1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 “Do not despise prophecies. (21) Test all things; hold fast what is good.”
In the section in which we discussed the word of wisdom, we mentioned the fact that there are false prophets in the church that operate with familiar spirits. We said that these individuals are quite often able to give extremely accurate “words of knowledge” to people, because the spirits that they work with are familiar with nearly every aspect of the saints’ lives and share that information with the medium. And so in the light of that reality it is important for the saints to be able to differentiate between words of knowledge that are given by the Holy Spirit, and “words of knowledge” that are given by demonic spirits. We have already looked at the above quoted passage of scripture to show that we are to test words of wisdom that are given, but nevertheless that same principle is applicable to the gift of the word of knowledge as well. So what tests can be applied to this particular gift to determine if it is genuine or not? As we have already mentioned, one way the saints can identify the genuine from the false in this gift is whether or not the secrets of men’s hearts are being revealed through the word given, for we said that demons are unable to do that. Not all genuine words of knowledge deal with the secrets of men’s hearts however. And so another way the genuine can be recognised from the false is the manner in which this “gift” is used, for the purpose of this gift is not to entertain people. So what do I mean by that statement? I have seen false prophets line people up in churches and give each one an accurate word of knowledge, purely so that the audience can be entertained by being exposed to the supernatural. This is an abomination to the Lord, but sadly many saints are blind to that fact, and so practices like this are not only tolerated, but actively encouraged in certain parts of the church. None of the words given in these instances do anything to either glorify the Lord or encourage the saint to walk more closely with Him. Another way the genuine gift can be recognised from the false is in where the focus is placed when the gift is manifested. The genuine gift of the word of knowledge is never manifested to magnify a person in the eyes of the saints. False prophets however, love to show off their “gift” so that people will follow them and begin to even idolise them. That is a clear indication that the “gift” is not the work of the Holy Spirit, but rather the work of demons. The genuine gift of the word of knowledge is always manifested to magnify the Lord Jesus and encourage the saints to have a stronger relationship with Him.
I will end this section with an example of the word of knowledge being made manifest through my ministry. A while ago I was in a meeting and the Lord was using me to minister through the gifts of the Spirit. I noticed a woman sitting in the middle of the hall and I knew that God wanted to minister to her, so I called her forward. The Holy Spirit had not yet given me a word for her, but I knew by the inward witness that He wanted to minister to her. When she stood in front of me, I started to prophesy over her (I had never seen this woman before, as I was a guest speaker at this church). God told her through the prophecy, that He had heard her prayers and that even though she had been alone for so many years, that she would not be alone for too much longer (by this time she was in tears as the Lord ministered to her). The prophecy went on to say that He had been preparing a partner for her in answer to her prayers, and this partner would soon come into her life. A few months later, I was in that same church and the woman came up to me (she was hand in hand with a man) and asked me if I remembered ministering to her months before. I told her that I recalled the incident. She then proceeded to introduce me to the man that she was with, and explained how they had met soon after the Lord had spoken to her that night. She said that they were very much in love and were talking of marriage. This gift can be a great blessing to the church.
Michael E.B. Maher
Comments