The only prophecy you need

For months we were inundated with evangelical leaders having revelations, dreams, and visions regarding who was going to occupy the White House. These “prophets” spoke with such clarity and conviction and assured those listening that in fact, God was speaking directly to them.

Then election day came and their words didn’t come to pass. Then the date of the prophetic fulfillment changed to January 6th. That day came and went and still, nothing happened.

“The 20th. God said it is going to be the 20th of January.”

Well, the 20th rolled around and as the helicopter with the outgoing President flew into the proverbial sunset, along with him went the credibility of those so-called “prophets”.

Thankfully, some actually admitted they were wrong about the results of the election. However, many have taken a cue from cult leaders like Harold Camping and the Jehovah's Witnesses, who prophesied the world was going to end on such-and-such date, only to find the day after the world was still spinning. These doomsday prophets, explained their failed prophecy with phrases like, it was a “spiritual Second Coming not a physical one.” So, it is with this new breed of prophets, asserting Donald Trump still won the election but it’s more like a “spiritual Presidency.” In the act of attempting to save face, these Social Media prophets not only have made Christianity look foolish but have plunged many dear saints into confusion and discouragement.

Much of what is called “prophecy” or “prophetic ministry” has very little connection with the Bible and is nothing more than individual impressions or feelings, which are incredibly subjective and fallible.

The simplest definition of prophecy is “declaring God’s revelation.” Prophecy has two main functions and the first is “foretelling” as in speaking about future events. The test of a true prophet is whether or not the words were spoken come to pass and if they don’t, the Bible says “that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously” (Deut. 18:22). In other words, whatever they said or “prophesied” didn’t come from God. To be a prophet that engages in “foretelling”, according to the Bible, demands accuracy and that would make sense, right? After all, if God is giving direct revelation about what he is going to do, then it is sure to happen. If it doesn’t, how does that reflect on God? Either, he is too whimsical to be trusted, or he is not powerful enough to make it happen, or worse, a liar. Numbers 23:19 says that God doesn’t lie or change his mind and what all these prophetic predictions about the future have done, ultimately, is call God’s character into question. Here is a little advice: Don’t do that to the omnipotent, true and living God and expect to get away with it.

In Biblical prophecy, foretelling the future takes up very little of the ministry of the prophets. Much of the prophetic ministry in the Scriptures involves the second function of prophecy, known as “forth-telling”—making public what has already been revealed. Prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and others spend much of their time telling the people that God has revealed a standard, they weren’t living up to it, and they had better turn from their sin or face the judgment. Think of the Biblical prophets as God’s prosecutors, pointing to the evidence of the people’s guilt while at the same time, urging the justly accused to turn from their wicked ways and plead for Judge’s mercy.

In our context, the prophetic ministry is different than that of the Old and New Testaments. In one respect, Moses’ plea in Numbers 11:29, “Would that all the LORD’s people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit in them!” is answered in Christians today. Each believer has the Spirit of God dwelling in them and therefore has direct access to God. But we are different than that the prophets of Scripture in that we have a complete and accurate revelation of God: Christ recorded in the Scriptures. Our prophetic ministry is forth-telling—making a public declaration—that Christ has come, salvation has been won by the cross, and that all must repent and believe the gospel.

God has revealed all he has needed to reveal in the person and work of Christ and that final revelation comes to us through the Scriptures alone (Heb. 1:1-4). That is the only prophetic word we need today.