Judging Prophecy - Part 2
.... When we receive a prophetic message from the Lord for the purpose of offering direction to the church, it begins with a disturbance deep inside. In our spirit we'll perceive deep groanings that cannot be uttered, and our hearts will begin to be moved in the same way. As described in our previous posting, a mystery is being revealed, yet we must search it out as clearly as possible to fully understand it (1 Peter 1:11).
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.... From His own perspective, God has given the message with absolute clarity, so we can not mistake it, or any part of it, for something other than what it is. But even so, it is a higher form of communication than we are accustomed to, and we are exercising ourselves beyond our normal abilities in order to discern it.
.... From His own perspective, God has given the message with absolute clarity, so we can not mistake it, or any part of it, for something other than what it is. But even so, it is a higher form of communication than we are accustomed to, and we are exercising ourselves beyond our normal abilities in order to discern it.
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.... As a result, the prophets find themselves reaching through an enigma. The whole message is like a puzzle, dimly understood; but through a series of spiritual comparisons they begin matching it with similar understandings. These 'matching understandings' are based on other things they've read in the Bible but may also include simpler elements such as knowledge of earthly events (1 Corinthians 13:9). When a match is made with some part of the new message, the form of that particular piece is illuminated. The process continues prayerfully as the entire picture is reconstructed over time:
.... As a result, the prophets find themselves reaching through an enigma. The whole message is like a puzzle, dimly understood; but through a series of spiritual comparisons they begin matching it with similar understandings. These 'matching understandings' are based on other things they've read in the Bible but may also include simpler elements such as knowledge of earthly events (1 Corinthians 13:9). When a match is made with some part of the new message, the form of that particular piece is illuminated. The process continues prayerfully as the entire picture is reconstructed over time:
.... "These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual."
(1 Corinthians 2:13)
.... Even so, one person by themself will probably not be able to discern and resolve the entire puzzle. Parts of it may elude them still. Even if they have a rudimentary ‘feel’ for the remaining parts, they cannot quite put their finger on the meaning nor find the words for expressing it. Nor are they supposed to (1 Corinthians 12:21). As part of a protection mechanism, God uses other prophets within the body of Christ to verify and perfect our understanding of the message:.... "Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge."
(1 Corinthians 14:29)
.... So after you’ve done your best to discern the prophetic message, it’s time to have it judged. You should now approach one or two others in your church who are known to have the ministry of a prophet, and say to them, "I have some prophecy from the Lord that I need to have judged." Their response should be something like, "Yes, I've been hearing from the Lord all of this time also. And I’m ready.".
.... In other words, God has duplicated this message among at least two or three prophets, and when you are coming together you are simply comparing notes. You are, in effect, witnesses of what God has spoken, so you are testifying of what He said:
.... "That by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established."
.... In presenting your prophecy you might say, "I believe the Lord has said (thus and so)." and the others will listen carefully. For the prophecy to pass in the judgment, at least one other prophet must be able to confirm that he has heard the same thing. "Yes, I have been hearing that from the Lord, all of this time, also." He should already have heard this from the Lord, before you mentioned it at all. This is not simply a process of approval, it’s supposed to be a confirmation.
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.... Now, let’s say you’ve come to a part that was especially difficult to understand. It was deep and mysterious so you had trouble defining it, and even now, you’re only doing your best to explain what you can of it. The other prophets will probably listen very intently because, remember, they had obtained a basic ‘feel’ for it also, and they’ll recognize what you’re addressing, though they’ve probably had their own difficulties in defining it. So this becomes everyone’s chance for that final break-through..
.... "I know that this is a part of it . . . and this . . . and I think, maybe . . . this . . ." you might say; and suddenly you’ve supplied the missing piece for one of the other prophets. "Wait!" he exclaims. "I have it now! This is what the Lord has been saying!"
.... "Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent."
(1 Corinthians 14:29-30)
.... The second prophet has just achieved a break-through and has the momentum now, so it is time to yield and listen to this 'spiritual surge' as he explains the enigma to the others. Remember that the message could not be confused for something other than what it was, and each prophet did have a rudimentary ‘feel’ for it, so of course they’ll recognize it when they've heard it explained -- and this is how those last bits of revelation will be discovered and confirmed. So in this manner the prophets gather, both to share and to judge each other’s contributions, and to prayerfully agree on the final form in which the message will be presented.
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.... Anything that is confirmed by two or three prophets will be approved in the judgment. Anything that passes in this way may be shared with the church afterward, in an orderly manner (1 Corinthians 14:40). But when you do this, remember that you are obligating the Lord to confirm this word, so you’d better be honest about it in every aspect, and represent Him truly! (Isaiah 44:26; Ezekiel 13:6-8).
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.... Anything that is confirmed by two or three prophets will be approved in the judgment. Anything that passes in this way may be shared with the church afterward, in an orderly manner (1 Corinthians 14:40). But when you do this, remember that you are obligating the Lord to confirm this word, so you’d better be honest about it in every aspect, and represent Him truly! (Isaiah 44:26; Ezekiel 13:6-8)..
.... But if a prophet says something that is not confirmed in the judgment (the ‘minority report’) it is not to be shared, no matter how sure the lone prophet might be. This is a mechanism for his own protection! We’ll give examples of it in the ‘comments’ section.
You have now completed the First Module on the Oracles of God. To proceed to the second module, click here
Daily Bible Reading: Acts 13
posted by loren at 12:30 AM
9 Comments:
First, I’d like to emphasize again that judging prophecy is a process of confirmation, not just a process of approval. “Yes, that sounds like something the Lord might have said.” is not a confirmation in the sense of being a marching order.
However, the whole message should also be verified for basic Scriptural truthfulness, and in that sense it must be approved.
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loren, at 9/27/2005 12:38 AM
Similar to the comment above, prophecy should be judged before it is shared. Often in actual practice, a person may prophesy openly and no one will judge it at all, even if they strongly disagree, simply because they are afraid of offending the prophet or of quenching the Spirit.
When a prophecy is not judged, or at least if it is not contradicted, this omission forms a tacit consent, which is a form of agreement. Because if you didn’t agree, you could and should have spoken up and said something about it.
Rather than contradicting a prophet openly, is it not better for everyone to simply have it judged privately, in advance?
Finally, never worry about ‘quenching the Spirit’ by judging prophecy. The Holy Spirit wrote the Bible, and in it He commands us to judge prophecy. Therefore, judging prophecy is the leading of the Holy Spirit. Never let anyone tell you otherwise. I believe that if we show God we’ll take Him seriously, and use prophecy the way it was meant to be used, then He’ll show us just how seriously He will work through us with prophecy.
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loren, at 9/27/2005 12:38 AM
I’d like to give you an actual example of judging prophecy, if you’ll allow me a personal illustration.
Many years ago, I felt the Lord giving me some prophecy and I wrote it all down. I took it to the minister who was over me – I was in a college group at that time – and I showed it to him. He sort of believed I’d heard it from the Lord but he wasn’t willing to do anything with it. And so the prophecy never went anywhere.
A couple of years passed by, and I pulled out that sheet again; and when I looked at the things I’d prophesied, I was shaken up by them. Because more than 20 specific prophecies had now come to pass. God foretold those things so that we’d be ready to cooperate with Him – yet we’d dropped the ball, and hadn’t done anything with it.
By this time God was speaking to me in a lot more prophecy. So I took that sheet, and showed it to the same minister, and told him, “Look, all those things I prophesied before came to pass.” and I demonstrated how they were fulfilled. Suddenly he was really a big believer in prophecy. Then I told him, “I have some other things now, that I would like to share with you, and have you judge.” and he said ‘Okay’.
So I shared with him the things I believed the Lord was saying for our little group – it was just on the scale of our little college group – and as I shared these things, he listened carefully. And when I finished he said to me, “Loren, I agree with everything you said except this one thing. There was one area you prophesied about that I have not been hearing from the Lord, and I’m afraid I can’t back you on it.”
Now I was glad that he accepted everything else, but this one point that he said he couldn’t back me on? That was one of the things I was surest of! I was taken aback by it. So I went to another minister (‘among two or three let the prophets speak’ - we’d already had two so I went to a third one) and I prophesied these same things to him. And it was amazing because it was like we’d read the same article in the newspaper. I would speak half of it, and by his own understanding he’d take it up from there and tell me the other half; then I’d go back and expound on the points he’d made, with other things that hadn’t yet mentioned, and vice-versa. It went so naturally, and even looking back on it I am so amazed. How could we have done that unless we had both heard those things from God?
But as I went over my points, he said the same things that the first minister had. “Loren, I’ve heard all that from the Lord except this one point.” and he picked the very same point. “I have not been hearing that from the Lord; I can’t back you on it.”
To make a long story short, I was given permission to come to the college group on a Friday night and to prophesy the things that had passed in the judgment. And as I prophesied, I was getting on a roll, I was kind of moving along in the spirit, so to speak. And I came right up to that thing that had not passed in the judgment. And as soon as I got there – I was just starting to say it – when I suddenly realized ‘Wait a minute! This (what I was just about to share) did not pass in the judgment!” But there I was on the verge of it, with it almost in my mouth . . . and in that second I did something very dumb. I said to myself:
“Aww, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard this from the Lord. Those other two guys - they’re the ones who missed the Lord. I’m pretty sure this is from God.” and so I shared it anyway, and I gave a very specific prophecy. I’ll tell you how specific it was, this is what I prophesied:
I prophesied that in the middle of the next September a persecution would arise on the Texas Tech campus. That this persecution would arise in a night, that it would be sudden, it would be violent for a moment, and then quickly over with. I told them that the world wouldn’t make much of it, but the Christians would be shaken up by it.
Then again, persecution would come in the first half of December. It would come, as before, out of no where; suddenly it would be there, hot and heavy for just a minute, and then it would blow over. And again, the world wouldn’t pay much attention to it. It wouldn’t mean much to them. But the Christians would be shaken up. And by the next Spring more and more intolerance would begin to exist between the world and the church, at more of an antagonistic level, and this level would grow toward more of a steady level of persecution toward the years’s end.
Now that was a very specific prophecy, but it did not pass in the judgment, though I was very sure of it. When the middle of September came, no persecution arose. When the first half of December came, the other element of persecution did not arise either. So I had to go back before that group and apologize, and confess to them that I had prophesied presumptuously in the name of the Lord. I remember thinking, “So this is what it feels like to be a false prophet!” I felt really bad about it. There’s a side of Jonah living in me, I guess: hoping for the worst so I wouldn’t be shown wrong. But fortunately, there was more:
Fortunately for me, everything else that I prophesied that night had already come to pass by that time. So when I had to apologize because I’d missed the Lord on that point, I was also able to point out that everything else I’d prophesied had already been fulfilled. And it was some pretty heavy prophecy as well. (In fact, every prophecy I’ve ever given, or seen others give, that passed in the judgment, did come to pass. And I’m talking about well over 100 things). So it didn’t completely condemn me as a false prophet, but I learned a lesson through that, and this is the lesson for you:
If you bring forth your prophecy to have it judged, and it does not pass in the judgment, then by golly it is not to be shared! No matter how sure you are of it, it does not get shared. And beloved, this is for your protection. I learned this lesson through very burned hands and through having to answer to God in a way that I don’t savor. So I pray that you’ll learn by my error and not make the same mistake.
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loren, at 9/27/2005 12:38 AM
Hi Loren,
It is my understanding that prophecy, in the pure biblical sense of the word, has ceased with the completion of the Holy Bible. Is that not your understanding as well?
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Rose~, at 9/27/2005 12:41 AM
Hi Rose,
I believe that God's final revelation was in His Son, Jesus Christ (Heb 1:2). The Old Testament prophets spoke in ways that would introduce Him, and the Apostles looked back on His life to explain His significance.
This means that the Old Testament prophets were introducing 'new truths' in order to introduce Jesus Himself, but the apostles were not. There will be no more prophecy in the sense of 'new truths' now that God has openly manifested His Son.
However, even in the latter parts of the New Testament we still see prophets used for giving direction to the church, or to church leaders, with the safeguards I've mentioned in previous postings. 'New truths' are never introduced through any of this. We will see no more of that type of prophecy, though event-driven prophecy may still come forth.
Also, in the sense of the spiritual gift, prophecy may be used for the purpose of edification, exhortation and comfort. None of this is doctrinal either, it is chiefly designed to edify the body in the sense of encouragement.
Hope that helps.
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loren, at 9/27/2005 1:39 AM
I'll back Loren up, Rose. All new revelation from God that we must know and believe for our salvation was delivered once and for all by the death of the last Apostle. In Catholic theology, this is termed "general revelation". I'm not sure what Protestants would call it. However, Scripture clearly gives guidelines in the Bible about lesser forms of prophecy, such as what Loren has detailed in this module. Catholic theology again terms this as "private revelation" because it was delivered to private individuals for the edifying of specific congregations. They are not new teachings about Christ and salvation that are outside of the Bible, but rather, guidance and exhortations for living a more godly life in the community. These private revelations have never ceased in the entire life of the Church.
Loren, interesting post. I'll have to take the time to redigest it when I'm more awake, and hopefully healthier. Pray for me--I'm pretty sick with a severe cold, and I'm getting married in 11 days!
God bless!
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Gregory, at 9/27/2005 2:14 AM
Hi Gregory,
I've very sorry to hear you're not feeling well. Get some rest! And I prayed for you also.
When I got married I followed the heart of the Lord, as best I could, that was shown in Deut 24:5. For the first year I wouldn't accept any ministerial postions in the church. But during those days, Nancy and I had an ongoing Bible study as I taught her the bsics. Pretty much the same stuff this blog is addressing. She had never been discipled before.
Bottom line, how can one rule in the church of God when he can't run his own house? So get some rest and make your wife-to-be your priority at this time. God is watching and, aside from the question of the law of Moses, this still reflected a sentiment that was in His heart.
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loren, at 9/27/2005 3:15 AM
Loren,
Thanks for the explanation. Things like that make me nervous because of the obvious implications ... people can start adding to the doctrine given in the Bible ... like with tradition. I think I understand what you are saying, though, and your approach doesn't sound like it would invite extrabiblical revelation.
I was raised in a church that put tradtion ahead of scripture (actually all we ever learned about was tradition...the Bible was spoken of as being too difficult to apply to everyday life). I now thank God that His Word is enough! 2 Timothy 3:16
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Rose~, at 9/27/2005 10:24 AM
Hi Rose,
I do believe that God speaks to all of us, even the youngest Christians, in order to lead us. Because how else would we walk in the Spirit? (John 10:27)
However, prophecy in the sense of guiding the church is obviously going to be pretty exceptional. So I think God only chooses people for this office (office, in the sense of Eph 4:11,) who are really pretty astute in the Scriptures. And not just in the letter; they should also see His heart and mind, and be able to get a feel for His character in what they are studying.
The reason I think this is because the stakes are so high. Others may be called upon to act on their prophecy. In that sense the prophet is like a teacher, and must incur a stricter judgment for what he presents. So there is no better safeguard for him than knowing the Word of God:
Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: "That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged."
(Rom 3:4)
In a similar sense, in the Old Testament, there was an actual school of prophets that began under Samuel. The best understanding we have of this school is that it was like a seminary. One must know God's word to know His heart and mind, and apparently having this background and this desire, disciplined together, pleased God enough to choose and work through these persons.
In a similar way, in a New Testament sense, when Paul tells us to "Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy." (1 Cor 14:1) I think a practical part of expressing this desire to God is to:
"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
(2 Tim 2:15 KJV)
In other words, you want His Word? Study the Word! Because everything else we hear must fit within this framework.
By
loren, at 9/27/2005 11:55 AM
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