Acts 11:27-29 “And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. (28) Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. (29) Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea.”
The answer to the question posed as to how to test a prophecy that requires the church to act on it before it comes to pass, is that we look at the track record of the prophet himself. There is no scriptural evidence to show that God gives His church warning about major events about to take place, through a prophet that no-one in the church has ever heard from before. Scriptural evidence does show however, that these types of prophecies are given through recognized prophets in the church. In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit records Agabus’ prophecy of a global event that was about to take place in the earth. The church acted on the prophetic word given, because Agabus was a recognized prophet and his track record had proven to the church that when he spoke in the name of the Lord the thing came to pass.
Acts 21:3-6 “When we had sighted Cyprus, we passed it on the left, sailed to Syria, and landed at Tyre; for there the ship was to unload her cargo. (4) And finding disciples, we stayed there seven days. They told Paul through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem. (5) When we had come to the end of those days, we departed and went on our way; and they all accompanied us, with wives and children, till we were out of the city. And we knelt down on the shore and prayed. (6) When we had taken our leave of one another, we boarded the ship, and they returned home.”
So what about personal prophecies? Just as we are meant to test general prophecy, so we are also meant to test personal prophecies. The guide for testing personal prophecies however, is different to testing general prophecies. The reason being, that personal prophecies deal primarily with the individual from a guidance perspective. In the above quoted passage of scripture we have an account of the apostle Paul receiving a personal prophecy from the saints in Tyre. In the prophecy delivered, they clearly told Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. The apostle Paul ignored the prophetic word given however, and continued with his journey to Jerusalem. So why is that?
Acts 19:21 “When these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, "After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”
The answer as to why Paul ignored the prophecy in Tyre is given to us in the above quoted passage of scripture. The apostle Paul never planned anything without the leading of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14). And so months before Paul reached the city of Tyre, the Holy Spirit had already impressed upon Paul that He wanted him to go to Jerusalem, and from there He was going to send him to Rome. In context, this passage teaches us that Paul received that guidance from the Lord while he was still based at the church in Ephesus. And so we see that because Paul had learnt to be led by the witness of the Holy Spirit, he could test personal prophecies given to him by comparing it to the Lord’s guidance that he already had in his own spirit.
Acts 20:22-24 “And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, (23) except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. (24) But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”
The above quoted passage of scripture reveals to us that as Paul and his team traveled through the various cities on their way to Jerusalem, the churches began to prophesy to Paul about the tribulations he could expect to encounter once he got to Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit did that to prepare Paul for what was to come. And so by the time Paul reached Tyre, not only did he already know in his own spirit what the Lord’s will was but he also knew the price he would have to pay for being obedient to God’s will. And so when the saints at Tyre prophesied to Paul not to go to Jerusalem he knew that he could ignore that prophecy, simply because the saints in Tyre had misunderstood the purpose of the Holy Spirit’s warning. The lesson that we learn from this account is how to test personal prophecy, for we see that personal prophecy must agree with the guidance that the Holy Spirit has already shown us in our own spirits. The reason for that is because, with regards to our personal lives, the Holy Spirit will never reveal to someone else that which He has not already revealed to us. In other words personal prophecy is always given to confirm that which the Lord has already revealed to us, and if it doesn’t then it can be ignored.
I will close this section with a personal example of the operation of this gift. A number of years ago I prophesied that South Africa (the nation in which I reside) would experience a change of government in the near future. At that time the National Party had been in power for many years and dominated the political landscape with a huge majority of the electorate, and there was no political party that could come close to unseating them. That, coupled with the fact that the nation wasn’t due for an election for at least two years, showed that in the natural there was zero possibility of any change of government taking place in the near future. Nevertheless within a few short months the ruling political party had a change in leadership that was completely unexpected. The new leaders of the National Party did a complete about turn from the policies of the previous leadership. God knew what was about to happen even if we couldn’t see it in the natural, and so we had the change of government that the Lord prophesied about. The changed policies of the National Party’s new leadership resulted ultimately in South Africa’s first fully inclusive democratic election taking place a few years later; something that could never have happened under the previous leadership of the National Party.
Michael E.B. Maher
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