How can prophecy cease when people claim to be prophets today?
Question:
First, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to address my questions because it has been bothering me for a while now.
I am a born-again Christian and still relatively young in faith. I read on this site that an end to all prophets was declared by apostle Paul in Corinthians. This shocked me because people still claim to this day to have a prophetic gift, which confused me deeply.
Is there such a thing as a modern-day prophet? Because I once witnessed a "prophet" state on live T.V. predicting the final score of a soccer game that was to be played the next day. He even named the scorers of goals in that game. I further saw this prophet pick random people during his service and tell them what struggles they are experiencing and that God will in due time help them out of it. If he is able to do this, is he still a fraud? Or can he really hear the voice of God?
I would like to describe to you what noticed when I went to a "prophetic church." The church started at 10 am Sunday morning and lasted until 2:30 pm. The service was held by a pastor who was chosen by the prophet of my first question. After praying this pastor asked who was a first timer in the church and after welcoming us he immediately set out to mention a few miraculous signs or testimonials of members of the church. I think it was an attempt to convince us to join their ministry. We received the message of the day from a book the prophet and his wife wrote. This booklet consists of Bible verses that they simply and thoroughly interpreted at a price of $50 and a new one is released every month. The message that day was roughly about how rich God is, referencing Haggai 2:8. I also noticed a picture of the prophet hanging behind the altar in church and during the service, the pastor heaped more praise on the prophet than God even going as far as calling him "my father. Furthermore, we gave financial offerings three times during the service. On the third time, the pastor said we should offer the equivalent of what we expect the Lord for breakthrough for, meaning if you want a house you can't just put in $5. Before the service concluded everyone in church was anointed with oil for a breakthrough. I remember standing in line waiting to be anointed when the pastor said we all should start praying in tongues and most people fell to the ground after being touched by the pastor. Now my second question is can this be considered a healthy community to grow spiritually in?
Answer:
I approach things a bit differently. I accept what God says and not what men claim when there appears to be a conflict. God was quite clear that the spiritual gifts, including miracles, were ending. See: Miraculous Gifts as They Are Designated in the Scriptures and Now Concerning Spiritual Gifts. As prophesied in Zechariah, someone claiming to prophesy when God said otherwise is lying.
"In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. It shall be in that day," says the LORD of hosts, "that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land. It shall come to pass that if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who begot him will say to him, 'You shall not live, because you have spoken lies in the name of the LORD.' And his father and mother who begot him shall thrust him through when he prophesies" (Zechariah 13:1-3).
There are a number of ways people can make things appear to be miraculous. Magicians do it all the time. I suspect that the timing between the two shows was not as they appeared. Either that or the man was a strong soccer fan and made some good guesses. The picking out of people to tell about their past has been exposed. See: Peter Popoff proved fake on 39-17-Mhz. The miracles found in the Bible aren't questionable events like those claimed today. See Differences in Bible Miracles and Modern Miracles.
Imagine Peter or Paul selling their writings. "For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ" (II Corinthians 2:17).
When you have people claiming to have direct revelation from God, you never know when they are altering what God said. "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep" (II Peter 2:1-3). You won't learn of the Lord's way in such a place. They will only lead you down the path of destruction that they are following.
Response:
Thank you for responding. I have a clearer grasp of it all now.
