|
Do you know what a prophet is? Can you be a prophet for the Lord? Are there false prophets to watch out for? What are prophecies for, anyway? |
 The
Bible has the answers.
In Amos 3:7 , the Bible tells us that the Lord will reveal His secrets to the prophets before He does anything.
|
  The
Bible also says that there will even be children that God tells His
secrets to in the last days. We are in the last days so we can expect
children to be getting secrets from God. Also it says young men and young
women will be told these secrets. Old men and women will also be told
things. It sounds like God will talk to boys and girls, men and women no
matter how old they are. Look in your Bibles at Joel 2:28 and again in
Acts |
| Joel 2:26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and
my people shall never be ashamed. 2:27 And ye shall know that I [am] in the midst of Israel, and [that] I [am] the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, [that] I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 2:29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. Acts 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: |
 In
the old testament many prophet stories are recorded. Joseph saw dreams as
a young child. He was hated after he told his dreams. He wondered what the
dreams meant. It was about his own family. Satan gets angry when secrets
are shared from heaven. Joseph was hated by his brothers and misunderstood
yet loved dearly by his father. His own mother was dead. He only had God
to turn to for comfort. Genesis 41:12 |
 The
daughters of Philip prophesied. Philip was an evangelist that had four
daughters. They were prophets. (Acts 21:9) |
 How
do we know if they are telling the truth if they claim to be a prophet?
In the Bible there were false prophets whenever there were true prophets.
Jeremiah 14:14 Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart. |
  Look
at the time of Elijah in I Kings 18:29. Up on mount Carmel there were
prophets of Baal that prophesied all day and cut themselves and made loud
noises trying to get fire to come from heaven and burn up their sacrifice.
They lost out. When they gave up, God answered Elijah quickly and the
false prophets died that day. |
|
Do we believe anyone who says they have a message from God? |
| Many times in the Bible we are warned to
watch out for false prophets. Jesus says false prophets will come in the
last days. Mathew 24:
Mathew 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. Mathew 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect. |
|
I do not want to be tricked, do you? How can we tell if the message is from God? |
 The
Bible tells us how to make sure the prophet is giving messages from heaven
not from Satan. Look in Isaiah 8:20
If the prophet says things that do not agree with the Bible and goes against the law of God and the testimony of Jesus, there is not any truth to what they say.
|
| Isaiah 8:19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, [it is] because [there is] no light in them. |
 It
is important to know the Bible. You must study the Bible for yourself.
Make sure what it says. If the person who claims to be a prophet goes
against the law and the testimony of Jesus which is the Spirit of
prophecy, there is no light in them. |
I have shown in the section of the wilderness tent stories, that the
sanctuary was a shadow of what is in heaven. (Refer to the whole series of
the sanctuary on larom.org) In Revelation 11:19 the prophet John the
Revelator saw into heaven. He looked right into the Most Holy Room where
God's throne was. He looked right inside the ark. Inside that ark was the
ten commandments. |
 In
my tabernacle walk through model, this picture shows what that ark looked
like. There were three treasures kept inside that ark. There was a golden
bowl of manna, Aaron's rod, and the ten commandments. |
| Revelation 12:17 says at the end of time, the remnant people of God will keep the commandments and have the testimony of Jesus (which is the spirit of prophecy Rev. 19:10) |
|
In the 1800's there was a growing group of people from different churches who discovered the fourth commandment. William Miller was not a 7th day Sabbath keeper but he began studying the prophecies of Revelation along with many others. He was a farmer that loved to study the Bible. Then he was ordained as a Baptist preacher. As they looked at the text of Revelation 11:19 they began to see that the 10 commandments are the same in heaven as stated in Exodus 20. In 1863 many people began keeping the 7th day Sabbath of the 4th commandment. The 7th day on the calendar is Saturday. The Bible identifies God's end time people as a group looking into heaven at the unchanged commandment law in the ark. |
|
Exodus 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 20:10 But the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the LORD thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates: 20:11 For [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. |
|
Who are the remnant? |
 And
the dragon was angry with the woman, and went to make war with the woman,
and the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have
the testimony of Jesus. Rev. 12:17 |
| The seed of the woman is a symbol of the children and grandchildren of God's people who keep the commandments. You can be one of these children by keeping the commandments and having the testimony of Jesus. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (Rev. 19:10) |
 When
you sew cloth or put carpet in your home, the pieces left over of the roll
are called the remnant. |
  When I was making a blue canopy and matching curtains
and blanket for my new baby boy, I looked for special baby blue colors.
Medical tests showed us before he was born that a boy was coming. I
measured the canopy over the crib and bed to make sure I bought enough
cloth. Just in case I did not figure enough for gathering, I bought extra.
Gathering means to bunch it together like a ruffle. It was so much fun
making the crib ready for my baby. I had waited 13 years for my first baby
and now my second boy was on his way. I was upset when I ran out of
material. I had not bought enough. I hurried back to the store, hoping no
one else had bought the remnant left on the bolt of cloth. It is so hard
to match the cloth from different bolts even if it is the same pattern. |
 I took
a little piece of the cloth to town to make sure I had the right color. Many bolts of cloth were so very close
to what I had but not exactly the same. Everything had to match. This was
a big event. I knew baby could not tell if his crib had two different
colors yet it was important to my eyes. Finally I found some. It was off
the same bolt. It was the very remnant. It was the last piece. I held my
cloth right up to it and it matched. I was so happy. Everything was
finished and finally ready for baby. |
 The
Bible is like this bolt of cloth. The 10 commandments were given in the
Bible. Remember the 2 witnesses of Revelation 11? Both the Old and the New
Testament of the Bible tell us God's commandments. Some have made up their
own commandments. They cut out the second one and change the fourth. They
made up their own cloth that does not match the original cloth. |
 The woman
of Revelation 12 was clothed with the light of the Bible truth. She is
wearing God's cloth. She wears the truth which is the light of the world. This
woman is a symbol of God's people. They wear God's cloth. They keep the
UNCHANGED commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus. Their
cloth matches exactly. Jesus says, "If you love Me, keep my
commandments.:" John 14:15.
I love Jesus, don't you? I don't hide anything from Him. He is my best FRIEND. The true prophet also obeys another thing. It is the testimony of Jesus. What is that? |
|
What is the testimony of Jesus? |
| In Revelation 19:10 it says that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. |
|
In Joel 2:28, God promises to send messages even through children. Now many are claiming to be prophets. We must take what they say and match it up with God's cloth. If the color is not right and the pattern is changed, it is because they made it up themselves or Satan whispered it to them. If they don't speak according to God's law it is because there is no light in them. If they do not speak according to the testimony of Jesus it is also because there is no light in them. |
|
So what is the Spirit of Prophecy? Are there messages today that are modern? |
 The
"Spirit of prophecy" means messages from heaven given to you in
a dream or when you are awake in a voice you can hear. Little Samuel in
the temple was sleeping when he heard his name called. He thought it was
the voice of Eli and he ran to ask what he needed. After three times, Eli
told him how to answer God respectfully. He said "Speak Lord for your
servant is listening."
God's voice scares people who are disobedient. God cannot talk to those who are not obeying the commandments. God cannot talk to those who don't obey the truth they already know. |
| In Psalms 66, David said if he had some
hidden sin that he wanted to keep doing, the Lord would not listen to him.
"If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me; But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer." Psalms 66:18-19 |
A prophet speaks for God. In the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned, they became afraid of God. They ran to hide. After that time, God chose people who were not afraid of Him, to give messages to. The Bible is written by people that He spoke through. They wrote as He inspired them. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That the man of God may be perfect..." 2 Timothy 3:16 |
| Another kind of people who do not get these messages from heaven, are the ones angry at God. |
 The
testimony of Jesus makes the dragon angry enough for war. (Rev. 12:17) But
Jesus says, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
afraid. John 14:28
|
| Notice: if all men speak
well of the prophet, you can know another clue. Remember how Joseph was
hated? God's true prophets are not popular. People who get secrets from
heaven are hated by many.
Luke 6:26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
|
| Do
you know how to tell the difference between a false prophet and God's
prophet?
1. One way to tell is if prophets are boasting about themselves and what they have done as though they did it all by themself. These are not like Jesus, they are false. God's people give God the praise, the honor and the credit for everything. David says: Psalms 44:8 In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.
Also in Proverbs it says in chapter 27:1 Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. 2. If they try to change God's laws or what the Spirit of Prophecy says, they are false. These are against God. (Isaiah8:20) 3. Another way to tell is if the prophecy comes to pass. That is what upset the prophet Jonah because when the people repented, God changed His plans and did not wipe out Nineveh. Jonah was afraid all would consider him a false prophet. He needed to learn that God has a right to delay things. He can change a prophecy depending on how people act. If the prophecy says they will die because of sin and they repent. God wants to save them. He can change his prophecy. So there are conditions to God's prophecies yet He makes them come to pass in His way and His time. God never lies. He is not like man that He would lie. |
| Numbers 23:19 God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? |
 In
lesson 29 of the Basic Bible lessons for children, (My other web site:
larom.org) there is the story of
an amazing young lady that Jesus asked to be a prophet for Him. Her name
was Ellen. She always
encouraged people to study the Bible. She never boasted about herself. She
always pointed away from herself to God as our example. Never did she ask
for special honor or reverence. If you read her books you can see that she
was inspired. She was one who had the testimony of Jesus. She had the
spirit of prophecy. She received over 2,000 messages. She wrote in
magazines, and books. She had messages on healthful living that were not
understood 100 years ago. Now science has studies to prove they are right.
It amazes scientists today. She always spoke of the importance of keeping
the 10 commandments exactly as God wrote them.
2 Chronicles 20:20 Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. |
| My favorite book that God's servant Ellen wrote, is the DESIRE OF AGES. I have read it hundreds of times. It is about the life of Jesus. The more we look at His life, the more we can be like Him. I recommend this book to you. When you finish that one, you will want to read all the rest. I have also read Great Controversy several times. The first time I read it was when I was 15. |
| Why does God send prophetic messages
anyway?
To tell what He is going to do. Amos 3:7 And for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, and for edifying all the His people. Ephesians 4: 11 & 12 What does "edifying" mean? It means to teach, to improve, to enlighten and to establish. |
| Quiz
1. What does remnant mean? 2. Who are the remnant? 3. How can you tell if you are the remnant? 4. How can you tell the difference between a false and a true prophet? 5. Can you choose whatever you want to believe from the writings of Bible writers or other prophets of God? 6. Recite the text 2 Chronicles 20:20. 7. Using our texts just studied in Revelation, state what makes the Dragon angry. 8. Who is the woman in this lesson that is clothed with the sun, has moon at her feet and stars about her head? 9. What are prophecies for, anyway? ( Amos 3:7 and Ephesians 4:11,12) |
History: