The prophet's handbook

style independent thinking, whether or not it can be substantiated by Scripture. They have greatly succumbed to popular sway. The most detrimental of all is large-scale acceptance of the belief that God’s use of human writers constitutes an invalidation of the Scriptures. Deeming the Scriptures no longer authentic and thus unreliable as doctrine and guidance for man, people think they are free to “do God and Christianity their way.” Surrender to these seductions has caused the ministry of the prophet to be suspect and largely rejected by the church and the world. Therefore, the task of screening prophecy is made even more difficult since the minds and psyches of modern prophets and the church alike have been oriented to these convictions. Weeding them out takes stringent effort on the part of bona fide prophets and intense working of the Holy Spirit. But it can be done, and has been done, in prophets the world over. There are those who have forsaken all and seriously taken up their crosses to follow Jesus, though not without a price. The price of alienation, isolation, rebuke, and reviling awaits every one of them. The reason is John 3:21. But the prize of Christ for them far outweighs it all. Trusting Christ, they gladly relinquish the elements of their prior life that make for contaminated prophecy and questionable doctrine, flinging off the garments of society to joyfully don the Lord’s mantle of truth. In doing so, they receive the gifts they truly desire: high discernment, increased enlightenment, and strong judgment, so that they may, without a blink, screen and validate the moves and deposits of the Spirit of God placed within them accurately and convey without wavering the true Word of God. Gauging Prophecy The absence of sound techniques and principles to help people gauge prophecy and verify its truth has put prophets’ credibility at risk. Hearers of the word of the Lord should be taught that prophecy has scheduled seasons to perform, and then shown how they can be assured of its fulfillment at the appointed time. Without these tools, many people are motivated to simply abandon their words and discredit their prophesiers. Sometimes this is justified; most times it is not. In Scripture, false or errant prophesies do not outweigh the true ones. Therefore, the over-magnified fear of false words being imposed on true believers is unwarranted. To counteract this, I use a pet formula to measure the degree of spiritual error one is likely to encounter in God compared to the amount of truth. Of course it is not all-inclusive, but it can offer a pretty good