Question: God gave special guidance through prophets in both the Old and New Testaments. So when men and women claim to issue prophetic pronouncements today, what are we to make of that? (Chapter 15)

Answer: One novel suggestion involves a redefinition of the word prophet. This view maintains that in the New Testament, only an apostle received the same level of supernatural revelation as an Old Testament prophet. God's communication to and through other prophets was (and is) less precise and hence fallible. So a modern-day "prophet" cannot declare, "Thus saith the Lord." Instead, he or she should say, "I sense that God may be revealing something to me. Listen and see if you perceive that this is God's revelation to you." (Interestingly, Agabus is cited as an example of a "fallible" prophet whose predictions fell short of being perfectly accurate.)

But the argument for this position is unconvincing. One purpose of predictive prophecy is to inform people about something that is going to happen before it happens. But it is hard to see how this is accomplished by a fallible prophecy. How could you know ahead of time if such a message "sensed" by a prophet is from God? You can't. If it comes true, it will be said that it was from God. If it proves false, it will be chalked up to human error. I call that "nonauthoritative prophecy." But who isn't a prophet in that watered down sense? Everyone has received an impression that might be true or might be false, but we don't know ahead of time. But it is unacceptable to say your impression was from God when you are proved right and excusable as human error when you are wrong. A prophecy that isn't certain before it happens is singularly unhelpful. It is, by definition, not a prophecy at all.

On the other hand, many who make prophetic pronouncements maintain that their message has the status of revelation from God. A Christian man in Portland, Oregon, said God had given him a divine message. He predicted a terrible earthquake in Portland on a particular date. He claimed God had directed believers to leave the city to spare their lives and then return to help the injured. Those who knew this believer said he was godly and sincere. On the eve of the predicted catastrophe, this resident of Portland went to bed and slept like a baby. The next morning Portland still had too much rain for my tastes, but everything else was intact.

Why did I not take this sincere man's prediction seriously? Neither he nor his "prophecy" were heretical. But the pronouncement lacked the requisite confirming sign. His prediction did not contradict the Bible, but he never gave evidence of supernatural connections. Moses did not say, "I saw a burning bush and that should be good enough for you." God gave him signs so that there was no question (Exodus 4:1-9).

Let me boldly state the obvious: If you are not sure whether you heard directly from God, you didn't. If you had, it would not only be crystal clear to you, but God would also supernaturally supply you with ways to confirm that message to others. Once a prophet has been confirmed they need not do a miracle each time, but he will never be considered a prophet until they give miraculous confirmation. Moses had three signs, but did not give a sign every time he came down from the mountain. Both tests are necessary. If the miraculous sign is absent, you will always be uncertain. The test of harmony with Scripture is necessary, but it is not enough. The Scriptural test will keep you from heresy, but it will not keep you from stupidity.

A man I know from the Signs and Wonders movement pressed me on this. He argued that if you felt an impression might be from God, you had better obey it so that you would not risk missing God's word to you. Do you see the problem? You don't know for sure if impression "A" is from God, but it might be. You can't ignore it because if it is from God, you will be guilty of not acting on God's word to you. The answer to this dilemma is simple. God makes sure this situation cannot occur. God's supernatural voice is not uncertain. It is not a guessing game. If you think some impressions are God's revelation and some are not, you will be left guessing forever. The supernatural element of true revelation plus the test of true doctrine will always make it miraculously clear.