Bible Question:
Dear Jensen, Greetings, my friend, in Jesus' name! Accuracy, hmmmm. Sorry, but I think that if you expect a prophet to be perfect, you will be disappointed. There are none. Only the prophecies written by prophets in the Bible are perfect, because they have a God-divined mission to bring us the God-inspired Word. Other that these, we cannot even speculate that Biblical prophets were perfect. As to desiring to know the counsel of God, this IS possible. As I wrote in another post, God has provided a tri-fold means by which we can know His will in a personal manner. The same thing applies to knowing His will in a corporate (i.e., local church) manner. These are 1) God, through the Holy Spirit, speaks directly to the heart of His believers, 2) The Bible, through the Holy Spirit, speaks all believers in the written Word, and 3) God's chosen (called) vessels, through the Holy Spirit, speak *as prompted* the counsel of God. The last would be the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the ministerial gifts given to the church. While it is true that there are many false gifts being bandied about these days, and many self-serving ministers, we are not 'off the hook' to ignore these blessings. If we discount the gifts and ministries for the sake of the abuses, and demand that the remaining few be perfect, then there will be no other means by which to hear God than the Bible and your own personal feelings. Brother, this is a setup! Both of these means are under the influence of personal whim and bogotry. This is why we have the church, with the responsibility of fellowship and mutual submission. It is the 'balancing factor' that CAN keep the church in God's will. All I can say is that you did not answer the short question! Are you truly searching for a prophet? Or have you decided that there are none, so you will just depend on your own Bible interpretation? IMHO, if you are seeking the counsel of God, He will give it to you, but not just YOU! He will give it to the church, and you will be a co-partaker. Bless you in your quest! (unless you've stopped looking! :-)) In Christ Jesus, charis |
Bible Answer: Charis: I think that there might be some confusion here between whether every word that a prophet utters is divinely inspired or merely their prophecies. The Bible makes no indication that every word spoken by prophets must be truth, but Deuteronomy 18 makes it very clear that false prophecy was a capital offense in Israel, reflecting the fact that it is a violation of the third and ninth commandments (non-Catholic/Lutheran version). "But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die. You may say in your heart, 'How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him." --Deuteronomy 18:20-22 So we see that God did not direct us to grade on a curve when evaluating the validity of a prophet. It is a horrible offense to make false predictions in the name of God, and one of the marks of a false prophet. --Joe! |