Course 112: The Ascension Office Gifts (Five Fold Leadership Gifts) - Lesson #7
Signs of the true Prophet & Pitfalls of the Office
What are the signs of a Prophet?
There are some core signs of the true Prophet of Jesus Christ. These are:
1. Manner of life validates his/her ministry. Jesus himself put this benchmark for determining whether someone is truly a prophet from Him. Matthew 7: 15 - 23. A true prophet should have
i). a clear testimony of salvation Matthew 7:13, 14
ii). Fruit of the Spirit shall be evident in his/her life. Matthew 7: 16 - 20; Galatians 5: 22, 23
iii) Unwillingness to touch the glory of God by speech or attitude. A true prophet will deliberately seek to decrease while pointing the saints to God just like John the Baptist John 3: 25 - 36.
2. Accuracy of the word he or she brings forth and it's lining up with the written word of God. The word brought forth is meaningless if it contradicts clear provisions of scripture, rightly divided. 2 Peter 1: 16 - 21. If for instance a prophet tells a young lady married for 2 years that she married the wrong person and she should divorce her husband to look for the prophesied Camelot, that prophet is a deceiver!
3. Unwillingness to speak except expressly prompted by the Holy Spirit. It is sad these days to see so called prophets turn on the prophetic flow as a faucet at will. This ends up being soulish projections that corrupt the prophetic mantle and bring it into disrepute in the long run. 1 Corinthians 12: 7, 11 establish a basic ground norm that utterance is activated by the Holy Spirit and not the vessel. In reality, He should prompt a prophet to speak. When there is no such prompting, the prophet should not feel obliged to say a word!
The captain of our Salvation, Jesus Christ of Nazareth who Himself is the Chief Prophet modelled this approach when He said that all He does or says is at the express prompting of the Father. John 5:30, John 6:38. The sight of so called prophets who are tattlers and gossips is an aberration and of extreme absurdity!
4. Willingness to submit. Prophets are known for their obedience to the law of submission. As people who wield great authority in Christ, they are tested by the degree of yeildedness to higher authorities. 1 Corinthians 14:32, 33; Romans 13;1-7.
5. Willingness to have their prophecies judged to determine the source and direction. True prophets know that no human being has absolute knowledge and all saints are capable of misreading God. No matter how greatly they esteem the prophecies given, they should be willing to have others judge them. 1 Corinthians 14: 29 - 33.
What are the Pitfalls of Prophetic ministry?
Jesus knew the strategic nature of this office and its potentials for causing His saints to err. That is why He personally issued more warnings about false prophets in the gospels and the book of Revelation than on any other office. Matthew 7: 15 - 23; Matthew 24: 11. 24 - 26; Revelation 2:14, 20 - 24. Strong warnings abound in other scriptures concerning false prophets. 2 Peter 2: 1 - 22 is a case study as well as Jude verse 3 - 19.
