What is the point in being a prophet?

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

Genez

Junior Member
Oct 12, 2017
2,080
286
83
Did I say we don't need pastor/teachers?

I was talking about prophecy. How about staying on topic. :)
He has a way to say what you do not say.
So, what you did say, will be diverted away from.

That way, others will not have time to contemplate the truth that was said.
 

CS1

Well-known member
May 23, 2012
12,785
4,215
113
He has a way to say what you do not say.
So, what you did say, will be diverted away from.

That way, others will not have time to contemplate the truth that was said.
LOL, you just flat-out lied.
 

sawdust

Active member
Feb 12, 2024
761
137
43
67
Darwin, NT
The point was that those gifts were not done away with, and neither were the others. I am on topic :)
I was speaking only of prophecy. I put away my barbie dolls when I was 13yo but my teddies still sit on my bed. Just because some gifts have not been taken away doesn't mean all remain.

If you want to know what the will of God is (forthtelling), then learn your scriptures. If you want to know what the future holds (foretelling), then read Revelation.

I have all I need in the word to face everything I have ever endured or will endure and I certainly don't need a prophet to see where this conversation is going. ;)

As I see it, every Christian ought to be prophetic for the witness to Christ is the spirit of prophecy. His word (He is the Word) hidden in our hearts ought to enable us to see the trends of what directions things will take and it ought to inform us how to walk and remain within God's will.

Revelation 19:10
And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

God appointed four offices in the church, apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastor/teachers for the overseeing of it's spiritual welfare and growth. The first two built the foundation upon which the other two continue to build and they do so upon the writings we have received ending with the Revelation to John. Apostles and prophets cease to exist now as you don't build foundations all the way up the building.

Ephesians 2:20
having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
 

sawdust

Active member
Feb 12, 2024
761
137
43
67
Darwin, NT
He has a way to say what you do not say.
So, what you did say, will be diverted away from.

That way, others will not have time to contemplate the truth that was said.
Yes, I just got through a discussion with another poster who did that consistently. It is very exhausting. Rather than deal with what you actually say, they divert away to things you never mentioned in order to score points. Sad to say the least.
 

CS1

Well-known member
May 23, 2012
12,785
4,215
113
I was speaking only of prophecy. I put away my barbie dolls when I was 13yo but my teddies still sit on my bed. Just because some gifts have not been taken away doesn't mean all remain.

If you want to know what the will of God is (forthtelling), then learn your scriptures. If you want to know what the future holds (foretelling), then read Revelation.

I have all I need in the word to face everything I have ever endured or will endure and I certainly don't need a prophet to see where this conversation is going. ;)

As I see it, every Christian ought to be prophetic for the witness to Christ is the spirit of prophecy. His word (He is the Word) hidden in our hearts ought to enable us to see the trends of what directions things will take and it ought to inform us how to walk and remain within God's will.

Revelation 19:10
And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

God appointed four offices in the church, apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastor/teachers for the overseeing of it's spiritual welfare and growth. The first two built the foundation upon which the other two continue to build and they do so upon the writings we have received ending with the Revelation to John. Apostles and prophets cease to exist now as you don't build foundations all the way up the building.

Ephesians 2:20
having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,

I did not play with dolls, and I do not refer to the gifts of the Holy Spirit are toys, but you go right ahead and Profane all you like.

"Just because some gifts have not been taken away doesn't mean all remain."

It would be more authoritative if the word of God supported your opinion. I would happily say amen if you could provide just one verse in context that says what you claim. You like to allegorize the word of God and try to elite one verse in a text at the expense of the context. Very weak exegesis you have above, and failure to clearly see the authorial intent of the text in 1cor chapter 12 through 14.

Also, in REV 19:10.
 

Genez

Junior Member
Oct 12, 2017
2,080
286
83
Yes, I just got through a discussion with another poster who did that consistently. It is very exhausting. Rather than deal with what you actually say, they divert away to things you never mentioned in order to score points. Sad to say the least.
The devil recruits agents wherever he finds a believer who keeps insisting upon walking in his flesh....


.......
 
May 27, 2024
303
187
43
The Bible didn't tell people those things of life in in the time it was written, you even admit to that within your own post. (what I put in bold)

You need more than the word of God? "It is written" was good enough for Jesus and He told the rest of us the same.

Luke 16:31
“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
First off, Jesus only said "It is written" when he was directly quoting previous scripture, but he was there with them face to face to address other matters and did. This is why 1 Corinthians 13 specifically indicates that we will have prophecy until we see God face to face.

Jesus was very much in the details of life with the disciples. For example there was when they needed money to pay the tax and it was found in the fish at Jesus direction. Jesus had many a needed word in the moment such as when Martha thought Mary should get up and help her serve but Jesus said that Mary wanted the better part and it wouldn't be taken from her. Meanwhile, there were presumably many faithful Jews in the world who didn't know God was available on earth, and others who even violently opposed the idea. We know that Paul started out as one of the latter.

For me there was a time when I like Paul did not know God could be available so, though I was never violent or argumentative about it. I was faithful for many years not knowing and yet God went out of His way to show my family and myself that there was a lot more intimacy with Him and help to be had. I never put hard limits on God though, which might be what separates you and I now - I let God define God.

Perhaps you are content with so little of God - there were certainly many faithful Jews in Jesus day who never met him and were content to follow God in such a way, but like the disciples, having come to know his deep love and compassion, wisdom, insight, correction, justice, and truth can be available on a personal level, I am not.

Also, you miss the point of the verse you quote, which indicates that miracles will not convince someone who doesn't want the truth, but I never said these things convinced me to follow God. Rather I wanted the truth and to please Him for a long time before He ever showed me a miracle for myself. The miracles were the fruit of a long cared for harvest, not the seeds that made it grow, though actually the Bible also suggests elsewhere that miracles have their place in growing the faith of new believers.

1 Corinthians 2:4-5 NASB1995
"[4] and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, [5] so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God."
 

Mem

Senior Member
Sep 23, 2014
6,914
2,000
113
On that basis we would all be prophets. You don't have to be a prophet for God to speak to you. Everything we need to know till the end of the age is already written in the word.
Is the gift of interpretation done away with?

Luke 6:26

Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.


Some here would have me to believe I am a true prophet based upon that verse alone!


:coffee::giggle::coffee:
The only one that I can think of that might think that has clearly expressed their view that the office has been done away with.
 

Genez

Junior Member
Oct 12, 2017
2,080
286
83
If the need for tongues is finished, what's to interpret?

(A Pentecostal ordering a pizza from a Pentecostal owned pizza parlor)

............... Shikity backa bickity bacha a bookootu!


They had no one working to interpret that day.
So... he ended up praying and fasting instead.

........
 
Feb 12, 2024
761
137
43
67
Darwin, NT
(A Pentecostal ordering a pizza from a Pentecostal owned pizza parlor)

............... Shikity backa bickity bacha a bookootu!


They had no one working to interpret that day.
So... he ended up praying and fasting instead.

........
I've been in a number of services where they supposedly spoke in tongues and never once heard an interpretation. So much for edification of the Church. :confused:
 

Mem

Senior Member
Sep 23, 2014
6,914
2,000
113
If the need for tongues is finished, what's to interpret?
Tongues are the vehicles by which we all communicate, and there is plenty of example of how people misinterpret each other constantly even while speaking identical tongues.
 
Oct 12, 2017
2,080
286
83
I've been in a number of services where they supposedly spoke in tongues and never once heard an interpretation. So much for edification of the Church. :confused:
I had people who I grew up with turn into radio-controlled gibber boxes (spontaneously in unison) as a group experience, right in the middle of an alleged bible study.
Since I knew some of them before they were saved, and had known them for being stupid people before they were saved, my instincts kicked in as I inwardly withdrew myself from them.

So later when learning about the ending of tongues in 70 AD when Jerusalem was destroyed, I perked up and took note.

Its spiritual warfare.... Have to accept it.
 

CS1

Well-known member
May 23, 2012
12,785
4,215
113
I had people who I grew up with turn into radio-controlled gibber boxes (spontaneously in unison) as a group experience, right in the middle of an alleged bible study.
Since I knew some of them before they were saved, and had known them for being stupid people before they were saved, my instincts kicked in as I inwardly withdrew myself from them.

So, later, when I learned about the end of tongues in 70 AD, when Jerusalem was destroyed, I perked up and took note.

Its spiritual warfare.... Have to accept it.
The good thing is that your bad experiences don't render the Word of God Null and void and replace the legitimate workings of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Nothing in the Word of God states that the gifts of the Holy Spirit stopped in 70 AD. That is a lie.