add deepening satisfaction upon reflection.Experienced lead ership responds appropriately and good spiritual fruit results. Christians are usually not motivated by demonic inspiration but are more likely to have problems (if at all) with their own imaginations and feelings,as well as with proper timing.The character and reputation of the person speaking,as well as his or her spiritual level,are usually a clear indication of source. Demonic prophetic expression does not ring true to the spiritual be liever.Such a message (which seldom occurs) is misguided and inappro priate-ecstasy gone awry.Discomfort results from the violation of spir itual sensitivity.Those in the congregation with a gift of prophecy,word of knowledge, discerning of spirits or pastoral guidance are instantly uncomfortable when a demonic expression occurs.W.A.C.Rowe,one of the early leaders and prophets of the Apostolic Church of Great Britain, gave this wise and assuring word: "We do not look upon the possibility of these Satanic intrusions as a prevalent danger in sound,healthy and divinely led Holy Ghost communities....The divine provision is a strong and complete bulwark against every threat."18 2. Does the gift of discernment help determine the authenticity of a prophecy? In listing various spiritual giftings,Paul notes that some peo ple have "discerning[s] of spirits "(for example,1 Corinthians 12:10, KJV, NKJV). This is a noun form of one of the verbs mentioned in the last sec tion. 1 9 The translators seem almost unanimous that the expression denotes distinguishing between various or different spirits (NASB, RSV, NEB, NIV). Williams translates it "the power to discriminate between the true Spirit and false spirits,"and the NEB incorporates this interpretation right into the translation of the phrase: "[the] ability to distinguish true spirits from false. " 20 A clear illustration of the gift of discernment is given in Acts 16:16-18. A young slave girl,owned by ruthless masters and further enslaved by a spirit of divination,was crying out truthful things about Paul and his asso ciates. The apostle, annoyed and wearied over a period of days by the girl's actions,finally turned on her and cast out the demonic spirit.Here is a case of an inspired message being truthful and accurate but the source being evil and wrong.The enemy was masquerading as an angel of light. Some feel it is significant that in the listing of 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, distinguishing of spirits comes immediately after prophecy (verse 10). Then follows the pairing of various kinds of tongues and the interpreta tion of tongues. The pairing of discernment and prophecy possibly indi cates that the function of discernment is for the judging of inspired utter 319 •