This week, we looked at the gift of prophecy and examined the different approaches to understanding this gift, defining it and asking our selves if this gift indeed is still in operation. My own position leans towards the Wayne Grudem view that prophecy still exists, but is not authoritative or revelatory. God can use it to encourage and exhort his people and it is a gift that bears witness to the Holy Spirit's dwelling in the church. Sadly because of so much abuse and "false prophecy" that has existed in the church, many have disregarded the authenticity or operation of the gift any longer. Sadly we take reactionary positions as a result. This week- I want to open it up to you. What do you think? Are you a cessationist? Are you a continuationist? Or are you a Charismatic? What has your experience taught you? Have you ever seen an authentic prophecy fulfilled? What about bad experiences with false prophecies? I am sure the answers are legion.
While I do believe the gift of prophecy is still in existence I am content to claim the truth of scripture:
Rev. 19:10 For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Recently this topic of prophecy and speaking in tongues has been on my mind a lot after our new church here in Wisconsin has made a stand that these things are no longer in use today and that they were used by God during the apostles era as a witness to their authenticity and thus bring in the new era of the church. Anyway, I picked up what I believe is an excellent in-depth look at this whole thing, it's a book by John MacArthur intitled Charistmatic Chaos.
ReplyDeleteMacArthur first and foremost explains what prophecy means when we see it being used in the NT, such as in Paul's writing to the Corinthians, that prophecy is not merely foretelling future events, but it was speaking truth about God that God had revealed to them, mainly the apostles. This was because back in the early church they didn't have the NT bible that we have today...the gospels and epistles were there, but not everyone had all of them as we do today, thus God used the gift of prophecy to help people know more about him and encourage them and build the unity in the church until a later time when the church gathered all the epistles together and formed what we know today to be the New Testament.
Anyway, a solid book that I highly recommend. I've especially been interested in this topic b/c I have close friends who I know to be solid Christians but have had "experiences" in speaking in tongues and being healed and have moved more toward this whole Charismatic movement b/c of their experiences, not necessarily b/c of what Scripture has to say. When experience trumps Scripture or dictates how we read Scripture, that is a very danger place to be...a place I don't think many people realize they find themselves in, it just kind of happens under the radar for most.
Godspeed,
John Krill