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TheLineOfFire.org and click subscribe. So, I happened to see on internet, I was asked to do an interview on one YouTube channel about evaluating this prophecy. Was it a true prophecy or not?
How do we evaluate it? And I was sent a link to look at and it was from one anti-charismatic website and it gave a list of alleged prophecies this man has given in the past. They were all false and didn't come to pass, etc.
Why should we listen to him? And then as I was just looking at some things on YouTube, I came across some videos that had very quickly gone viral and throwing the whole thing out. It's nonsense. None of this is real prophecy, etc., etc. So, I found it interesting. Honestly, it's a little bit sad. But some cessation is like, oh no, what if this is a real prophecy?
What do we do with it? In other words, that's going to rock your world. If there's a real prophetic world, it's going to rock your world. And you've got to kind of figure out why it can't be God, why it's not God.
Seriously? Now, I don't believe the primary purpose of New Testament prophecy is to be predicting political events unless there is a redemptive reason for it, some reason we need to know it for prayer or for action or to recognize the hand of God at work. Otherwise, New Testament prophets, the calling on New Testament prophets is not to be prognosticators. We're not to look to them. Okay, what's going to happen here? What do you see the weather forecast coming?
What do you see there? I don't see that as a primary function of New Testament prophets. But if I just put out a survey to everyone that we touch, let's say our social media reach is, I don't know, 900,000 million people direct, but then by multiplication, millions or whatever our radio reach is, God knows. But if I could survey everybody in my reach, let's just say it's a few million people, God knows however many it is, and said, did you have any time in your life where there was a specific prophetic word that you were given that ended up being absolutely true blue and it was supernatural or that you had for someone that was absolutely true blue and supernatural and undeniable? I imagine in response we would get thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of examples.
If all those people actually got that message, I believe we would get countless thousands of people saying, oh yeah, absolutely. For example, when I was 20 years old and at a crossroads and I was at this meeting and I was praying about, Lord, do I go into this field or do I go into that field? And there was a prophetic brother, he didn't know me from Adam, and he said, I see you with two roads in front of you, and one is going in this direction into this field, and the other is going in this direction into this field, and even though the one in this direction, it seems to be the less logical, the Lord's telling you to do it, you know in your gut you should do it, he's confirming it, go ahead and do it, and you will make a significant impact on that field. And it's very specific and detailed, and it happens like that, like whoa, that was the loving hand of God helping confirm what was in my heart, what was in my spirit. And so many of us could point to specific words that were spot on and that were also predictive and they came to pass, and then countless thousands more about something that was supernaturally revealed or supernaturally spoken.
And I'm going to come to Scripture in a moment in terms of what the Bible says about prophecy, but the idea that, oh no, we've got to prove that it's not really a prophecy, it's not really from God, seriously? Rather than say, well, maybe our theology is wrong here, maybe let's look at the word again, or maybe God just chose to do it one time or something. But the idea that now you have to scramble to disprove it, you know how many documented healings there are on record? Documented, glorious healings, amazing stories to the glory of God, to the honor of the name of Jesus? You go around trying to disprove them, you'll spend the rest of your life trying to disprove them, and hopefully along the way you'll stop trying to disprove and you'll start worshipping God and thanking him that he still heals. And not all the time, not every case, but many times he does in many glorious ways, and many people are touched through it, lives saved, and people coming to the Lord and Jesus being exalted.
But I just want to give you a tiny example in my own life. I was a new believer on fire for God, praying, worshipping in the word all the time. Every time the church doors were open, we were there, my friends and I, we were there. So I'm now joining in, our little band would come in and join with the pastor's wife, she played piano, sometimes her brother-in-law would play, he was a jazz guitarist, now he was saved, he would play. And as a bass player, guitar player, and me, just a few little hymns and a little worship, and we'd play a few minutes.
I'd pack up my drums, take them in, take them out, but we were that committed. And every time we'd go to worship, I would just feel the presence of God, the joy would be there, this awesome sense of his love. And I'm in a service, and it had been like a day, day and a half, I just hadn't felt this presence. It was so unusual because when I would pray, I would really feel this nearness. And we were worshiping, and I'm sitting there on my drum chair, and I said, Lord, it would just be so good if I could feel your presence again. And next moment, the joy came, that flood of life came, that sense of his nearness, and I felt embarrassed. Like, oh, you can't even make it a couple days without feeling God's presence?
Come on, what kind of baby are you? That's what I'm feeling. At that moment, that split second, the pastor spoke in tongues and then interpreted, which was not what would normally happen. Normally, someone else would deliver a message in tongues, and he would interpret it.
He spoke in tongues, and then he interpreted it. And it was, the Lord says to you, I am with you always, even to the end of the age, whether you feel me or not. The only time I ever heard a prophetic word like that in my almost 53 years in the Lord, and thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of services, and it was at that precise moment, and it was for me. Now, when you multiply things like that in your life over a period of many, many, many years, and many with tremendous specificity, and very, very clearly God speaking because of the information that is revealed, or how relevant it is to you, or it helps, a key time and a key moment in your life. One of my friends was serving as a pastor in Gig Harbor, and he was sensing it was the end of his time there as a pastor. And a prophetic brother didn't know where he was based, had a word from his brother, the gig is up. The gig is up. And it was further confirmation.
I know it's a little thing. One dear woman, prophetic sister with the Lord now, she was going to speak at a banquet, and the Lord laid on her heart, you are going to have a word for everyone at this banquet. And so how can I have a word for everyone at the banquet? When she gets to the room, there are about a dozen people, I remember the exact number, but a fairly small number, sitting at a table, and she thought, oh, it's just a small dinner here.
I can minister prophetically to the people here. And then the doors swing open, that was just the lead table, and there are hundreds of people there. And she says to herself, how can I have a word for everyone, am I going to stay here all night and all morning, ministering to each person individually?
How am I going to do that? And just then, she looks in her, she sees a silver-haired woman sitting at the table there. Silver-haired woman, sitting at the table, and she hears the Lord say to her, keep on truckin'.
Keep on truckin'. She says, well, I can't, that's a grateful dead saw, it would keep on truckin'. It's a silver-haired, keep on truckin', but she knows the Lord's telling her. And she says, sister, the Lord wants you to hear his word, the Lord is saying to you, keep on truckin'.
And the whole place burst into applause, it was a word for everybody there. What happened was, her husband had recently died and owned a big trucking business. And the church was in prayer for this widow, should you keep the trucking business going, or close it down, or sell it, and they were all praying with the sister about it, this widow, and here someone comes in, doesn't know anything about it, and says, the Lord says, keep on truckin'. Don't tell me that was a coincidence, and she didn't go investigating first. I knew the woman that gave this word, and she was a woman of integrity.
I give example after example after example of some of these I've used before, because they're so jarring in terms of their reality. One brother knows, I heard him directly tell the story, that he was ministering to a woman on a prayer line, and he heard the Lord say to her, say to her, dead bird, said his words to her, dead bird. And he said, Lord, I'll be a dead bird if I speak that. But he felt the Lord said, the Lord wants me to speak these words to you, dead bird. And she begins weeping, weeping, weeping, and experiences this deep inner healing of her emotions that night.
What had happened was, she got orphaned as a girl, was brought to an orphanage, doesn't know anybody there to her, this cold, hostile setting. The only thing she had from her life, from her past, was her pet bird in a bird cage. And put the bird cage in a room, and they said, no, you can't have the bird here at night.
The bird has to go outside. So they hung the bird cage outside overnight, and when she woke up in the morning, the bird was dead, and it traumatized her, and she carried a wound into her adulthood because of that trauma. And here, in the love of God, just speaking those words, God was saying, I saw your pain there, and I saw the pain you've been in, and I care about you. And just those words, dead bird, set her free and liberated her. There's example after example like that, and words about people's future that have come to pass, words that were spoken over me, from when I was a long-haired, just got saved as a long-haired hippie, and looked like nobody and nothing, and leaders speaking a word over me that's proved to be very accurate.
These are taking place day and night. So if, as a cessationist, you feel you've got to disprove every one of them, you're going to be busy into eternity. In fact, once you're into eternity, you won't bother disproving them because you'll find out God was really doing these things in the earth. So we're going to come back with what Scripture says about prophecy, and then talk a little bit more about how we evaluate a prophecy, or some of the claims to be a prophet, or a prophet. We'll do all that on the other side of the break, right here on The Line of Fire. Welcome back, friends, to The Line of Fire.
Michael Brown, delighted as always to be with you. And we're going to get into the Word now. I gave you a bunch of examples of contemporary prophetic words, we call them words of knowledge as well, where clearly the Spirit spoke, and there was great fruit that came out of it, and it was to the glory of the Lord. And none of it added to the Bible. None of it added to what the Bible says about God. None of it added to what the Bible says about the plan of salvation.
Just like most prophetic words through history were not recorded, the schools of the prophets in the Old Testament, for the most part, we don't have any of the words they prophesied, and in the New Testament we know there is a lot of prophecy, but very few of the prophetic utterances are recorded, so most prophecy through history has not been recorded. These are words from the Lord for specific situations, but they are not THE Word of God, they are not THE Bible, they are not binding for all. And what's interesting is that even many in the past, past centuries, who didn't believe that healing was normative today, that tongues in prophecy were normative, they still believed you could hear the voice of God. There are many cessationists today who still believe God can speak to you and lead. There are others who say, no, if you say that, you're adding to the Bible.
Well, no, not at all. The Bible is THE Word of God in its own class completely, binding on all for all time. It tests us, we don't test it. And then there are specific words that God can speak, leading, witness of the Spirit within our spirit, confirmations, different things, prophecies that are not part of the Bible, that don't add to the Bible, don't take away. If it says anything God's saying, then it's adding to the Bible.
No, that's your definition. That's not the Bible's definition. So, Acts the second chapter, Peter is preaching, and he's explaining this phenomenon of what's happening with these foreign languages being spoken, these new tongues.
And he says, the people are not drunk. No, Acts 2 16, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. And then he says this, in the last days God says, I'll pour out my Spirit on all people. Now, he's not quoting there, let's say he was preaching in Greek. He's not quoting the Septuagint, because the Septuagint doesn't start with the words in the last days. If he's preaching in Hebrew, he's not quoting from the Hebrew Bible. If he's preaching in Aramaic, he's not quoting from the Targum, the Aramaic translation paraphrase. The words in the last days are not found in the Hebrew Bible, they're not found in the Septuagint in Greek, they're not found in the Targums in Aramaic.
They're Peter's own words. He's inserting them to say, in these last days in which we live, which biblically are from the death and resurrection of Jesus until his return, clearly the last days in the New Testament. Don't let anyone tell you it just means the last days of the temple period.
No. Last days from the death and resurrection of Jesus until his return at the end of the age. In the last days, God says, I'll pour out my Spirit on all people.
In Hebrew it's just, V'akrei chayin esh'pochret ruchiyya kol basar. It doesn't say in the last days, it doesn't say God says. So, Peter's explaining that. He's telling you, this is what Joel said, these last days in which we live, from the death and resurrection of Jesus, until his return, here's what God says, I'll pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions.
Your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. Alright, so, this is characteristic of the last days, that there will be an outpouring of the Spirit, that it will be widespread, not just on a prophet here or a prophet there, but widespread, many will prophesy, and this outpouring of the Spirit is for this last days period. Now, this is reinforced in Acts 2.39, as Peter is preaching, and the people say, what shall we do to be saved? What must we do to be saved?
Acts 2.37, he answers them, repent, be baptized, in verse 38, and then he says this in verse 39, in Acts 2.39. He says, the promise is for you. What promise? Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Alright? The promise is for you, and your children, and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call. So, the promise of forgiveness of sins, and the receiving of the Spirit, it's for you, it's for your children, it's for all who are far off, it's for as many as the Lord God will call. So, quite plain, this is not just for the apostles, it's not just as long as the apostles are here, none of the above. It is very, very specifically this.
It is on all flesh, so it's widespread across the world. It is today, tomorrow, every one the Lord calls, in this period of the last days. That's why we still have prophecy today. And that's why on some level it's been here through church history, although it's waned it many times, still been here. Now, let's go over to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. You might say, okay, that's your interpretation of these passages. That's your reading of these passages. Now, I'd say it's a sound reading, and I can find ample biblical scholarship that will support it. And I could exegete it in Greek if you like, or go back to the Hebrew text in terms of what's being quoted from the Old Testament, open those things up and look at what's called Acharitayim, the last days, and see what it means.
I'm very happy to do all of that. But you might say, well, it's not prescriptive. Prescriptive is how to do it, what to do. That's why we have to look at the letters, that's why we have to look at the epistles. Okay, great. So let's go to 1 Corinthians 12.
Right? Let's go to 1 Corinthians 12. Romans, well, to tell you what, let's back up to Romans 12 first, okay?
Because Romans is the first in the letters as we have the order here. And Paul is saying here in the 12th chapter of Romans, just as each of us has one body with many members and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ, we though many form one body and each member belongs to all the others, we have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith. If it is serving, then serve. If it is teaching, then teach. If it is to encourage, then give encouragement. If it's giving, then give generously. If it's to lead, do it diligently.
If it's to show mercy, do it cheerfully. So he doesn't make it like this is the one gift that's going to disappear. All these other things are there. No, some prophesy, some lead, some serve, some teach, some encourage, some give. Whatever gift God has given you, use it.
So it's not put in this special class. Okay, now we go to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. And he says, verse 1, Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters are about spiritual things, spiritual gifts.
I do not want you to be uninformed. And he explains you to be pagans and you're led astray by every kind of spirit, so if it's really the Lord, it's not going to say Jesus be accursed. If it's proclaiming Jesus is Lord, it's the Spirit.
Then he goes on. There are different kinds of gifts, the same Spirit working, different kinds of service, same Lord, different kinds of working, same God. So it's Spirit, Lord, God, another Trinitarian picture here. Now to each one, verse 7, is the manifestation of the Spirit, the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. So God works one gift through one, one through another, he manifests the Spirit for the common good. One there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, another message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, another faith by the same Spirit, another gift of healing to that one Spirit, another miraculous powers, another prophecy, another distinguishing between spirits, another speaking of different kinds of tongues, and to still another, the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit and he distributes them to each one just as he determines. Okay, so, the view that I have scripturally and millions of others have scripturally is that these gifts continue as normative today. The view that Cessationists would have and millions of others with them is that these are not normative today. So, how do we decide? We just keep reading because it's not ambiguous.
It's not, I mean, just read the text. I've said this many times, there isn't an explicit syllable in the New Testament that teaches Cessationism. And I've got Cessationist friends that love the Lord, godly people. We work side by side together without conflict, without conflict, have for years in different settings, no problem whatsoever, and we honor each other in the Lord. But I would say, clearly there's not an explicit syllable in the New Testament that supports Cessationism.
There has to be a deduction or mishandling of a verse. There's this big Cessationism conference coming in early October and a Cessationist brother tried to set up the debate at the church holding the conference, the Cessationist conference, to hold it that Saturday. I would have done it in a heartbeat, but what I was told was that the church said it would just be too much getting services ready for Sunday, the building ready for Sunday, with all the events, then an event again that night, which I understand.
But I was willing to go right there and do it if they would have hosted it. And to this day I'm on record saying any speaker at Strange Fire, any speaker at the Cessationist conference, or who's featured on the Cessationist movie, let's have an academic debate at length, multiple hours, of what the scripture says. No takers. Still, no takers all these years later.
I wonder why that is if you're happy. Thanks so much for joining us on the line of fire. I believe that you can debate Calvinism versus Armenianism based on scripture. I believe that. And yeah, I'm not a Calvinist, but I could make a strong case for Calvinism based on scripture, and I believe I could make a stronger case against it.
I absolutely do not hold to replacement theology, absolutely do not hold to replacement theology, the idea that the church became the new Israel and displaced Israel in terms of God's redemptive plan. I don't believe that for a second. But I could actually make biblical arguments for it. I could argue that position. I've actually done debates where I've taken that position to help people understand, okay, here are the arguments you could bring, here's why I don't believe it.
I could not make a good case for Cessationism. Here, I could take the rabbinic view and argue against Jesus being the Messiah. I could do that and explain all the reasons. I could even make an argument for pre-Trib rapture. I could make an argument for pre-Trib rapture even though I haven't believed in it in over 48 years. But I honestly can't make a good argument for Cessationism just using the Bible.
I would have to use experience. I'd have to go outside the Bible. I'd have to go to bad experiences today or different aspects of church history. I couldn't do it based on the Bible.
It's just not there, which is why it's not a surprise that I haven't had takers among major theologians and leading Cessationist pastors. I mean, people that know the word well in so many ways, but I say are absolutely wrong here. I've read what they've written. I've listened to their presentation.
I thought, oh, yikes. I can't believe how weak those arguments are. And I'm putting my money where my mouth is and saying, by all means, let's have an extended academic debate. I'll be as civil as I can be as a child of the Lord. I'm not going to be insulting or nasty or pull tricks. This is, look at the word. So 1 Corinthians 12, we keep reading, and as we go on, Paul's saying every part of the body is needed. So you can't say, I'm a hand. I don't need the foot. I'm a foot. I don't need the hand.
You can't say it. We need one another. And then he comes to the end, and he says in verse 27, now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
God is placed in the church, first of all, apostles, second prophets. You say, well, those are past. Okay, let's keep going then. Then teachers, that continues, right? Third teachers. Then miracles, then gifts of healing. Well, those are past. Oh, how, you're going to split this?
How are you going to split this? Apostles, second prophets, they've got teachers in there. Then miracles, then gifts of healing. Then of helping, of guidance, and the different kinds of tongues. So you've got them all intermingled. So difficult to cut out the miraculous ones and leave in the others based on what?
Where's it say to do that? Okay, you cut out apostles and prophets, but you still have miracles, gifts of healing, and tongues. Are all apostles, are all prophets?
Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing?
Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly, desire the greater gifts. So he's saying, we should eagerly decide the greatest, and I'll show you the most excellent way.
So now he lays out, love comes before everything. You can give your body to be burned. You can speak in all kinds of tongues and languages. You can prophesy. You can have all kinds of faith.
If you don't have love, you're nothing. Amen. I think we all agree on that cessationist and charismatic alight.
Then he emphasizes love and how love never fails. And one day, it's all going to end. If we have knowledge, that's going to pass away. Tongues are going to cease. When we prophesy, it's all going to cease. When the perfect comes, when we are known, when we know God the way we know him, when we come into perfect, full knowledge, then the temporary ceases. So at that time, our partial knowledge disappears. Our prophecies, which are partial tongues, all that disappears. So when Jesus returns, I mean, it's an almost universal understanding of the passage among top exegetes and those who argue that when the perfect comes, it means the completion of the New Testament canon. It's a bizarre interpretation. I found that all through all of church history, except for a hundred-something year period, and widely being dismissed by more and more.
I know many cessationists who say, no, I don't use that argument. You can't. You can't. It's explicit. Now we see only a reflection of the mirror. Then we'll see face-to-face. Do you see Jesus face-to-face today? Do you see him face-to-face today?
No. Well, we haven't gotten to that point yet. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I fully know. If we knew fully, why are we having these arguments?
If we all have come to that point, why are we having these arguments? It is when he returns, when we see him face-to-face. Now he says this. Now these three remain, faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love. So what does he say in 1 Corinthians 14, 1? This is an exhortation. Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. That's an exhortation.
Paul's telling us to do this. You say, well, that means preaching. No, preaching is not prophecy.
They're different words, different functions. That's not what it means. Paul's commanded us to do this, and it's nowhere rescinded in the New Testament. Nowhere is this ever taken back in the New Testament. We are commanded by God to follow the way of love and eagerly desire the gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.
That's a divine mandate. And then when you get to the end of the chapter, Paul says this. So there's no ambiguity. There's no wondering.
There's no questioning. He comes to the end. He shows us a picture of what a normal gathering should look like. Each of you has a hymn or word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue interpretation, and there's just an order to it. Tongues, prophecy, there's an order. That's why he spends so much time.
It's not an irrelevant subject. He spends so much time on this because it's relevant for the church for all ages. He gives directives for how things are spoken, how they're discerned, and he says this.
He says this. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy. 1 Corinthians 14, 39. And do not forbid speaking in tongues. That's a mandate from Paul, speaking by the Holy Spirit. That's the Bible.
Are you obeying that or not? Well, I don't believe the tongue stays from God. Say, Lord, if you send real tongues, we'll welcome it. Why not say that rather than say what can't happen? And, Lord, we will eagerly seek prophecy because you told us to do it.
And this is the same in 1 Thessalonians, the fifth chapter, the same thing there. Don't despise prophecy. That means there might be some flaky, weird stuff.
Don't despise it. Instead, test everything. Hold fast to that which is good, which now gets us full circle.
How do we test things? Well, one thing has to do with the credibility of the vessel. Right? Agabus, who prophesies in Acts 11 and Acts 21, is obviously a respected prophet because when he prophesies in Acts 11 that a famine is coming, they say, well, let's take up a collection because the poor believers in Jerusalem are gonna need help. When he prophesies to Paul about the hardship that's gonna come on him if he goes to Jerusalem, based on everyone pleads with him, don't go. And Agabus didn't say don't go. He just wants Paul to know what's coming. That's what Paul said in Acts 20.
Every city he goes to, that the Holy Spirit testifies to him about the hardship, the challenges he's gonna face. So, Agabus was a trusted man of God and his prophecies were listened to seriously. So, what is the track record of the person prophesying? Now, I have not taken time to investigate this. It's not my focus right now. But some who know the YouTube channel or the ministry of Brandon Briggs, who spoke the word in March about a bullet whizzing by Trump's ear and then he's gonna get radically saved during this time period and then he's gonna be reelected, then there's gonna be a massive economic collapse worse than the Great Depression, out of which there'll be much prayer, Trump and other leaders praying, and God will send revival to America. So, that word obviously got a lot of distribution now with the attempted assassination on the former president on Saturday.
So, there are now websites and cessationists who are critical of the charismatic movement saying, look, the guy's a flake, look at all these weird prophecies he has and pastors won't let him prophesy in their churches anymore. I don't know, I haven't investigated. But, if I was gonna look into this seriously, then that would be one of the major things I would do.
That would be one of the first things I would do, is okay, what's this person's track record? You say, well, they're like 50-50. Well, if you're 50-50, why are you prophesying publicly? If you're 50-50 and half of what you claim and the Lord is saying comes to pass and the other half doesn't, why are you prophesying publicly?
It's not here to miss. It's one thing to say, I sense some things from the Lord, I don't know if this is accurate or not, really pray, pray with me about this, test it by the word, that's one thing, but if I'm saying the Lord says, the Lord says, the Lord says, the Lord says, and I'm misrepresenting him all these times, I got no business prophesying, right? So that's the first thing. I would look into the person's reliability. On the flip side, if I found that this person had an amazing track record, maybe over a 20-year period, there are a couple things that didn't seem to pan out but we don't know all the details, et cetera, but, boy, time after time after time after time after time after time, this person was accurate, I would take it very seriously.
Now I still, I'm gonna test everything by the word, that's always gonna happen. And I don't care how accurate they are, if they give an unscriptural prophecy, you reject it out of hand. If this person who has spoken into your life prophetically for 20 years and never once been wrong, never once missed it, in 20 years, and maybe every couple of years has had a key prophetic word for you, the keta, and has never once missed it, and they say, the Lord told me you can throw out the Bible because he's gonna become your living Bible and you don't need to read the Bible anymore. You throw that prophecy out. You reject it instantly. You reject it instantly.
I don't care what the person's track record is. But if the word is not against Scripture and is not contrary to fact, because that's another thing to test it by, the Lord showed me, your name is Tommy, right? No, my name is Bill. Okay, well, the Lord showed me that your daughter, Alexandria, I don't have a daughter. I have three sons. Oh, okay, well, but then the Lord showed me that the job you're in, the construction work you're doing, I don't do construction work. I'm a painter of portraits. Then he showed me the job change, you're praying about moving to Pennsylvania. I'm not praying about a job change.
I already live in Pennsylvania and I'm happy to be there. Well, you throw the whole thing out. It's bogus.
They're off. So you find out track record. First and foremost, test it by the word. If it's against the Bible, you just throw it out. If the Bible doesn't judge it either way, right, it's just a word the Lord wants you to know, that difficult decision that you made, you've been agonizing over it, it's him. You made the right decision.
You're going to see the fruit, be at peace. Okay, I can't test that by scripture because scripture doesn't address that specifically. So I want to know this person's track record. Are they reliable or are they known to be flaky? Are they somehow have a following despite being flaky? Just like a weakness of the cessationist camp is cynicism and skepticism. A weakness of the charismatic camp is flakiness and gullibility.
We each have weaknesses that are kind of the opposite or the flipside coin of our strengths. So what's the track record and then is it factually accurate? Does it line up with facts as I know them? Now, sometimes things are spoken that seem very odd to us, but then a week, a month, a year later it's like, whoa, that was unbelievably accurate.
It seems so weird when it was spoken and so off, but I had a word spoken over me decades ago. Point one was exactly right and not known to this prophetic brother. He's actually a local pastor.
I didn't even know he was a prophetic brother. Point one was exactly right. Point two was exactly right. And point three, I thought, what?
That's completely off. It turned out to be exactly right a few months down the line. And that word of preparing for what was coming.
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Click subscribe and then look immediately for our emails and your spam folder will put you in our welcome tour. I believe you're really going to enjoy the journey with us. All right, so back to evaluating prophecy. What if it's not contrary to the Bible?
The person has a good solid track record. I do not agree with sensations to say if you get one wrong word then you're a false prophet and never prophesy again. I don't believe that's the New Testament norm.
I believe it's taking the Old Testament paradigm, moving it over into the new. Whereas it says in 1 Corinthians 14, 27, two or three prophets speak in the other's way carefully what's being said. Test all things according to 1 Thessalonians 5, 19 to 21.
Hold fast to that which is good. So because anyone can potentially prophesy in the New Testament, because anyone can potentially do it, then in point of fact everything has to be tested all the more. It's not like Isaiah prophesying or Jeremiah prophesying or Elijah prophesying. Anybody can potentially prophesy in the New Testament because of the Holy Spirit and everything then has to be tested all the more.
And what does it say? We prophesy in part, we know in part. I don't know everything about every doctrine in the Bible. I don't know everything about every verse.
I'm dogmatic, there are hills I'll die on, there are other things I feel very sure about, other things less sure about, and that's where we come together and sharpen one another as a body. So it could be your prophecy has one part of the story, someone else has another part of the story, and it has to be evaluated. So that's the next thing then, that others with prophetic insight then evaluate. Many circles where I'm in, if it's a smaller church fellowship and not really big where you can't open the door to this, let's say you've got a few hundred people and you've got some of the elders in the front, the pastor in the front, and you feel the Lord's giving you a word and you go and share with one of them, I feel the Lord's speaking this, and they might say, you know, I think that's just for you personally, hold on to it, or no, my spirit doesn't bear witness with it, or wow, that's exactly what the Lord was saying to me, I want you to deliver that word, let's wait for the right moment to do it. So there's discernment in that way, and then there's the other obvious thing, if it's predictive, does it come to pass?
Does it come to pass? Now, there's also the witness of our own spirit, that can be subjective, if I'm in rebellion against God and someone prophetically calls me to repent, I say it doesn't bear witness with my spirit, well, my spirit's not right with God. If your spirit is right with God, you're in right relationship with the Lord, and someone brings a word to you, everything in you says no, it's not right, it's not from God, and it brings a sense of bondage and fear, and then you just step back from that, you step back from that. But many times a word's spoken, and our spirit, we know it's true, even though we don't fully understand it, and then it unfolds. And that's the thing with prophetic language, it's not like news headlines, go back and read the Old Testament prophets, I wrote a commentary on Jeremiah working on Isaiah, go back and read the Old Testament prophets, and tell me that every word was unambiguously clear, and that you know exactly what every passage means. Or the visionary portions of Daniel, or Zechariah, or Revelation. No, prophecy is often clothed in mystical language, and is giving us a spiritual truth, and then over time we see the meaning as it unfolds, otherwise we try to make things happen and manufacture them. Even the Messianic prophecies, there are students of the word, there are devoted rabbis who read those scriptures and don't see them, the disciples didn't see them until after Jesus died and rose, and then opened their mind, now they could see them. Seems crystal clear to us looking back, but they didn't see it then. So, one thing is, okay, I don't know exactly what this means, if it's completely ambiguous it's of no meaning, and the Lord says yes, yes, but it will be no. And then, before the darkness will come a smile, and that smile will bring a smile of light, and the light will be, but not bright.
It's like, that's just nonsense. I've heard the alleged prophecy, it's just gibberish, it's absolutely gibberish, it has no meaning, it's just words spoken, and it has no significance, it has no application, it has no relevance, but not everything's laid out in black and white, absolute clear chronology. I can give you example after example from the Bible. But ultimately, if there's something predictive, especially given a time frame, and it doesn't happen, then you say it wasn't a true prophecy.
What if it was conditional? Well, there is the condition, the always condition of Jeremiah 18, that when God says he's gonna bless a nation, and that nation turns away from God, turns to sin, instead of blessing, he'll judge. When he says he's gonna judge a nation, and that nation repents and turns to him, then instead of judging, he'll bless. That's what happens with Nineveh. Jonah prophesies, O araba im yon v'nin v'neh pakhet, yet forty days, and Nineveh will be overthrown. And we don't know this is only message, but that's the heart and core of it, five words in Hebrew.
He preaches it throughout the city, and there's massive repentance, and God withholds his wrath, which Jonah's upset with because he looks bad now, and he wanted them wiped out because they were a potential enemy of his people, ended up being an archenemy. So, there's always that potential condition. God is gonna bless you richly, and bless your business, and honor you as you honor him, and then you completely fall into sin, you backslide, you end up being an idol worshiper, you set up a Buddha statue in your business, and you're corrupt. Well, no, they're not gonna be blessed.
We get that. But many words have no hint of conditionality, and there's no indication that there's any condition on them. And when they don't happen, we have to say, well, there's something wrong. That was not a word from God, because it was supposed to happen within a time frame, and it did not. And there was no sense of conditionality with it whatsoever, and no change in circumstances. It's not like God promised blessing here, and the person became an apostate, or God promised judgment here, and the person became a saint.
There was no change, and it didn't happen. Well, then it was not a true word from God. It was a false prophecy.
It was a false prophecy. What I found really interesting, I watched one video from one critic, for a number of reasons, as much as I'll agree with some of his critiques, has disqualified himself, in my eyes, from being an ethical voice. So I'm not mentioning names, because my goal is not to get into another battle, and sling mud back and forth, or put out 20 follow-up videos critiquing this person. But what I found fascinating, was this one individual was critiquing the prophecy about the bullet whizzing by the ear, and saying, well, you could have guessed that there's going to be an assassination attempt.
And where are you going to try to shoot the head? And even if this guy accurately described what happened, so what? What does that prove?
Now, you talk about trying to get out of something. You talk about having to paint yourself in a corner to say, no significance to it, because anyone could have figured it out. Okay, well, tell me then, why 10 million people have not said, I believe there's going to be an assassination attempt on the president, I believe the person's going to try to shoot his head, I believe they're going to miss, and by millimeters, as Trump turns his head, and this is going to graze his ear, or whiz by his ear, how come everyone's not saying it? Plenty of people have predicted an assassination attempt, and it's a logical prediction.
It's not a surprise. Others have said it's a surprise it hasn't happened earlier, and how many people might have tried to do it if they could have, if there hadn't been such a massive Secret Service breach here, a security breach. But this gentleman went on to say, well, it says that the boat's going to go by, and it actually whizzed by, and this hit him, so that's not accurate, and it was going to shatter his eardrum, and that didn't happen. I don't know that it happened or not.
Let's say it didn't happen. But there's a lot of Old Testament prophecy that gives a general description, which is very accurate, a micro description you could question. Like Jesus said, Jerusalem's going to be flat, not one stone's going to be left on another. Well, there's the western wall of the temple that remains standing, and you think people's going, false prophet, false prophet! My colleague, Steve Ault, Professor Steve Ault would say, do you think the people in Jerusalem, as they're looking at the whole city in ruins, and here's one wall standing, they're going to say Jesus was a false prophet. No, the whole picture's accurate. But what struck me was this hyper-literal response to what would be alleged prophetic language, that in this time period, in this time, you know, this attempted shot, he falls to his knees, and he gets radically saved, and this critic said, well, he fell to his knees, but it wasn't in prayer, and he didn't get radically saved Saturday, so it's not true. I mean, I heard that same word, and I thought, okay, in this time frame between now and the elections, he's going to get radically saved. But no, if it didn't happen then, at that moment, it can't be God.
And let me just tell you something. If you do that with biblical prophecy, then you have to write a lot of prophecy off, because it didn't happen like a news headline. Why do you think some atheists attack biblical prophecy, Old Testament prophecy? Because they're looking at it as if it was a news headline, or as if it was a sports score.
This game last night, the home team, home baseball team, beat the visiting team 11 to 3, and the starter pitched a complete game, gave up three runs in the first inning, pitched a complete game, or the stock market, here's where these stocks were yesterday, here's where they are today. That's not what biblical prophecy is like. And if you just look at it, sometimes the language can be more general, or painting a picture. You know, did Agabus' prophecy literally happen? You know, who bound Paul? Was it the Jews and Jerusalem?
Was it the Romans? But anyone looking at that, to me, I look at that and say, Agabus nailed it. Agabus absolutely nailed it.
That was an accurate word, rather than quibbling over detail. As Paul's being carried away thinking, well, hang on, this Roman's bound me here, not the Jews. I don't think he's thinking that.
He's thinking, whoa, Agabus said this was going to happen, and it happened, but I knew this was going to come, and I'm here in obedience anyway. So, I look at this, and if the prophecy ends up being inaccurate, the rest of it doesn't happen. If this brother has a bad track record, hey, just one more instance of flaky prophecy in the charismatic movement, and it just so happened he said something that was strikingly accurate, or very close to striking the accurate at one point, and it's whatever, but we shall see about the rest. As to his track record, I haven't looked into that. If the rest of this stuff happens, if Trump ends up radically safe, gets re-elected, we have a massive economic depression out of which great revival and restoration comes, you better believe that was a true word. And I hope cessationists, if all that happens, I hope cessationists would agree to it. That's all.
