Dangerous Theology Of The Gift Of Prophecy

There is another dangerous theology found in C. Peter Wagner's book 7 Power Principles I Learned After Seminary. It is one of extra-Biblical revelation. This is prophecy above and beyond the Bible. This is so dangerous that Joseph Smith picked up on this and started a cult. Let me briefly breakdown this dangerous theology in the following paragraphs.

Wagner writes, "The reason that God has provided prophets is so that His will can be heard, understood and obeyed by the Body of Christ. The major source of the revelation of God is, of course, the Bible, and no authentic prophecy could ever contradict what the Scriptures say. Nevertheless, there are many things that God wants to tell us today that cannot be found in the Bible (pg. 46)."

Wagner is confusing an OT office of prophet with the NT gift of prophecy. The Bible specifically says, "I testify to everyone who hears the prophetic words of the is book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of this prophetic book, God will take away his share of the tree of life and the holy city, written in this book (Revelation 22:18-19)."

The reason God spoke through prophets in the OT is because Christ had yet to die making Himself a mediator between us and God (1 Tim. 2:5, Heb. 8:6, 9:15, 12:24). God used His prophets to speak to man. Today, thanks to the blood of Jesus Christ, we now have the ability to enter into a personal relationship with God. God has spoken. He has revealed all of Himself that He wants us to know. That is through general revelation (nature, earth, sky, universe, etc.) and special revelation (through Jesus Christ which is revealed in the Bible). Today, we do not need anyone to talk to God for us (1 Pet. 2:9) and we don't need anyone to speak for God - we now all have equal access to God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The Bible says about the Holy Spirit, "When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak whatever He hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, because He will take form what is Mine and declare it to you (John 16:13-14)." If every believer has God indwelling inside of them, there is no need for someone to speak for God anymore. This eliminates the OT office of prophecy.

Basically, with all of this I conclude, as with Wayne Grudem, "So prophecies in the church today should be considered merely human words, not God's word, and not equal to God's words in authority (Systematic Theology, 1055)." I believe that I have the spiritual gift of prophecy. It DOES NOT mean that I speak for God. God has spoken and reveled Himself. I believe that God gives me a message FROM HIS WORD, to share with the congregation that God has called me to serve. It is not new. It is an interpretation of Scripture applied to our local context and to His body of believers.

God does NOT have anything to tell us that is not in the Bible. We can apply Biblical principles differently, but God does not SAY anything different. If so, God could change. If God keeps changing we could never know Him, and only those with a "special" gift could tell us who He is. This denies the Christian unity of the Body of Christ in the church as prescribed in Scripture. Also, this gift of prophecy goes hand in hand with my other highest gift of exhortation. I believe I stand in the pulpit to point out sin and the direction we need to take as believes and a church (as given by Scripture), but also to encourage all believers to keep on keeping on in the faith. This is exactly what the apostle Paul did throughout his letters.

One of my former pastors, Harlan Caton, sums up my view (the Biblical view) of the gift of prophecy when he writes, "Notice that the gift of prophecy is to be distinguished from the office of the prophet. The true New Testament office of a prophet was a man who was at the particular time actually receiving the Word of God, while the gift of prophecy is the divine-given ability to preach the Word of God. Since we have the written Word of God, there is no longer any need for the office of a prophet, but we do have those who have the fit of prophecy. It certainly should be stated here that the gift of prophecy has nothing to do with the ability o tell the future. It is the divine-given ability to preach the Word of God and is given only to men (Strengthening The Saints Through Sound Doctrine, 175)."

Basically, God is not saying anything new about Himself. God does not need anyone to talk specifically for Him because He can simply tell each believer who has the Holy Spirit indwelling inside of them. Therefore, there is no need for a future-telling gift. We already know what's going to happen! What do you think? Stay tuned, there is more to come...