Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. - Hebrews 1: 1-2 (ESV)
Make sure you understand what is being said here. In the Old Testament there were no printing presses to run off copies of the law. There were no means of electronic communication. God spoke to His people through His Prophets. If you wanted to hear from the Lord you had to see the Prophet. The Old Testament is filled with stories of kings sending for the Prophet to advise them one way or the other as to what sayeth the Lord. There are also stories of kings who surrounded themselves with false prophets who prophesied what they wanted to hear instead of what God was saying. This method of communication became obsolete when God sent His only Son into the world. Jesus held the office of Prophet for the last time. He spoke to those in His day for God and left us His Word to continue to speak to us. According to John, He is the Word. We do not need to seek out someone who paid $50 for a fancy title when we have the full counsel of God at our fingertips! God's Word is holy and righteous yet we treat it as profanely as Uzzah treated the ark of the covenant.
What passes these days for prophets are merely people playing parlor games with the people of God. It is more clairvoyance than prophecy. It is dealing with unclean spirits, not the holy Spirit of God. How can we know this? Because Scripture is very clear that if a prophet speaks and it does not come to pass than you have not heard from a prophet! Yet take this quote from Rick Joyner, who calls himself a prophet:
"There is a prophet named Bob Jones who was told that the general level of prophetic revelation in the church was about 65% accurate at this time. Some are only about 10% accurate, a very few of the most mature prophets are approaching 85% to 95% accuracy. Prophecy is increasing in purity, but there is a still a long way to go for those who walk in this ministry" - (The Prophetic Ministry, Rick Joyner- Morningstar Prophetic Newsletter. Vol. 3, No. 2, p. 2).
So the bar is now set at 65%? Is that of God or of man? People should take the holy things of God more seriously. The reality is that we are like King Ahab who only wanted to hear good things from his prophets:
And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "Inquire first for the word of the Lord." Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, "Shall I go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?" And they said, "Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king." But Jehoshaphat said, "Is there not here another prophet of the Lord of whom we may inquire?" And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil." And Jehoshaphat said, "Let not the king say so." - 1Kings 22: 5-8 (ESV)
I hate him for he never prophesies good concerning me! This spirit of Ahab is alive and well in our churches today! We gather around titles to hear what we want to hear instead of what sayeth the Lord! Do we even realize how profanely we treat this office by parading ourselves around with a $50 certificate? This was the office held by Elijah and Elisha. It was held by Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Do you think they lorded their titles around people? Do you think they introduced themselves as Prophet so and so? Or did they consider themselves as unworthy to carry the Word of the Lord? Did they consider themselves as having unclean lips or brag on end about their "office?" Beware those who feel the need to insist on their title of prophet. I read recently a famous pastor who was hearing someone speak and found their message so revelatory that they asked them at the end if he were a prophet. The person answered, that is never for me to say. Amen.
Just as much if not more clearly, the office of Apostle is no longer in operation and Scripture affirms this. Not that false apostles is a new phenomena:
1
1
1
