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In the Word, prophets have always acted as intermediaries for the Almighty in order to communicate His will and or message to the people of God. Amos 3:7 tells us, "Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." All too often, especially in today's world, people will believe that the prophet is speaking for himself and should be disregarded completely. And again, all too often in today's world, this is usually the case. "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." -2 Peter 1:21 The Lord, in His loving way, always sought the best for His children. Whenever they would sidestep His will, or totally turn from Him He would usually make it known through the prophet He has sent. He told Ezekiel, "...they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD." -Ezekiel 2:4 Even Isaiah was told to, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." -Isaiah 58:1 Directed and moved by the Holy Spirit, the prophets not only spoke of future events with 100% clarity, they were also used by the Almighty to instruct the people when they walked outside of His will. The Almighty's loves for His children is so great that He even sends His prophets to add to the Truth that is already written beforehand. And His prophets would always be in perfect harmony with that written Word. For it is also written is, Isaiah 8:20, "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Is this still done in today's church? Is the Almighty still active through His prophets? According to Ephesians 4:11-13 we hear a resounding YES, "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:" The gift of prophecy is STILL a major aspect in today's Christian church. And it's not only to predict the future events or interpret the prophecies already written in the Word. It is also declared in the Word of this Mighty Creator we worship that His prophets are used to uplift the members of the body of Christ. His prophets help them grow spiritually as well as grow together in love for their brothers an sisters in Christ. Edification is a wonderful result of those that embrace all that the Almighty has to offer through His Word. And His prophets love to point people write back into it! Amen? Question: Will the Almighty send prophets in the last days? Acts 2:17-18, "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: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:" Answer: YES! There are numerous preachers, pastors, priests, and just plain people, that declare the Lord no longer has need of prophets. They believe that in our day a prophet is not a necessity because of the simple fact that we have the Bible. However, Acts 2:17 & 18 overwhelmingly declare them in error. The other toss of the coin is that many believe that the Lord DOES use prophets in our day, but they feel it would ONLY be men of God that He would use and never a woman. Is this belief biblical? Luke 2:36,38 "And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem." Acts 21:8,9 "And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him. And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy." Judges 4:4, "And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time." Exodus 15:20, "And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances." Apparently not. The Lord does in fact use women in prophecy. In fact, just recently He used a woman named Ellen G. White to proclaim numerous facts not only regarding biblical jurisprudence. Ellen White was also a prophetess that spoke of our day with absolute clarity even though she lived well over a hundred years ago. Her books (475 of them) have been dissected by literally millions of scoffers, and to date not one of them have been able to come up with the slightest proof that she was anything but a prophetess. Sure, there are those that will take her out of context to try and make her appear in error, however, these are the very same people that will take Bible Scriptures out of context to preach lies in the first place. All one needs to do is read for your self her writings IN CONTEXT and one can see that they lie about her like they lie about the Scriptures. Fact is, every test the Bible declares should be used to identify a true prophet have been used on her, and she has passed the test with flying colors. Problem is, we ARE living in a time when false prophets will run rampant. Jesus warned us to "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."- Matthew 7:15 So we must be on the look out for these wolves. "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." -Matthew 24:24 So... how do we detect false prophets? 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 tells us first of all that we should, "Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." Even though we see numerous false prophets popping up all over the place, the Word of the Almighty declares we should not despise all prophets. Simple reason is, unless you examine their words and match them up with Scriptural jurisprudence, we truly can never know IF they are false prophets correct? All too often the prophet will declare something we feel is so far off the wall that we feel they must be bogus. Yet when we examine their words in the Light of Scriptures we sometimes may find otherwise. That is the only way to find out if they are sent by the Creator. Besides, the Bible gives us MANY clues on how to detect these false prophets. So, why not utilize them eh? Deuteronomy 18:21-22, "And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him." Jeremiah 28:9, "The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the LORD hath truly sent him." Biblical fact is, when the prophet prophecies, the prophecy must be 100% accurate. It has to be 100% because if he is a prophet THE LORD IS THE ONE SPEAKING THROUGH HIM, and the Lord does not share error in the slightest degree! Take a look at many of the "so called" prophets of our day. Look at the writings of Benny Hinn or Hal Lindsey for example. BOTH of them made certain prophetic claims on numerous topics that did not come to pass. Both of them even put "dates" on certain events occurring and the dates came and went. And both of them PUT IT IN WRITING in their books for all the world to see. Or look at the "so called" Psychic's of our day. Take "Jean Dixon" for example. She was considered one the most renowned psychics of all time because of her uncanny accuracy of 18% correct! That means she was 82% WRONG! Look at Nostradamus. I will admit that he "appears" a little more accurate then most. But his"quatrains" were designed to actually go either way so as to generate a higher accuracy. In other words, he worded them in such a way that, if his prediction declared a certain event to happen in a certain year, he would also word it in such a way as to make it appear it could happen in a different year or at a different place. PLUS, those predictions that were not able to be "worded" in that way, he would declare that "with prayer you could avert this disaster" and when it didn't occur, many Catholics believed their prayers worked. Either way, there is an easy way to expose him. He spelled Hitler, "HISLER." That is NOT his name and my Creator is 100% correct! Plus, just recently we all saw how his 1999 predictions failed completely. So bad in fact that many of his followers decided to start rewriting his predictions to make it appear he was right. They were caught, and Nostradamus has indeed been dethroned. Truth will always out! For Truth is truth folks! So remember.. if they have a "single error" they are easily proven to be a false prophet. For to be a prophet you are one that is used by the Creator. And He is no dime store psychic! He is 100% on the money 100% of the time! No if ands or buts about it! By the way, Nostradamus would get his "visions" by gazing into a black mirror or a bowl of water. That is an occult practice most different types of Satanists use to this day. Another method of detecting a false prophet is verifying what they TEACH as well. Especially now-a-days! Fact is, thanks to many modern day prophets before us, many have learned how to decipher Bible prophecy with better accuracy now. Plus, many will "borrow" the revelations of those before them to claim them as their own and then teach error unto you regarding Bible doctrine. The Word of God states plainly this is a major key utilized by many evil prophets. Deuteronomy 13:1-3, "If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul." The Word says plainly, if the prophet IS correct, but then preaches biblical error, do NOT trust him at all! The teaching of the prophet must always be 100% in line with that which is written. If he or she is swaying in any way with the Word of God we are told not to place any trust in him or her. For it is written plainly in Isaiah 8:19 & 20, "And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Case in point would be some of the "mediums" that are popping up all over the place lately. One name comes to mind is "John Edwards" of the now canceled television program called "Crossing Over" from a decade or so ago. This man says he speaks with the "so called" spirits of dead loved ones and tells the people things that only their dead loved ones can know. This IS an authentic communication he is performing, however he is NOT speaking to their dead loved ones. He is speaking to the DEMONS that were assigned to their dead loved ones while they were still alive. These demons know every aspect of those people because they were at their side tempting them all their lives. They know how they speak, their mannerisms, their accents, and their inner most secrets. They even know their facial ticks if any, or any strange habits. So, when the demons speak, or sometimes actually APPEAR as a "ghost" of their dead loved ones, the people believe it simply because they do not know what the Bible has to say about the state of the dead. Most people are totally unaware as to what happens when you die. The Bible is plain about it, but if they don't read AND BELIEVE the Bible; they will fall for things like this easily. That is what Satan is counting on! In fact, if it wasn't for Rome's ability to corrupt doctrines in every denomination, no one would have fallen for the so called "Lady of Fatima" that appears to children as a spirit saying she is Mary, the mother of Jesus from Heaven. (For information about the "state of the dead" click here) It is crucial that we examine the prophet's word and match them up with Scripture. If they do not agree 100%, then understand in your heart that you ARE dealing with a bonafide, dyed in the wool, FALSE PROPHET. Another key to detecting false prophets is their adherence to the Law of God. If they do not keep the Ten Commandments, they are simply not capable of receiving prophetic understanding of the Word let alone visions. For it is written, "Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD." -Lamentations 2:9 In order to receive a vision from on High, one must be a commandment keeping child of the Living God. Do a study in the Bible to find out what happened each time the people or the prophets rejected His Commandments. You will see clear evidence that the visions STOPPED! Keeping the Law is crucial! In fact, this is one of TWO major keys of a child of God. Revelation 12:17 says, "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."
Most understand what keeping the Commandments is all about. But what is the "testimony of Jesus Christ?" What does the Bible define it as? Revelation 19:10, "...for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." There you have it! More evidence of a true child of God as well as one who understands prophecy. The testimony of Jesus is the gift of prophecy! Of course the most important of the two would have to be keeping the law. For if you do not keep it, the blessings of the Almighty would not be realized, and the prophecies would indeed be closed to you. Ezekiel 7:26, "Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients." Proverbs 29:18, "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he." Another major key of a true prophet is their constant desire to get the listener to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord. All true prophets of the Lord are strong Christians with a desire to teach others the Jesus of the Bible. Look at Rome, they seek to glorify Mary or the Popes at all times. And it's not just Rome either. Many denominations place their founders, or leaders on thrones fashioned for Christ. 1 John 4:1-3, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world." Look at the "psychics" or "mediums" of today. Do they preach and teach the message of Christ? Or do they teach and preach the message of hell? PLUS, also notice the "so called" Christian prophets. Do they REALLY preach Jesus came in the flesh? Do their doctrines really reflect such a truth as this? Take for example to "original sin" doctrine handed down by the Vatican that many denominations declare as valid. Question: What is Original Sin? Answer: Original sin is the sin we inherit from Adam, the father of the human race. Source = The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine by Rev. Peter Geiermann, C. SS. R. Besides the fact that Ezekiel 18:20 bluntly states this is not true... "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." The Vatican also declares that Jesus Christ did NOT have "Original Sin" when He was born. In other words, the Vatican is bluntly saying JESUS CHRIST DID NOT COME IN THE FLESH YOU AND I HAVE. They are declaring that Jesus came in a flesh that did NOT have "Original Sin" where our flesh DOES have it. That is biblically exposing them as both a false prophet as well as antichrist. For the Word plainly states if they preach Jesus did not come in our flesh they are of Antichrist! Most false prophets aren't as bold to expose themselves as graphically as the Vatican does. Most will lie and say they "do" believe Jesus came in the flesh. But when you look at the rest of the fruits they bare, it's an easy task to see them for what they are. Sure they may claim Christ Lord, but their fruits say they have been joined to their idols, so.. leave them alone as is the command we find declared in Hosea 4:17. A major goal of a TRUE prophet is to get people saved and part of the body of Christ. Psychic's, mediums, catholic priests, and all others that teach in this way are NOT interested in you or your eternal possibilities. They are more concerned with the 'here and now" and will act accordingly. Money drives them! They are preachers of filthy lucre and that is what they worship. By the way, some false prophets will also perform "miracles" that are not of God. This too is an easy fruit to expose. Fact is, the Elect can not be deceived and the obvious lie will surface with ease. Besides, the Word of God has already given us an ample supply of clues to look for. Is it not written in Matthew 24:24-25, "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before." All around us we can see false prophets performing what appears to be miracles, signs and wonders. Benny Hinn for example is one of the most major prime examples of this. His unbiblical methods, and ecumenical message proves him out with ease. I don't want to get into a long drawn out discussion on how evil this man is, but if you would like to see some facts on this, click here... http://www.aloha.net/~mikesch/tbn.htm (Listen to the audio's as well!) By the way, Benny Hinn is not the only one. Again, the Vatican is infamous for it's false healing's and unbiblical miracles. Since Fatima in 1917, to present day in Lourdes France, we see numerous people doing the exact opposite of what the Bible says is needed for the reception of a miracle. Yet, "some" appear to be healed. Still, as many who do believe Scripture realize, the Vatican is by no means a Christian organization. Therefore, one can see that not only the Creator performs miracles. Demons do as well so as to entrap many into believing it must be of God because of the miracle. The necessary "fruit inspecting" is ignored because of the sensationalism of the so called miracle. Jesus plainly said in Matthew 7:15-18,20 "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." The work of the true prophet of God will be marked by the good fruit it bears as well as the good fruit it produces. So... what is good fruits? Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." The fruit of the true prophet will reflect the character / name of Christ Jesus. Would Jesus Christ allow four people including a baby to die at his gatherings as we see Benny Hinn did in Nairobi Kenya recently? Would Jesus Christ kill 500 million Christians as the Vatican admitted to on March 12, 2000? Would Jesus charge money for His "predictions" as millions of psychics do? Of course not. The fruit of the Spirit is always far stronger than the miracles of the prophet. A true prophet of the Lord would never do a "good" act and then embrace "evil" at the same time. NEVER! A prophet of the Lord will meet each and every requirement recorded in the Word. Else, he would not be one that was OF the Word, would he? We must examine and verify their message and do as the Bereans did in the book of Acts... Acts 17:11, "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." Verify! Verify! Verify! And don't despise them either! You never know until you VERIFY that they are true or false. You may be forsaking a true warning from the Almighty if you blow off every prophet that comes your way. Plus, you may be forsaking a BLESSING as well, for it is plainly written in 2 Chronicles 20:20, "... Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper." VERIFY those that claim to be prophets. Granted, you will no doubt see the majority of them are false, regardless, verify anyway! The true prophet is a valuable source of information, encouragement, as well as warnings from the Creator. They are used by the Lord to help prepare the people for His coming. Isaiah 58:1, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." SUMMARY of signs of a TRUE prophet you can use to detect the FALSE ones...
Bible Scholar Looses Voice on the John Ankerberg TV Show while attacking Truth! You can call it pure justice, a sign from God, or whatever you want, but eyebrows were sure raised recently during the tapings for Christian TV's The John Ankerberg Show.Ankerberg, a bitter opponent of the King James Bible, had wanted to do a series of TV programs in which the heads of the new version translation committees - the NIV, RSV, NASV, NKJV, etc.- would debate King James Bible advocates. Afraid that the King James people would get the upper hand and win the debate, Ankerberg attempted to "stack the deck." He invited five new version scholars but only three King James advocates. Since Ankerberg is himself a fervent promoter of the NIV and other false versions, that made the odds six to three. But the three King James men - Dr. Joseph Chambers, Dr. Samuel Gipp, and Dr. Thomas Strouse, weren't deterred by the odds. They accepted John Ankerberg's invitation anyway so that they could get out their vital and important message - that the King James Bible is the only trustworthy, accurate, scholarly, and whole Bible available in the world! The John Ankerberg programs are taped in advance in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and then shown later to a national TV audience. For the Bible version debate, eight shows were taped. However, on one of these shows, Ankerberg and the new Bible version people were forced to call an abrupt halt right in the midst of the taping. It happened when Ankerberg asked Dr. Don Wilkins, of the New American Standard Version translation committee, a key question. Is it true, asked Ankerberg, as Gail Riplinger reported in her bestselling book, New Age Bible Versions, that a number of the scholars who worked on the new translation committees lost their voice as punishment by God? As the TV cameras captured the moment, Dr. Wilkins opened his mouth to answer- and nothing came out! No sound! Wilkins kept trying to clear his throat, but he couldn't respond. Ankerberg and the other new version scholars were visibly startled. Finally, an embarrassed and frightened Wilkins was able to screech out in a cracking, almost inaudible manner, "I... I've... lost... my voice!" A shocked John Ankerberg ordered the cameras to stop and back up, whereupon Dr. Joseph Chambers, a King James only advocate, politely protested. "The cameras should record exactly what happened here," Chambers insisted. But Ankerberg was hearing none of it. After a brief delay, the TV cameras began to roll again, after the amazing segment of Dr. Wilkins losing his voice had conveniently been excised! But our miraculous God wasn't through yet. Ankerberg had taped eight programs in all, but after broadcasting only two of them, he pulled the others off the air and refused to continue the series. When we called his office to ask why, we were pointedly told that it was because the series was a financial flop. When the first two of the eight programs aired, people did not send in enough contributions. In other words, Ankerberg claims that the series wasn't making enough money! I watched one of the two programs that did air, however, and I believe there is another, quite different reason why Ankerberg and the false new version folks decided to pull the remainder. At one point, the new version "scholars" were clearly frustrated when Dr. Chambers asked them why, an astounding 46 times in the NIV, the title of "Master" for our Lord Jesus had been changed to "teacher!" Obviously, there is a vast difference between one who is our Master and one who is a mere "teacher." Such poignant episodes as this make me doubt Ankerberg's rationale as to why he quickly jerked the remaining programs from the broadcast schedule. If, as he claims, Ankerberg pulled the series because he wasn't bringing in enough money, what does that tell us about his "ministry?" Is John Ankerberg in it only for the money? Is filthy lucre the sole measure for the programs he airs - or doesn't air? -FLASHPOINT: A Newsletter Ministry, October (Vol. 95-10) p.3 Nostradamus followers CAUGHT RED HANDED! -The below email is from a friend of this ministry. In it he exposes the truth about Nostradamus. As many know, this ministry declares Nostradamus a false prophet not worthy of our consideration. For it is written... Deuteronomy 18:22, "When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him." N O S T R A D
A M U S
Nicholas; I've been getting a lot of e-mail last couple days on
Nostradamus hoaxes - people saying he predicted the attack on New York - that
are completely bogus. And from what someone else has told me, I've only heard
the tip of the iceberg on what is going around. Here's a few examples so you
can know to ignore them when you see them, and pass this along to anyone who
sends you such trash. Here's another "quote" I got yesterday... In the City of God there will be a great
thunder, the fall of Twin Brothers Still another quote I got had the exact thing as above, but said "city of York" instead of "city of God". Perhaps they changed it when they realized no one would recognize New York as the "city of God". Do these Nostradamus supporters have any conscious at all??? Also, he died in 16th century, so the date is also wrong. Nostradamus never said this one either. This was invented five years ago by Neil Marshall, a Canadian high school senior in a paper he wrote debunking Nostradamus in which he made up a quote saying it was so vague, it could easily come true from any number of news events. Nostradamus had a lot of FAILED prophecies. There's no need for us to pay Nostradamus any attention. If you invent a lot of vague stuff and allow several hundred years for it to happen, sooner or later you'll come up with an event that can be mapped. But let's take a look at the following failed prophecies he made...
With all these failed prophecies, why should we waste or time trying to figure out if any of his vague prophecies apply when his specific ones bombed? Have we swallowed all that PBS special propoganda to the point that we believe that over common sense and a history failures? Nostradamus was a false prophet. Let's not give him any
credibility. Shalom, Joe
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