Prophecy is basically the revelation of God’s plans and purpose through inspired and Spirit-filled human beings. It could also mean a message from God about what will happen in the future. Prophecies are of divine origin and always speak authoritatively on things to come. Since the All-knowing God determines future events, He can choose to reveal what will happen in the future of His children beforehand. Prophecy is quite different from predictions or forecasts. While predictions and forecasts may change if the variables used in deriving them changes, prophecies on the other hand are messages from God concerning things which are bound to happen. (Isaiah 55:10-11).

A critical examination of Bible prophecies reveals a systematic fulfilment of what they say, except for a few that remain to be fulfilled in the future. Examples of Bible prophecies that have come to pass includes Isaiah’s captivity in Egypt for 400 years in Genesis 15:13, the birth of King Josiah 300 years after it was prophesied in 1st Kings 13:2, the rise of the Roman and Greek empires prophesied in great detail in Daniel 11, the arrival of John the Baptist as the forerunner of Jesus Christ spoken of in Isaiah 40:3, the birth of Jesus the Messiah revealed in Isaiah 9:6-7, and the destruction of the temple soon after the death of Jesus in AD 70, which was prophesied in Matthew 24:2.

Prophecy is a wonderful gift of God that is highly desirable for guiding and edifying the Body of Christ. However, it is fast becoming a despised abused ministry for reasons which include people’s unwillingness to hear the truth, increased knowledge and enlightenment, and the proliferation of false prophets and fake prophecies. God’s prophets today are being scorned as fanatics and alarmists for telling the truth and calling the world to repentance. Due to breakthroughs in science and technology, people now despise anything that appears inexplicable or tangible. False prophets and fake prophecies have also done much damage to the ministry of prophecy by sowing doubts in people’s minds. The combination of these factors seems to be casting a shadow on the ministry of prophecy. However, because prophecy is part of Christ’s gifts to the Church, we must value it and pray for the immediate fulfillment of God’s promise to pour out His Spirit of prophecy upon us in Joel 2:28.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Most of the so called prophecy we have today are scams