This is a subject that has always been somewhat mysterious to me. I often hear many men and women of GOD referred to as prophet and prophetess as well as overseer, pastor, minister, elder and bishop. While these are all legitimate titles that are bestowed upon the peoples of GOD within the body of CHRIST, I want to deal with prophets and prophecy.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are diverse, 1 Corinthians 12:10-11 tells us:
to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another [different] kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
What is prophecy? Strong’s gives this definition:
a discourse emanating from divine inspiration and declaring the purposes of God, whether by reproving and admonishing the wicked, or comforting the afflicted, or revealing things hidden; esp. by foretelling future events.
What most people do not know, is that the first prophets in the Bible were placed to tell the people what they were doing wrong, how to correct their wrongdoings, and what the punishment would be if they did not stop committing their offences (Read the book of Amos for an example).
Now let me start by saying that there ARE individuals that have the gifting of the Spirit and who can and do prophesy. I have encountered some of them, such as Prophet Robert Brown, Pastor Galena Conaster, and Dr. William E. Adams III to name a few. However, there are a slew of false prophets running around, speaking into people and getting people off spiritual track. How do we identify these people? There are some things that we must be observant of.
The first and foremost goes back to 2 Timothy 2:15, where we are instructed to “study to shew thyself approved unto GOD…rightly dividing the WORD of truth.”
This is where it all begins, “why?” you may ask. Well let’s look deeper.
1John 4:1 states, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
We are authorized to “try” or to “test” the Spirit to make sure. Brothers and sisters; do not be afraid to test GOD, but the key is not to test as we think in the parent to child sense. We seem to think that “testing” is a negative thing. This is how we have been erroneously programmed. If you remember, Malachi 3:10 GOD says to “…prove me now…” This instructs us to test GOD by doing HIS WORD. If we do this, GOD will move in HIS way, and prove HIMSELF as truth.
If we continue to verse 2, “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:”
We need to be cognizant of what the “prophet” is teaching and or believing. If they are not teaching that JESUS has come to die for our sins, he or she is not of GOD and we are not to be fooled. GOD HIMSELF will make things obvious to us, but we have to be listening for HIS voice. Verse 3 confirms this,
“And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”
My point is this, since one of the purposes of prophecy is to real things that are hidden, and another purpose is to comfort the afflicted, we must apply scripture to what we are still doing in our day to day lives. If a “prophet” tells you that you will be a millionaire, we are to take that to mean, we must yet work in the path that we are working in. That our labor is not in vain, and that, more than likely, it is not going to come overnight. Proverbs 10:4 tells us,
He becometh poor that dealeth [with] a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.
Proverbs 22:29 also says,
Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean [men].
Let’s get in the WORD of GOD so that we can understand the differences.
Be Blessed!
