The Measure of a Prophet

And when they say to you,
"Seek those who are mediums and wizards,
who whisper and mutter,"
should not a people seek their God?
Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?
To the law and to the testimony!
If they do not speak according to this word,
it is because there is no light in them.
Isaiah 8:19-20, NKJV

Prophecy, true divinely inspired utterance, will always line up with the Word of God. No word from the Lord will ever contradict the Word He has already spoken. No word from the Lord will ever go against His Word, it will never add to His Word, it will never take away from His Word. And yet today the church world seems full of people who are saying, "I have a NEW Word from the Lord."

Many years ago, I heard one of them talking, but what they were saying was a direct contradiction of the Apostle Paul's writings in the New Testament. When asked about it, they said, "Oh, we're beyond Paul." Beyond Paul? Really?

And not so long ago, I heard a self appointed prophet say, "We have a persecution complex. We are convinced that the world is supposed to hate us. But if we would just get full of the Holy Spirit, the world around us would fall in love with us and come running to get what we have." It struck me as odd that the mindset he was contradicting was that of Jesus, for it was Jesus who warned of the persecution that Christians would face, it was Jesus who said, "If you love me, the world will hate you, because they hate me, and because they don't have me."

Of course, the same so-called man of God preached an entire series of messages based upon a false concept: that person and sound come from the same root word in the original language of the Bible, therefore Jesus being the personification of God meant He was also the sound of God, and when we speak in His name, we become the sounding personification of God. The message went through several theological gymnastic feats that defied all reason. And as it turns out (and I went home that night to check it out for myself) not only do the words for person and sound come from different root words, they come from different languages! Apparently, the guy had done no real study at all...either that or he was basing his entire message on some revelation he'd had from God, in which God didn't know which languages those words come from.

And it seems popular today for people to have mystical spiritual experiences, going to heaven or hell or halfway around the world, and then writing all about it as if to construct new thoroughfares of truth. Because, after all, God says we'll have visions and dreams, so if I have a dream it must be a message from God. And whatever I see in my vision or whatever experience I have must be true. And when they think they've had a revelation, they write a book or make a video and sell both to a church that is desperate for a new spiritual high, but not so hungry for the truth of God's Word.

Isaiah had the answer. He said, "When they come saying, 'Listen to our necromancers and our soothsayers, our wizards and mediums', seek the Lord instead." When we have the written Word of God to read, and the living Word speaking to us through His indwelling Spirit, why in the world do we still feel the need to run here, yonder and there, from one conference to another, from one revival meeting to another, from one church to another, looking for a fresh word from God? The Word that we have is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, and most Christians don't have a clue what it says. Why would God tell us something else, when we haven't even absorbed and implemented what He's already given us?

When we do receive a "word", how do we judge it? Most of the folks I know will measure it according to how it made them feel, but not put it up against the Word of God to see if the two agree. I've actually heard numerous preachers say, "Don't question this; this is gaaaawwwwwwddddd!" That in itself isn't even Biblical, for the Bible says, "Don't believe every spirit, but test and try them to see what is from God." The Bible says, "Don't despise prophecy; but test everything, holding on to what is good."

Isaiah says, "If they do not speak according to the law and testimony of God, the light is not in them." Let us be sure to remember that the next time someone says, "Have I got a word from God for you."