So how about the true prophet today

False prophet bashing seems to be just as popular as the false prophets themselves social media. There are several Tubers who do nothing else. They elevate themselves by trashing the false prophets. Mind you what will happen when they run out of false prophets to bash..

Yes, Jesus warned us that there will be many false prophets in the last days, but there are true ones as well even today.

It is logically impossible that only a fake of something exists. There must be an original and legitimate, otherwise the fake could never be defined.

I believe that the true gift of prophesy is a great asset to any church. It will never replace bible teaching but complements it, in fact we read in Acts that prophets and teachers paired up and ministered together. Unfortunately, it has been subject to great contention just as speaking in tongues - and the devil rejoices.
Especially as things come to a close on earth, the true gift of prophesy will become a great source of edification, direction and conviction. Paul exhorts us twice to seek the gift of prophecy. We will suffer loss if we ditch this precious gift and confine it to the first century or just use it as a pinball for heated debates.

I did a little study on true prophets in the NT with some references to the OT, too.

He has experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit Acts 19:6
His predictions come true (Acts 11:28)
He seeks to develop the gift of prophesy and treasures it: (1Cor 12:31, 1. Cor 14:1)
Is able to receive correction (Proverbs 9:8)
Will be subject to the body evaluating his prophecy (1 Cor 14:29)
His prophesy confirms with scripture (1Cor 12:3)
He himself is a keen student of scripute and bible prophesy like Daniel who studied Jeremiah (Dan 9:)
He is a member of a local fellowship (1Cor 12:12)
Knows that his prophecy is a partial contribution to the whole church service (1Cor 14:6)
Edifies the church (1Cor 14:3)
His prophesy can lead to conviction and conversion and lead to people falling down and worship God(1 Cor 14:25)
Has his head uncovered when prophesying (men) or covered (women) (1.Cor 11)
Does not impose himself on others (Acts 21:9-11)
He will seek fellowhisp of other prophets (2Kings chapters 2,4,6,9
They pair up with teachers (Acts 13:1)
He knows that he prophesies in part (1Cor 13:9)
He knows that love is greater than prophesying (1Cor 13:13)
Are likely to become martyrs (Rev 18:24)
Most of all he has the testimony of Jesus! (Rev 19:10)

That's a good post. Thank you for your research.

I think part of the problem or lack of clarity today revolves around the meaning and function of the OFFICE of a prophet versus those who are just exercising a GIFT of prophecy. How can the two be distinguished? I admit that I believe the true office and proper function of prophet has been diminished and even cheapened during these days. But God able to right listing ships.

My 2 cents worth.

narrowpath, not the be argumentative, but if we're talking logic here...

You said, "It is logically impossible that only a fake of something exists."

Please tell me what the "real" version of Slenderman is? Slenderman is clearly fake. What is the real alternative? What about the "real" version of Korean Fan Death?

Proposition: Some Prophets are fake.
Conclusion: Some prophets are real.

So let's test this proposition and conclusion in other contexts:

Proposition: Some Kerfluffles are fake.
Conclusion: Some kerfluffles are real.

P: Some Slendermen are fake.
C: Some Slendermen are real.

P: Some exoplanets do not have life on them.
C: Some exoplanets do have life on them.

So you see: the logic you have provided actually makes no sense.

What about the Fivefold Ministry, is it still relevant today? This scripture is from the NT.

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-16 (NASB)

Jer 23:22  But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. 

This is the "acid test" for all true prophets. There is not one exception in the Bible. If they hear from and speak for the MOST HIGH, they call folks back to HIM. They call folks to Repentance and obedience. All of them, yesterday, today and until the 1000 year reign concludes.

If this message is missing from the mouth of the "prophet", you can be sure HE is NOT speaking for the great I AM.

Hi Bill,
The gifts listed are relevant for today.We do not have Apostles like the Twelve or Paul and because of this we do not have Apostolic Doctrine or Authority.
If you read carefully the Mt Carmel narrative and the Pentecost Narrative you will see in both cases "The Twelve" are restored by the Spirit of Elijah and this happens again under the Ministry of the "Two Witnesses" in the end.
The "Two Witnesses" restore Apostolic Doctrine and Authority This in turn gets rid of the denominational divisions in the the body as the entire Church comes under their Ministry.
The gifts we do have today are not operating correctly or in the "unity of the Spirit ".
The reason we have so much division is down to different teachings.Paul knew the truth about the following issues that cause denominations or division for instance :Predestination,Tribulation or No Tribulation,Can A Christian have a demon,Pacifism or Holy War ,Gifts or No Gifts or Always saved or you can lose your salvation,

If we take all the difficult teachings out of the equation by the restoration of Apostolic Doctrine then we will have one Church not many denominations,
Unfortunately even though we do have gifts in the Church today their is so much hype and nonsense regarding them it becomes a stumbling block to many Christians and are put off by the antics.The "Two Witnesses " also have the authority to bring everyone back in line with the word and to deal with hype and nonsense if nessacary as you can see by the list of their powers,
urs staff

Hi Havok,
I am talking here about real entities, not the imaginary things you mentioned; real hair - fake hair, real tears, real fake tears, real conversion-fake conversion and so on.

The bible says there are prophets and false prophets. The real is introduced first, than the fake. Before there can be a fake 100$ bill, there must be a real one, according to which the fake one is made up. So fake prophets will mimick the real to certain extent.

Hi staff

You wrote:
[The gifts listed are relevant for today. We do not have Apostles like the Twelve or Paul and because of this we do not have Apostolic Doctrine or Authority.]

We do have apostles today, though not in the sense of the twelve arch-apostles, whose left us the NT. Apostles today are simply those who are commissioned by God through the Holy Spirit and by laying on of hands to establish churches and hand them over to local elders. That is the NT pattern. We call them missionarys or church planters (which is actually the latin translation of αpostolos).

Of course we have apostolic doctrine today, because we have the New Testament writings and the Holy Spirit poured out on true believers.

You wrote:
[If you read carefully the Mt Carmel narrative and the Pentecost Narrative you will see in both cases "The Twelve" are restored by the Spirit of Elijah and this happens again under the Ministry of the "Two Witnesses" in the end.]
That marked the beginning and will mark the end of the church age. But even in between you see the true apostolic and prophetic ministry. The devil is scared stiff about true apostolic and prophetic ministry, because it is the foundational ministry. He works overtime to attack, mimick, defile and destroy it, because he knows full well that this causes great havok to his kingdom of darkness. God does what he said he will do and he has those who do it. Otherwise, he would be to weak and the bible is just wishful thinking.

You wrote:
[The "Two Witnesses" restore Apostolic Doctrine and Authority This in turn gets rid of the denominational divisions in the the body as the entire Church comes under their Ministry.]

Most of the church will have suffered martyrdom by the time the 2 witnesses appear. They will minister to Israel in Jerusalem mainly. I think their role is rather to bring judgement onto the unrepentant.

You wrote:
[The gifts we do have today are not operating correctly or in the "unity of the Spirit ".
The reason we have so much division is down to different teachings. Paul knew the truth about the following issues that cause denominations or division for instance :Predestination,Tribulation or No Tribulation,Can A Christian have a demon, Pacifism or Holy War ,Gifts or No Gifts or Always saved or you can lose your salvation,
If we take all the difficult teachings out of the equation by the restoration of Apostolic Doctrine then we will have one Church not many denominations]

If you take out all the difficult teachings, we are left with nothing. The truth of God must be revealed by the ministry of the Spirit and anointed teaching. God designed his truth to be difficult, if not confusing to the unregenerate ”“ but plain simple to his children, yeah he even rejoiced over it - Luke 10:21!. I do not think it is differing views on difficult doctrines that cause divisions, it is people who substitute intimacy with Jesus with supposed bible knowledge. They have not been taught by the spirit, because that takes surrender, self-denial, obedience, and ardent seeking.

You wrote:
[Unfortunately even though we do have gifts in the Church today their is so much hype and nonsense regarding them it becomes a stumbling block to many Christians and are put off by the antics. The "Two Witnesses " also have the authority to bring everyone back in line with the word and to deal with hype and nonsense if nessacary as you can see by the list of their powers]

The gift of prophesy, as maligned as it is, is still alive and well. True prophets and apostles have to bear much reproach outside the camp, just as Moses Hebrews 13:13. The camp is the camp of Christians who rather follow other man’s doctrine and think they got it right. We will see prophesy in some obscure places. They prophesy to their local fellowships and you perhaps do not see much of them on YouTube. They will fit the description in the OP.

I recently re-read Wayne Grudems work on prophesy, I think it is very helpful. He also talks about apostles in the appendix.

Hi Narrowpath,

I will just go point by point

1.On Apostles

My qoute
"We do not have Apostles like the Twelve or Paul"
I didnt say we hadnt Apostles today but we dont have Apostles like the twelve or Paul.

2 On Apostolic Doctrine
We of Course have the Apostolic Doctrine in written form but we do not have the Apostles to adminster it in the form of the Twelve or Paul.One church says one thing and another says another.Peter,James and Paul had the understanding and Authority to say what is what and what means what.We dont have that.It all down to personal Church intrepretation today.
3
On Difficult teachings
Nobody takes out the difficult teachings but Apostolic Authority will be able to teach a right understanding from a wrong understanding which we are not able to agree on now.
4
Role Two Witnesses
The Two Witnesses Ministry is world wide and will include the entire Church .We know that because we see that the whole world celebrated with their death.They die in Jerusalem.
Their Role is to Prophesy,Restore and bring Repentance

They Prophesy about the AntiChrist ,Coming Judgement of God and the end of the Church Age,
They Restore the Twelve Stones like Elijah did and John the Baptist did .Which is Apostolic Authority similar to Paul And Peter.
They bring Repentance and turn the hearts of the father to his Children and vica versa.
They are also a type of the Two Witnesses in a Jewish Wedding who sign off on the marriage.

ON THE GIFTS TODAY

Yes we have gifts today but they are not working in order.
We have for instance the gift to the Church of Pastors who have usurped their Authority.We also have a huge problem with having to have qualifications from bible colleges etc which God never ordained.
The Apostles if they do exist havent got Authority to chastise like Paul or Peter had and be correct.They also dont show any signs of their Apostleship like Paul explained.Apostles or sent out ones are really Church Planters.

I hope you will check out in detail as I have Elijah and Mt Carmel,John The Baptist and Pentecost and The Two Witnesses and the Spirit of Elijah,its a hidden gem in the bible that explains the end times,
urs staff

There is a grave error in our midst today, that being that the "church" (et al, all denoms) and the Body of the MESSIAH are one and the same. The most certainly ARE NOT! Then to attempt to apply Bible truth to both, and you are faced with the worst deception of all. There is only ONE GOD, ONE SAVIOR, one baptism, and ONE BODY. There are no divisions. None. The divisions themselves are apostates. All of them. The solution?

Rom 16:17  Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. 
Rom 16:18  For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. 

Hi Onesimus4God,
You are an apostate,Why should we believe you?You see what I am saying?Maybe you are one that causes divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine?I am not saying you are.
How do we know the doctrine?Maybe the doctrine you have learned is right and maybe its not.
Yes we are "ONE BODY" but Paul didnt waste his time showing how the body functions for the good of his health ,if it automatically functioned in sync then he wouldnt have had to explain it,
urs staff

Brethren, please calm down, we are being watched and read, we will have to stick it out in heaven with each other for eternity, at least I hope so ;)

If everybody sees things my way there will be unity!

Nobody says it that plain, but don't we secretly think it?

Division in the body is not of God, but is a sad fact. This unity has to be worked out. This is why Paul wrote 2 letters to the Corinthians. It does not only need truth but love and patience, too. Divided brothers can be both right, both wrong and one right and the other wrong. True prophets contribute to the unity of the church along with other ministries Ephesians 4:11-14.

And boy how I long until we get there.

Hi Narrowpath,
I think you misread my post or I didnt write it properly.
My point is who are you or I to say who is an apostate.You can call me an apostate or I could call you an apostate.We could argue our points out scripturally to the inth degree but not come to a conclusion on some things that are hard to come too.
This was not the case with the Apostles ,they had Authority to come to conclusion and we dont have that in the Church today ,That Authority is not there.
We cant have unity and it cant be worked out unless the gifts are working properly ,it cant happen,
urs staff

2 Peter 2:1 - But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

I recently noticed something in this verse. Peter states that there were false prophets in the old testament era and he is warning the church that there will be false teachers among you (the church).

Notice he doesn't state that there were false prophets among the people and there will be false prophets among you. He states that there will be false teachers among you.

Why does he do that? Why does he not just say there will be false prophets among you?

Here are my thoughts. In the old testament it was "Thus saith the Lord..." in the new testament it is "study to shew thyself approved". What is it that we study? The finalized and complete scriptures aka the written word of God.

The old testament prophets gave us the old testament and the apostles gave us the new testament. The canon is finished and the finalized word of God has been given to us. Therefore the "true prophet" is the one that teaches sound (correct) doctrine. This is why Paul tells Timothy to "study" he didn't tell him to go and "hear". Prophesying simply means speaking (preaching/teaching) the word of God.

There is no difference between the street fortune teller and many of these prophets today. I come from 4 generations of classical pentecostalism (Assemblies of God). I've seen all the damage and foolishness that has been done.

My sheep hear my voice and follow me. There is much confusion on this verse but its actually very simple. The voice of Jesus Christ is not some mystical experience but rather the word of God being preached/taught in truth. The Bereans in the book of Acts are an excellent illustration of this. They heard the message of Paul and like good sheep they tested his message to see if it was the voice of Jesus against scripture. Again this is the mark of the true prophet (and I'm using prophet here in the sense of one who is claiming to speak the word of God). Is what he is saying matching up with scripture? If it isn't then he is a false teacher.

Other verses to ponder as to what the voice of Jesus actually means in the bible:

Romans 16:17 - Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

1 Timothy 6:3-5 If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; 4He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, 5Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

The two above verses go along with what Jesus said when he stated:
John 10: 1-5 - Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

The sheep will not follow false teachers who present false doctrine. They will do as Paul stated and they will withdraw themselves. Hence the voice of Jesus is the commandments and teachings of Jesus Christ presented in scripture and that is called sound doctrine and those who study it correctly (and live it) will shew themselves approved before God and men as the true teachers (prophets).

Hi Platy,

after your logic, women would be allowed to teach and preach in church. They could say we are just prophesying and that is legit in the NT.

Secondly, in Eph 4:11 and 1 Cor 12:28-29 prophets are clearly distinguished from teachers. When you look up the Greek original text, you will see for yourself.

Prophets are those who under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit speak forth things to come, things hidden in the hearts of man, like sins or intentions. They call for repentance and holiness, always confirm scripture, but more in an applicable sense for here and now and the future rather than in generic terms as teachers do. Teachers expound scripture, prophets talk from the mind of God. Both are needed in the church even today. Where prophets and teachers minister together - word and Spirit come together.

I think there is no issue with what I stated because the following verse states that women are to keep silence in the church.

I Corinthians 14:34-36 - Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?

I believe this includes prophesying. This is a prescriptive (command/order) verse stating that women should keep silence in the church and I believe the context is where there are men assembled if you combine it with other prescriptive NT passages.

Now I know that Philip's daughters prophesied and you may (or may not) object to what I’m saying using this verse. The problem with using that passage is that it is a descriptive passage and it is vague. We don't know the context of that passage. Building a doctrine using a descriptive passages leads to errors. Prescriptive is usually clear, it is a command, and it should be the passages we get a doctrine from.

Here is one commentator (Gill) on the above passage:

for it is not permitted unto them to speak;

that is, in public assemblies, in the church of God, they might not speak with tongues, nor prophesy, or preach, or teach the word. All speaking is not prohibited; they might speak their experiences to the church, or give an account of the work of God upon their souls; they might speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; or speak as an evidence in any case at a church meeting; but not in such sort, as carried in it direction, instruction, government, and authority. It was not allowed by God that they should speak in any authoritative manner in the church; nor was it suffered in the churches of Christ; nor was it admitted of in the Jewish synagogue; there, we are told {b}, the men came to teach, and the women ewmvl, "to hear": and one of their canons runs thus {c}; ``a woman may not read (that is, in the law), rwbub, "in the congregation", or church, because of the honour of the congregation;'' for they thought it a dishonourable thing to a public assembly for a woman to read, though they even allowed a child to do it that was capable of it.

But they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.

In Ge 3:16, "thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee". By this the apostle would signify, that the reason why women are not to speak in the church, or to preach and teach publicly, or be concerned in the ministerial function, is, because this is an act of power, and authority; of rule and government, and so contrary to that subjection which God in his law requires of women unto men. The extraordinary instances of Deborah, Huldah, and Anna, must not be drawn into a rule or example in such cases. {b} T. Hieros Chagiga, fol. 75. 4.

The verses you stated about the apostles and prophets are more debatable. I personally believe the office of the apostle and prophet has ceased. Missionaries are the closest thing to an apostle and perhaps can be stated as apostles with a lower case "a". I also believe the office of the prophet has ceased but there are gifts like words of knowledge which God gives people about other people. This is supernatural knowledge because they gain knowledge about someone else's heart without processing information through the ear/eye gate (which would the be natural way of attaining knowledge). Anyway the point I'm making is we may be calling people prophets but they may be just regular brethren exercising a gift and people may mistake this for prophesying. Btw I have seen people using word of knowledge 100% accurately but when they get to prophesying it is not 100% accurate. In fact I have not seen one prophesy that has come to pass 100%. Word of knowledge I have seen being used accurately several times.

Here is a question for you. Why does Peter equate old testament false prophets with new testament false teachers in the verse I stated in my earlier post? Why does he not just say there were false prophets then and there shall be false prophets now among you?