• Home
  • GracEmail Ministry
    • What is GracEmail?
    • Latest GracEmail
    • frequently asked questions
    • GracEmail Category Index
  • Written Ministry
    • Articles
    • Special Bible Studies
    • Books
    • Online Books
    • Worship Resources
    • Interviews
  • Videos
  • About
    • The Personal Pages
      • Photo Albums
    • My Professional Life
  • Contact

Edward Fudge Ministries

Joyously drawing water from the springs of salvation Isaiah 12:2-3

You are here: Home / GracEmail / supernatural works / gift of prophecy / PROPHECY: SAFEGUARDS

PROPHECY: SAFEGUARDS

“If we say that God speaks through prophetic words today,” someone asks, “do we not open the door to every form of abuse and exploitation?”

* * *

Obviously this very beneficial gift can be abused or misused, as can any other gift (including, for example, uninspired preaching). Scripture therefore provides rules, caveats, safeguards and tests. Christians have always been cautioned not to believe every claim of a divine word but to test the spirits (1 John 4:1). For 2,000 years, these tests have involved examining the message (1 Thes. 5:20-22) as well as the messenger. That includes testing his or her personal faith (1 John 4:2-3; 1 Cor. 12:3; Rev. 19:10) and also his or her personal character (Matt. 7:15-20).

An early second-century Christian writing called The Didache suggests that one who asks for money is a false prophet — and that was even before television. It is still true, nearly 2,000 years after Paul, that prophecy is nothing apart from love (1 Cor. 13:2), and that, like all grace-gifts, it is to be exercised constructively, with self-control and in an orderly fashion (1 Cor. 14:26, 29-33).

The church fathers attest to the grace-gift of prophecy well into the fifth century. Unfortunately, the mainstream Church, whose hierarchy felt threatened by such ministry by “ordinary” people, responded to extremists and charlatans in a manner with which we may easily identify. It stopped desiring prophecy — and it began to despise prophetic utterances. The rest, as they say, is history.

For specific, detailed stories of prophecies among the Scottish Reformers, see chapter five of Jack Deere’s book Surprised by the Voice of God” (Zondervan 1996).

Filed Under: gift of prophecy, GracEmail, supernatural works

Search

SEARCH more than 1,200 gracEmails by verse or word below:
Enter a term in the search box and press enter. You can also further restrict the search to a sub-category by using the drop-down menu.


Sign Up to gracEmail

Click HERE, then fill in the blanks and click “Subscribe.”

Or send a completely BLANK email to:
join-edwardfudge@injesus.netatlantic.com

  • Home
  • Site Map
  • Latest GracEmail
  • Written Ministry
  • About
  • Contact

Copyright © 2023 Edward Fudge Ministries · KT Websites · Log in