Prophecy in 2010
Many of you may have heard about Pat Robertson’s recent comments that the earthquake in Haiti was God’s wrath due to that country’s history with voodoo. I disagree with him, but rather than join the debate I’ll instead include a link to Dr. Richard Mouw’s blog in which he makes some important points about Robertson’s comments. Mouw is the president of Fuller Theological Seminary where Pastor Stephen and I graduated. To read the blog post, click here.
Instead I will talk about what role prophecy plays in the Church. Depending on what church or denomination you go to, prophecy can mean many different things. Churches with a more charismatic leaning tend to emphasize the role of prophecy and that God still acts miraculously today. Of course this definition does not fit all charismatic churches, nor is it true that all churches that emphasize these things would consider themselves charismatic.
For a time I attended a Vineyard Church, in which there was a time set apart in every service for people to stand and speak what they felt the Lord wanted to say to the congregation. However, what the Vineyard Church understood as prophecy differed from what many people, from a non-charismatic background, understand prophecy to be. Most of us commonly think of prophecy in the Old Testament sense, in which God is pronouncing a coming judgment of a country or society. In this way Robertson’s comments fit what we often think prophecy should sound like.
However, in my understanding of prophecy in light of the New Testament and the work of Christ, prophecy is meant to build up the church and reveal God’s will and God’s desires for his creation. I think many of us experience God speaking to us, but often we do not call it prophecy, because we associate that word with the prophets of the Old Testament and their serious pronouncements against other nations. We think to speak prophetically would mean to speak judgment. Paul however describes prophecy in the New Testament church differently, and it is from him that I take my understanding of prophecy.
In 1 Corinthians Paul states: “But those who prophesy speak to people for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. Those who speak in a tongue edify themselves, but those who prophesy edify the church,” (1 Cor 14:3-4, TNIV).
When we feel or sense God speaking to us, especially if it is about people in the church or the church itself, the difference in calling it prophecy is it recognizes that this thought or word; this prophecy is not simply from ourselves, but from God. But, notice that Paul makes the statement that prophecy is meant to edify and build up the church. Therefore, prophecy within the church is never God’s condemnation or ridicule of others, but God’s affirmation of his love and his plans for us as the church.
Thinking of prophecy in this way helps us to recognize that comments from people like Robertson are not prophecy, but that the inclinations of our hearts to encourage others in Christ are in fact prophetic words from the Lord. We should all be asking each day, particularly Sunday, how we might be prophets for our Lord to build up his Church.
Good thoughts. I agree with you that Pat Robertson’s words regarding Haiti were not from God, and therefore, not prophetic. He seems to often make the mistake of blaming the victims for the tragedies that befall them. This seems to be bad theology and reminds me of Jesus’ words in Luke 13:4-5.
“Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”
Also, John 9:1-3
“As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.”
Certainly tragedy is a lot more complicated than a straight line from the victim back to their sin and God’s punishment as Pat Robertson seems to believe.
I wonder though, if the building up of the church must always come through positive, encouraging words. If the church is headed off-course, not honoring God or following Christ, then I would think that prophecy from the Lord may call us to repent and to realign ourselves with what God is doing in our midst. I’m reminded of the letters to the 7 churches in Revelation. The intent was to build the churches up, to get them back on course. And even with the most problematic of the churches in Rev. there is encouragement and a sense of God’s love calling them back. But there are also strong words of confrontation and correction. Those characteristics still seem to have a place in prophecy if the person “prophesying” is truly speaking from God and is not just using the Bible as an excuse to be hateful or judgmental toward others.
Nicely put, James.
I have been to many fatality accidents where people, even those going to church, didn’t make it. What did they do to cause that? What judgement was upon them? Did God condemn and judge all those who buy small, vulnerable cars? I can never answer that, as I never walked on water. It happened. A city was built on a fault line with sub standard, non-earthquake-resistive, construction.
If God caused all the damage in Haiti for their wickedness, then I must have lots in store for me, and I will venture to say, many more of us will too.
If God wants to speak to me, he will tell ME. I’d like to think that God is great enough to speak to my heart directly and not through a translator.
To me, Jesus gave us the ability to understand directly. Not requiring us to have membership in an exclusive club. Mr. Robertson’s comments are just a symbol of this “exclusivity” many people think they have.
The test to me is simple. The difference between God’s words versus an opinion, is when trials enter my life. Opinions quickly melt away.
I just hope Mr. Robertson, and all those who claim to have the “secret handshake,” will remember his/their words when failure enters his/their life.
The same applies to us.
You see, Peter thought more of himself too.
Thanks James.
That was nice to read.
Mike
I agree, certainly in building up the church there is an element of correction. I guess my only hesitation is that sometimes when people feel the freedom to speak prophetically, which they should; they sometimes use it to tear down rather than build up, which you wisely warned about avoiding in your last sentence.
When we speak prophetically we have to truly consider what the word “edify” means, which very simply is to build up or strengthen, whether that means encouragement, correction or hopefully a balance of both; which I believe can only come from truly abiding in God and his word.
One thing I forgot to mention is that Paul talks about prophecy in the church setting, which is why I mentioned sharing prophecy on Sunday morning. The church body helps us and the receiver of the prophecy know whether that message is truly from God or not. This prevents us from crossing the line from Biblical correction into unhelpful criticism.
My response was to Corinne’s post, which I appreciate. Thanks for the encouragement and thoughts as well Mike.
The Book of the Revelation is filled with prophecy that is about future events and was given to a New Testament guy. I don’t think we can or should trash prophecy that is, well, prophetic.
Do I believe Pat Robertson was right? I don’t know and I doubt there are many on earth who have the authority to state definitively either way. I can say this: two recent natural disasters have targeted areas where voodoo was prevalent. The flip side to that coin is that usually when God’s about to judge a society, He warns His people first.
So again, I simply cannot say and I do not believe most of us can or should.
Well, I’m joining this discussion a little late…but I wanted to respond
I agree with Keith that prophecy can concern future events and should not be discarded as an important part of our church. The New Testament talks a lot about prophecy as a spiritual gift, and as you mention Revelation is filled with prophecy. I don’t think James (or anyone else) was “trashing” prophecy but challenging how we understand it.
The Bible speaks in both the Old and New Testaments about the importance of testing prophecy and the person speaking a prophetic word. In the Old Testament a prophet could be stoned for giving a single false prophecy. In the New Testament (1 John 4:1-6) it says that we should test the words of prophets to see if they are speaking from God. I think whenever someone like Pat Robertson (or someone in our own church) speaks a prophetic word it is crucial to test it against scripture to see if it is from God.
It’s also important to note that prophecy is talked about very differently in the Old vs. New Testament. There are certainly some similarities, but the differences are pretty significant. In the Old Testament prophetic words of judgment were extremely rare….maybe one prophet would would emerge every couple of hundred years.
In the New Testament, however, we are told that prophecy is one of the most important spiritual gifts. When prophecy is discussed, it is discussed in the context of building up the church, not foretelling doom and destruction. I agree with James that if prophecy is going to be built up in our church it should be prophecy as discussed in the New Testament. Corinne also added a good point that prophecy can be corrective–it doesn’t just have to be a pat on the back or “good job”.
I think it’s good to have continued discussion regarding prophecy and how prophecy can become a greater part of our church life