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

Mind: How Did Prophecy Come to a Prophet?

"We also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God's message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe" (1 Thessalonians 2:13, emphasis added). "Remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles" (2 Peter 3:2, emphasis added). "Our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable dis tort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction" (2 Peter 3:15-16, emphasis added). So the Scriptures of both Testaments come to the Church as the reve lation of divine truth, the standard of orthodox teaching. The canon of the Bible stands as the eternal standard of measurement. Any statement purporting to be a word from God is judged by the golden rod of Scrip ture. Although recorded by human agents, the Bible is the highest exam ple of God communicating His thoughts to mankind. It is the grandest expression of prophecy ever given to men. 37 In the last chapter I gave the true story of an old Russian prophet and patriarch and the grandfather of Demos Shakarian, founder of the Full Gospel Business Men. Another astounding episode in that story proves once again the feasibility of authentic (but noncanonical) prophecy in today's Church: It was the beginning of great changes in our family's life, and one of the first was a change in attitude toward Kara Kala's most famous citizen. This person was known throughout the region as the "Boy Prophet" even though at the time of the incident with the steer's head the Boy Prophet was fifty eight years old. The man's real name was Efim Gerasemovitch Klubniken, and he had a remarkable history. He was of Russian origin, his family being among the first Pentecostals to come across the border, settling permanently in Kara Kala. From earliest childhood Efim had shown a gift for prayer, fre quently going on long fasts, praying around the clock. As everybody in Kara Kala knew, when Efim was eleven years old he had heard the Lord calling him again to one of his prayer vigils. This time he persisted for seven days and nights, and during this time received a vision. 93. Prophetic Warning in Armenia