Rev 19.10 At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”
I've seen a number of self-proclaimed prophets or those considered to be prophets who were genuine Christians and yet gave apparently false prophecies. And yet, because they were true Christians and faithful to the Gospel, many things they said had a "prophetic element" to them, indicating that they were inspired and suggested things supernaturally that they could not otherwise have known. How can this be?
I do think that many Christian leaders recognized the inspiration of their testimonies, and began to conclude, falsely, that they were "prophets." Perhaps they could even be viewed as "prophets"--however, they may have misconstrued how this gift was to operate?
I think many of those leaders with a "gift of prophecy" were meant more to forthtell what God is saying, rather than predict the future. And yet, due to their Pentecostal Theology, they thought they could as "prophets" predict things that came into their minds, much as a sermon was inspired. Some of them belonged to the "Faith Camp" where they thought inspired utterances should actually *cause* the thing they prophesied to come to pass.
Oral Roberts, for example, proclaimed he would build a hospital that would cure cancer. Well, he built the hospital, but it went bankrupt, initially, and it did not lead to a cure of cancer! Nevertheless, Roberts was a faithful Christian with a prophetic spirit who really did bring about acts of divine healing.
Some of these leaders with a prophetic spirit did, however, seem to bring actual prophecies of the future at times. Kim Clement prophesied of the rise of Trump to the presidency even before he declared he was running. John Paul Jackson's "The Coming Perfect Storm" appeared to be amazingly correct in many ways. It was difficult, however, to determine what these leaders "thought" was inspired and prophetic and what was actually bona fide "prophecy?"
One of them, David Wilkerson, did not even claim to be a "prophet," but just focused on his inspired utterances as visions, along with biblical interpretations of contemporary events. Hal Lindsay's book, "The Late Great Planet Earth," was all about prophetic truth, and yet it was simply an interpretation of contemporary events from a biblical outlook.
My personal feeling is that if the Christian leader is genuine and faithful to the Gospel, we should take their "prophecies" with a grain of salt without neglecting to see if there is some real "prophecy" contained in it. We simply need to hold self-proclaimed "prophets" to account, so that they present actual prophecies as genuine prophecies and their own inspired thoughts as something to be carefully scrutinized?
I've seen a number of self-proclaimed prophets or those considered to be prophets who were genuine Christians and yet gave apparently false prophecies. And yet, because they were true Christians and faithful to the Gospel, many things they said had a "prophetic element" to them, indicating that they were inspired and suggested things supernaturally that they could not otherwise have known. How can this be?
I do think that many Christian leaders recognized the inspiration of their testimonies, and began to conclude, falsely, that they were "prophets." Perhaps they could even be viewed as "prophets"--however, they may have misconstrued how this gift was to operate?
I think many of those leaders with a "gift of prophecy" were meant more to forthtell what God is saying, rather than predict the future. And yet, due to their Pentecostal Theology, they thought they could as "prophets" predict things that came into their minds, much as a sermon was inspired. Some of them belonged to the "Faith Camp" where they thought inspired utterances should actually *cause* the thing they prophesied to come to pass.
Oral Roberts, for example, proclaimed he would build a hospital that would cure cancer. Well, he built the hospital, but it went bankrupt, initially, and it did not lead to a cure of cancer! Nevertheless, Roberts was a faithful Christian with a prophetic spirit who really did bring about acts of divine healing.
Some of these leaders with a prophetic spirit did, however, seem to bring actual prophecies of the future at times. Kim Clement prophesied of the rise of Trump to the presidency even before he declared he was running. John Paul Jackson's "The Coming Perfect Storm" appeared to be amazingly correct in many ways. It was difficult, however, to determine what these leaders "thought" was inspired and prophetic and what was actually bona fide "prophecy?"
One of them, David Wilkerson, did not even claim to be a "prophet," but just focused on his inspired utterances as visions, along with biblical interpretations of contemporary events. Hal Lindsay's book, "The Late Great Planet Earth," was all about prophetic truth, and yet it was simply an interpretation of contemporary events from a biblical outlook.
My personal feeling is that if the Christian leader is genuine and faithful to the Gospel, we should take their "prophecies" with a grain of salt without neglecting to see if there is some real "prophecy" contained in it. We simply need to hold self-proclaimed "prophets" to account, so that they present actual prophecies as genuine prophecies and their own inspired thoughts as something to be carefully scrutinized?