What Is the Gift of Prophecy?
Question: I’m having trouble reconciling somethings you said in your book,Bible Answers to Life’s Big Questions. You say that you believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are still present in the world today, and yet EVERYONE who is psychic (ie can see the future/ prophecy) is either a fake or from the devil because they are NOT from God. Yet one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the gift of prophecy. So how can this be if ALL of them are fakes or evil?
Answer: The issue is in the nature of a “psychic.” A psychic claims to be in touch with supernatural forces, and that sometimes involves “predicting” the future. Then there are mediums, who claim to talk to the dead. Both of these kinds of people pop up in the Bible in a couple of places. King Saul in the Old Testament consulted with the witch of Endor, and in the book of Acts there is an incident involving some psychics who were foretelling the future. The Bible clearly condemns this kind of activity, because it is not from God. It’s possible that a psychic or medium could actually have a connection to the spirit world, but more likely such individuals are fakes. Either way it’s not good.
The gift of prophecy is an entirely different matter. Like the other gifts listed in 1 Corinthians and Romans, it is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and therefore it comes from God. How this gift is expressed is more in line with “forth telling” rather than “foretelling.” Even the prophets in Scripture were most involved with forth telling, although there was a fair amount of foretelling. However, from the time the last piece of Scripture was written (the book of Revelation), there hasn’t been a need for those with the gift of prophecy to foretell events well into the future. The apostle John concluded, “If anyone adds anything to them [the prophecies], God will add to him the plagues described in this book” (Revelation 22:18).
The whole idea of “forth telling” is to warn God’s people to repent, or to tell God’s people what they should be doing. There are people today, some who are leaders in the church, who have a prophetic voice. Their words inspire people to change, to turn back to God, and to live for Him. There are also instances where people with the gift of prophecy speak a word of knowledge to a church or an individual. Now, it’s important for those who are hearing this “prophecy” to discern whether or not it is from God. For one thing, no one with the gift of prophecy would ever contradict Scripture.
No doubt there are self-professed prophets in the church who are not truly hearing from God, and in this regard they would be “fakes” as well. But there are people who have the gift of prophecy, although it is probably rare. And when the gift is exercised, it isn’t in predicting the long-term future, and it certainly is not communicating with the dead.
I too wonder about this subject. I can see where those who claim to talk with the dead, etc. should be cautious about where their ability comes from. But, what about those who do not flaunt their “psychic” abilities and use them to do good, such as, assist police in finding dead bodies or missing people. That would seem to be a good gift made possible through the Holy Spirit. Can you comment on this?
That’s a great question: what about people who use their “psychic” abilities to help people. Well, the question I would ask is whether or not such psychics claim that their ability is God-given? I haven’t heard such a thing. Psychics don’t give credit to God or the Holy Spirit. And here’s the other thing. If they are truly able to detect such things as missing people, and if God is truly giving them that power, then they would never be wrong. But as you know, there are all kinds of people who come out of the woodwork when someone goes missing, claiming to know where they are. How many times have these psychics been right? Frankly, I can’t think of one case where police followed a psychic’s advice and actually found a body or a missing person.