READ: 1 Corinthians 14:21-33
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” – Romans 8:14
Old Testament prophets played a role different from that of New Testament prophets.
Under the Old Covenant, only the prophet and perhaps the priest had the Holy Spirit working through them. Today, the Holy Spirit is in every believer and is giving us personal guidance on a day-to-day basis. We still need the input of prophets, but we do not need to seek them for daily guidance. We also need to check whether what they say agrees
with what the Holy Spirit is telling us (1 Corinthians 14:29).
Under the New Testament, the declarations of prophets are supposed to be judged. The Bible provides a standard by which we can assess their words. I heard of a prophet telling members of a particular church that the Lord wanted them to move out of that church into his (the prophet’s) church. If I were to judge such an action by the Word of God, I would refer you to what Paul shows us to be the role of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. They are to minister to the Body of Christ so that the
saints become stable Christians (Ephesians 4:11,14).
If a true prophet ministers in your church, you will know him by his fruits. If the fruit (the end result) of his ministry is destabilization and a moving of church members to and fro, I would wonder whether he’s a New Testament prophet. Prophets are supposed to minister and prevent the to and fro movement of church members, to prevent them from being carried about by every new idea.