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The Danger of Modern Prophets
by Tom Stewart
July 23, 2001
What is a Modern Prophet? According to the Apostle Peter's Pentecostal
citation of Joel 2:28-32-- "16 But this is that which was spoken
by the prophet Joel; 17 and it shall come to
pass in the Last Days, saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh: and
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams: 18 and on My servants and on My handmaidens I will pour out in those
days of My Spirit; and they shall prophesy: 19 and I will shew wonders in Heaven above, and signs in the
Earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: 20
the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great
and notable Day of the LORD come: 21
and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall
call on the Name of the LORD shall be saved" (Acts
2:16-21)-- the events surrounding the giving of the Holy Spirit to
the Early Church, certainly qualified them to be Modern Prophets. However, it should
be noted that both Joel and Peter were inspired to describe the time that God's "servants" and "handmaidens" would "prophesy" and "dream dreams" would not
only include the "Last Days" of Peter's Pentecostal sermon, but continue to the future events of the
"Day of the LORD",
thus completing the Tribulation Week, and leaving the Scriptural door open for
still more contemporary Modern Prophets. "And
the Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35).
Traditional Biblicists correctly understand that the Canon of Scripture has long
since been completed, and that the security of the Canon of thirty-nine Old Testament
books and twenty-seven New Testament books is protected by the Anathema of the Almighty
Himself. "18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the Words of the
prophecy of this Book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto
him the plagues that are written in this Book: 19 and if any man shall take away from the Words of the Book
of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of
the Holy City, and from the things which are written in this Book" (Revelation 22:18-19). Though God's Omnipotence defends
the Canon of Scripture, modern false prophets will be known by their false teachings,
especially attempting to add to or take away from the Word of God. "To the Law and to the Testimony: if they speak not according
to this Word, it is because there is no Light in them"
(Isaiah 8:20).
For example, the Mormons' Joseph Smith (1805-1844) denied the
Trinity when he said, "I have always declared
God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from
God the Father, and the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit: and these
three constitute three distinct personages and three Gods
[WStS emphasis]" ("Teachings
of Prophet Joseph Smith" p. 370); but, the Scriptures definitely assert the
Trinity, i.e., "Go ye therefore, and teach
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost" (Matthew 28:19). Christian
Science's Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910) attacked both the Trinity
and the Divinity of Jesus Christ: "Jesus
Christ is not God, as Jesus himself declared, but is the Son of God ... Life, truth,
and love constitute the triune Person called God... [an impersonal]
Divine Principle [i.e.,
a conception of one's mind]" (Science and Health, pp. 331, 361, 469), while Jesus proclaimed His Divinity
when He asserted, "Before Abraham was,
I am" (John 8:58). [For more
background on the Trinity, please read our editorial, "St.
Patrick: The Trinity and the Shamrock" ---New Window.] Even more recently,
the Jehovah's Witnesses' Charles Taze Russell (1852-1916) calculated
that the "invisible return" of Christ was to have taken place in 1874, and the Second Coming of Christ
in 1914; but, the ill-repute and failure of his predictions, more importantly, must
be assessed in light of his organization's ill-treatment and abuse of "Jesus Christ, whom we [the official
Jehovah's Witnesses' publication] understand
from the Scriptures to be Michael the archangel" ("The
Watchtower", February 15, 1979, p. 31). These are crucial errors made by false
prophets concerning the person of the "LORD
Jesus Christ, the LORD of Glory" (James 2:1); and, who should trust them to make any other predictions about future
dates? "Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone
out into the world" (1John 4:1).
Why are Modern Prophets so potentially dangerous? Again, the very concept of Modern
Prophets is Scriptural (cp. Acts 2:16-21 above), but Contemporary Prophets
cannot add to or take away from the completed Canon of Scripture (cp. Revelation
22:18-19 above), nor do they have the luxury of contradicting the Canon of
Scripture. "[God]
cannot deny Himself" (2Timothy
2:13), in particular, by speaking one thing from the Canon of Scripture,
while absurdly contradicting Himself through a Professed Modern Prophet. "Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but My Words shall
not pass away" (Matthew 24:35).
Modern Prophets are so potentially dangerous because modern Professed Christians
are so often unable to handle the Word of God to discern the false from the true
prophet. "Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). What this proves is that either the
Professed Saint is honestly inexperienced and simply immature or that he is not
a True Christian. "2
But He that entereth in by the door is the
Shepherd of the Sheep. 3 To
Him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear His Voice: and He calleth His Own sheep
by name, and leadeth them out. 4 And when He
putteth forth His Own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him: for
they know His Voice. 5 And
a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not
the voice of strangers" (John 10:2-5).
[See our article, "How
to Identify a False Prophet" ---New Window, for a Scriptural discussion
of the concept.]
May God give His people discernment to receive the Godly true prophets and the ability
to reject the false prophets, thus preserving His Saints from the Antichrist!
Maranatha!
.
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