a good answer to this very questionable teaching
A few years ago, there was a TV program called “Flash Forward”.
The basic premise was that an event happened in which people all over
the world had brief glimpse of what they would be doing at a
particular time in the future. When the time they saw finally came,
the events unfolded but with certain differences in details for many
of the ones the show focused on. Some details are as they had seen,
but others were different.
There is a certain parallel between what happened in that show and
what some teach concerning prophecy today. There are those who teach
that modern-day prophets, assuming there are any, are not required to
live up to the biblical requirements that what they prophecy be 100%
accurate, that they can make mistakes and will make mistakes in their
prophecies, and that these mistakes do not mean they are no real
prophets. Prophets today could be as inaccurate as the characters in
that show, and not only will they be defended, but those who point
out their false prophecies and try to hold them accountable are the
ones who are derided.
This book responds to this teaching about fallible prophecy, and I
think does so very well. I especially found what he said concerning
how Agabus is used to defend the idea of fallible prophecy, and how
he defends Agabus as a man who prophesied truly, to be of interest.
Though in the title he addressed how this idea of fallible
prophets is being spread in what is called New Calvinism, this idea
is no less popular in more normal charismatic circles, and this book
should also serve to address this bad teaching among them, too.
I can recommend this book very highly. It would be good for this
idea of fallible prophecy to finally be put on the theological junk
heap, because it has already caused enough damage, and is plainly
without any biblical support. If there are prophets today, they
should not try to scamper from under the weight of the biblical
requirement that they be accurate in what they prophesy. Prophecy is
serious business, it is no light thing to claim to be speaking what
God has directly told you to say, and it should not be done
frivolously, as far too many modern-day prophets seem to do.
2 comments:
Thanks for the book review. I just finished reading a post on christianpost about the same and C. Aaron Russel blogged about the same thing: Jeremiah spoke for the Lord about the yoke of Israel and a few years later another "prophet" cancelled Jeremiah's prophesy with fatal consequences to him.
I think if the modern day prophets actually read their bibles we'll have less of this absolute nonsense some of them spew. On the other hand, it is their followers that give them the power and credibility.
thanks again.
frans
(link to CP: http://blogs.christianpost.com/men-of-mind/so-you-think-youre-a-prophet-dont-preach-before-you-pray-18950/)
Thank you for your kind words. I think you have a good point. The false prophets today are themselves to blame for what they are doing, but those who listen to them and take them seriously have their own share of the blame, too. The false prophets would have little if any power if they did not have people who listen to them and think they really are speaking for God.
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