re prophetic warning to new york city in article apr athos rutgers edu evensont spot colorado edu evenson thomas randall writes which brings me around to asking an open question is the bible a closed book of scripture is it okay for us to go around saying god told me this and jesus told me that wouldn t that imply that god is still pouring out new revelation to us i know that some people will feel that is okay and some will not the concept of a closed canon would certainly cast a shadow on contemporary prophets on the other hand an open canon seems to be indicated sometimes there are a lot of people running around saying god told me this and god told me that these days some people really have heard god and others heard their glands mario murrillo mentioned this in a sermon once he said someone told him the lord gave me a song he said that it was the worst song he had ever heard i know why he gave you that song murillo said he didn t want it anymore but god does still speak to his people today and the idea is contrary to the idea of a closed cannon ireneaus wrote about all the gifts of the spirit in the church of his day nd and rd century and he was one of the first to put forth a new testament cannon which was almost identical to the one we have today he believed in a closed cannon many prophets prophesied prophecies which were not recorded in the scriptures for example one prophet in kings whose name starts with an m who prophecied that the king would lose a battle that is the only prophecy he gave recorded in scripture and we no that he had given other prophecies because the king complained before he heard the prophecy he never prophesies anything good about me yet only one little paragraph of all of his lifetime of prophecies are recorded in scripture there are numerous examples barnabas was a prophet acts says before he was even sent out as an apostle yet his writings are not recorded in scripture only two of agabus prophecies are mentioned in scripture he was already a prophet before he gave them so prophecy may be genuine and from god but that does not make it scripture also interesting to note is that some so called prophecies are nothing new but rather an inspired translation of scripture is it right to call that prophecy misleading wouldn t that be more having to do with knowledge i don t know about translations of scripture but i am familiar with prophecies that give applications for scripture there are also similar examples in the bible several times peter interprets prophecies in a seemingly prophetic way for example and his bishoprick let another take concerning judas office a clearer example can be found in matthew jesus is prophesying about what will happen before his return and he quotes a passage out of joel about the sun being darkened and the moon turning to blood so scriptural prophecy can be used in later prophecy sometimes this sort of thing can cross over into being a word of knowledge but gifts of the spirit seem to overlap words of knowledge and wisdom can overlap the word of knowledge and prophecy can overlap interpretation of tounges is very similar to prophecy healings are often considered miracles so sometimes the distinction between gifts is a bit hazy imho it doesn t usually matter that much if we are able to label a phenomenon as long as we recognize them as the work of the spirit and use them according to his leading link hudson
