Dear Dr. Betters,
I would like to preface this email by stating that I really enjoy your morning radio broadcast on 560AM WFIL. I find your sermons to be very poignant and helpful in grounding my faith in the infallible word of God. I hope you continue teaching the Word and I pray that your affiliate stations keep you on the air.

There is one point of debate however that I have heard you state that I simply can't agree with because I find no Biblical/scriptural evidence to back it up. The opinion I am referring to is the idea that there are no more prophets in the world. I have heard you state in the past, and forgive me if I am misquoting you, that the prophets died with the apostles and since then, there have not been any prophets since. Now while I believe there are many people in our society today who claim to have the prophetic anointing who are actually wolves in sheep’s clothing, I have to believe that there are some true prophets in the world today. For instance, in 1 Corinthians - chapters 12 - 14, Paul speaks of the gifts of the spirit, which are given freely to those who believe in the Savior. Paul mentions here nine of the gifts, not listed in order of any specific importance. They are: (1) the word of wisdom; (2) the word of knowledge; (3) faith; (4) gifts of healing; (5) working of miracles (6) prophecy; (7) discerning of spirits; (8) different (diverse) kinds of tongues; (9) interpretation of tongues.

Paul specifically mentions prophecy as a gift that is bestowed to believers by the Holy Spirit. There is no indication in the scripture that tells us that the gift of prophecy will be extracted as one of the gifts given by the Holy Spirit. There is not a timeline (limit) given to how long this gift will be passed down. Therefore, one has to believe, if basing belief in the Gospel, that the gift of prophecy is still alive and present in believers today.

If you could please, when and if you have the opportunity, send me some scriptural evidence of your stance, I believe it would help further guide me into all truth. I really appreciate you taking the time to read this and I sincerely hope that you, your family, and church are doing well in Christ Jesus.

Thank you,
Steve

Pastor Betters responds:

Steve,

Thank you for your great question. The gift of prophecy (the Corinthians passage) is different from the office of the prophet. To hold the office of the prophet (in the Old Testament - the prophets; in the New Testament - the Apostles) was given as an infallible gift designed to convey divine revelation, that is, the Holy Scriptures. Additionally, the office of the prophet required 100% accuracy 100% of the time. In fact, a false prophet was defined by error. One error and one was considered a false prophet. Additionally, the prophet was called to the office in order to convey scriptural revelation. God used the prophets as the recorders of scriptures.

As for the gift of prophecy, the word means literally "proclaimer or preacher." But the gift of prophecy is a fallible gift, that is, it contains errors as do all of the gifts outlined in 1 Cor. 12 and 14.

Try that on for study and see if it makes any more sense. Then let me know.

In His Grip,
Dr. Chuck Betters

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