Modern Prophets Debunked. (376)

bible devotionals are useful tools, but not all are created equal. Keith shares one that applies some serious false teaching. It’s a good example of starting with a doctrine:” everyone is a prophet,” and searching out random scriptures that seem to support it. The problem is that when taken in context, none of the scripture references support the doctrine.

The claim: Living a prophetic life is something that all believers can do.

The devotion author defines being prophetic as recognizing the voice of the Father and communicating His heart accurately. Fair enough. Miriam Websters Dictionary offers a more rounded definition, but that is a good simplification.

Prophecy is surely a gift from God. Possibly all believers should desire it, but not all are suited for it.

A prophet reveals God’s words, will, and intention to others. Moses stood in a fearsome spot, speaking with God in a close relationship. When all the people were called to gather round to receive a word from God, they cowered in fear. The experience was more than they could handle

None of this devotional teaching makes much sense in the area of prophecy. The scripture references combine to beautifully describe a spirit-filled life. This kind of spirit led a life that all Christians should strive to live.

Christians should reflect His nature. The author states, |” We should have a recognizable identity, one which is stamped on us the moment we accept Jesus Christ as Lord. |” True, because we receive the Holy Spirit at the moment of regeneration, and we have full access to him for all of life’s needs.

Prophetic nature, more correctly the nature of a spirit-led life, is not related to your personality traits. We should resemble God’s spiritual nature.

Butt how do we achieve such a nature?

The author suggests” it must come from divine revelation. God is the source of all spiritual wisdom;”
(OK, I’m with you on that).

He goes on:” without spiritual sight, we cannot operate in the prophetic.
(Wait. The prophetic? What is the prophetic? A spiritual nature, a physical nature, or something else? Is spiritual sight. Is he referring to the Holy Spirit? Without the Holy Spirit, all this talk of a prophetic nature becomes a discussion in the occult.).

The author writes,” The book of James describes the nature of this wisdom, (Correct, James teaches on wisdom, and what a Christian life looks like. In no wise does it mention being a prophet).

James 3

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.
(James 3:17)

” Being prophetic means to be attentive to these character qualities in our lives and our ministry. |” (No, absolutely not. I’m sure that all the biblical prophets had those characteristics, but even if that same gift is still given today, the first application for all believers is in living a wise and spirit-led life. If a prophet is an elevated office, then not all can become a prophet. If all can become a prophet, then the elevation of the office is lost.)

James 3:17; 1 Cor 2:12-13