Thanks Randy.
But I wouldn't rule out prophets. If God can make a donkey talk... Not that l am claiming to be one, I'm not. My salvation prayer to God was rather for "answers"...and He answered and I was caught up in the Spirit. He still gives gifts, "some prophets." Mine was knowledge. As a result, I do not dabble in opinions, but freely give that which has been given to me.
Yes, I believe in the gift of prophecy, and not just as the Pentecostals usually use it. We are to speak as "the oracles of God" when so inclined. It does take time, though, to know when we are being moved by the Lord and when we just *think* we're being moved by the Lord. ;)
I've had it very rough in the last few years in the area of *knowing* God's prophetic word to me. This is true particularly in the area of politics. I believed a lot of "prophets" who claimed Trump was going to win the election in the U.S. That didn't happen. I don't doubt the sincerity of these Christian leaders, but quite frankly, they were wrong!
I also many years ago followed David Wilkerson's "visions." Apparently many of his "prophecies" didn't come true, although many of them did. This is very confusing to me. It may be that he had an initial legitimate vision that was real, and then later began to get "too comfortable" with stating prophetically only what he believed the Bible taught.
When Wilkerson began to declare America was "Mystery Babylon," I wrote a letter to him and challenged him on that. He got a little defensive in his reply, stating that he was not saying America was the literal fulfillment of Mystery Babylon in the Revelation, but was only a "kind of Mystery Babylon" in the Revelation.
There are way too many puffed up proclaimers of what God's prophetic word is, as if what they believe Bible prophecy teaches is in fact "prophecy." There is a difference between expressing our conviction of what Bible prophecy says and actually prophesying. Do you agree?