I could've guessed that from the headline of the article.
Julio, why not (re)post this in the Religion Forum?
There are four ways to tell a true from false prophet:
If the “prophet” or “prophetess” (Note the quotes):
1. …has prophesies that aren’t 100 percent accurate 100 percent of the time (or are manipulated to come “true”) = False.
2. …points to any “Jesus” other than the biblical one = False.
3. …uses supernatural or occultist techniques used in his or her prophecy = False.
4. …has a rebellious, unrepentant spirit = False.
All FOUR of these tests should be applied, as many false prophets can pass two or three of them. If he or she fails at any one of these, = FALSE.
What if somebody prophesies something and it comes true?
Should you listen to them? Check out what Deuteronomy says in Chapter 13 verse 1:
“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you.”
So the Bible is saying that just because someone prophesies the future—it doesn’t mean they are a true prophet. Further, it says God will allow certain prophets to arise who are false who will perform signs and wonders, to test you to find out if you love Him. Then you are to test these prophets by their DOCTRINE! If they are preaching a different Christ or it doesn’t matter— you are not to listen to them.
Name truely Calvinist churches that do any of this.
Go ahead. I'll wait.
I love R.C. Sproul, but here he is contradicting his OWN THEOLOGY.
Why? Because he believes “Sola scriptura”, he must accept the word of God on its own with no supporting outside evidence.
On the other hand, HE IS SAYING HIS EXPERIENCE TRUMPS SCRIPTURE! Never! This is the error of a majority of pastors/teachers - they draw their interpretation of scripture from their experience. “My experience confirms scripture to be true.” THIS ITSELF IS ERROR!
Because it places my experience as a higher authority than scripture.
Nowhere in scripture is a time when prophecy ends discussed other than the end of I Corin. 13, which refers to “when the perfect comes” - i.e., when Christ returns and His kingdom is set up.
I too have heard 100x more “flesh originated” prophecies than I have real ones - but that is due to the lack of spiritual maturity in the church - not because scripture teaches it.
My experience may TOTALLY contradict scripture.
Yet scripture is yet true.
PS: This is a common error of most pastors/teachers who after teaching a truth from scripture, then attempt to “prove” the validity of that particular truth from their own experience. “I know it’s true because I’ve experienced it!” Sorry, this is error. Scripture is above and a higher authority than your experience. By about a million miles.
A rejection of modern prophecy embraces the ideas within Preterism, that “the clock long ago ran out”, that mankind was taught what to do, so either succeeds or fails based on that with no additional ‘help’ or commands.
This is a tricky concept within Christianity, but one that should be considered, because it places the responsibility for life on the living. Like a small child being sent to school for the first day, the child feels abandoned, but the parents have to assume that they will do what they have been taught so far. Eventually they come home to their parents, wiser for their experiences.
Seems to me that both sides could be guilty of interpreting scripture based on personal experiences rather than interpreting our experiences based on scripture.
Stop him, Lord! He is charging the air with disbelief!