The Word that Pierces.

      I am interested in giving an even-handed evaluation of those in ministry.  I am not out to criticize as I have seen many people in the “Christian” community do, claiming that they are exposing false prophets.  It is so easy to judge those in ministry when we do not agree with them or we believe that we could do a better job, but in reality we need to take the log out of our own eye before we can even “try” to take the speck out of someone elses.

       I have heard time and again that prophets must not ever give a prophecy that does not come true or they are from Satan.  I must admit that I see where they can get that from scriptures when taking out of the whole context from the Bible, but that is certainly not a Biblical view, but a legalistic and judgemental view.  The interesting thing that there are many people who were imperfect who the Bible called prophets such as Miriam, she was called a prophetess (Exodus  15;20) and yet later she denounced Moses (Numbers 12) on the basis of his wife.  God did not call her to judge Moses who was providing guidance for Israel, and she was judged for it. 

      The mistake that people often make is that they claim that someone who is a prophet is perfect (by perfect I mean they can never make a mistake in prophecy).  Now, do most people say this in those exact words?  Absolutely not?  That would be a generalization.  However, it is in the attitude of the person when they make such claims.  No man or phephet is perfect even Moses just before entering the promised land sinned (Numbers 20:1-13)which caused him to not enter the promised land until the transfiguration.  God told him to speak to the rock, but he hit it and spoke to it, so does that make him a false prohpet because he did that?  No, it just shows that even people who are close to the Lord, sometimes do what they think is best or add things on to what the Lord says rather than sticking to what God said.

        Deuteronomy 13: ”1 If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. 5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.”  

      In this example we see that God told Israel that if a person prophesied or had dream that they said was in reference to them worshipping other gods they were false.  The text from the Bible that most people use to say that a person is a false prophet is this one:

       Deuteronomy 18: “14 The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so. 15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”

 17 The LORD said to me: “What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. 19 If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account. 20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death.”

 21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD ?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.”

      This verse especially is used frequently.  This message is very specific in that it is Moses explaining how ISrael was to know who the prophet is that God raised up for them.  But today we have the freedom to go God for ourselves, at that time they could not read the Bible, the Bible was being writen so the only thing they could go off of was Moses’ word.  That is why it was so important that he be completely accurate or he be stoned, even then God still left room for mistakes even with Moses.  Still, we want to say that just because someone has a few phophecies that do not sem to make sense or maybe they believe in supernatural experiences that make us uncomfortable, we want to call them blasphemers, heretics, satan’s minions,  antichrists…

       1 John 2: “18Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

 20But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.^[d] 21I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. 23No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

 24See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25And this is what he promised us—even eternal life.

 26I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.”

        A person who is not from the Lord will deny Jesus Christ.  It says that when we deny Jesus Christ as Lord we do not have the father, but if we do acknowledge Jesus than that would mean we have the Father.  Which would mean if a person acknowledges Jesus as their Lord and savior, than they would also be in relationship with the Father.  Yes, Satan knows Jesus is Lord, but he would never glorify Jesus and will always try to convince us that we do not need Jesus for salvation. 

     We are to test the spirits (1 John 4:1-6), but we are not called to be judgemental.  We are called to be loving in our rebukes as God is love (1 John 4:7-21).  I do not believe it is a coencidence that in the same book and chapter that speaks much about how to know who a false phophet is, John reminds them that if they do not love they are not in God because God is love. 

      So, when you are tempted to rebuke someone, stop and pray and ask God if you are doing it with a condemning spirit or if you can say it in love.  If you can say what you feel you need to say in love, then it is from the Lord, otherwise it is just a desire that you have and not a prompting of the holy spirit.

       God Bless ~Amy