Have you experienced that God sometimes tells you to do something and then you start doubting that it’s really God and you think it’s your imagination. Can you imagine what Samuel must have thought when God called him.
1 Samuel 3: 11-14, And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears.”
Then the Lord said to Samuel: “Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them. And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”
Just think about it. What if God told you to go and tell your boss, whom you seriously respect, that he’s going to destroy his whole family. That is a serious thing to tell someone who pays your salary, or in Samuel’s case, who is your guardian. This is such a serious message and if it is wrong or wrongly accepted you are going to come out of it with egg on your face. But, guess what? You’re off the hook. Look what the New Testament says about prophecy.
1 Corinthians 14:3, But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.
Ephesians 4:11-15, And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
1 Peter 4:10-11, As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Here the bible very clearly states that God will let people use their gifts to build up and edify the church, the body of Christ. I don’t know enough about the subject to say anything about prophets who get messages for countries and for the world. All I know is that if I hear a voice telling me to strongly rebuke my neighbour, then I am listening to the wrong voice. If God is warning someone about things they are doing wrong, it will not sound like a warning to anyone who is listening, but the person hearing it will know. Prophetic words are meant to be confirmation of things that God has already told you and placed in your heart. It’s not something to be afraid of. Any person who is not happy with a message given to him or her that is ostensibly from God is welcome to disregard such a message, or to pray about it and see if it brings them peace. Because I take the Bible at face value I believe that there are still prophets and apostles just like there are pastors, teachers and evangelists. The function of all these is to build up and to edify and to work towards the good of the church.
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