Testing Prophecy

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Paul exhorted us to test all things and to hold fast to the good. Because of the context it is clear that Paul wanted us to test prophecy given by fellow believers. Jesus also wanted us to test the prophets, even those in sheep’s clothing. Additionally, it appears that this testing could be extended to all Spirit ministry. The purpose of this testing was for the believer to be able to tell the difference between what has truly come from the Spirit of God and what has not. This testing is so that we will be able to separate the good from every form of evil, preventing our deception.

Why be so concerned about deception? Jesus and his apostles taught us that in the last days deception would be the main danger. When we are deceived we believe a lie, but are not aware of it. Since belief is the basis for all action and relationships, wrong beliefs result in destructive actions and relationships. Ultimately we will be judged on what we have believed as evidenced by our actions. True beliefs lead us into a love relationship with God and others while false beliefs do not. Deception then is a means by which our healthy relationships with God and others are broken.

Because of this we can see how important it is that we are not deceived. Now it is true that not all false beliefs are equally dangerous. Believing that Jesus is not our savior is far more dangerous than believing in, say, a limited atonement. (I can feel a discussion brewing!) There are areas in which differences of opinion are not necessarily debilitating and there are other areas that will destroy our relationship with God. It is important that we maintain a sense of proportion.

How then can we tell whether or not some spiritual activity is from the Holy Spirit or not? We will have to have some authority guide us here. We will have to be taught. Why do I say this? How would any of us know the answer to this question, for sure? Who has the right to say anything about this but those who undoubtedly have known this Spirit? This is why I propose scripture, the Old and New Testaments. No one in scripture has our cultural biases. And for my money, they are ones who undoubtedly knew the Holy Spirit.

Throughout time people have had to deal with the problem of who speaks authoritatively for God. Prophecy is where someone speaks for God as God directs, often in the first person singular. (Rev19:10, 22:6-9; Amos3:8) People who wanted to know the truth have always had to choose between those who spoke for God and those who claimed to speak for God. How were they able to distinguish between the two? What happened in the past and what can we learn from them?

The first situation that comes to mind is when Noah tried unsuccessfully to warn the world of the impending flood. Only his family listened. Even with the evidence of all these animals coming to the ark in pairs, people didn’t listen. No one had ever seen what Noah was talking about. Noah spoke of rain, floods, worldwide judgment, and cataclysm of a degree never before known. Besides, people didn’t want to repent. So Noah got no converts. Was Noah’s message from God? Yes. But people couldn’t tell because their hearts were hardened. They wanted their own way regardless. Noah’s message was right and he persisted with it for 120 years. He built an ark and gathered the animals (maybe even miraculously) and his family, demonstrating his sincerity. Still, his message went unheeded.

This shows us several things. The first is just because the message is strange and no one is listening does not prove that the message is not from God. It also shows that the reason we are not listening may have more to do with our hard heart than some flaw in the message. Herein is a key to knowing the voice of God û the receptivity of our heart. Do we really want to hear from God, or do we only want God to confirm our own opinions? Unless we are open to correction we will have a very hard time hearing from God. Does this mean that when God speaks he only speaks correction? Of course not. But unless we are open to whatever God might say, we will have trouble hearing. Unless we hear, we cannot decide whether the message is from God or not.

Since Moses was afraid that the people would not believe that God had met with him, God gave him confirmatory signs. This method was used throughout the Bible. Jesus, the prophets, the apostles all had miraculous signs to confirm that their message was from God. Yet signs were never given total confirmatory power. In other words, signs could confirm the message, but the message had to conform to the standard already given. Signs alone, or signs with a suspicious message, confirmed nothing. Signs alone cannot accredit the messenger. But signs can confirm that the message, when the message was consistent with previous messages from God, is indeed from God. (Dt 13:1-3, 18:21-22)

Why the need for signs if the message was consistent with previous messages from God? Sometimes it is because the people who are being communicated with have not understood the previous messages. Take for instance the coming in of the Gentiles into the people of God. It took many signs from the Spirit of God to lead Peter to the house of Cornelius. It also took a mighty demonstration of the presence of the Spirit in the lives of those Gentiles for the Jewish believers to accept the Gentiles and baptize them. Even then Peter was called to task by the leadership in Jerusalem. His answer was simple. Who am I to resist God?

Sometimes signs are used when the message challenges our accepted beliefs. If it weren’t for the signs, we would not reconsider our beliefs. Yet signs do not have the strength to change our beliefs on their own. The message must be, as the Bereans noted, consistent with what God has communicated before in the scriptures.

Jesus also taught us to Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. Matt 7:15-20 NIV So we can tell if the Spirit is working through someone by their fruit. This presupposes a few things. One is that we know this person life well enough to test for fruit. The second is that we know what good fruit looks (tastes?) like. Knowing the person who ministers by the Spirit is essential.

I suggest that the fruit Jesus mentions is the same as the fruit that Paul lists in Gal 5:22 as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. So also in Eph 5:9 the "fruit of light" is found in "all that is good and right and true." Contrasted with this are "the unfruitful works of darkness" (v. 11), the "fruitless trees" of subversive teachers in Jude 12. One of the characteristics of the "wisdom from above" is that it is "full of mercy and good fruits" (Jas 3:17, 2 Pet 1:8). In order to see such things we need to actually know that person. The more a person is disassociated with the local church the harder it is to assess fruit, and the easier it is to hide bad fruit.

If the prophetic word is consistent with scripture and is being communicated through a person of good fruit, it passes the initial test. All of this needs to done through a relationship with the Holy Spirit. You might remember when Agabus warned Paul of the binding he would receive by the Gentiles in Jerusalem. Paul wasn’t hard of hearing, he knew that what was said was true. He also knew the Lord was sending him and that he was willing to suffer for the Name. How the prophetic word given to Paul was to be interpreted by Paul, not others to whom this word was not addressed. So how the word is to be applied needs discernment.

Paul warns the Thessalonians not to put out the Spirits fire by looking down on prophecy. Instead they were to test everything and hold on to the good. Prophecy is one way that God mediates his presence though his people. If there is a need for anything now, it is for God to lovingly intervene in peoples lives. Prophecy is one way God does this. Lets avoid evil by not putting out the Spirits fire.

Fulfilling of Prophetic Words

One of the important things that came out of this visit to Kamchatka for me was the realization that many people did not know how God fulfills His prophetic word to them. Many people thought that the prophecy was a snapshot of the future given to them by God that will, indeed must, come to pass. They felt that no matter what they did this word must be fulfilled. Additionally, when in the prophetic message it was stated that they would do something in the future they would begin to prepare to fulfill it in their own strength. Thus they would try to fulfill things that God said He would do for them in a way similar to Abraham and Sarah having Ishmael before Isaac. Then when things didn't work out they way they expected they would lose faith in Jesus.

This was a shock to me. I realized that 

I had not taught enough on this topic. It hurt to see a few people who, through such a misunderstanding of the way God worked, damaged and even sometimes abandoned their faith. The prophetic word can be so uplifting, generating faith and hope, that to see some hurt by this misunderstanding brought grief to my spirit.

I was able to do some teaching on this topic, going from Jonah the "false prophet" - after all, the people repented and so did the Lord - through some of my life experiences to our father Abraham's positive and negative actions in his walk of faith.

In the end, Jesus told us that the reason He tells us something before it happens so that when it does happen we will believe. Believe what? Believe that out God is able, even more than able, to fulfill every word He speaks to us. By the fulfillment we will see God's handiwork in our every day lives. Our responsibility is to believe the word He speaks to us and trust Him no matter what. By the fulfillment of the prophetic word we get to know our God that much better. He tells us in advance so that we will believe.

Being Testy For Christ

Let me give you an example of what I mean by testing the spirits. Let’s pretend that one day the world was at war again. Someone had released a pathogen that was killing off hundreds of thousands of people a week. It looked like mankind was really going to destroy themselves this time.

In the midst of all this strife some scientist noticed on his telescope that an object, very small, was coming towards earth at an incredible speed, faster than any comet. The militaries of the earth were alerted. Talk shows had experts tell us of the devastation that a small object could do if it struck the earth. This object was coming straight for earth. They calculated that it would hit the earth in two days. The people of the earth wondered if it was judgment from God.

Just hours before the object was to hit, radio messages were received all over the earth that were purported as coming from the object. “Stop the war! I am coming! Stop the war! I am coming!” This was repeated over and over.

The object turned out to be some kind of spacecraft. It landed in the Middle East, in Jerusalem, on the Mount of Olives. It landed with such force that a small earthquake resulted, cracking the mount in two. The spacecraft was so hot that it glowed.

It took only a few hours for the craft to cool. As it did, camera crews, the curious, military people, and politicians gathered to it. After it was cool, a door opened, and a man walked out. He was bearded, wore blue jeans, and smiled a lot.

He said he was Jesus.

People who were dying from the plague were brought to him, and he healed them. Many miraculous signs were done. An uneasy peace began to pervade among the warring nations.

What would you do? Everyone seemed to be amazed. The question you would ask yourself is, does what this person say square with what is written? If it did not, even if you could not explain how these miracles were done, you would not accept this person as Jesus. Yet you would review all you had previously understood. You would make sure.

Then came the announcement. “All nations are to worship me, or judgment will follow!” The Islamic nations that would not bend had fire come upon them from what seemed like outer space. All governments were abolished. The control of all the world's money was unified under his command. Allegiance had to be sworn in order to participate in any way in society. Now your life and the lives of your children depended upon your decision. Would your decision hold? Could you be swayed?

This may be an extreme example. But every day we have to make similar decisions, yet on a much smaller scale. Jesus taught us that if we’d be faithful with little we’d also be faithful with much. I’ve noticed that this works in all areas of responsibility. In discernment there are just a few elements that need to be balanced.

Is what I see consistent with the scripture or not? If what I see challenges my understanding of scripture, after further review do I find it consistent or not? Who gets the glory? Is it consistent with the God I know? What is or would be the fruit? Do I have peace? What is the Spirit saying inside me? What do others, whom I regard as spiritually mature, say? What are the immature saying? In essence, is this activity consistent with the Spirit and the Book?

Unless you are convinced that the Spirit stopped doing the things we see throughout the Bible, there will still be, from time to time, miraculous signs and wonders done by God’s people today. The gifts of the Spirit are manifested still.

Let’s look at a test case. Take the stuff that went on at the Toronto Airport Vineyard (now Toronto Airport Church). I went to see it for myself. I was negatively predisposed. At first I was bored, yet after observing those around me have experiences from which they would come away with the praise of God on their lips and with a fervor to serve Him, I wondered. At one point there was a general call for those with lower back pain to come forward to be prayed for. I laughed to myself saying maybe everyone is going to go forward for this one. Since I had back pain, and had for years, I went forward, pressured by my wife, despite my skepticism. I stood in a circle around the platform with many others. As someone came near me to pray for me, and as that person lifted their hand to lay upon me for prayer, yet before I was touched, I found myself ejected backwards in a ‘graceful’ arc, landing on my lower back.

My back pain was gone, and stayed gone. I had other encounters with the Holy Spirit throughout the week, yet none of them were particularly emotional.

I remember one afternoon, while standing on a balcony at the back, being asked by the Holy Spirit if I would want this fruit in my ministry. Would I want people to more willing to serve God and make positive strides in their confession of faith? I said that yes, I would. But what if it came with all these different reactions, I was asked? Then I saw what was going on. The things that people did, the falling, laughing, groaning, etc., were their reactions to the Holy Spirit, not manifestations of the Holy Spirit. The fruit of these encounters with the Spirit was not the reactions, but the strides people made in their faith.

The fruit of these encounters with the Holy Spirit in my life gave me faith to believe God for the time and money for short term missions. This is with 5 kids still at home. Sometimes my wife or one of my children would accompany me. Beautiful fruit for me and my family. I can trace this fruit back to my encounters with the Holy Spirit at the Toronto Airport Church. Does this mean that I endorse all that went on? Of course not. Few do. But after testing I can keep the good and avoid the evil.

This is what Paul was steering us towards with these words in his letter to the Thessalonians. Paul wanted us to discern the intent of God in what is happening around us. This will take a familiarity with God has said and done in the past coupled with a openness to the Spirit. Even if we are not 100% correct in all our judgments we can at least move ourselves out of the place of debilitating deception into the range of non-dangerous differences of opinion.

Testing Prophecy

Paul exhorted us to test all things and to hold fast to the good. Because of the context it is clear that Paul wanted us to test prophecy given by fellow believers. Jesus also wanted us to test the prophets, even those in sheep’s clothing. Additionally, it appears that this testing could be extended to all ‘Spirit’ ministry. The purpose of this testing was for the believer to be able to tell the difference between what has truly come from the Spirit of God and what has not. This testing is so that we will be able to separate the good from every form of evil, preventing our deception.

Why be so concerned about deception? Jesus and his apostles taught us that in the last days deception would be the main danger. When we are deceived we believe a lie, but are not aware of it. Since belief is the basis for all action and relationships, wrong beliefs result in destructive actions and relationships. Ultimately we will be judged on what we have believed as evidenced by our actions. True beliefs lead us into a love relationship with God and others while false beliefs do not. Deception then is a means by which our healthy relationships with God and others are broken.

Because of this we can see how important it is that we are not deceived. Now it is true that not all false beliefs are equally dangerous. Believing that Jesus is not our savior is far more dangerous than believing in, say, a limited atonement. (I can feel a discussion brewing!) There are areas in which differences of opinion are not necessarily debilitating and there are other areas that will destroy our relationship with God. It is important that we maintain a sense of proportion.

How then can we tell whether or not some ‘spiritual’ activity is from the Holy Spirit or not? We will have to have some authority guide us here. We will have to be taught. Why do I say this? How would any of us know the answer to this question, for sure? Who has the right to say anything about this but those who undoubtedly have known this Spirit? This is why I propose scripture, the Old and New Testaments. No one in scripture has our cultural biases. And for my money, they are ones who undoubtedly knew the Holy Spirit.

Throughout time people have had to deal with the problem of who speaks authoritatively for God. Prophecy is where someone speaks for God as God directs, often in the first person singular. (Rev19:10, 22:6-9; Amos3:8) People who wanted to know the truth have always had to choose between those who spoke for God and those who claimed to speak for God. How were they able to distinguish between the two? What happened in the past and what can we learn from them?

The first situation that comes to mind is when Noah tried unsuccessfully to warn the world of the impending flood. Only his family listened. Even with the evidence of all these animals coming to the ark in pairs, people didn’t listen. No one had ever seen what Noah was talking about. Noah spoke of rain, floods, worldwide judgment, and cataclysm of a degree never before known. Besides, people didn’t want to repent. So Noah got no converts. Was Noah’s message from God? Yes. But people couldn’t tell because their hearts were hardened. They wanted their own way regardless. Noah’s message was right and he persisted with it for 120 years. He built an ark and gathered the animals (maybe even miraculously) and his family, demonstrating his sincerity. Still, his message went unheeded.

This shows us several things. The first is just because the message is strange and no one is listening does not prove that the message is not from God. It also shows that the reason we are not listening may have more to do with our hard heart than some flaw in the message. Herein is a ‘key’ to knowing the voice of God – the receptivity of our heart. Do we really want to hear from God, or do we only want God to confirm our own opinions? Unless we are open to correction we will have a very hard time hearing from God. Does this mean that when God speaks he only speaks correction? Of course not. But unless we are open to whatever God might say, we will have trouble hearing. Unless we hear, we cannot decide whether the message is from God or not.

Since Moses was afraid that the people would not believe that God had met with him, God gave him confirmatory signs. This method was used throughout the Bible. Jesus, the prophets, the apostles all had miraculous signs to confirm that their message was from God. Yet signs were never given total confirmatory power. In other words, signs could confirm the message, but the message had to conform to the standard already given. Signs alone, or signs with a suspicious message, confirmed nothing. Signs alone cannot accredit the messenger. But signs can confirm that the message, when the message was consistent with previous messages from God, is indeed from God. (Dt 13:1-3, 18:21-22)

Why the need for signs if the message was consistent with previous messages from God? Sometimes it is because the people who are being communicated with have not understood the previous messages. Take for instance the coming in of the Gentiles into the people of God. It took many signs from the Spirit of God to lead Peter to the house of Cornelius. It also took a mighty demonstration of the presence of the Spirit in the lives of those Gentiles for the Jewish believers to accept the Gentiles and baptize them. Even then Peter was called to task by the leadership in Jerusalem. His answer was simple. Who am I to resist God?

Sometimes signs are used when the message challenges our accepted beliefs. If it weren’t for the signs, we would not reconsider our beliefs. Yet signs do not have the strength to change our beliefs on their own. The message must be, as the Bereans noted, consistent with what God has communicated before in the scriptures.

Jesus also taught us to “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” Matt 7:15-20 NIV So we can tell if the Spirit is working through someone by their fruit. This presupposes a few things. One is that we know this person life well enough to test for fruit. The second is that we know what good fruit looks (tastes?) like. Knowing the person who ministers by the Spirit is essential.

I suggest that the fruit Jesus mentions is the same as the fruit that Paul lists in Gal 5:22 as “love, joy, peace,patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”. So also in Eph 5:9 the "fruit of light" is found in "all that is good and right and true." Contrasted with this are "the unfruitful works of darkness" (v. 11), the "fruitless trees" of subversive teachers in Jude 12. One of the characteristics of the "wisdom from above" is that it is "full of mercy and good fruits" (Jas 3:17, 2 Pet 1:8). In order to see such things we need to actually know that person. The more a person is disassociated with the local church the harder it is to assess fruit, and the easier it is to hide bad fruit.

If the prophetic word is consistent with scripture and is being communicated through a person of good fruit, it passes the initial test. All of this needs to done through a relationship with the Holy Spirit. You might remember when Agabus warned Paul of the binding he would receive by the Gentiles in Jerusalem. Paul wasn’t hard of hearing, he knew that what was said was true. He also knew the Lord was sending him and that he was willing to suffer for the Name. How the prophetic word given to Paul was to be interpreted by Paul, not others to whom this word was not addressed. So how the word is to be applied needs discernment.

Paul warns the Thessalonians not to put out the Spirit’s fire by looking down on prophecy. Instead they were to test everything and hold on to the good. Prophecy is one way that God mediates his presence though his people. If there is a need for anything now, it is for God to lovingly intervene in people’s lives. Prophecy is one way God does this. Let’s avoid evil by not putting out the Spirit’s fire.