Is prophecy a valid gift?

---

Prophecy is a valid spiritual gift and will be around till the Second Coming (implied in 1 Cor. 1:7). Because many false Christs will appear before Christ’s return (see Matt. 24:24; 2 Cor. 11:13-15), Scripture gives some tests to differentiate true prophets from false ones: 1. Is the message in harmony with the Bible? Isa. 8:20 says, then everything should be judged according to the law (the first 5 books of the Bible) and the testimony (i.e. rest of the prophetic testimony as found in Scripture). In other words, what the prophet says should line up with Scripture. The Holy Spirit who inspires prophets (2 Pet. 1:21), will never contradict His previous testimony given through them. False prophets generally claim to believe in Scripture but be careful where they place their emphasis, how they give issues a wrong slant, and how they masterfully take things out of context. 2. Do the predictions come to pass? See Deut. 18:22; Jer. 28:9. It is, however, important to understand that some biblical prophecies were clearly conditional on obedience (Jer. 18:5-10), like that of Jonah’s. His prediction did not come to pass, because Nineveh repented, but we clearly know that He was sent by God. Most prophecies today don’t, however, fall into this category, and one needs to be wary of prophets whose predictions don’t come true, or who keep revising predictions once they have proven false. 3. Does the prophet recognise Christ’s incarnation? See 1 John 4:2-3. This does not merely mean acknowledging that Jesus lived on earth, but a complete understanding and belief of why Christ came to the world, including His pre-existence, virgin birth, His humanity, sinless life, atoning sacrifice for our sins, resurrection, ascension, intercession in the heavenly sanctuary, and soon return. 4. What fruit does the prophet produce? This is called the fruit test. This can be divided into 2 aspects: o a) Firstly, does the prophet’s life reflect obedience to God’s Word – see Matt. 7:15-20. This does not mean a prophet has to be absolutely perfect, but that his/her life is characterised by the fruits of the Spirit, not by the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-23). o b) Secondly, what fruit does the prophet produce in the lives of those who accept his/her messages? Do the messages/predictions result in obedience, unity, faith, love, missionary fervour, OR do they create division, disobedience and unbelief? Note that a true prophet should pass ALL of the above tests, and failure in even one indicates that a person’s prophetic claims are false.