Is the Holy Spirit the author of confusion?

[Nazarite]

I understand that this is not a debate area. So I will merely ask my question and read the replies.

If you affirm that miraculous gifts continue in the church today, how do you reconcile your belief with the conflicting teachings of those who would claim the gift of prophecy. For example, there are followers of Christ who affirm the Triune nature of God who claim the miraculous gift of prophecy; there are followers of Christ who deny the Triune nature of God who claim the miraculous gift of prophecy. Or, there are followers of Christ who affirm the Pontiff of Rome as God's special emissary on earth who claim the miraculous gift of prophecy; there are followers of Christ who deny the Pontiff of Rome as God's special emissary on earth who claim the miraculous gift of prophecy.

 

[Wigglesworth]

Every person you mentioned in the original post may indeed prophesy under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit uses imperfect people.

To speak prophetically, one is not required to have perfect doctrine. Just because someone is given a prophetic word by the Lord, that does not mean that the Lord is putting a stamp of approval on everything the person believes.

God may say through a Pentecostal, a Baptist, a Catholic, or a Messianic Jew, "My people, I love you and want you to repent and return to me." The word is true, and any of them could say it. That doesn't mean that God is saying the Pope is infallible or that we can't eat pork unless we're baptised by immersion.

 

[Jesusong]

I agree with what has been said above, and would also like to add that prophecy is not on the same level as Scripture. We have to accept Scripture as inspired/inerrant. We must not assume that prophecy is an infallible message, as there can be a sincere mixture of the human messenger in the message from God, or there can be an insincere false prophecy meant to impress others or deceive. Therefore, all prophecy must be tested for genuineness and truth (1Cor 14:29,32; 1Thess5:20-21) by asking whether it conforms to God's Word (1Jn4:1), whether it promotes godly living (1Tim6:3), and whether it is uttered by one who is sincerely living under Christ's lordship (1Cor12:3).

(disclaimer: the above comments were gleaned from the study notes of "The Life in The Spirit Study Bible" - I agree with the comments, but just to let you know this wasn't something off the top of my head).