In today’s Christian culture, with leaders engaging in every kind of political rhetoric, and some even trying to prophesy political outcomes, it is easy to forget that prophetic gifts are real. Prophecy makes up one-fourth of the Bible, and it is still part of God’s plan for our present age.
It is almost impossible to study Scripture without studying prophecy. Understanding prophecy helps us to interpret the Bible accurately for understanding. Even people who doubt today’s prophetic gifts do not doubt the trustworthiness of those gifts as they were used in Scripture.
In the simplest terms, a prophet, one who has a prophetic gift, speaks God’s truths from God to the people. God speaks to us in many ways—through his word, angels, prophets, words of knowledge, an audible voice, signs and wonders and even circumstances. Prophecy is simply one of the gifts of the Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12 and means to “speak forth,” to tell the truth and to make known the ways of God.
In one sense, much of preaching is actually prophesying, because preachers “tell the truth” and use that truth to “strengthen, encourage and comfort” people, which, we read in 1 Corinthians 14, are the results of prophecy.
God is not bound by time, and knows the past, present and future, so the prophetic gift can also occur for truth-telling about a future time. This is where the gift gets a bad name. Some prophets have been carried away, perhaps basking in the attention their predictions gave them for a day, only to become embarrassed later when these prophecies don’t occur.
What we have to remember is that such misguided prophecies, just like bad preaching, does not mean the entire purpose of the gift is corrupt, or no longer needed, or no longer used by God to talk to his people. We must not dismiss truth when we reject the fantasies of a would-be prophet.
Job wrote, “For the ear tests words, as the mouth tastes food” (Job 34:3). We must take care when rightly rejecting the fantasies of some prophecy teachers today while weighing the truth with prayer and study.
In the 1990s, God revealed many things to me about the future during some intense times of prayer. How far into the future, I didn’t and still don’t know because they haven’t all happened. One of the prophecies from before the internet was widely used or even accessible is that predators would roam the internet. I wrote:
Domestic violence driven underground for a long season will resurface with a fever in the new century. Laws and harsh penalties for offenders will temporarily restrain the current tide of spouse and companion abuse, but other breakdowns in American fibers will inflame the emotions of panic-stricken citizens who take it out on their families. Until then, the problem will know a brief respite. The same cannot be said for child molestation.
Secret fetishes will continue to instigate pedophilia and harm youth. Swifter court processes will seem to work in the beginning, but for many youngsters the next several years will be perilous. An eventual turnaround, however, will take time.
Emotionally unstable parents too will take their frustrations out on their offspring, and a gruesome slaughter of youngsters again will prevail in 1995 and beyond. Serial killings will take their share of youth.
A number of children will lose their lives, and others will be kidnapped and illegally imprisoned for the perverted pleasure of sexually dysfunctional men and women. Uncontrolled media license will cause this.
The move will be to ship American youngsters overseas to be used in a variety of ungodly situations. It will be uncovered during the early part of next year. In the beginning its gargantuan size will not be known; but over time, the horrendous plan to kidnap and enslave children will be exposed and its leaders arrested.
Almost 30 years later, the facts bear out the prophesies:
30 percent of women worldwide are now the subject of violence, often involving sexual violence.
The rise in pedophilia has resulted in 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 7 boys being sexual abused by age 18, even though only 1 in 10 children will tell anyone about it, according to Race Against Abuse of Children Everywhere.
Child pornography is at a “crisis point” according to experts because of uncontrolled technology platforms and law enforcement agencies that have not kept up with the proliferation of perpetrators.
The World Counts reports that over one million children each year are sold into slavery. Many are sold for forced slave labor, others for sex slavery.
These prophetic words were intended to warn Christians and parents that the advent of the internet would feed perverted minds, unleash pedophiles and create a gateway for predators. Specific prophesies, such are this one, are warnings so the church as a whole can prepare. When we listen to the prophetic, we are able to act on what we hear.
Prophecies are real. The prophetic gift is real. Too few are learning how to use a prophetic gift properly. If prophets would hone their gifts, and if we would listen to prophets, we would be in a much better position today as a church and as a nation. {eoa}
Dr. Paula A. Price is a speaker, author, talk show host, inventor, educator, executive coach and minister known for empowering her audiences to “think differently and live powerfully. Dr. Price currently manages her own consulting firm and assessment company, is the author of over 50 books and manuals, including The Prophet’s Dictionary, serves as the president of Price University, the host of her own television program, Taking It on with Paula Price and oversees The Congregation of the Mighty in Bixby, Oklahoma. Dr. Price has a D.Min. and a Ph.D. in religious education from Word of Truth Seminary in Alabama. She is also a wife, mother of three daughters and grandmother of two. To learn more, visit drpaulaaprice.com.
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