Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. -- 1Corinthians 14:1-3 (ESV)
Ron Cantor lists himself as an Israeli Evangelist, a noble undertaking. A week ago on Charisma News however he penned the above linked article regarding "new covenant prophets." This is apparently part two of a longer piece but the reference to new covenant prophets alone gave me pause to read it and respond to the confusion he is sowing. There are no "new covenant prophets." You are either a prophet or you or not. Since the bible represents the final revealed will of God the modern day prophet receives revelation regarding scripture that he shares to edify the body. The notion that God forgot something when He ensured the production of His bible and now He is telling Ron Cantor to tell us is biblically absurd. In the wacky world of Charismania, everyone fancies himself a prophet. They are constantly at odds with other prophets as they rush to predict things God never told them and practice divination and clairvoyance. Let us reason once more beloved through this article and really hear what sayeth the Lord.
"But What About False Prophets in the New Covenant? The phrase "false prophet" is used 11 times in the New Testament, and it never refers to a believer. There is the false prophet of the antichrist and Bar Jesus of Acts 13, "a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right!" and he was "seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith." (v. 8, ESV). The other references refer to false messiahs and deceivers of the truth. Never, not once, is a child of God referred to as a false prophet--and yet, we know that every believer was encouraged to prophesy (1 Cor. 14:1). So, if one claims that someone who makes a mistake in prophecy is a false prophet, they are claiming that he is an unbeliever, presently and always, in line with the devil, seeking to deceive the body--despite repentance, loving Yeshua and bearing fruit for the kingdom--which is absurd." -- Ron Cantor
Not quite. What is absurd is assuming everyone who sits in a church is saved. False prophets are not saved and thus those that prophesy falsely, repeatedly, are likely unsaved as well. If they are lying on behalf of God I would wager they have no real fruit to speak of. You see Ron does not realize that he has bought into an apostate system. So let's take a known false prophet such as Jennifer Leclaire. When someone with discernment looks at Jennifer they can see the falseness oozing out of everything she does. From pretending she can release angels of abundant harvests to seeing imaginary sneaky squid spirits. We can see her motivation for greedy gain in her making merchandise of the sheep of the Lord, pretending she can teach a gift of the Spirit or make you a "seer." When someone like Ron Cantor looks at Jennifer however he sees a colleague. A former editor of Charisma News who has multiple ministries and of course "loves the Lord." He cannot see how all of her ministry efforts are not for the Lord at all.
"Furthermore, we must ask ourselves: are prophecy and prophets exactly the same under the New Covenant as the Old Covenant? If so, should one who prophesies presumptuously be put to death? (Duet. 18:20). If that is our conclusion, then a host of others should be killed. But there is a clear difference." -- Ron Cantor
Clever but transparent. The admonition for slaying false prophets was part of the organized law that governed Israel. We are not Israel and outside of the moral law, Christ nailed the law to the cross. What does not change however is the principle that people who claim to be speaking for the Lord better not be lying. It matters not if those lies are told to oneself. The truth is even the well-intended false prophets of today simply have no fear of God.
