Prophesy in the Church Today

31. January 2009 by Annette Colon-Alvarenga.

In order to understand the purpose of prophetic ministry in the local church we must first understand what the prophetic ministry entails.

If you ask most anyone in the local church today regarding the meaning of prophecy, most can tell you that it has to do with foretelling the future. If you ask a Christian to give an example of prophesy, most would probably be able to point to prophecies in the Old Testament regarding the coming of the Messiah, the prophecies of Daniel or point to some other major prophet in the Old Testament. But rarely will someone talk about prophecy in the New Testament with perhaps the exception the Book of Revelations.

Most understandings of prophecy then relate to the Old Testament but not to the New Testament Church nor to the church today; this true of many churches with the exception perhaps of Charismatic and Pentecostal congregations. There seems to be a line drawn down the middle where on one side you have conservative Christian believers who simply state that the prophetic ministry ended at the completion of the New Testament and on the other side of that line are the believers who claim that all of the gifts are in operation today along with all of the offices. It is very difficult to find a middle ground on this issue. This has caused confusion and division in the Body of Christ.

What is prophecy?

Prophecy comes from the Greek word propheteia. According to the dictionary, prophecy is prediction of the future or end-time, “a special message from God, often uttered through human spokesman which indicate the divine will for mankind on earth and in heaven. This is a gift of the Holy Spirit as set forth in I Corinthians 12, 13 and 14.

In addition to prediction, prophecy also means proclaiming God’s Word. This type of prophecy is accomplished through preaching and teaching the God’s written Word. This type of prophecy is different from “prediction” or foretelling of future events in that it is limited to what has already been revealed in the written Word, while the former deals with revelation received through the Holy Spirit presently.

For the more conservative believers, only prophecy as it relates to proclaiming what has already been revealed through God’s written word exists in the Church today. Most believe that the spiritual gifts of prophecy, as well as all other spiritual gifts were temporary gifts limited to the apostolic age. (I Cor. 12:4 and 12:10, footnotes in The MacArthur Study Bible). Most reference I Corinthians 12:8-12 wherein Paul states that these supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit “will cease . . . will be done away with.” They would stop here. However, the Scripture says they will cease “when perfection comes,” when “we shall see face to face” and when “I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” Clearly “perfection” did not come at the completion of the canon of Scripture. “When we shall see face to face” and when we “shall know fully” even as we are now “fully known” can only mean when the Lord comes. There is nothing in God’s revealed Word that would suggest that the gifts ceased or were done away with at the end of the apostolic age and it is difficult to conceive that there is no longer a need for prophecy in the church today, in conjunction with other gifts, for the edification of the church. Given the state of the world today and controversies even within the Body of Christ, it would appear that the gifts are needed more now than ever.

In Mark 16:15-18, Jesus commissioned the apostles and sent them out with supernatural spiritual gifts:

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

We have always understood that this commission to “go into all the world” was not just limited to the apostles but rather was a command to all believers to carry out until Christ’s return. If we believe that to be true then it is only logical to believe that the same “signs” will accompany those who continue in the Great Commission. No distinction can be made for the gift of prophecy.

Old Testament prophecy v. New Testament prophecy

There is a distinction between Old Testament prophecy and prophecy in the New Testament and the church today.

The Old Testament prophets acted as God’s mouthpiece to deliver to the people of Israel the Lord’s message. They were God’s special messengers who spoke not of their own authority but of the authority of God himself. Their purpose was to “remind Israel of their covenant with the Lord, calling the disobedient to repentance and warning that the penalties of disobedience will soon be applied. (Citations omitted.)” These prophets delivered to the people the very words of God and therefore the words spoken had absolute divine authority. That absolute divine authority carried much weight and much responsibility, so much so that the penalty for even one false prophecy was death of the prophet. (Deuteronomy 18:20).

Also, because of the absolute divine authority with which prophets in the Old Testament spoke, disobeying or disbelieving the spoken words of the prophet was tantamount to disbelieving or disobeying God himself. Therefore, there was no testing or sifting of the prophecy delivered.

Comparing now New Testament prophecy we see something a bit different. Prophecy in the New Testament and the church today is one of nine (9) enumerated gifts of the Holy Spirit. (I Corinthians 12:7-11.) The gift works in direct conjunction with the Word of God.

In I Corinthians 14:1, Paul tells the church that they should especially desire the gift of prophecy so that the church may be edified. This then provides us with the reasoning for the gift of prophesy in the church today, that the Body of Christ may be edified. It is a gift that is available to all believers who are filled with the Spirit of God, as the Spirit wills, who open themselves whole-heartedly to receive the gift. That infilling of the Holy Spirit requires that we truly fear God and want to walk in obedience to His will; that we come before God with a humble heart wanting His way; that our hearts be pure and we have a desire for God’s nature in us; and that we desire God’s fullness in our lives.

Thereare some obvious distinctions between New Testament prophecies and prophecy today and Old Testament prophecy as set forth above. One main difference is the authority given to the prophecy. In the New Testament, the words of the apostles were taken as revelation they received directly from Christ and are therefore considered divinely authoritative as the Word of God. From that we have the Scripture as contained in the New Testament.

In the church today, those gifted with the prophetic do speak through revelation of the Holy Spirit. However, their words have no divine authority and Paul warns us of the need to test the prophecy. I Corinthians 14:29 states: “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.” In I Thessalonians 5:20-22, Paul warns us not quench the Spirit by despising prophecies but that we must test prophecies and “hold fast to what is good.”

Dangers of Prophecy in the Church Today

It was clear even in Jesus’ day of the danger of false prophets and false teachers. Jesus warned, “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many” (Matthew 24:11), and “[f]or false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” (Matthew 24:24)

As they were in those days, they are present today. There has been much controversy regarding prophecy today and modern day prophets because of the many abuses reported through the media. And with media being available 24/7 in today’s world, there is no doubt that many more will be uncovered. Unfortunately for the church, it is only the negative that is highly publicized giving the cessationist more reason to denounce the gift of prophecy in the modern day church.

Church leaders have a responsibility and an obligation to teach the church standards by which to test whether the gifts are truly of the Spirit of God or not. It is a bit unnerving the lackadaisical attitude by church leaders who bring into the congregation “prophets” without first instructing the church regarding the gift, its purpose in the church today, the manner by which the prophecies should be tested and/or interpreted when given to the church or individually.

Church leaders must be diligent in instructing the congregation that all prophecy must be measured by the Word of God. No exceptions allowed. They must be taught that the Word of God is above all experience and emotion. They must also be taught what the Word of God teaches us about false prophets. Jesus warned that they would be as “ravenous wolves.” They exist in the church today. The church must be instructed that the Bible teaches that false prophets can and do perform signs and lying wonders. For these reasons it is of the utmost importance that we seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit so that we can discern these lying spirits when they are present in our churches.

Church leaders must develop protocol for the prophetic ministry in the local church. The church should develop first and foremost, training for the leadership as it relates to the prophetic ministry. Those selected should be proficient in the Word so that any prophecy delivered can be properly tested.

The church should institute a mentoring program of some sort for those gifted in the prophetic so that the gift may develop and establish some form of accountability for those persons. Training must include the understanding that when one believes they have received a word of revelation or vision, they are to proclaim only that which they have received by revelation, no more and no less. Because God is a god of order, no prophecy should be blurted during a service. Rather, the person receiving the revelation should first go to at least two leaders or elders who are gifted in the prophetic and let that person know the revelation received. It would then be up to those persons to determine whether the revelation is founded in Scripture and will be of edification or encouragement to the congregation and thereby allow the prophecy to be given before the congregation. If it relates to a personal or individual prophesy, the same principle should apply before the prophetic word is given to the individual or individuals.

The church should instruct the congregation that prophecy today does not carry the same weight as Scripture but must be measured by God’s Word. They must understand that the word given has no divine authority. They should also understand that if the prophetic word speaks to future events, they seek God as it relates to the timing of the event and wait on God. No one should, because of a prophecy received, make major life changing decisions without seeking God first and waiting for God’s time for the word to come to pass. They should not try to “help” God along in the fulfillment of the prophecy. And lastly, if the Spirit of God shows them that the prophecy was not correct, they should simply discard it.

Absent formal protocol and adequate instruction as it relates to the prophetic ministry could provide for a free-for-all forums which, instead of edifying the church, might divide it.

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