A Call to Church Leaders to Repent over Their Sin of Silence on Unethical Covid Policies 

David Noakes concludes his chapter.

Having provided his own personal testimony about the Toronto phenomenon, David finishes his chapter with some scriptural teaching on discernment.

This article is part of a series. Please see the base of the page for more information.

The Need for Repentance

Reflection upon the history of the charismatic renewal movement as I have experienced it leads me to the conclusion that we began well, but that increasingly we have departed from the purposes of God.

We have done this as a result of having moved progressively farther from an adherence to his word, a process which accelerated alarmingly during the 1980s and 1990s. I believe we are in imminent danger, if the trend is not checked, of reaching a point where we can no longer be said to care about biblical truth, but only about enticing experiences.¹

Repentance is urgently needed in order that God should not finally give us up to the delusion which we seem to desire more than the truth of the word.

The triumphalist teachings of Dominion theology lead inevitably to a post-millennialist view of eschatology; and with this comes also a rejection of the consistent testimony of Scripture concerning God's intention to fulfil all his stated purposes for the nation of Israel. To deny those purposes and to declare the Church to have replaced the descendants of Jacob as the inheritor of all the covenant promises of God makes out his word to be a lie and distorts its testimony.

This issue is of fundamental importance. Taking his farewell of the elders of the Ephesian church, Paul declared, “I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God” (Acts 20:26-27, NASB).

The charismatic renewal movement began well, but increasingly has departed from the purposes of God.

We can only have a right understanding of the will and purpose of God for the Church in the days in which we live if we accept as truth the whole of the revelation contained in Scripture, but a false hope of revival and rulership here and now has been substituted for the true biblical hope of the Second Coming of Jesus and the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom.

Unbiblical doctrine gives rise to unbiblical expectations and opens the door to increasing error and deception.

Spiritual Discernment

What could and should have saved us from getting to the position we have now reached? I have no doubt in my own mind that the phenomenon of the 'Toronto Blessing' constitutes the next experience of a floodtide of deception such as I was shown at the time of the Kansas City Prophets. What will come next? We are in increasing danger.

We would not have fallen prey to the confusion brought into the Church by successive waves of deception if we had known and applied the principles of spiritual discernment given to us in the pages of Scripture. We have already referred to the test as to whether spiritual activity conforms to God's ways as revealed in the Bible.

When in Toronto, I heard given consistently from the public platform the injunction that people should not feel the need to weigh and test anything that was happening: that it was all from God, who was present in such a powerful way that satan could not gain access. People should therefore 'open up their minds, put down their defences and go with the flow'.

Not only is this utter folly; it is also plain disobedience to the Lord - clearly contradicting the command contained in his word. satan is the “prince of the power of the air” (Eph 2:2, RSV) and we can never safely assume on this earth that he is denied access. Therefore, the Church is instructed in all gatherings, particularly where spiritual manifestations are taking place, to be alert and on guard: “Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil” (1 Thess 5:19-22, emphasis added).

What exactly are we testing? Our principal concern is to test the source of origin from which the spiritual activity is proceeding, be it prophecy, tongues, healing, or whatever. Our principal question is: what manner of spirit is operating behind and inspiring this activity? Is it the Holy Spirit? If so, all is well; but if not, we must be on guard and refuse to accept the activity as valid.

We would not have fallen prey to the confusion of successive waves of deception if we had known and applied the principles of spiritual discernment given us in Scripture.

An obvious and immediate test is that of the word of God. Does the utterance, or teaching, or activity conform to the revelation of Scripture? If not, we may dismiss it at once.

We are also commanded to test the spirits and not to be so gullible as to believe that every spirit is from God (1 John 4:1). How may we do this?

Acknowledgment of Jesus

1 John 4:2-3: If a spirit does not acknowledge that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh it is not from God, but is the spirit of the antichrist.

Learn to Recognise

1 John 2:20-21, 26-27: “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth...I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit just as it has taught you, remain in him.”

Every believer who has received the Holy Spirit has this anointing from the Lord. It has the effect upon us that our own spirits have the capacity to recognise what is true, genuinely from the Lord, and what is not. As Jesus said (John 10:3-5), his sheep know his voice and can distinguish it from a stranger's voice.

Unfortunately, very few believers have been taught to recognise and to respond to the witness of their own spirits within them. Most of us will probably have experienced the sense of the inward lifting or rising of our spirit when something is genuinely from the Lord; and conversely the sense of deadness or heaviness, or even alarm-bells, when the source is not from God.

However, many believers tend to ignore or quench that inner witness, often because they rely on leadership to do all the discerning; or because they think that a trusted minister cannot get it wrong, so their own discernment must be at fault. Anybody can be in error, and we should never take anything for granted.

It is for all Christians to take heed of the inner witness with which the Lord has supplied us; and if we do so, it leads to the safety of the whole Body. This inner witness is often the first indication we receive in any particular situation of whether the Holy Spirit is active, or perhaps simply a human spirit operating in the flesh, or sometimes a demonic spirit. It is of great importance.

It is for all Christians to take heed of the inner witness with which the Lord has supplied us.

Distinguish Between Spirits

1 Corinthians 12:10: The Holy Spirit manifests through believers “the ability to distinguish between spirits”. This is the witness given directly from the Holy Spirit through one or more believers to enable us to identify the spirits operating in a situation, to receive the awareness of what manner of spirit is active.

If it is not from God, then it may be, for example, a lying spirit, an unclean spirit, a seducing spirit, a spirit of pride, or greed, or whatever else may be at work. Through this gift the Holy Spirit reveals to God's people the exact type of demonic activity which is opposing them.

The operation of this gift is of vital importance in any situation of supernatural spiritual activity. Any believer may be used by the Holy Spirit in this way and it is a great mistake to rely solely on the leaders, or for leaders to seek to keep all matters of discernment within their own hands.

Put to the Test

1 Corinthians 14:29: Where prophecy in particular is concerned there must be a careful weighing of what is said. Of all spiritual manifestations, prophecy is potentially both the most valuable and also the most dangerous, because of its great capacity either to edify or to mislead those who hear and receive it as being a direct communication of the mind of God.

The same root word is used as in 1 Corinthians 12:10 - the Greek verb diakrino, meaning 'to distinguish, to make a separation' between true and false. When prophecy is weighed, both the content of what is spoken and the spirit responsible for inspiring the utterance should be put to the test of both the witness of the Holy Spirit and the inner witness of the spirits of those who are present.

Practise Discernment

Finally, we should take notice of Hebrews 5:14: “...solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil”.

Again the verb diakrino is used. God wants all believers to come to maturity, and continual alertness to distinguish what is of God from what is not is a hallmark of a mature believer. Practising discernment in the ways which the Bible reveals should be a way of life for a Christian.

Of all spiritual manifestations, prophecy is potentially both the most valuable and also the most dangerous, because of its great capacity either to edify or mislead.

If these ways of discernment had been taught and practised within the charismatic churches in the way which the Bible instructs and encourages, much deception and difficulty could have been avoided. The hour is late and deception has made deep inroads, but my plea is that we might embrace repentance in these areas while there is yet time.

If we return wholeheartedly to the word of God as final and unquestioned authority in all matters; if we embrace the biblical teaching concerning the nation of Israel; and if we become diligent to distinguish the genuine activity of the Holy Spirit from all other manifestations, then surely the Lord will deliver us from error, and instead of the Ishmael which we have produced, will bring forth for us the Isaac of his original purpose.

Next week: We move on to the final chapter of Blessing the Church?, written by Dr Clifford Hill: ‘Here Today, Where Tomorrow?’

Notes

1 Please note that the original time of writing was 1995.

Series Information

This article is part of a series, re-publishing the 1995 book ‘Blessing the Church?’, an analysis of the ‘Toronto Blessing’ and a wider critique of the charismatic movement in the late 20^th Century. Click here for previous instalments and to read the editorial background to the series.

David Noakes continues his commentary on the state of the charismatic movement.

Having considered how counterfeit spiritual activity has infiltrated the church, David now turns to the dangers of false doctrine, before applying these insights to the Kansas City Prophets.

Warnings of False Doctrine

Jesus, Paul and John have all warned us concerning the dangers of counterfeit spiritual activity. There is also, however, a second major aspect of deception about which the Scriptures warn, and it is that of false doctrine.

Paul speaks about it numerous times in his letters, for example in 2 Corinthians 11:1-4, in Galatians 1:6-9 and in Colossians 2:8-23. He warns in 1 Timothy 4:1 that “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars...”.

Let us be clear about what Paul is saying: it is a warning principally for the closing days of the age - 'later times'. It is a warning that Christians will fall away: you cannot abandon a faith unless you have first been a party to it. The false teachings will not be man-made, but demonically-inspired by deceiving spirits, and they will come through people who are hypocrites and liars; like the 'savage wolves' of Acts 20:29-30, they will be falsely motivated so as to draw people away from the truth in order to obtain a following for themselves.

It is of vital importance in these days that we are alert to the dangers of false teaching. Those of us who teach must be diligent to declare the whole counsel of God; it was only on that basis that Paul was able to declare himself innocent of the blood of all who had heard him (Acts 20:26-27) and he was warning the elders of the church at Ephesus to be equally diligent.

It is of vital importance in these days that we are alert to the dangers of false teaching.

All believers should cultivate the habit of the 'noble Bereans' (Acts 17:11), who did not accept even the teaching of Paul as being true until they had examined it in the light of the scriptures. How we in the church need in these days to re-examine our diet of the seemingly-endless flow of books and magazines, and to ensure that above all we are fully acquainted and familiar with the whole of the Bible. Only by knowing what is in God's word can we walk in safety. 

A Time Will Come…

Paul's chief warning concerning false doctrine is found in 2 Timothy 4:1-4. He has just encouraged Timothy at the end of chapter 3 concerning the importance of holding fast to Scripture, underlining that “all Scripture is God-breathed...so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (vv16-17, emphasis added). We need to note that there are those in leadership in the Church of God in these days who do not believe in the inspiration of Scripture; if they thus declare the word of God to be untrue concerning itself, we must then question the validity of whatever else such men may say.

In chapter 4, Paul urges Timothy to preach the Word “with great patience and careful instruction” (v2), particularly in the light of the fact that “the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (vv3-4). 

I believe we are now living in such days. A factor which has lately become of particular concern is the coming together of the two major facets of deception - counterfeit spiritual activity and false doctrine - in such a way as to support and reinforce one another. This brings great danger to the Body of Christ, particularly as many believers now have only a very limited knowledge of what is contained in the Bible.

In Deuteronomy 13:1-5, the warning of Moses to the people of Israel is that they may encounter a prophet who predicts signs and wonders which do in fact come to pass but that this in itself is not sufficient to validate him as a true man of God; for if he then teaches them falsely so as to lead them astray, he is to be regarded as a false prophet.

Biblically, therefore, the acid test of the genuineness of a man's ministry lies not in signs and wonders, nor even in accurate predictions, but in his faithfulness to the Lord in declaring doctrine which is in accordance with God's word.

How we in the church need in these days to re-examine our diet of books and magazines, and to ensure that above all we are fully acquainted with the Bible.

The Kansas City Prophets

In recent years, this biblical principle of giving pre-eminence to the revealed word of God has been turned upside down. In 1990 came the experience of the ‘Kansas City Prophets’.

These men were brought to the charismatic church in Britain that year on a wave of publicity concerning their outstanding prophetic ministry, and particularly of a specific predictive prophecy that a great revival would break out in this country in October 1990. It did not, to the dismay and embarrassment of many church leaders who had publicly endorsed this ministry, and to the great disappointment of thousands of believers who had believed that their longings for revival were about to be realised and that they would see dramatic events.

This sort of happening is dishonouring to the name of the Lord, bringing his Church into ridicule in the eyes of those who had been exposed to the extensive publicity, particularly in the mass media. It also undermines the belief that the Holy Spirit does bring genuine prophecy to the Church for our up-building and enlightenment.

Furthermore, the shock and disappointment has damaging and far-reaching effects. For many years God's people in the charismatic churches have been given by their leaders specific words of prophecy and much teaching of a prophetic nature which has been triumphalist in flavour, encouraging expectations of mighty visitations of God, of great numerical increase, and of the Church enjoying an experience of exercising power and authority in the world, equipped with unparalleled supernatural spiritual power.

This kind of teaching has been entirely at odds with the biblical picture of a suffering servant Church displaying the humility of her Master, preaching the Gospel in the last days under increasing pressure and persecution. It brings with it a particular danger from which we are now, I believe, beginning to reap harmful results.

Triumphalist teaching and words of prophecy is entirely at odds with the biblical picture of a suffering servant Church.

Where leaders have continued to promise great things to the people and those promises have gone unfulfilled, the leaders come under an increasing sense of pressure to deliver the goods which have been promised; and the people's experience of disappointment, of hope continually deferred, leads to disillusionment. 

The scene is thus set for the entry of deception, because both leaders and people become desperate at the failed predictions and dashed hopes, and both are increasingly likely to grasp at any straw which appears at last to bring fulfilment.

In such circumstances the counterfeit can all too easily succeed, because the need for something, anything, to fill the gap overrides the Godly caution which should test and discern the source of what is being offered, before it is accepted as genuine.

Triumphalist Teaching

The doctrine brought by the Kansas City Prophets was very much in line with the triumphalism of Restorationist teaching and expectations. The teaching was based upon specific prophecies which have been reproduced in articles 15-19 in this series. It was that God was raising up in the Church an ‘end-time breed of dread warriors', before whose power and authority nothing would be able to stand. They would be an all-conquering army; and the scriptural basis for that teaching was taken from Joel 2:2-11.

To base such a doctrine on that passage of Scripture, however, is entirely fallacious. Arising immediately from the preceding description of the effects of a great plague of locusts, the passage describes an all-consuming army invading the Land of Israel, and taken in its context of “the day of the Lord” (vv1-2, 11), it is speaking prophetically of an invading army sent by God to execute his final judgment against Judah and Jerusalem at the end of the age. Certainly its fulfilment is yet in the future, at the time of Jacob's tribulation (Jer 30); but it does not refer to the Church.

Nowhere in Scripture does God call his Church to be an invading army to execute judgment. Nor does it speak of a worldwide domination; the specific geographical setting is the Land of Israel and in particular the City of Zion.

Such teaching, based on a complete distortion of this passage from the word of God, displays the worst sort of error in interpretation. It takes specific predictive prophecy, converts it into an allegory which is not to be found in the text that the invaders represent Christian 'dread warriors' and then bases a doctrine upon that allegorical fancy. It is not merely nonsense, however. It is also dangerous to the Church because of the numbers of leaders who received it with gladness and were willing to let their people believe such teaching.

Where leaders have promised great things to the people and those promises have gone unfulfilled, there is increasing pressure on leaders to deliver the goods – setting the scene for the entry of deception.

Why should such false doctrine be so gladly and easily received? It was received gladly because it reinforced all the false doctrine and false prophecy which had been accepted during the previous 15 years. 

It was also received easily, I believe, for a subtler and deadlier reason, which is to be found in the coming together to reinforce one another of the two main strands of deception - counterfeit spiritual manifestations and false teaching - to which I have already referred. Let us now consider the topic a little further.

Put to the Test

The Kansas City Prophets came to Britain as guests whose ministry was being invited and welcomed by many prominent church leaders in the country. Some of us had been unhappy about this visit, because we were not at ease with their style of ministry or their doctrine, and in particular we had said publicly that we did not believe the specific prophecy concerning the outbreak of revival in October 1990 to have come from the Lord.

During the summer of 1990 there was a preliminary gathering where the ministry of these men was presented to an invited group of national charismatic church leaders. Some remained unhappy and unconvinced, but others were willing at the end to sign a statement approving of the ministry as being valid. In view of the doctrine already mentioned, one might have expected the ministry to be regarded as questionable on those grounds with no further evidence being necessary; but there was a further ingredient involved.

An outstanding and spectacular feature of the ministry lay in the singling out by name from the public platform of individual members of the audience with whom the speaker was apparently not acquainted. Words of knowledge were given concerning those individuals, relating to aspects of their past life and their present circumstances, and usually completed with encouraging prophecy concerning their future. The accuracy of the words of knowledge brought amazement and served to convince many that they should attest the ministry as being from God.

To be convinced on these grounds alone, however, is to make an assumption which can be dangerously misleading. There is, of course, no question but that such words of knowledge could certainly have been given by revelation from the Holy Spirit; but we need to be alert to the fact that this is not the only possibility where supernatural spiritual activity is being manifested. It is essential also to take other factors into account in order to be sure of the source from which the manifestation originates.

One factor, the nature of the doctrine, we have already mentioned; in addition there is the scriptural injunction to “test the spirits” (1 John 4:1), and a further matter of vital importance is whether what is happening is consistent with the revelation of Scripture: is it in character for the God of the Bible to be acting in this sort of way? An understanding of the ways of God as revealed in his word is of great importance: according to Psalm 95:10, quoted again in Hebrews 3:10, the hearts of God's people go astray when they do not know his ways.

We charismatic Christians can be terrifyingly gullible when it comes to supernatural spiritual manifestation. We assume that because a thing looks right, it is right. A good counterfeit always looks right unless and until it is put to the test.

We charismatic Christians can be terrifyingly gullible when it comes to supernatural spiritual manifestation.

When a word of knowledge is true, we assume that this means that it must have come from God. That is an assumption which is unsafe to make, and one which the word of God demonstrates to be so. In Acts 16:16-18, we find the following account of the experience of Paul and Silas with a slave girl who had a spirit of divination:

Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved”. She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned round and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

There was not one false word in the slave girl's statement about Paul and Silas. The spirit of divination was speaking absolute factual truth through her. Yet Paul discerned that the source of her knowledge was false and commanded the evil spirit to leave her.

What a lesson this contains for us in these days. How much we need to be alert and discerning, aware of the subtleties of the Adversary. satan has no objection to presenting us with any amount of factual truth, but always with a false motive. If true statements will cause us to lower our guard and be lulled into a false sense of security, then he will willingly use them to pave the way so that when the lie finally comes we will not detect it.

If, by a spirit of divination, he can give us a number of accurate words of knowledge so as to convince us that God is the source from which this spiritual manifestation is coming, then he will gladly oblige; once we have made the mistaken assumption that all is from God and all is well, we will then without hesitation accept the false teaching which follows.

It is imperative that we learn the ways of God from Scripture. The doctrine of Joel's Army was false and the ministry should have been questioned on those grounds alone. In addition, however, we need to ask the question: 'Would Jesus in person be doing such a thing in such a way?', specifically in this case: 'Would Jesus personally stand on a public platform and dispense words of knowledge for no apparent reason other than to display the fact that he had the ability to do so?'

The answer in light of Scripture would be a resounding NO! Jesus was never willing to perform spiritual signs to order, as a performance for its own sake. He did so when it was necessary for the purpose of exercising the compassion of God towards the needy; the signs confirmed the truth of the word which he spoke and they were certainly indications of his Messiahship, but he chose to communicate his authority through the words which he spoke, not through the signs and wonders.

satan has no objection to presenting us with any amount of factual truth, but with a false motive - to lower our guard so that when the lie finally comes we will not detect it.

Indeed, Jesus often told those whom he healed to keep quiet about it. In these days, however, we are more impressed by the signs than by the truth of the word and it brings us into great danger of deception. 

Believing without question or testing that the source of origin of the signs is genuine, we easily swallow the bait which has masked the hidden hook of false doctrine to bring us into error.

A Vivid Picture

During the summer of 1990, the members of the ministry team of which I was part met together for a day to pray and wait upon the Lord about this perplexing matter of the then-impending visit of the Kansas City Prophets. During that time, I received and shared a vivid mental picture.

I saw first a large, flat, empty expanse of sand on a seashore. The sea was a very long way back down the beach, and scattered about on the sand were a number of large rocks, all of which seemed to be about four to five feet high. Each rock had a flat top on which was a small lighthouse.

The picture then changed. The rocks no longer supported lighthouses but were otherwise unaltered. The sands were covered with many people, enjoying themselves on the beach on a fine warm day. Then, as I watched, there came sweeping in across the sand a sudden very swift flood-tide. Nobody had time to get out of its way, except for some who scrambled onto the tall rocks and stood there, above the level of the water, which seemed to be about three to four feet deep.

There was no panic from those in the water. After momentary surprise, they were splashing around and shouting to those who were up on the rocks: “Come on in, the water's warm and it feels lovely”, but those on the rocks were refusing, saying “we don't trust it”.

Then, as suddenly as the flood-tide had come in, it receded back across the sands and all those in the water were swept out with it. The sands were now empty again except for those standing on the rocks, who I saw had now become the lighthouses which I had first seen.

Asking the Lord what this meant, I received the understanding that the flood-tide signified a coming wave of deception; it was not the first and it would recede, but it would not be the last, and further, more potent waves of deception would come. Those who remained happily in the water were deceived by the fleshly appeal of what was happening to them, and their failure to discern the true nature of it and withdraw would mean that they would be easily swept into the next wave when it came, and further deceived.

Those who stood on the rocks were those who stood on the rock of God's word and distrusted what was suddenly happening, and they would continue to be as lighthouses of warning when further flood-tides came in to try to deceive God's people.

Next week: David offers his testimony of his personal encounter with the Toronto Movement.

This article is part of a series, re-publishing the 1995 book ‘Blessing the Church?’. Click here for previous instalments. References to time spans have been edited where necessary.

Monica Hill continues to look at the spiritual ‘manifestations’ of 1 Corinthians 12.

This article is part of a series. Click here to access the archive.

“to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits” (1 Corinthians 12:7-10)

“…the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort” (1 Corinthians 14:3)

“Be eager to prophesy” (1 Corinthians 14:39)

In this series we have already looked at the ministry of the prophet in Ephesians 4 and also at the natural gift of prophecy in Romans 12, which is often related to the proclamation of the word of God.

Although these two gifts come from the same root as the manifestation of prophecy mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12, and all three are often linked together and have much in common, there are also many differences which we need to explore here.

What is a Prophecy?

Bringing a word of prophecy as a specific message from God is almost always a manifestation of the Spirit given to an individual just as the Spirit wills, and will usually be in response to a specific situation in the community or the nation (we will deal later with prophetic words for individuals, which often contain words of knowledge, although we broached this last week).

Words of prophecy or ‘prophetic words’ are not ‘owned’ by individuals or given only to those who have a prophetic ministry. Any mature believer who has a close relationship with God will be listening for his word and receiving his guidance all the time – it will be part of his or her daily life. The Lord desires that we are open and eager to share the good things we have received with others - especially those things that build up the Body (this may well include scriptural words of Jesus and of course, prophecy will never undermine Scripture).

When a mature believer is willing to be a messenger, God can use them to speak to the rest of the Body concerning the fellowship, the nation or the world. Edmund Heddle highlights examples from the New Testament of reasons for the use of prophecy – to warn of trouble ahead, to foretell a future event, to appoint church workers, to mobilise for action and to bring enlightenment.¹

Prophetic words are not ‘owned’ by individuals or given only to those who have a prophetic ministry – they can be given to any mature believer.

Having received a word of prophecy, the messenger is then tasked with portraying this word from God to others in the Body of Christ. This should always have as its main purpose that of building up believers in some way. The Spirit will not only give the word, but will also alert the messenger to what they should be doing with it – and usually will also open up opportunities for it to be delivered.

Figure 1.Many people think that ‘prophetic words’ always have to be given in the first person, as a direct word from God, in order to be authentic. But giving it as a word in the third person – ‘This is what I hear the Lord saying to me…’ - can be tested by hearers more easily, not only for its validity (see section below on Weighing Prophecy), but also for its source.

Distinguishing Between Spirits

The manifestation of ‘distinguishing between spirits’ is listed alongside ‘prophecy’ in 1 Corinthians 12 and is an initial safeguard which should always be exercised immediately that a prophecy is given. When an individual receives a word, others who have the allied gift of ‘distinguishing between spirits’ should, on hearing it, be judging whether it really is from God, or from an evil spirit, or - what is often more likely - from the messenger’s own spirit.

This is not testing the message as such, but identifying the source, and does not preclude the necessity to test every word that is received. As we can all be aware, there are many times that a message can start off well but then be influenced by the messenger who at times is tempted to ‘help God out’ – to express it more clearly and perhaps slightly change the emphasis! Many messages can be like the curate’s egg – ‘good in parts’ - and just because this happens, it does not mean that the whole word should be ignored.

A Word About Discernment

Distinguishing between spirits is not the same as ‘discernment’. The latter is not an instant gift given to specific individuals but can be seen much more as a fruit which comes with experience, available to ALL believers as they mature in their faith and become fully in tune with biblical teaching.

All believers should be able to discern between right and wrong and should be able to give reasons for this from Scripture.

Distinguishing between spirits is a gift given to specific individuals – discernment is a fruit which comes to all believers as they mature.

Prophecy in Practice

We are given a good example of prophecy being exercised wrongly in the local church in what went on in Corinth, from which we also get the teaching Paul gave to bring things back into order. We get the impression that this community of new believers were not good advocates for the faith and needed much help - from which we can also benefit!

The lovely passage on the nature of true love in 1 Corinthians 13 places the exercise of prophecy in context, so that all can be aware of what is needed as the gifts are being exercised. The great love poem used at so many weddings follows Paul’s significant teaching on how everyone is part of the Body of Christ, in which he emphasises that if love for one another is not shown and does not surpass everything, whatever gifts believers feel they have will be of no significance (1 Cor 14:1-5).

This is in spite of, or even because of, the fact that they were competing for what they felt were the ‘greater’ gifts. Instead, they were challenged to “try to excel in those that build up the church” (1 Cor 14:12).

Weighing Prophecy

There is a list of 12 ‘tests of prophecy’ elsewhere on this site with which we should all familiarise ourselves so that we can learn from the mistakes of the Corinthian church. Additionally, the same instructions apply to us today as did to them: “Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said”.

The fear of interrupting someone who speaks authoritatively in our society does not often permit us to follow these instructions: “if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged”. This is because “The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. For God is not a God of disorder but of peace” (1 Cor 14:29-33).

The Corinthian church is a good example of how not to do prophecy!

In addition to helping promote orderly worship, this certainly also helps us to understand that we should not be in a trance when giving a word from the Lord – we can be in control of our mouths, our minds and all our actions when we prophesy and we can be fully aware of what God is saying to others through us – but without adding to the word or distorting it.

‘Prophecies’ to Individuals

More recently in some circles the practice has been to bring prophetic words to individuals, who may also be identified by a word of knowledge. This needs to be followed up very carefully, as it can often mistakenly lay the recipient open to thinking that any word brought afterwards is a prophecy that will come true – especially if it promises healing.

Furthermore, there may be all sorts of reasons why people receive words for others and choose to make them public – so continue to test prophecies.

Finally…

Prophecy is NOT tongues, which is speaking TO God (we will look at this in more depth next week), but it is FROM God and given especially for believers to edify and build up the Church, so that the Church can be the prophet to the nation.

Witnessing a whole church prophesying can be very powerful – especially to unbelievers. An unbeliever can be convicted of sin by hearing a prophetic word and in this way it can have power:

But if an unbeliever or an enquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, ‘God is really among you!’ (1 Cor 14:24-25).

Finally, the manifestation of prophetic messages to the Church needs to be linked to the expounding of the word of God. The prophetic dimension of Christian life is often missing in the prayer life of the Church as there is a lack of expectation that God speaks to his people today.

Without this expectation, and without the manifestation of prophecy from God to each one of us, there will be no significant declaration of his word relating biblical truth to contemporary world events. But if preachers expound the word of God from the pulpit and draw attention to its teaching on these matters, it would transform the witness of the Church today.

References

1 See Heddle, E, 2016. Spiritual Gifts. Issachar Ministries. See also Figure 1.