So I thought it would be helpful to talk about what the gift of prophecy acually is and what it is not.
10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, From I Cor.12 where you can find the other gifts and comments by Paul
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(Just a reminder, this thread is not about tongues and also the viewpoint is that the gifts have not ceased, thanks)
The actual meaning of prophecy, translated from the original language (Greek) means to speak forth the purposes of God, to declare His will, to convey the truth of God and similar. It is not the ability to predict the future and that is where so many go off into deception and following false prophets and what have you. If someone believes this gift is all about predicting, then, (and these are my words here and my experience with interactions with the false) they open themselves up to deceiving spirits. The NT even speaks to this: 4 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons I Tim. 4:1
As far as future events go, we do have prophecies in scripture and especially the book of Revelation. This is not a gift to be treated lightly as in people lining up to 'hear' a word from God through some person up front who, IMO, is simply enacting a 'Christian' version of fortune telling.
IMO, that alone should give pause but there is tendency to understand that warning as something 1st person Christian will not experience because, well, God would not let that happen to you. I experienced that myself years back before I understood better how things work from a spiritual perspective (and no one knows everything) I went through alot of spiritual pain before I understood that God makes no exceptions. Ignorance is not protection and each one of us is susceptible if we skip over warnings and tell ourselves that could never happen to 'us.' I had never been taught anything but basic Christianity sans the gifts, win the church I grew up in and that really left me unprepared for deeper things.
Paul states in his letter to Timothy that the Holy Spirit EXPRESSLY warns about the evil spirits teaching...two things here: The word expressly means to give specific emphasis to, and evil spirits teach in such a way as to use scripture falsely appearing to be the Spirit of God and will say such things as: you are special, God is going to use you, you will have a big ministry etc etc. I know this because of counselling with people and seeing these things enacted. Where does that leave a person when they realize they have been deceived? It can leave them bitter against God who is the very One they need to turn to and repent before and ask for deliverance from these spirits. It is usually a process because the shock of understanding you are believing lies is life changing.
We are not Old Testament prophets here. Each believer has the Holy Spirit indwelling them and one of the things He is here for, is to teach us but only the TRUTH. The best defence against the deceiption and lies, is knowing what is true. Renewing our minds through the Bible: 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2
Well That's alot to think about if you believe that prophecy only means to predict the or tell of the future. The OT prophets spoke from the heart of God and I cannot tell you how they received what they did but we know how they expressed what they did. The message always contained the opportunity to repent of the sins committed but the warnings of what would happen if the rebellion against God continued.
