A reader asked if there were prophets in today’s church, if so what roles do they play in the church, and finally how can we tell if the person is a true prophet of God. Those are some pretty hefty questions and important ones; so let’s take a look at what we know.
Are there prophets today and what roles do/did they play in the church?
It is possible that God could grant anyone today the gift of prophecy; He is God and can do whatever He deems needed for mankind. With that being said, it is very unlikely that He does so though. Why? The gift of prophecy was the best way for God to tell us what to look for in the coming of Jesus Christ and the formation of the early church. By giving us the prophecies in the Old Testament, He laid out the guiding framework of what to look for in His son Jesus Christ. Without that knowledge, we would not have been able to recognize that Jesus was exactly who He claimed to be; the living son of God. (more…)
Yesterday, we spoke about the Gospel of Mary, a Gnostic Gospel that was found in the town of Nag Hammadi with a large collection of early Gnostic writings. This place then became known as the Nag Hammadi Library. In both that post of the Gospel of Mary and the couple of sentences above, I have used the word ‘Gnostic’ repeatedly. I had a reader ask me what ‘Gnostic’ is and what makes it different than the Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John? 
The modern world is a strange place for Christians at times. Just look at the social standard of the two things you should never discuss with someone you don’t know. You know what they are! We all do because, that is how our modern politically correct world has molded us! The most taboo subjects on the planet are politics and religion. This has been burned into your brain by the world around us. This is true just as ‘talk about the weather’ is the first subject you will breach with a stranger. Now I am not saying this needs to change wholeheartedly, but discussing your faith should not be taboo. The Bible tells us that we should spread the word of Jesus Christ…even in the face of the modern world. For me this is hard to do.
I have been quite busy as of late, but there is one issue that I feel is dire enough that I have to come back and just call it as I see it. Oprah Winfrey has flipped her lid!
Let’s start of the week on the subject of Harry Potter. I will say up front that I am pro-Potter; but I fully understand and respect people’s right to not want to read it. The debate starts on how you define the books. The fans of Potter claim it to be nothing more than a good tale and that is it. Those against the books feel the books are filled with witchcraft and try to teach it to children; which the Bible is very much against. I think it may be easier to just jump right in and take a look at both sides:
The first of the Dead Sea Scroll discoveries occurred in 1947 in Qumran, a village situated about twenty miles east of Jerusalem on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. A young Bedouin shepherd, following a goat that had gone astray, tossed a rock into one of the caves along the seacliffs and heard a cracking sound: the rock had hit a ceramic pot containing leather and papyrus scrolls that were later determined to be nearly twenty centuries old. Ten years and many searches later, eleven caves around the Dead Sea were found to contain tens of thousands of scroll fragments dating from the third century B.C. to A.D. 68 and representing an estimated eight hundred separate works.
True is, all we have is an educated guess at when the four gospels were written. None of the manuscripts that have ever been found have “March 13, 0043” on them or any other date that can be placed as when they were written. That opens up a lot of debate as to when they were written and how reliable they could be if they were written much later than expected.
Beyond Faith Ministry 
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