Yesterday morning I received a newsletter that included a link to the article below, about New Testament prophets.
Such perfect timing!
It even includes an observation regarding examples of NT prophecy through Agabus that I had been intending to address in an article of my own – but instead I’ll recommend the article below, which addresses the topic in far more detail and astute observation than anything I wrote could have done.
Considering the response I got after some previous resources I shared, let me state clearly that my recommendation of this article is not an outright endorsement of any ministry or individual associated with the article. It’s not an endorsement of any ministry or person the writer of the article may have associated with at some time. I’m also not necessarily in agreement with everything the writer says in the article.
I don’t have the time or desire to forensically check the writer’s background or associations to make sure there’s not the tiniest bit of “heresy” lurking somewhere in the background. That was the approach of the Pharisees in Jesus’ time, who continually tried to find something incriminating in Jesus and His message, by which they could accuse and condemn Him.
Instead of emulating the Pharisees we ALL need to consider the way of the Bereans, who gave Paul the courtesy of searching the scriptures daily for themselves to make sure what he was teaching was legitimate.
As a final note I ask that you follow the link to the WHOLE article and don’t merely read the brief excerpts I’ve provided.
If your theology is off, your prophecies may be as well. If you don’t believe that believers can suffer, then how can you prophesy that someone is going to suffer? If you don’t believe in judgment, you cannot prophesy judgment. And for those who think that all New Testament prophecy rosy, the only two examples we have were warnings; one about a famine and the other that Paul was going to be persecuted in Jerusalem.
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After Paul lays out his very clear teaching on prophecy, he makes it clear that if you disobey or reject his teaching you are not a prophet.
If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored. (1 Cor. 14:37-38)
Onesimus Files 