A Test for the Modern Day Prophetic Movement

Soothsaying in Christian Clothing

Switch on a Christian channel or scroll through a few church videos, and it won't be long before you meet it. Someone on a stage, eyes closed, pointing into the crowd: "There's a lady here in a blue coat, and God is telling me a new job is coming this month." Personal words, dates, numbers, houses, husbands. The room gasps, the offering goes round, and everybody goes home thinking they've seen the power of God. I'll say it plainly, because somebody has to. A great deal of what goes by the name of the prophetic movement today is nothing more than soothsaying dressed up in Christian language. Change the vocabulary and you're standing at the fortune-teller's booth on the pier.

The Bible has met this before. In Philippi a girl followed Paul for days, possessed with a spirit of divination, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying [Acts 16:16 KJV]. Notice the gain. And notice that what she said sounded right — she cried out, These men are the servants of the most high God [Acts 16:17 KJV]. Paul didn't thank her for the endorsement. He cast the spirit out. Sounding right has never been the test. So how do you tell the true from the counterfeit? Not by how impressive it feels or how accurate it seems, but by the Book. And the first thing the Book shows us is that much of the modern movement isn't copying the New Testament church at all. It's copying the Old Testament.

What Prophecy Was Under the Old Testament

Under the Old Testament, the Spirit came upon a few chosen men, for a time and for a task. The prophet stood between God and the people, and if you wanted to know what God was saying, you went to him: Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer [1 Samuel 9:9 KJV]. Kings were directed, judgments were pronounced and things to come were foretold, because the people did not have the Spirit for themselves. That was written for our learning, and we need every word of it. But God has changed the arrangement: God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son [Hebrews 1:1-2 KJV].

Now look at the modern movement again. The prophet on the platform. The queue for a personal word. The believer who won't make a decision until somebody with a title has told him what God thinks. That's the seer of Israel brought back into the church — only now with a microphone and a price list. It's the Old dressed up as the New, mixed together until nobody can tell which is which, and it leaves God's people depending on a man for what God has already given them directly.

What Paul Wrote to the Church

Here's what has been given. When you were born again, you received the Holy Spirit — not a portion that needs topping up, but the one Spirit: For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body [1 Corinthians 12:13 KJV]. And Paul is careful how he describes what that Spirit does through us: But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal [1 Corinthians 12:7 KJV]. Manifestation. Not a gift handed to a special few, but the one Spirit showing itself through a believer in nine ways, and prophecy is one of the nine [1 Corinthians 12:8-10 KJV]. That's why Paul can write, For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted [1 Corinthians 14:31 KJV]. All. Not a platform ministry, not a celebrity with a following. If you are born again, you have the Spirit, and you are able to operate its manifestations as the New Testament teaches.

And Paul tells us exactly what prophecy is for: But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort [1 Corinthians 14:3 KJV]. Building up, stirring up and cheering up. It isn't fortune-telling, it isn't steering your life by remote control, and it is never for sale. It's under control: And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace [1 Corinthians 14:32-33 KJV]. No trance, no shrieking, no performance. And it's always weighed: Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge [1 Corinthians 14:29 KJV]. Nobody in the church at Corinth was beyond question, however loud the room got.

Put It to the Test

So here is the test, and you can carry it into any meeting or any video. Does it edify, exhort and comfort, or does it predict, flatter and frighten? Is it in order, or is it confusion? Is it judged, or is the man on the stage beyond question? Does it point you to Jesus Christ and the Word, or to the prophet? And is money anywhere near it? Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits [Matthew 7:15-16 KJV]. We're not told to despise prophecy. We're told to test it: Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good [1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 KJV].

But you can't prove anything if the measuring rod itself has been bent, and this is what makes the whole thing worse. The modern versions, the NIV among them, have changed the wording of God's Word, and when the words move, the meaning moves with them. People already being led astray are handed a Bible that can no longer correct them. Paul drew the line: For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ [2 Corinthians 2:17 KJV]. So keep to the Word as it was given. Learn what it says about the manifestations of the Spirit, and operate them as the New Testament teaches — not a blend of the Old and the New, and never the counterfeit. That's how we walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing [Colossians 1:10 KJV].

Key Takeaways:

• Much of the modern prophetic movement is soothsaying in Christian language, and sounding right is not the test — [Acts 16:16-18 KJV]
• The Old Testament seer stood between God and the people; God now speaks to us by His Son — [1 Samuel 9:9 KJV], [Hebrews 1:1-2 KJV]
• Every born-again believer receives the one Spirit — [1 Corinthians 12:13 KJV]
• They are manifestations of the one Spirit, not gifts for a special few, and prophecy is one of nine — [1 Corinthians 12:7-10 KJV]
• Prophecy is open to every believer — [1 Corinthians 14:31 KJV]
• True prophecy edifies, exhorts and comforts — [1 Corinthians 14:3 KJV]
• It is under control, in order and always judged — [1 Corinthians 14:29-33 KJV]
• Know false prophets by their fruits, and prove all things — [Matthew 7:15-16 KJV], [1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 KJV]
• Keep to the Word as it was given, uncorrupted — [2 Corinthians 2:17 KJV]

Where to go from here:

Read 1 Corinthians 14:1-33 slowly this week, alongside 1 Corinthians 12:1-13, and let Paul show you what prophecy in the church is meant to look like. Then take the step: put the last prophetic word you heard to the test of verse 3, and write down what you find.

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➡️ Next in this week's theme — Thursday: The Death of the Modern Day Church

That is where we begin: who we are in Christ, taken in order. Then, Monday to Thursday, we take one truth and look at it from four sides — this week, false teaching in the modern church, and how to test it by the Book. Fridays, we work through a series — at present Ephesians: The Letter Written to You. One email on Sunday closes the week and opens the next.

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