The Essence of Prophecy

"There are so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification." (I Corinthians 14:10). "Take heed that no man deceive you." (Mt.24.4). "Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God. Because many false prophets are gone out into the world." (I Jo.4.1).How do we know that a prophet is of God or not? There are many people out there with the haunting predictions of Nostradamus and many other visionaries. Is their message is of God? The apostle Paul taught the Corinthians that prophecy must be judged. Here are some biblical parameters to analyze any prophetic message we hear:All prophecy is of divine origin, inspired by the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convince the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. And he said: "He will glorify Me, for He will take what is mine." (John 16.8,14). So the message of the Holy Spirit will aim to end the glorification of the person of Jesus Christ. All he will say that ground. Your message will always show to the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. Show the error, warn about its consequences and also display the path to salvation: Jesus Christ. Every prophet whose messages do not fit these requirements, will be automatically disqualified. It can not be regarded as a prophet of God.The prophecies of Nostradamus point sin? No. They are calling on people to repentance and salvation in Christ? No. In fact, this man was not a Christian. By then it took our conclusions.But how to explain the fact that some non-Christian prophecies have been fulfilled? About this we can say: The devil is not omniscient, but he knows some things about the future. He knows what God allowed to come to its attention. Then the Evil One uses it to impress and deceive people. In other cases, the Devil says that something will happen, because he planned it and will do everything to make it happen. This sometimes happens with respect to predictions of people committed to evil. Of course, the devil only be able to do what God permits. And often, the Lord allows Satan to fulfill his predictions of disaster in the lives of some people. Why? Because these people have some sort of deal with the enemy and he started to have some rights over them. Then he says: "You will die in such circumstances ..." and then he steps to the symptoms that the person to die that way.Let us be attentive not to be deceived by false prophets. Let the word of the Lord dwell in us richly, for it is the source of all knowledge we need for our eternal salvation.