Holding Prophets Accountable (original) (raw)
2010, Journal of the European Pentecostal Theological Association
This article addresses the key issues involved in the relationship between contemporary Christian prophets and the wider church in the light of biblical data, and information about the early church, on prophecy. Specifically, I consider how prophecies were evaluated in the Bible and the post-apostolic church, whose responsibility it was to judge prophecies (according to the New Testament) and the relationship between prophets and other leaders in the church. This also includes questions about conditional predictive prophecy. This article advocates proper respect for, and accountability of, modern prophets. Introduction Prophecy and prophets are controversial and vulnerable. Prophets frequently go wrong, either in what they say or how they live. Recently some have had a particularly bad run. . The earlier controversies over the "Kansas City prophets" have been followed by the exposure of Paul Cain's double life. 1 Smaller scale scandals have "rocked the prophetic boat" around the world and clearly counterfeit prophecies abound. 2 Here in Australia, some devastating bush fires (killing nearly 200 people in February 2009) were followed by the reporting of a prophetic vision, implying that the fires were God's judgement in response to liberalised abortion laws. This stirred up a storm of controversy within and beyond the church. Meanwhile, on almost the opposite tack, UK prophet Graham Cooke has predicted a season of revival in Melbourne and pastors have been meeting to consider what to do about it. Both cases raise the issue of testing prophecies and the question of how the church should respond to a prophetic word, true or false.
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