Aren’t prophets useless if they don’t submit to the church’s authority?
Question:
Our recent experience in our church with prophets was a very bad one; even God’s elect can be fooled and conned! Granted, they are gifted and see into the spiritual realm in a way that those have not been anointed cannot see. I think that the enemy does and can fool them and causes them to do stuff that totally annuls the entire positive. They then become ineffectual in terms of kingdom practicality and usefulness to the God that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob served.
In other words, their gifting is totally useless in practical terms until their authority is recognized and accepted and chosen by the church within the framework and hierarchy of church authority. The church is God’s delegated authority on earth, and until the prophets submit themselves to the church in terms of Watchman Nee’s revelations in his teachings of spiritual authority, they are just game for the enemy. Without their submission and accountability to the church’s authority here on earth, they are just misguided missiles and loose canons!
Answer:
There are are several misconceptions presented. First, you are assuming that prophecy continues today despite God's teaching that the work of prophets was temporary. (See the article "Prophets Today? Think Again!" and the sermon outline "Prophets" for more details.)
Second, you assume that a prophet of God can claim to be speaking God's word while stating anything he wants. If a person was a true prophet of God, this is blatantly false. The case of Balaam proves this false (Numbers 22-24). Balaam was wanting to accept a bribe to curse the Israelites, but God would not let him. Every time he opened his mouth to pronounce a curse, a blessing came out instead. This is because prophets did not speak their own words. "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (II Peter 1:20-21). One reason we trust our Bibles is the fact that we know the prophets were not deciding what they would say.
>Third, there is an assumption that the church controls prophets. Such a contention does not appear in the Bible. The closest you get is that during worship services, prophets were asked not to interrupt one another (I Corinthians 14:29-33). While a prophet cannot choose the words he will speak, God did allow the prophets a choice as to when they would speak.
Fourth, there is an assumption that prophets know more other Christians. This, again, has never been the case. Often times prophets were given messages for which they had no idea what it meant. "Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven--things which angels desire to look into" (I Peter 1:10-12). Jesus said, "for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it" (Luke 10:24). A prophet might not be particularly wise, and in some cases like Balaam, they might not be particularly good.
Finally, you assume that the church has authority over what is taught. The Bible states that the church upholds the truth for others to see (I Timothy 3:15), but it does not state that it is the source of truth. Truth comes from only one place, "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth" (John 17:17). It was the church's responsibility to compare the claims of a prophet against the truth to determine whether the prophet was a true prophet or not (I John 4:1), but the church has never decided what truth it wants to accept.
