Prophecy, Paranoia or Mental Illness.

[NodMyHeadLikeYeah]

I have a few questions.

There are a lot prophecies that float around in here, a good portion of them predicting these huge events, Tsunamis, meteors hitting the earth, fires, volcano eruptions.
The people saying these things will happen usually say God told only them. That we don't know God like they do. It's the same with the conspiracy theorys that are posted. I don't need to elaborate more than that, most of you know how it goes.

Three of the women in my church work at a union mission in our area. My mom is one of the directors there as well.
My mom's job is when a person first comes in she has to interview them. She asks them questions like, How did you end up homeless? How did you get to our facility? Do you have a relationship with Jesus (the union mission is a christian based program for homeless men, women and familys) After interviewing them, She decides weather or not the person is fit to stay at the mission.

She has always said she knows weather or not the person has a history of mental illness by how they answer the question, Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ? She said all of the mentally ill men and women will say yes and then tell her these storys about how god told them this horrible thing is going to happen or that their is a world wide conspiracy. She said a woman told her just yesterday the southern baptist convention is out to get her because "God told her brother things he hasn't told anyone else" So now their out to get her. The same day a christian lady showed up wearing swimming goggles because God told her he was sending a flood.

Now for my questions.

Are these people really christians? And could someone explain this to me... why is their a link between mental illness and all these "prophesies" I don't understand it.
How would you be able to tell the difference between what a real prophecy is and one that a mentally unstable person just made up. I can imagine the people in the bible thought the prophets in their days were crazy.
I know in scripture it says to test the spirits, but beyond that how do you tell. What if everything that person is doing is lining up with the word, but there prophesying this .... event.

Sorry if my questions all seem like a jumble.

 

[Mo0448]

How would you be able to tell the difference between what a real prophecy is and one that a mentally unstable person just made up. I can imagine the people in the bible thought the prophets in their days were crazy.
I know in scripture it says to test the spirits, but beyond that how do you tell. What if everything that person is doing is lining up with the word, but there prophesying this .... event.

Very good question. It is very interesting, sometimes I consider for an example a post I made in a previous thread, where some individuals write books saying that God "took" them to Hell to show them hell so they could write about it or took them to heaven so they could write about it. While I would like to have an open mind to these ideas some scripture tend to contradict these thoughts.

You make good points people thought John the Baptist was a very strange man, dressed in fur big leather belt desert living honey and locusts! Sounds a little intense doesn't it ? I believe that while you can tell as you mentioned scriptures describe to test the spirits, I am certain you can also tell by their perception and how they describe these experiences. I believe (and this is personal opinion) that someone that makes the experience all about them exclusive "chosen one" to experience it is taking the glory away from God and putting it on themselves I guess that's one way to look at it. God hates that btw, it was the reason Lucifer was cast out of Heaven, wanting the glory that belonged only to God.

I can see how your mom draws her conclusions on people as it makes sense; yes we can have experiences with God that no one else has but describing them while placing yourself in the center taking the glory away from God really shows what kind of Christian you are, or in that case aren't. I hope this helps!

God Bless

 

[4enlightment]

There's a lot of prophecies floating around. Some could be true, and some are not. Before a major catastrophic event happens, there will be some signs from God letting us know that there is something is going to happen; from small little tremblers before an major earthquake, and or maybe the major eartquakes is letting us know that there's is going to a even more greater catastrophe that is on the way. Like the continous flooding that is going on in the eastern shorelines could be an warning also; it was prophecied by Edgar Casey that the shore lines around the Carolinas, and some parts of Florida, and even the surounding areas of New York is going to be underwater; but if it's all true? Prophecy can be altered by God alone like the plan of distruction of the city of Ninevah which it was prophecied by Jonah. And about people that prophecied about major events whether it is true or not, it is hard to tell ( because it is hard for us to have the abiity to judge others). God's send us informants to informs us. Their message can come to us through all sort of earthly creatures and plants, and through the readings of the stars can be messages from these entities; and some of them can come down in person to hand them to us. Satan send his messengers also to confuse us all by distorting the true message.

[video=youtube_share;dWOGZwXK5fY]http://youtu.be/dWOGZwXK5fY[/video]

 

[homwardbound]

I have a few questions.

There are a lot prophecies that float around in here, a good portion of them predicting these huge events, Tsunamis, meteors hitting the earth, fires, volcano eruptions.
The people saying these things will happen usually say God told only them. That we don't know God like they do. It's the same with the conspiracy theorys that are posted. I don't need to elaborate more than that, most of you know how it goes.

Three of the women in my church work at a union mission in our area. My mom is one of the directors there as well.
My mom's job is when a person first comes in she has to interview them. She asks them questions like, How did you end up homeless? How did you get to our facility? Do you have a relationship with Jesus (the union mission is a christian based program for homeless men, women and familys) After interviewing them, She decides weather or not the person is fit to stay at the mission.

She has always said she knows weather or not the person has a history of mental illness by how they answer the question, Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ? She said all of the mentally ill men and women will say yes and then tell her these storys about how god told them this horrible thing is going to happen or that their is a world wide conspiracy. She said a woman told her just yesterday the southern baptist convention is out to get her because "God told her brother things he hasn't told anyone else" So now their out to get her. The same day a christian lady showed up wearing swimming goggles because God told her he was sending a flood.

Now for my questions.

Are these people really christians? And could someone explain this to me... why is their a link between mental illness and all these "prophesies" I don't understand it.
How would you be able to tell the difference between what a real prophecy is and one that a mentally unstable person just made up. I can imagine the people in the bible thought the prophets in their days were crazy.
I know in scripture it says to test the spirits, but beyond that how do you tell. What if everything that person is doing is lining up with the word, but there prophesying this .... event.

Sorry if my questions all seem like a jumble.

Are you a child of God? Do you believe what Christ did for you at the cross? Now in the Old Testament God spoke to us
[h=3]Hebrews 1[/h]New King James Version (NKJV)

[h=3]God’s Supreme Revelation[/h]1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, [SUP]2 [/SUP]has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; [SUP]3 [/SUP]who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, [SUP]4 [/SUP]having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
So today we have God by belief living in us to seperate truth from error right? So would not God confirm to each of us what is truth and what is error.
Today God speakds to each of us personally and those that God has revealed himself to know the truth, God just love them and are set free from all fear for
1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
To be scared of upcoming events that might happen or might not is not of God. To be aware of is from God except without fear of being in Christ.
Another way to see this: Would I go to my Son to tell my Son to tell his brother my other son something or my daughter?
Why would I not go directly to each of my children andtellthem waht I wantthem to know?
Well taoday this is how God works in each of us, even though we do not always listen just as when we where Children
Fear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! today is of the devil

 

[zone]

it's really easy Nod:
there are no more prophets.

 

[Blain]

The thing about prophesy is that it is not supposed to be about the person speaking about it, usually prophesy is a warning to get people prepared. If someone as you said says they know God better than someone else, well that's not really humble is it? Me for instance, I am sure you know I made a thread about a coming tsunami. But It was not to glorify myself or to make me seem like a prophet because honestly I do not feel qualified to be a prophet I still have far to much growing to do. And if the tsunami does happen if anyone talks good of me about it I will correct them by saying all the glory is to god not me because it was not my own message.

Prophets or at least the real ones are nothing more than the messenger or the voice for God. True prophets only repeat what God says to them and they claim no honor from it. Humbleness and acknowledging God as a prophet is the key, and knowing we know nothing compared to him.

 

[1still_waters]

There are endless reasons for this stuff. Unique people do things for unique reasons.

Most "prophets" and conspiracy theorists are walking mis-fortune cookies. They galavant about giving their "prophecies" like an animated PEZ dispenser hopped up on bath salts.

Some are well intentioned.
Some are mis-guided.
Some are a mix of both.
Some know they're fulla hog wash and they keep it up.
Some are mentally ill.


One of the worst uses of "prophecy" is when someone uses it to manipulate others. I've had someone suggest a way certain things need to be done. They did it in the name of God. I explained that sometimes people mistake their own personal desires/wishes/will for God's will. This was met with a rather firm "prophecy" that if things weren't done a certain way then X would happen within Y amount of time. X never happened within Y amount of time. So it's the Christian way to say, "If you don't do what I want, I'll break your thumb, or you'll be sleeping with the fishes."

Some of the more well intentioned people get caught up in it, because of bad teaching about prophecy. Then those with a tender heart take head to what these people are saying, because they too want to obey God. But all they're obeying is the walking mis-fortunate cookie who is speaking in the name of God.

Claiming to hear from and have the voice of God can be a powerfully deceptive thing unfortunately.


Sadly these people end up putting a huge blemish on our faith, and we end up looking ridiculous.

 

[zone]

well, i agree with false prophets part.

the slam against researching events and what men do together in their sin ("Conspiracy Theorists") is getting old, and i reject it, concerning myself.

i'll stop posting anything that suggests two or more people plan to commit a crime or do something in secret.
maybe that'll stop embarassing the church.

of course, not posting on it doesn't make it go away.
it just means you don't have to think about it.

 

[Angela53510]

I see no one has addressed the issue of mental illness.

It is a disease. Untreated, it can lead to hallucinations, delusions, delusions of grandeur and lack of self care, self harm, paranoia etc, depending upon the type of mental illness. Schizophrenia, bipolar 1 and depression with psychosis come to mind as mental illnesses that have these manifestations.

This is a disease of the brain - it has nothing to do with the spirit. It means that without proper medication, the person is not sane. If they take the right medications, they do not have these disease symptoms any more.

I am not saying anyone here is mentally ill, but it wouldn't bother me if they were. Most mentally ill people are more dangerous to themselves than anyone else.

So where do all these prophecies come in?

The person at one time had an experience with Christ. Then, every delusional thought that comes into their brain becomes a prophecy, vision or dream from God. Since we know that most of these prophecies are obviously not true, we will assume the people in the homeless shelter are likely mentally ill.

On this site, it is difficult to tell. But my thought is for pretty much anyone who is wandering around in sackcloth and ashes crying "The end is nigh, the end is nigh!" probably is a bit delusional and I seriously think they need to see a doctor.

That doesn't mean I do not believe that God does not speak to us. He speaks to us through his Word, the Bible, through preaching, through another person. When we pray, God gives us answers. God directs and leads us. He comforts and exhorts us.

But that is very different than predicting the end of the world. I have many mentally ill friends I met on another website. They all have learned over time that going off meds results in delusional thinking, including false prophecies. So they stay on their meds.

Just like someone who is ill with a physical disease needs treatment, so do people with this tendency to believe God is telling them GREAT THINGS about the future. I am quite serious that mental illness needs to be treated. If you feel God is calling you to save the world, or even a part of the world, you are likely off track.

Because Jesus has already died for our sins, and saved the world!

“For God so loved the world,that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. [SUP]17 [/SUP]For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." John 3:16-17

 

[maxwel]

I have a few questions.
There are a lot prophecies that float around in here, a good portion of them predicting these huge events, Tsunamis, meteors hitting the earth, fires, volcano eruptions.
The people saying these things will happen usually say God told only them. That we don't know God like they do. It's the same with the conspiracy theorys that are posted. I don't need to elaborate more than that, most of you know how it goes.

Three of the women in my church work at a union mission in our area. My mom is one of the directors there as well.
My mom's job is when a person first comes in she has to interview them. She asks them questions like, How did you end up homeless? How did you get to our facility? Do you have a relationship with Jesus (the union mission is a christian based program for homeless men, women and familys) After interviewing them, She decides weather or not the person is fit to stay at the mission.

She has always said she knows weather or not the person has a history of mental illness by how they answer the question, Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ? She said all of the mentally ill men and women will say yes and then tell her these storys about how god told them this horrible thing is going to happen or that their is a world wide conspiracy. She said a woman told her just yesterday the southern baptist convention is out to get her because "God told her brother things he hasn't told anyone else" So now their out to get her. The same day a christian lady showed up wearing swimming goggles because God told her he was sending a flood.

Now for my questions.

Are these people really christians? And could someone explain this to me... why is their a link between mental illness and all these "prophesies" I don't understand it.
How would you be able to tell the difference between what a real prophecy is and one that a mentally unstable person just made up. I can imagine the people in the bible thought the prophets in their days were crazy.
I know in scripture it says to test the spirits, but beyond that how do you tell. What if everything that person is doing is lining up with the word, but there prophesying this .... event.

Sorry if my questions all seem like a jumble.

Nodmyheadlikeyeah,

I think your question is perfectly fine and legitimate.

For many millennia before Christ, people in all cultures, have been claiming to get weird messages from whatever they call "God."
You even see pagans doing it in the Old Testament.
Saying you got a message from "God" doesn't make you a Christian...
you can belong to any religion, or no religion at all, and say the same thing.

So, saying you got a message from God doesn't make you a Christian,
and saying you got a message from God doesn't mean you got a message from God.
This is all in the bible.

Next, when God gives someone in the scripture a real prophetic message,
it always comes to pass.
Always.

Next, when God gives someone in the scripture a real prophetic message,
it never makes them "crazy".
That person is still in control of their faculties.
They aren't turning crazy, they are just sharing a message which is unpleasant,
and often makes everyone around them crazy.
(There is even a verse that says,
"...the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets."
1 Corinthians 14:22
Meaning a prophet doesn't lose control of himself when being influenced by God's spirit.)

Next, when God gives someone a prophetic message in the scripture,
it never contradicts anything else in scripture, including God's nature,
or His other promises, plans, or prophecies.
God cannot lie, or contradict himself...
so no message from God can contradict any other message from God.

Next, in the scripture, God never just chose prophets randomly off the street.
This was a very special, and very precise, act of God.

Next, many people believe the canon of scripture is closed at this point in time,
and there are no more direct revelations.
The reasoning is that if the bible is complete, then more revelation simply isn't needed.
Therefore, people don't need more revelation, but rather they need to study the revelation already given.

Next, even if you disagree with the above point about continued revelation,
and some Christians do,
then all the other points about prophecy still hold true.

So, what have we got about prophecy so far?
- A real prophetic message must always come true.
- A real prophetic message never contradicts any part of scripture.
- A real prophetic message does not make the prophet turn into a lunatic.
- God doesn't choose prophets randomly off the street the way we pick a place for lunch.


I think the question was good... and the answer is pretty simply if we go to the scripture.

 

[1still_waters]

the slam against researching events and what men do together in their sin ("Conspiracy Theorists") is getting old, and i reject it, concerning myself.

i'll stop posting anything that suggests two or more people plan to commit a crime or do something in secret.
maybe that'll stop embarassing the church.

of course, not posting on it doesn't make it go away.
it just means you don't have to think about it.

Hmmm your certainty of such things doesn't prevent me from posting my views on such things.
My certainty of such things shouldn't prevent you either.

Lotsa folks with certain opinions about lotsa stuff.
Doesn't mean each has to stop posting due to the other person's certainty.

 

[TigerScent777]

I have a few questions.

There are a lot prophecies that float around in here, a good portion of them predicting these huge events, Tsunamis, meteors hitting the earth, fires, volcano eruptions.
The people saying these things will happen usually say God told only them. That we don't know God like they do. It's the same with the conspiracy theorys that are posted. I don't need to elaborate more than that, most of you know how it goes.

Three of the women in my church work at a union mission in our area. My mom is one of the directors there as well.
My mom's job is when a person first comes in she has to interview them. She asks them questions like, How did you end up homeless? How did you get to our facility? Do you have a relationship with Jesus (the union mission is a christian based program for homeless men, women and familys) After interviewing them, She decides weather or not the person is fit to stay at the mission.

She has always said she knows weather or not the person has a history of mental illness by how they answer the question, Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ? She said all of the mentally ill men and women will say yes and then tell her these storys about how god told them this horrible thing is going to happen or that their is a world wide conspiracy. She said a woman told her just yesterday the southern baptist convention is out to get her because "God told her brother things he hasn't told anyone else" So now their out to get her. The same day a christian lady showed up wearing swimming goggles because God told her he was sending a flood.

Now for my questions.

Are these people really christians? And could someone explain this to me... why is their a link between mental illness and all these "prophesies" I don't understand it.
How would you be able to tell the difference between what a real prophecy is and one that a mentally unstable person just made up. I can imagine the people in the bible thought the prophets in their days were crazy.
I know in scripture it says to test the spirits, but beyond that how do you tell. What if everything that person is doing is lining up with the word, but there prophesying this .... event.

Sorry if my questions all seem like a jumble.

...you can tell first of all; by the way they structure their sentences and where they are coming from indicated by their obsessions - if so; what predominates their thinking and how they communicate that...

...secondly, you can also feel it in your spirit via Gods Spirit...

...however, strange things do happen, and the bible speaks of much evil in the end times, but also speaks of confusion and people running to and fro..., so --- draw on the Power of God and His Wisdom in an inner centred way...

 

[NodMyHeadLikeYeah]

Thank you all very much for responding You've been very helpful!