Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the pro-
phets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak
a vision of their own hearts, not from the mouth of the lord. They
continually say to those who despise Me,” ‘The Lord has said,
You shall have peace; And to everyone who walks according to
the dictates of his own heart,' they say, 'No evil shall come upon
you'." Jeremiah 23: 16-17
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;
who can know it." Jeremiah 17: 9
During the days of Jeremiah the prophet, there were “prophets”
whom the Lord God rejected because of the message of their pro-
phecy. First they spoke as prophets of Baal as in verse 13 of chap-
ter 23, “And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: They
prophesied by Baal and caused My people Israel to err.” Secondly
the Lord told Jeremiah, in verse 16, “They speak a vision of their
own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord…” Of course, no one
who names the name of Christ or follows the Lord God of the Bible
could be found who responded to a prophecy they knew to be from
Baal, a pagan god who was/is no god. But what about the prophecy
from the heart? All of my life, to speak from the heart has been tou-
ted to be a great and wonderful thing. Vrs. 17:9 and 23: 16 certainly
bring this kind of thinking into question. Is it a bad thing to speak
from the heart? Well, since the heart is deceitful and is wicked,
there remains only one source of truth or true prophecy. Prophecy
is to be believed, only as it emanates from the Lord God of the
Bible and proves in every case to be dependable and accurate.
Just as we take Scripture to be divinely inspired of God, and infal-
lible, the prophets were accurate and to be trusted as they spake
after having received a word from the Lord God. There were other
standards for them such as integrity, morality and the word had to
come as a Word from the Lord, not in a dream or a vision from the
heart of the prophet. The Word from the Lord, in some cases,
came as visions from Him as in Job 20:8, Proverbs 29:18, and Acts
26: 19. In Acts, Simon Peter was given a vision preparing him
to receive gentile seekers. This vision was from the Lord God and
it came true in every respect.
If my understanding is correct, a prophet is not only one who fore-
tells events that are to come to pass, but is also one who tells forth
the truth of the Gospel and events surrounding our Lord's time on
the earth and the ramifications of His birth, life, death, resurrection,
ascension and intercession on our behalf. So, a preacher of the Gos-
pel is a Prophet, although he may not have special revelation, outside
Scripture, of events yet to come, and receives his message from the
Word of God, as found in Scripture. He is, however; enlightened by
the Holy Spirit of God. Pastors, Preachers, and Evangelists today are
Prophets, called of God to these ministries, and are no less authorita-
tive as their message squares with Scripture. If the word of a modern
day Prophet does not square with the known, accepted Word of God,
Scripture, he must be regarded as a false prophet since one measures
all things by the Word of God. The follower of Jesus Christ also has
the Holy Spirit on his/her life, who along with Holy Scripture is the
light, Life, and Instructor in every matter. He gives discernment as to
whether a messenger is from the Lord. Without conscious effort, the
Spirit controlled Child of God is able to come to a conclusion and dis-
cern whether the messenger is consistent with the character of the
Word and the giver of that Word, Jesus Christ.
There is an important distinction between one who discerns, and
one who is judgmental. That is sin. Over the years I have failed
that test on more occasions than I care to admit.st.
"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you
judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use; it will
be measured back to you." (Matthew 7;1) It would be profitable to
read the entire chapter.
According to this Scripture, it is impossible to be a critic/judge,
and still be well pleasing to our Heavenly Father.
With that said, this does must not keep one from exercising his
mind as did the Berean church. It is said in Acts 17: 11, "These
men were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they
received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the
Scriptures daily, whether those things were so."
It is our responsibility, in every instance, to determine the validity
of the message preached by confirming it with Scripture. As we
look into the Word of God we find truth. Although it may cause
us, from time to time, to disagree with the messenger, we are not
to judge; the Word is judge. We should not, criticize this one to
others, but gently confront, using the Word of God to enlighten,
and keep fellowship. Recalling the "Golden Rule" will help.
Remembering all men to be fallible; there is no truth in any doc-
trine or precept set forth by a man except as it squares with the
Word of the living God. When we remember that all men, great
or small, are mere flesh and blood, subject to error, our responsi-
bility is to validate every word, comparing it with the Word and
develop, by diligent study and application, knowledge and under-
standing of the Word of God, led by the Spirit of God. At the
same time, remembering; we have feet of clay... edited 2.06.17
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