That’s not my idea. That’s an idea that’s been floating around the church for quite some time now. Reason bein’, a justification for modern day prophecies.

I have to say up front that I believe that people can truly prophesy through the Spirit of God in our day. I have grown out of the days where I allow my puny mind to speak with conclusiveness about an entire planet and what is going on there. I read no clear statement in Scripture that denies prophecy in my day, so I believe in and defend prophecy’s existence.

But in the midst of the true there seems to be an abundance of false, as there was in the days when the true prophets wrote. Jeremiah and Ezekiel in particular knew how to identify the false guys. By the way, these quotes are from true prophets. They are not subject to error or correction. Listen carefully…

Jeremiah 23:16-17. “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless. They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord. They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said you shall have peace.’ And to everyone who walks according to the imagination of his own heart, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ”

Ezekiel is told in 13:2, “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own heart, ‘Hear the word of the Lord!’… ‘Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!’ ”

What a perfect picture of some modern day prophets and prophetesses who learn techniques for prophesying out of books, and not always out of the heart of God. Almost never will one hear a prophet of this nature saying anything negative. You are cool. You do cool things. All will be well. Not sure this is you? they ask. You’ll grow into it. In other words, I cannot be wrong here…

The teaching goes that prophecy is to encourage. Though this is true, per Paul, we assume he would not encourage someone in their sin.

We must look at all the encounters of the New Testament before we hush up the negative voice. Was it not the spirit of prophecy that sent Ananias and Sapphira to their graves? That cast a demon out of a servant girl who was praising God? That forecast an awful famine? That predicted Paul’s serious fate? That’s all New Testament.

No, friends, New Testament prophecy is not always nice and sweet. But it is always true. The fact that Paul allowed prophets to be corrected lets us know that any falseness in prophecy is still under the judgment of God and needs to be dealt with immediately. The integrity of God’s House is at stake. Who will return to a fellowship where clearly false predictions were emanating freely?

The “Oops, I missed it!” mentality was never envisioned by the apostolic church of the first century. God’s truthful men and women must be a given from the times of Enoch on down through any prophet of today. Allow that word of correction!

Well, one thing I have not done is prove that all Old Testament prophecies were not negative. Oh my, how many wonderful things were predicted by the prophets! Isaiah’s visions of Jesus come to mind first. “A child is born who will be a wonderful counselor, the mighty God Himself.” Pretty positive stuff, right?

Jeremiah was the crying prophet, but oh, did he ever get a blessed message one day. Chapter 3 is one of my all-time favorites. He outlines the policy for divorce and remarriage. He says that, hey, once that woman is out of your life, she’s out, right? She was unfaithful. Forget her. Right?

Wrong. Oh, God, how wonderful your response. No! Not true, Israel. You’ve been so faithless, so awful to me. But I plead with you… return! Come back! I love you so much!

That’s Old Testament, folks.

You see, our God never changes. He’s been speaking joy and judgment from the beginning. Life and death. Heaven and Hell. Don’t put him in a prophetic box. If there’s a member of the church that needs to hear the truth of God on him, even if it be to send him to an early grave, speak forth!

(By the way, those of you who can’t deal with the whole idea of prophecy in our day, I suggest this. Have you ever wanted to share a particular Scripture with a particular person for a particular reason? Don’t be surprised if the Lord blesses that as a “prophetic” message. Who would have put that idea on your heart, do you think? Once you are sure the Lord is speaking to you to pass that Scripture along, and you are sure you have no other motivation, do it. Things like that can change people’s lives. And that is one thing that prophecy is for.)