Niels Prip – Blog

2 Peter 1:20-21 “But, above all, remember that no prophecy in Scripture will be found to have come from the prophet’s own prompting; for never did any prophecy come by human will, but men sent by God spoke as they were impelled by the Holy Spirit.” Weymouth NT

The amount of Christian prophecy in our day and age should be a cause for concern. The sheer volume of prophecy on the internet, in books and on videos surpasses the Bible a hundred-fold or more, millions of websites. Why are we not concerned? Is God speaking that much today? Or are men prompted by their human will, by the soul and not the Spirit? Has it made us dull of hearing? Is there a famine of hearing the word of the Lord, like it says in Amos 8:11-12 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God, that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it.”

The scripture in 2 Peter has some answers for us, and gives us insight into two types of prophecy. There is a valid type of prophecy that has been given by “men moved by the Holy Spirit”. And then there is a type of prophecy that does not come by the Holy Spirit. This type of prophecy is given by the human will, human emotions and it comes from the prophets “own prompting”. It can be made to sound like it is coming from God, but it is not. Many times, it is a pleasant word, that we like to hear.

The glut of prophecy has dulled our discernment. In an age where so many are so desperate to move in prophecy, we have thrown discernment out the window. Most of the prophecy that I have heard in my 50 years as a Christian has been given by a “prompting other than the Holy Spirit”. How has the church gotten it so wrong? Are we so desperate, that we embrace it? Being desperate for God can be good, but it can also open the door for a lot of error.

Hebrews 5:12-14 “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

In my 50 years in and out of the charismatic movement, I see we have not matured. We have not learned to discern between what is good and what is evil. Prophecy by the Spirit is good, prophecy from another source is evil. One is holy, the other is common or profane. We have been afraid to confront false words, thereby not exercising discernment, which is how we would have had our senses trained to discern.

Ezekiel 22:26 “Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.”

There are clear examples in the Bible, Nadab and Abihu, offered what is common and not commanded by the Lord. What they offered was out of their own prompting, out of a common source. It cost them their lives. Leviticus 10:1 “Now Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense, and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to His command”.

The only way that we can learn to distinguish between the holy and the profane and the common, is by the Word of God and by the Spirit. And by learning the ways of God. And we need some Christians who have the gift of discernment and are not afraid to confront and ask questions. It will not be a popular gift, like tongues and prophecy. But in these days, it is desperately needed. Pray that God will raise up true prophets and expose those that are common and profane.