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

Mission: What Was a Prophet?

ing of the International Missionary Council, where he earned the title "Mr. Pentecost." He spoke to the 1954 World Council Assembly, and by 1959 was giving lectures at major theological centers-Princeton, Yale, Union, Colgate, Bossey and others. He was received by three Roman Catholic pon tiffs-John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II. R. P. Spittler, author of the arti cle in Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements and profes sor at Fuller Theological Seminary, says in closing his review: No one in the twentieth century so effectively linked three of the major movements of the time-the Pentecostal movement, the ecumenical move ment, and the charismatic movement. Time magazine (September 9, 1974, 66) reported the choice of seven editors of religious publications for the leading "shapers and shakers " of Christianity.Du Plessis was among them, along with people like Billy Graham, Hans Kung, Jurgen Moltmann, and Rosemary Ruether....Kilian McDonnell spoke of du Plessis as "a national treasure." In 1976 St.John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, pre sented to him the prized Pax Christi award, clear evidence of his high repute in Roman Catholic circles. He was the first non-Roman Catholic ever to have received (in 1983) the distinguished Benemerenti award, presented on the pope's behalf by Jan Cardinal Willenbrands.In 1978 du Plessis received an honorary doctorate from Bethany Bible College (Santa Cruz, Calif.).His example, his wry and rabbinic teaching style-if not his consistent logic inspired hundreds of younger Pentecostal leaders and subtly molded the emerging theology of a major force in Christendom.For the twentieth cen tury at least, he was indeed "Mr.Pentecost." 29 In contrast to the heathen soothsayers and diviners the Hebrew prophets were men with the sense of a special call to the prophetic min istry.They were men of consecration and lofty character, courageous crit ics of the social, political, moral and religious wrongs of their day. Accu racy of prediction, confirmed by fulfillment on the historical plane, characterized their ministry. 30 Hobart E.Freeman The prophets are God's messengers.They are charged to proclaim to their contemporaries firstly God's decisions and, furthermore, his demands. Whereas divination in various forms occurs among all nations, the prophets with whom we are dealing here are a distinct Israelite phenomenon. 31 Bernhard Duhm 51 ■ REFLECTIONS