Prophecy and Truth

AbstractProphecy has never gone without opposition, mainly due to the danger of false prophecy, a danger that can rightly be called the “Achilles heel” of prophecy. Without the process of testing the validity and truth of prophecy, prophecy will have no role to play in the life of the church. Throughout the centuries, various criteria have been developed that help towards the aim of discernment. They can be classified in intrinsic and extrinsic criteria. The intrinsic criteria relate to the physiology, psychology, and spiritual life of the prophet. The extrinsic criteria relate to how the church approves or rejects a prophetic revelation, and how we may define the nature of the church's judgment. The process of discernment and jugdment is necessary but contains an important ambiguity: it is the church that must judge a prophetic revelation, despite the fact that prophecy often is critical of the church that will judge it. Until that judgment is pronounced, must believers wait before they give heed to a prophetic message?