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

Guidelines for Testing Prophetic Utterances

Invariably if a prophecy's content draws too much attention to the person rather than to Christ, it is wrong. The manner of presentation can also detract from Christ: a falsetto voice, grandiose gestures, clan destine behavior, a mysterious air about the person, a strange applica tion of Scripture. All these shift the focus from the glorious Lord to bank rupt flesh. 2. Does the prophecy edify the church? The first objective of prophecy is theological: the glorification of Jesus Christ. The second is extremely practical: Does it build up, admonish and encourage the people of God? A prophecy will produce either liberty or bondage; the key lies in its ability to edify the Body of Christ. We have already seen that edifica tion, the theme of 1 Corinthians 14, is a carpenter's term meaning "to build up" (verses 3-5, 12, 26), and this is exactly what good prophecy does. 1. Is the prophecy in accord with the letter and spirit of Scripture? Does it contradict the Bible? John Blattner comments: "The principle here is simple: the Holy Spirit does not contradict himself. We can trust that any message that is authentically inspired will be in accord with previous rev elation."25 Isaiah 8:20 clearly establishes God's Word as the standard: "To the law and to the testimony! If [a people] do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn." Or, as the Phillips translation puts it: "Consult the message and the teaching, for unless they speak according to these, their light is but a false dawn." 2. Is the theological or doctrinal content solid? The purpose of prophecy is not to add new doctrine or come up with something sensational to supersede Scripture. Some good advice from Graham Houston: "We can be protected from false prophecy only if our faith is thoroughly grounded on the balanced teaching of the whole Bible. One of the greatest dangers we as evangelical people face is to exchange our biblical inheritance for a mess of 'prophetic' pottage!"26 I like this phrase from John 10:35: "The Scripture cannot be set aside or cancelled or broken or annulled" (Amplified). The Bible is our divine, objective standard of judgment; it is our plumbline against which all expo sition is measured. A true prophecy will not change-add to, subtract from or mix up-the straightforward teaching of the Bible. "Thy word is truth" (John 17:17). 3. Does the message have substance? Does it say something worth while? Is it just glorified advice or counseling? A prophecy "must be in agreement with the Word of God and not just a lot of nonsense." 27 Some 321 • The Message Given