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.
1 Cor 13 mentions the passing of tongues in verse 8, while "But when that which is perfect is come" is not till verse 10. It's not at all clear whether the passing of tongues and prophecy occurs before or at the same time as the coming of the perfect.
What that passages teaches is that faith, hope and charity are the gifts to be cherished. Tongues and prophecy are not nearly as important.
What history records is that tongues and major prophecy did pretty much cease. Neo-Montanism
The only major prophecies I'm aware of since the Apostle Paul are the St. Malachy's prophecy of the popes, made in the 1100's. And maybe the Fatima vision. And neither one of those was made by someone considered to be a major prophet.
Revelations speaks of two major prophets that will be in Israel during the Great Tribulation. (Rev 11:1-14) Because of the mention of these two, and the fact that the revelation of Salvation was complete with Jesus and the Apostles. And in light of the passage above, many of us believe that the tongues and prophecy in particular ceased after the apostolic age and major prophecy won't return until these two.
That's not to say that God doesn't still speak to people or is limited in anyway. He can give a prophecy to anyone whenever he wants. But people who claim these gifts are viewed a little skeptical by many of us. People who claim to be "a prophet" are viewed extremely critical by many of us. And I see no one out there that is recognized as a prophet that is preaching to the nations with specific prophecies.
1 Cor 13 mentions the passing of tongues in verse 8, while "But when that which is perfect is come" is not till verse 10. It's not at all clear whether the passing of tongues and prophecy occurs before or at the same time as the coming of the perfect.
What that passages teaches is that faith, hope and charity are the gifts to be cherished. Tongues and prophecy are not nearly as important.
What history records is that tongues and major prophecy did pretty much cease. Neo-Montanism
The only major prophecies I'm aware of since the Apostle Paul are the St. Malachy's prophecy of the popes, made in the 1100's. And maybe the Fatima vision. And neither one of those was made by someone considered to be a major prophet. Both are considered controversial.
Revelations speaks of two major prophets that will be in Israel during the Great Tribulation. (Rev 11:1-14) Because of the mention of these two, and the fact that the revelation of Salvation was complete with Jesus and the Apostles. And in light of the passage above, many of us believe that the tongues and prophecy in particular ceased after the apostolic age and major prophecy won't return until these two.
That's not to say that God doesn't still speak to people or is limited in anyway. He can give a prophecy to anyone whenever he wants. But people who claim these gifts are viewed a little skeptical by many of us. People who claim to be "a prophet" are viewed extremely critical by many of us. And I see no one out there that is recognized as a prophet that is preaching to the nations with specific prophecies.
God gave us brains and expects us to use them. I don't think God asks for completely blind faith. God has put knowledge of himself in our hearts. He has given us consciences and the Holy Spirit to help reveal truth to us.
It is this innate knowledge and experience that brings us to recognize the truth of scripture.
Scripture is also authenticated through the demonstration of God's foreknowledge (prophecy) and God's power (miracles). Scripture records that all of Creation speaks to God's power.
So it is both with the Mind and heart and the realization of what has been revealed to us, that we come to recognize God and God's scripture.
Once we realize that scripture is from God, then of course we would be fools to let our own experience lead us to pick and choose what parts of God's revelation we want to believe.
But we are in fact required to use our brains and hearts to make the determination in the first place. And it's useful to examine the false religions.
Both Islam and Mormonism include large elements of truth from the original scripture. But then they go on to cast doubt on the original scripture so they can introduce their own doctrines that are foriegn and contradictory to those scriptures.
Again this requires using your brain to distinguish what's the real scripture from what's the fake. What came first and what's the distortion? What was authenticated with miracles and prophecies and what was not?