Prophecy and new revelations

Is there a difference between a Bible passage and a prophecy received since Bible times? Is there a difference between a prophecy in the book of Isaiah and a message we record in our bedside journal when we wake up in the morning? Is there a difference between a message that says it is ‘from Jesus’ sent out to all Family members, and the words of Jesus in the Bible? What is God’s Word for today? What’s the difference between true and false prophecy, and how can we judge correctly? Doesn’t God still speak today? Doesn’t He still have His prophets who give out His word to the world in these days? Bible prophecies were once new revelations, couldn’t He be still giving new revelations?

Prophecy is mentioned in the Bible as one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There are three passages where are number of gifts are listed, including prophecy: 1 Corinthians 12:1-8, Ephesians 4:7-13 and Romans 12:3-8.

Note: these verses are studied in greater depth here.

Prophecy is a gift of the Holy Spirit as valid as the gift of the word of wisdom, as valid as the gift of pastoring, as valid as the gift of giving. The gifts are given according to the will of the Holy Spirit.

1 Cor 12:11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

These gifts are given to us so that we can benefit the church of God, to aid us in our ministry, to help and encourage each other.

Eph 4:11-12

11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,

12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

The gifts unite us as the body of Christ, so that we compliment each other in the work of the Lord.

Rom 12:5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

We are not told to major on any particular gift, but use those gifts God chose to give us.

Rom 12:6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;

The gifts help us to grow in the Lord, to mature.

Eph 4:13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (NIV)

As we grow and mature, we become stable in our faith so that we are not deceived by false doctrines when they blow across our path.

Eph 4:14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,

This is an important point because there are as many warnings about false prophets as there are exhortations to prophesy. In fact, there is probably a great deal more in the Bible warning us to beware of false prophets than there are passages encouraging us to prophesy.

Jesus Himself warned us to be wary of false prophets in the endtime.

Matt 24:11 “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

“Read about this miracle! This must be proof that this new revelation works!”

He said one of the ways the false prophets would try to deceive us is by claiming that their words are vindicated by miraculous answers to prayer.

Matt 24:24 “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

In other words, the false prophets will attempt to attach our faith in their words not to the Bible, but to miraculous events that occur as we follow their teaching. They will say, “You may not understand all I’m saying, but look what happens when you follow me! Just try it, you’ll soon be convinced!” False prophets will be very convincing. It will be easy to believe them, especially when we hear testimonies published from people who say, “I tried it and it worked!”

This is not a new tactic. This is what the Devil told Eve in the garden of Eden: “Try it and your eyes will be opened”

Gen 3:5-6

5 “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

Eve wanted the benefits of the fruit, she wanted to be made wise and this desire became more important to her than what God had already said. The same is true in the time of the end. People will become more interested in the possibility of attaining spiritual power than in obedience to the words that God has already spoken.

God warned His people not to heed teachers who base their authority on the supposed ability to work miracles back in the book of Deuteronomy.

Deut 13:1-3

1 “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder,

2 “and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’-- which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’

3 “you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

It’s a very small love for the Lord if we abandon His words in favour of a new teaching with the promise of spiritual power. The first test, therefore, of any prophecy is whether it upholds the living word of God in the Bible. Does the prophecy submit to the Bible, or does it seek to replace Bible teaching? Does the prophet give deference to the ultimate authority of the Bible, or does he exalt himself to the place where he proclaims, “I also am a prophet!”

The Bible itself is always new.

Remember that the Bible is far more than a collection of guidelines for a bygone era. It is the living, breathing Word of God.

John 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

It is always relevant, always speaking, cutting to the heart (Heb.4:12), because the Spirit of God is in the Bible and it can never be outdated. The Word was in the beginning and shall be until the end.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Matt 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

The Bible will always remain as the standard of measurement for any prophecy or doctrine. This topic is discussed further elsewhere on this web site: The Standard of Measurement.

The sincerity of the prophet or the loyalty of the listeners is irrelevant. This is a most important point when it comes to judging new ‘revelations’ as published by the Family. The test is not whether the prophet or prophetess is sincere, it is not whether they proclaim that they love the Lord, it is not whether miracles have happened when we followed their words, it is not whether they seemed to have been right in the past. The primary test that must be applied before all other considerations is, ‘Is this particular prophecy confirmed by the living Word of God in the Bible?’

Note, it is not, ‘Does this prophecy seem to be biblical?’ or ‘Are there any Bible verses in it?’ or ‘Does it honour the Bible?’ or ‘Is the prophet or prophetess a godly person?’ or ‘Does it work? If I apply the prophecy to my life, do wonderful things happen?’ None of these are the right questions.

It is not that the prophecy should confirm the Bible, that is getting things the wrong way around. The question is only whether the Bible confirms the prophecy. Note also that each prophecy must be judged individually, there is no place for unquestioning allegiance to a particular prophet above the Word of God in the Bible. That would be placing our faith in the person, or in their ability to stay in tune with the Lord, instead of trusting the Lord Himself. God wants us to have a personal connection with Him, a personal faith in His word in the Bible, and a faith that relies on someone else’s link to the Lord will never suffice.

The Bible is here to stay. No prophecy or series of prophecies can ever replace the Bible as the Word of God. No prophet or prophetess should ever dare to proclaim that their prophecies are on the same level as the Bible. That is not for any person to say. If something truly is God’s Word then God alone is responsible for giving authority to it.

Judging prophecies

There are some specific guidelines for judging prophecies in the book of 2^nd Peter.

2 Pet 1:20-2:1

20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,

21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.

No prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation. A ‘prophecy of Scripture’, that is, one which God intended for all to heed and obey cannot be interpreted solely by those who received it. If the prophecy truly comes from God, other believers will be able to confirm it. Moreover, the other believers will not come only from the prophet’s own church, as that would still be a ‘private interpretation’. There would be a general acceptance throughout the body of Christ, by the true believers regardless of their persuasion or denomination. This does not mean that everybody has to accept it, but it certainly does require that the prophecy be accepted outside of the prophet’s own church. If a prophecy is not accepted and interpreted in a similar way by true believers outside the prophet’s own church then the prophecy can carry no more weight than any personal application of God’s word: perhaps useful and helpful in our own understanding, but not to be imposed upon anyone, including those in the prophet’s church, as the infallible Word of God to be unquestionably obeyed. To reiterate: any message that is truly from God will be accepted as such by true believers in Christian denominations outside the prophet’s own church.

How is this possible? The answer is in verse 21. True prophecy is not contingent on the will of man. This seems to indicate that we cannot wake up in the morning and say, ‘I’m going to get a prophecy!’ Prophecy originates with God, it comes as ‘holy men of God’ are moved by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit moves the prophets so that the Words of God are forced out by God Himself. Prophecy does not come because we want it. It must come as the Holy Spirit wants it, or it is not prophecy. We can call it a lesson we learned, or a new and interesting application of the Word, but if the prophecy does not originate with the Holy Spirit moving us, without our will involved, then we can’t really call it a prophecy.

The other point about the Holy Spirit is that when Jesus ascended into heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to be a witness to the truth into all believers’ hearts.

John 15:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.

John 16:13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

If a prophecy truly is of God, it will be confirmed in the hearts of all believers because they too have the same Holy Spirit that moved the prophet to give the message.

I Jn 2:26-27

26 These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you.

27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

The Holy Spirit has been given to believers so that they don’t have to rely on their teachers; the truth will come to them personally, to set them free. Now, of course there is a place for teachers and prophets in the church, those believers have been endowed with special gifts of the Holy Spirit. However teachers and prophets can never have a monopoly on the truth, because we have the same Holy Spirit as they do. This is one of the changes God instituted between the Old Testament and the New, beginning on the day of Pentecost. In times past, God spoke through the prophets. Since the Holy Spirit was given, God speaks directly to each believer. It is the same Holy Spirit that is given to every true believer in the Family as is given to every true believer in any church. So, there cannot be one truth for the Family, and another for the churches. The Holy spirit leads us into all truth (John 16:13). There can be no private truths or private interpretations because we all have the same Holy Spirit leading us into Truth.

The Old Testament concept of the robed prophet with the special connection to God to whom the people came running to hear God’s voice has been fulfilled in the New Testament Holy Spirit dispensation. The whole purpose of the Holy Spirit is so that each of us may personally experience God’s voice leading us into all truth.

2 Peter 2:1 quoted above warns that despite the fact that prophecy is given as the believer is moved by the Holy Spirit, notwithstanding the impossibility of private interpretation due to the Holy Spirit being given to all true believers, there will still be false teachers and false prophets who secretly bring in false doctrines. This is a warning that is repeated again and again throughout both the Old and New Testaments.

Beware of false prophets.

1 Tim 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,

Listening to the lies of the Devil will become prevalent in the time of the end. Bear in mind that although these warnings could be applied to the unbelieving world, the thrust of these Scriptures applies directly to the churches of believers, for that is to whom they were written. The grave dangers described in these passages are such that it would be extreme folly to discount them as inapplicable, to say, “Oh, that would never happen here!” For their own sake, the Family should not yield to the conceit of considering themselves invulnerable.

1 Tim 6:3-4

3 If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching,

4 he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions (NIV)

Listening to these false doctrines becomes a vicious cycle in which the deceived are trapped within the conceit of their own ignorance. They become preoccupied with ‘controversies’ and minor issues without ever being willing to consider that they themselves may be wrong.

2 Tim 3:5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Deceivers in the last days will have a godly front; they will appear godly, sincere, dedicated and loving. There will be a refusal to accept the power of godliness. In other words, they will scoff at those who wish to live a biblically godly life, touting their own ‘freedom’ and boasting of new means of spiritual power. In fact, new revelations of alternate or ‘specially revealed’ spiritual power will be necessary for them as they will have lost the power of godliness.

2 Tim 3:13-17

13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,

15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:13 says that false prophets and their deceit will increase. They will become so widespread that there will not be a church where their lies have not entered. It is a sober warning. However the true believer may have confidence that he will not be deceived as long as he follows the principles laid out in the few verses that follow.

In 2 Timothy 3:14 Paul instructed Timothy to continue in the things he had been taught. What does that mean for us? Does it mean to continue in whatever things we were taught? No, for that would be manipulating the Scripture for our own purposes. We are to continue in the same things that Timothy was to continue in. That is obvious from verse 15. It is the Holy Scriptures that make us wise for salvation, for doctrine, for everything. So, when we hear a new doctrine, it does not matter how many other people accept it, we must weigh it up against the Holy Scriptures. That’s the Bible. New revelations must be measured against the Bible. Measuring new revelations against other new revelations is of itself a deceitful practice and can easily be used to justify almost any new doctrine. The only unchangeable standard is the Bible as the eternally living Word of God.

Heb 13:8-9

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

9 Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.

Don’t be carried about with those various strange doctrines. How can we insulate ourselves from them? By remembering that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He Himself does not change, and the words He spoke in the Bible do not change, they will remain until long after heaven and earth have passed away. The Bible is the standard by which we must measure all. The things that Jesus said in the Bible live today and burn in our lives, and will eventually ignite the wood, hay and stubble of our disobedience until only that which we have done in obedience to the Bible remains.

Rom 16:17-18

17 Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.

18 For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.

Again, in Romans 16 we are warned that those who teach doctrine that is contrary to what is taught in the Bible are deceivers. This is regardless of whether the ‘prophet’ says he got his message from an angel or even claims to have spoken to Jesus Himself.

Gal 1:8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.

The Bible has been set down as the standard by which all new revelations are measured. The Bible judges each and every new doctrine, each and every new revelation. New revelations or doctrines cannot ‘build upon each other’, each one must individually stand before the scrutiny of the Bible. Note that this does not mean throwing in a few Bible verses in an attempt to justify our new doctrine. This means allowing the Bible to shred our theories until nothing remains but what God says, submitting our doctrine to the burning fire of truth from which none can hide, until it is either destroyed and discarded, or confirmed by the voice of God speaking through the pages of the Bible.

In particular, we are warned about false prophets who preach that we do not have to obey the laws God set down in the Bible.

Matt 5:19 “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

We are warned that there will be some who think they worship God, but whose faith was built on the words of men, instead of the true Word of God in the Bible. Their lives will be spent in vain. Upon their death they will awake in horror at the way they have wasted their lives.

Matt 15:9 And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

We are warned of the dangers of following certain leaders without personally examining for ourselves the truth of what they say.

Matt 15:14 “Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”

We area warned not to be so gullible as to follow self-proclaimed prophets, even if they speak of Jesus Himself. Even if they prophesy about Jesus and give messages ‘from Jesus’.

Matt 7:22 “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’

The test is not whether or not they use the name of Jesus. Rather, it is the entire Word of God that stands to cut out and burn the false. The Bible is a searing spotlight that will expose all error.

We are warned to take a close look at the lives of those who would teach us about the Lord, those who boast about their special connection to God, those who take delight in notifying others that they have received more truth, who say with confidence that they know His will. Look at their lives. We won’t have to look very far. The following passage says that we should examine them to find if they are obedient to the very basic of God’s laws. Do they steal? Do they have sexual relations outside of marriage? Do they exalt anyone or anything above the Lord?

Rom 2:17-23

17 Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God,

18 and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law,

19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,

20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law.

21 You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal?

22 You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

23 You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law?

These verses do imply the question, ‘Do they practise what they preach?’, but they also imply a more fundamental question that should be asked before we ever come to analysing our teacher’s sincerity. Is what they are teaching according to the most basic of God’s laws? Someone who is a ‘guide to the blind’ will of necessity teach that we should not steal. Someone who wishes to be a ‘teacher of babes’ will teach them about the sexual sins that could draw the babes away from God. And then, of course, the teacher’s first priority will be to refuse to yield to the Devil in these most basic of areas.

In Matthew seven there is yet another test for true and false prophets, that of the fruit they bear. Remember that we cannot magnify this verse to the exclusion of all others. In other words, suppose we are told that the prophet has good fruit although their message is markedly different from what Jesus taught in the Gospels, and the Holy Spirit does not confirm the message as truth in the hearts of believers in other churches. What then? We should be very careful before we discard the requirement for prophecy to be confirmed by the Bible, or to be confirmed by the voice of the Holy Spirit in other believers, outside the prophet’s private circle.

Matt 7:15-20

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

16 “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?

17 “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

18 “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

19 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

20 “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

Remember that the Lord will always bear good fruit. In other words, when we look at the fruit of the Family in order to discern whether the fruit, and hence the Family is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ (an overly simplistic judgment at best) it is easy to get carried away by testimonies of witnessing. Witnessing is one of the few things Jesus actually commanded Christians to do, and the Holy Spirit was given specifically for the purpose of assisting believers to witness. Therefore testimonies of witnessing, saved souls and changed lives are not necessarily the fruit of Family prophecies. They are the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of what Jesus commanded in the Bible. They are the result of people following the Bible, not the Family. Plenty of other churches witness and win souls, but no one can claim exclusivity over soul winning or witnessing because that is what all Christians are supposed to do, and any fruit that comes is a direct result of following the Words of God in the Bible, not the message of the particular church.

If we want to apply this ‘good fruit/ bad fruit’ test from Matthew seven, we will have to examine the fruit that specifically pertains to the prophecies that bring messages exclusive to the Family. What exactly are the ‘prophecies’ that the Family has received that are different from other Christians, and what is the fruit of those particular prophecies?

Are Family members made better Christians because they are told they have access to new spiritual powers on which they can call at any time, which access was not given to lesser Christians? Are Family members humbler Christians, more dependant on the Lord for their spiritual lives, because they are told that they are the elite end time force with more truth than all others, given because of their extraordinary obedience? Does every Family child have a stable family unit, with mother and father, due to the prophecies which told their parents to engage in sex outside their own marriage? Do Family teens grow up with a healthy respect for each other’s bodies, treating those of the opposite sex with self-control, respect and unselfishness, due to the prophecies exhorting them to engage in pre-marital sex? Are older women in the Family secure in their marriage notwithstanding the prophecies which encourage their husbands to practise inter-generational sexual unity, that promote the idea that older men can have dates with young women? Do Family children grow up with a strong link to Jesus Christ as the Lord of all, due to the prophecies given which picture Him as a naked lover or basketball coach wearing a Family logo? Are they strong in their prayer life, knowing how to pray as Jesus Himself told us to pray, to God the Father, due to the myriad of prophecies exhorting them to call on a plethora of spirit helpers? Do Family members have a healthy respect for the Bible as the infallible unchangeable Word of God due to the prophecies which promote the ‘new wine’ above the ‘old wine’? Do they have a fear of God to break the commandments He set down due to the prophecies which promise them ‘greater freedom than all other Christians’? Is there a strong conviction that they should not steal (the eighth commandment) due to the prophecies saying that prohibitions against adultery (the seventh commandment) do not apply?

Are Family publications ‘God’s Word for today’?

Before we make such a general sweeping statement, examine the implications of this declaration. By saying that the Family writings are the Word of God for today we are necessarily saying that the Bible is God’s Word for yesterday. We are saying that the Bible is out of date, inapplicable. We are saying that the Word of God in the Bible is no longer alive and powerful, that Jesus’ Words in the Bible are no longer spirit and truth. We are saying that the Bible is dead. Or are we saying that the Bible is not dead, but just that it is silent, or irrelevant? Are we putting Family material as the new standard by which all truth is to be measured? Or are we saying that Family material proclaims extra, new truth? And when those messages directly contradict the Bible, which do we accept? If we hold to Family publications as ‘God’s Word for today’, we are selectively removing pages from the Bible as inapplicable. This demotes the Bible as being nothing more than backup reference material to support Family doctrine. When we do that, we remove the verses which say that Jesus’ words will never pass away and we deny that Jesus Himself is the Word made flesh.

Didn’t Jesus promise to reveal more things to us?

John 16:12-13

12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

Yes, Jesus promised He would continue to speak to us. It is, however, very significant that the verse that immediately follows Jesus’ promise tells exactly how He would do so: The Holy Spirit will guide us, each of us individually into all truth. The ‘many things’ that Jesus promised He would yet say would not come through a prophetic church leader, but from the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Remember also that when or if we receive a prophecy ‘from Jesus’, that Jesus does not change.

Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

He will not tell us anything that contradicts what He said in the Bible.

Conclusion

There is a vast difference between personal prophecies received for our own guidance, and those given for the instruction of all mankind in the Bible. Since the gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, each true believer has the Holy Spirit within their own hearts which leads each one personally to a knowledge of the truth. As we listen to the Holy Spirit teaching us, we will know whether a teacher or prophet is speaking from God or not. Times changed since the Holy Spirit was given. The Lord began speaking to every heart, and believers no longer need to run to the prophet to find out where God is leading. God now speaks to every heart which is precisely why there can be no private interpretation of prophecy. If a prophecy is true, God Himself will confirm it generally in the hearts of the body of believers, true Christians of all denominations, by the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking, not through their own prophets, but to their hearts.

Matt 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

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