In the early 2000’s at the church we were members of, we had a Pastor from a local church speak at one of our evening services. He had been a Pastor for decades, and was also renowned as a bonified ‘Prophet’.

At the end of the service, he chose to “bless us” with some prophecies. This wasn’t any future prediction of anything Biblical, but rather personal to each of the recipients.

After singling a few people out with various predictions, he made eye contact with us. Then he said  “You have had trouble conceiving, but a year from now you will be holding your healthy baby girl.”

I never know what I am supposed to do with these prophecy things. Should I jump up and down with glee and shout “Hallelujah!”? Should I say “Thanks”? Should I drop to my knees and pray?

Now, it was true that we had problems in that area. We came into our marriage knowing that we could probably never have children naturally together.

But we took the news as confirmation from God and were overjoyed. We hung on that word, waiting for it to happen. If this guy was a prophet, then surely, it must happen?

The 12 months passed and not only was there not a baby girl to hold, there was also none conceived. Obviously, we were devastated.

Fast forward a few years, and my wife required a medical procedure that ensured that natural childbirth could never happen.

My heart was conflicted:

• How could a prophecy from God not come to pass?
• Was this guy really a prophet speaking on behalf of God?
• Did we misunderstand what he said?
• Had we done something to negate the promise in the prophecy?
• Was God testing us?

These were some of the hard questions we were wrestling with.

Over time we became bitter towards that prophecy, and we now see that Pastor in a different light (he has since passed).

This became the catalyst to a long personal journey of discovering true Biblical discernment in the area of prophets.

Now I have always been a little skeptical when it comes to the Pentecostal / Charismatic sector of Christianity. More so because I believe that it focuses unhealthily towards the emotional and experiential. When emotions take over, Biblical discernment takes a back seat. I have personally witnessed some crazy goings-on in the name of Biblical prophecy, that scripture would never condone. Does the Holy Spirit ever contradict God’s Word? I think you would agree that the obvious answer is “No, never!”. And the same would apply vice-versa, God’s Word will never contradict the Holy Spirit.

Before we go any further, we need to study how the scriptures define a true prophet.

A prophet reveals present and future events of the day. For instance, in Isaiah 1:2-6 we read of part of a prophecy of Isaiah concerning the wickedness and corruption of the people, and what was going to happen to them as a result:

2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!
For the LORD has spoken:
“I have nourished and brought up children,
And they have rebelled against Me;
3 The ox knows its owner
And the donkey its master’s crib;
But Israel does not know,
My people do not consider.”

4 Alas, sinful nation,
A people laden with iniquity,
A brood of evildoers,
Children who are corrupters!
They have forsaken the LORD,
They have provoked to anger
The Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away backward.

5 Why should you be stricken again?
You will revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick,
And the whole heart faints.
6 From the sole of the foot even to the head,
There is no soundness in it,
But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores;
They have not been closed or bound up,
Or soothed with ointment.

Isaiah was called by the Lord to be a Prophet to the people (Is 6:1-8). He was given the exact words to tell them. And scripture reveals via other books that everything happened exactly the way expounded in the prophecy. There was no vagueness in the events to take place.

But not all prophecies were doom and gloom. Isaiah also prophesied in Isaiah 25 of grand visions to encourage the people:

1 O LORD, You are my God.
I will exalt You,
I will praise Your name,
For You have done wonderful things;
Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
2 For You have made a city a ruin,
A fortified city a ruin,
A palace of foreigners to be a city no more;
It will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore the strong people will glorify You;
The city of the terrible nations will fear You.
4 For You have been a strength to the poor,
A strength to the needy in his distress,
A refuge from the storm,
A shade from the heat;
For the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
5 You will reduce the noise of aliens,
As heat in a dry place;
As heat in the shadow of a cloud,
The song of the terrible ones will be diminished.

6 And in this mountain
The LORD of hosts will make for all people
A feast of choice pieces,
A feast of wines on the lees,
Of fat things full of marrow,
Of well-refined wines on the lees.
7 And He will destroy on this mountain
The surface of the covering cast over all people,
And the veil that is spread over all nations.
8 He will swallow up death forever,
And the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces;
The rebuke of His people
He will take away from all the earth;
For the LORD has spoken.

9 And it will be said in that day:
“Behold, this is our God;
We have waited for Him, and He will save us.
This is the LORD;
We have waited for Him;
We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”

Fast forward to modern times, and we see that Ephesians 2:19-22 explains how the healthy modern church should view prophecy:

19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

So the prophets and apostles were the foundation for all of us.

Pentecostals and Charismatics (and those fellowships aligned to the false teaching of the New Apostolic Reformation) take this to mean that every church needs a new foundation of modern day apostles and prophets, to usher in fresh revelations.

But the reference is not to present and future foundations, but foundations from the past. There is only one church, built on the one foundation of the prophets and apostles of old, with Christ as the Chief cornerstone. A building does not need foundations built on top of foundations. That would be pointless and non-sensical. There are no modern day prophets and apostles in the true sense.

The Greek word for apostle in Ephesians is the word apostolos (ἀπόστολος). It literally means “to send” or “dispatch”.

The Greek word for prophet in Ephesians is the word prophētēs (προφήτης). It literally means “one who speaks forth”

You could say that there are apostles and prophets (small letters) in the church, in the sense that they still have the job of one who is sent, and one who speaks forth. But it is not a license to spout any “fresh revelation”, but to carry out the task to spread the gospel, built on the already laid foundation of the Biblical apostles and prophets gone before.

OK, so with that out of the way, how am I supposed to deal with our “prophecy” that never came to pass?

Well, scripture tells us the answer to that also.

In Deuteronomy 18, God promises the people a prophet that will guide them and keep them from idolatry. This could have been a number of prophets that will come throughout Israel’s history, but ultimately points to the Messiah.

He also, however, warns them that there will be false prophets – ones who claim they speak for God, but do not. How do we know the difference?

15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, 16 according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’
17 “And the LORD said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. 18 I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 19 And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’—22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

So how do I know that the Pastor that delivered that prophecy was a false prophet? Because when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously…

He did not speak on behalf of God. I can boldly make this claim because scripture provides the measuring stick – not myself, not the Pentecostals or Charismatics, nor other misguided folk who delve in these divinations. I can make this assertion confidently because with God as my shield I shall not be afraid of him. 

A lot of folk might say (and have actually said to me) that I am ‘stifling the Holy Spirit’ when I speak like this – that I have no place in my heart for the Spirit’s movement. To this I would argue that the Holy Spirit is one of order, not one of chaos. He will not defy scripture and run amok with false sayings.

I know now that God had a specific plan for our marriage – but one that does not involve us having a daughter. How do I know this? Because it never happened. We have found peace with this, because we know that God’s will is always sovereign, regardless of what the false prophets say.

Just last weekend I attended a church celebration, one I attended as a child up until my mid-twenties. After the evening service, a woman I had spoken to earlier came and sat beside me. She told me that when she spoke earlier, she sensed the Holy Spirit saying to her that I was a protector, and that I will use this gift to protect. Immediately my discernment radar went off. I asked her “what am I protecting, or am to protect?”. She said she didn’t know, that was all the Holy Spirit said. I mentioned that it was pretty vague of the Holy Spirit. 

What am I to do with this? It was a ‘prophecy’ which had no specifics, not outcome for me to measure. I cannot test its’ validity, as there is nothing to measure it against, and no plan to reach a goal that doesn’t exist. I therefore will waste no time trying to decipher a non-specific ‘prophecy’. God has other work for me to do, and I have no time to chase vagaries that may or may not be true.  I’m sure He’s capable of finding a better way to reveal anything according to his beautiful plan and will.

I have seen and read many stories of people that hang off prophecies. Their lives end in ruin – all because they are always in panic, chasing a vagary. They live off these prophecies and words of knowledge that are untested by scripture. They get burnt out. They often walk away from God because they are unfulfilled in life. Their trust ultimately is not in God and His Word, but in themselves.

I was one of these people when first told the ‘good’ news by that Pastor long ago. It never turned out to be good, because the prophet was presumptuous and did not speak for God.

I would much rather now place my faith fully in God, and the promises of His Word, and be guided by His sovereign will and grace.

Blessings

Craig.