Reddit reviews The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today

> More to the point, it is a direct contradiction of 2 Peter 1:21: “No prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

Uhh.. read the context. It's no prophecy 'OF SCRIPTURE'. But I would still agree that true prophecy (scripture or not) is not made by an act of human will. Neither Piper nor Grudem would say otherwise.

But we've been through this debate before. I can point to a number of instances where prophecy in the Bible (Old and New Testament) does not fit the criteria that John MacArthur lays out.

If you're interested, read Grudem's The Gift of Prophecy, which explains it fairly well. And while I have a lot of disagreements with his version, the book is still very helpful for a cessationist to understand the traditional arguments against prophecy just don't hold water.

For a pretty comprehensive book on the how the Holy Spirit is taught throughout the Bible and has been viewed throughout the history of Church, your one-stop-shop is Anthony Thiselton's The Holy Spirit: In Biblical Teaching, through the Centuries, and Today. One comment has already addressed Dr. Gordon Fee, and he is another go to scholar for doctrine related to the Spirit. Any of his books or commentaries would be good.

For more accessible material, Billy Graham actually wrote a little book on the Holy Spirit serval years ago that is pretty straightforward and helpful. Also, Francis Chan and J.D. Greear have written more recent books on the Holy Spirit.

To better understand the spiritual gifts I would recommend the works of Wayne Grudem or Sam Storms, as well as D.A. Carson's exposition of 1 Corinthians 12 -14.

If you would like a sermon series to listen to, I found this podcast helpful.

I hope that helps!

I recently studied this issue, and the books I read to help me were Jack Deere's Surprised by the Power of the Spirit and Wayne Grudem's The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today (Pro) and John MacArthur's Strange Fire and BB Warfield's Counterfeit Miracles (Con). Of those, suprisingly MacArthur's was the most helpful. Strange Fire speaks very directly to your impressions of New Age spirituality in the charismatic movement.

> Where in the New Testament does it say that a church should have a prophet?

"So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." - Ephesians 4:11-14

That's the general biblical background that most people appeal to. Notice that it says these 5 roles are needed to equip the people for service until we all reach unity of the faith. We ain't there yet.

> How do you decide who should be a prophet exactly?

I'd direct that same question to the evangelists, pastors, and teachers. How does a church decide who fills these roles? It's the same verse that literally states the same need. In general, cessationists draw a line after the first two and say we need the last three.

> When you say speak the words of God, I assume you aren't just talking about reading the Bible out loud. Are you suggesting people can add to the Bible?

This is basically an argument that misrepresents the gift of prophesy. I'm sure you don't mean that, but if you're interested in a full theological deep dive in this, Wayne Grudem's The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today provides pretty good clarity. When Paul said he wants all to prophesy, he isn't asking for a company of Bible writers. He's looking for a group of people that supernaturally demonstrate "God with us" in such a clear way that even the lost fall on their faces and proclaim that God is really among here (1 Corinthians 14).

That can happen from the Bible being read out loud. But I've seen it happen when I spoke out what God put on my heart and it lead to someone coming to Christ. Basically God showed me that a person in Starbucks was an artist and that God wanted this person to come to Christ so that He could paint the beautiful picture of the Gospel through him. The short story: my wife and I saw a guy who we felt like we needed to share Christ with and asked our friends for prayer. One of our friends texted us a name we should ask the guy about (word of knowledge). It was the name of the dude's very good friend who was moving into town soon (opened his ears to receive the Gospel). I shared that I thought he was an artist (he sat up proudly and said, "as a matter of fact I am") and we shared the Gospel with Him and what I was seeing. He said he wanted to receive Jesus now - we prayed, laid hands on him and asked the Holy Spirit to fill him. We asked him if God said anything to him while we prayed. He had a soft look in his eyes and said, "Jesus loves me very much". The guy then shared that a lot of his friends are suicidal and he didn't know how to help. He's now shining for Christ in a dark place simply from a word of knowledge and prophecy.

Note, this isn't adding to Scripture. This isn't replacing the Bible. It's simply demonstrating the person of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit in such a way that lost souls come into the Kingdom. This is prophecy. This is what Paul wants us all to be doing.

> How do you know if someone is speaking for God? What if they are actually being demonically possessed or they are secretly a charlatan or something?

Read 1 Corinthians 12 - are they proclaiming Jesus as Christ? The same Jesus we worship? Test the spirits. Do you have a "holy hunch" in a given situation? This requires discernment and the big question is: are they glorifying the resurrect Christ and His powerful Gospel? Or is about the person?

> Do you explicitly share the Gospel when you evangelize? Or do you just tell them that God wants to talk to them?

Absolutely! I'm a Baptist - we pride ourselves in the ability to articulate the Gospel, lol :p. I explicitly share and proclaim the Gospel using words and very simple analogies. However, I believe the Gospel presentation coupled with a demonstration of the Holy Spirit's miracle working power tends to "seal the deal" a lot faster than talking it out. So I try to find where they are sick or dead and ask Jesus to heal or raise what is crushed. Jesus is a healer and I want the lost and dying world to know He is such.