“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” -Proverbs 29:18
I was led by the Holy Spirit today to consider the role and importance of prophets in the church.
Roughly 400 years passed between the prophet Malachi and the appearing of John the Baptist.
That’s 400 years without a prophetic voice!
It was not an accident that it was during this time that the Sadducees and Pharisees rose to power. Without a true prophetic voice the religious atmosphere was ripe for error.
The Sadducees claimed the scriptures as the sole authority for life and faith but were totally devoid of supernatural life. They didn’t believe in heaven, hell, angels, or demons. They didn’t even believe in life after death!
The Pharisees on the other hand, created a whole set of oral traditions and regulations that were completely man-made in their origin. They ended up putting their traditions above scripture.
The Sadducees were dead to the supernatural, and the Pharisees were bound up by self-produced legalistic religion.
It’s not hard to see both of these influences thriving in the church today!
400 years without a prophetic voice, 400 years without a prophetic vision, created a spiritual dead zone.
There was a lot of religious belief, but it was founded in error, based mostly in the beliefs of men.
Into that environment John the Baptist appeared!
John did what every true prophet of God does- he addressed what he saw and called the people to come back in line with the truth.
The word of God coming from John’s mouth was a sharp double-edged sword- living and active!
“For the word of God is alive and active.” -Hebrews 4:12
John spoke as one having authority, just as Jesus who followed him, spoke with authority.
Now what I want you to see is that during the 400 years before John the Baptist appeared- during that 400-year spiritual dead zone– the Jewish people had the scriptures but there was still a famine of hearing the Word of God!
“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land– not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.” -Amos 8:11
How is it possible to have the scriptures and be in famine?
Without the prophetic voice there is a famine of hearing.
Prophets today
I do not believe there are prophets today who are of the same order of the prophets of old.
We do not have new scripture being written under the inspiration of God through prophets today.
Joseph Smith made the claim that he was such a man and deceived many.
The Book of Mormon is a great example of what happens when we begin following false prophets!
Jesus warned us, by the way, that the last days would be marked by false prophets, so we shouldn’t be surprised if we come across a few of them!
“For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” -Matthew 24:24
It’s interesting to consider that one of the ways false prophets will make their appeal in the last days is by displaying the spectacular. They will be superstars when it comes to signs and wonders. Many in the church are primed for the deception because they are focused on that very thing!
When I read the book of Acts I see the apostles and prophets and the early church performing signs and wonders by the name of Jesus, so I’m not at all opposed to those things. The truth is, we should be expecting them because God is a supernatural God. What needs to be noted, however, is that the early church was radical for truth. It lived and breathed repentance and obedience to Jesus Christ. What we see overall in today’s church is a far cry from that.
I do not trust an atmosphere of miracles in a church that does not preach and practice holiness.
If we desire to be free of deception, we must love and live the truth of the Word of God without compromise.
But returning to my main point…
Although God is not writing new scripture today, and there are not prophets that exist on the level of those who wrote scripture, there are, nevertheless, prophets in today’s church and their voices need to be heard.
There is no doubt in my mind that one of the reasons the church has been in a spiritual dead zone is because it largely does not acknowledge the role of the prophet today. Where prophets are acknowledged, they are often confined to “a ministry of encouragement” rather than bringing “the voice of correction” that the prophetic role has always been about.
The church desperately needs the prophetic voice that calls her back to foundational truth.
God sends Living Epistles to every generation
The true prophet is a living letter of God. His life and his speech is meant to be read by those of his day.
People are harder to ignore than books!
There is no question that God speaks through His Word and that His voice is living and active by the Holy Spirit, and yet, we see that GOD STILL CHOSES TO SPEAK THROUGH THE MOUTHS OF MEN!
“You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David…” -Acts 4:25
“The Spirit AND the bride say, “Come!” -Revelation 22:17
God is still speaking through His people, and He is still sending forth His prophets!
The watered-down, and often spiritually frothy, atmosphere that is present in the church is largely due to the absence of prophets. A true prophet has always been a man who speaks for God, by the Word of God, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. A true prophet will speak the Word of God without compromise and calls the people of God back to foundational truth.
I’ll go so far as to say that many who call themselves prophets at the present time, will lose their “prophetic status” as the true prophets of God arise in the coming days.
The Word of God tells us that the household of God is…
“Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” -Ephesians 2:20
New Testament prophets are foundational, just as the Old Testament prophets were foundational.
There is a grounding foundational element in that which is genuinely prophetic that establishes people in the truth of Jesus Christ.
The role of the Old Testament prophet was corrective in nature. The voice of God spoke through men of God calling the people of God to come back into alignment with the Word of God.
Though it’s true that the New Testament prophet is not on the same level as that which we see in the Old Testament as it pertains to writing scripture, yet, as it pertains to the corrective role of bringing God’s people back to foundational truth today’s prophets are vital.
As God raises up prophets in the church, we will be called to repentance- called to return to the foundational truths of scripture, and will be directed back to Jesus Christ as our sole focus and first love.
“For the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy.” -Revelation 19:10