- Mar 28, 2005
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I know that I am going to possibly tread on a few corns here, but I am having some difficulty with this in relation to what I see in the New Testament and in the role of the indwelling Holy Spirit. I don't see any reference at all to Seers in the New Testament. In all of Paul's teaching about prophecy in Romans and 1 Corinthians, he never mentions that role. John says that the anointing of the Holy Spirit abides in us and will teach us all things so that we will not have need for any man to teach us. This is balanced by Paul's description of the five fold ministries which includes pastors and teachers. So there is a teaching role in the Church, no doubt about it, but it does not involve direct personal guidance and it does not consist in one person being able to somehow "see" into the heart of another. Paul does mention the Word of Knowledge, but often that comes as information about another person to aid in intercessory prayer, and if it is appropriate to share that information with that other person, the gift of the Word of Wisdom is needed to share it in the right way and in the right place.
But the Word of Knowledge does not consist in "seeing" into that person's life so that the person is transparent to the person with the gift of the Word of Knowledge. For example, a pastor may get a word of knowledge that a brother is a problem with stealing, and needs to repent. He is not going to blurt that out in public and ruin that man's reputation because he loves him in the Lord, so he is going to intercede for the man and then ask the Lord to show him what to say to that brother. The Lord may reply by telling him to say how much the Lord values honesty in His children. This is where the brother's heart will be revealed and he might actually break down, confess his sin and get counselling and deliverance.
The gift of discerning of spirits may come the same way, information, then intercession, then wise and sensitive intervention. Also the gift reveals the beauty of a good spirit as well as an evil spirit.
Paul says in Ephesians that he prays that the Lord may give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowedge of Him. If that happens through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit then why the need for a human seer? Wouldn't going to a human seer instead of trusting the indwelling Holy Spirit be a lack of trust in God, of putting a human in the place of the Holy Spirit? Also, there is no support in Scripture for the Holy Spirit to lay open to all and sundry the inner lives and thoughts of people to a third person. Even in the case of Ananias and Saphira, their whole lives and the state of their hearts were not revealed to Peter. All the Spirit told him was that they lied to him about the amount they had put at the Apostle's feet. Paul had a discerning of spirits when he discerned that the servant girl was speaking the words of the demon that was in her.
This is not the same as a "seer" giving personal prophecies over people and peering into people's inner thoughts and attitudes. We are not told in details what the office of New Testament prophet entails. We get a clue from Agabus in Acts, but there is no comprehensive user manual for the role. But I am sure that it is a role for giving prophetic words to the whole Church in order to show God's heart and attitude to the people. I am not sure whether this role exists these days in our seriously divided Church. I think it is more that a member of a church operates the gift of prophecy as described in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 for the building up, comfort and exhortation of believers in a Christian service.
So, I don't really know what my conclusion should be. My view, when I have an "amber light" in my spirit about something, I give it a poke with a very long barge pole, ready to run away if it turns to bite me. And I have, not a red light, nor a green light, but definitely an amber light concerning the Seer role in our modern church.
But the Word of Knowledge does not consist in "seeing" into that person's life so that the person is transparent to the person with the gift of the Word of Knowledge. For example, a pastor may get a word of knowledge that a brother is a problem with stealing, and needs to repent. He is not going to blurt that out in public and ruin that man's reputation because he loves him in the Lord, so he is going to intercede for the man and then ask the Lord to show him what to say to that brother. The Lord may reply by telling him to say how much the Lord values honesty in His children. This is where the brother's heart will be revealed and he might actually break down, confess his sin and get counselling and deliverance.
The gift of discerning of spirits may come the same way, information, then intercession, then wise and sensitive intervention. Also the gift reveals the beauty of a good spirit as well as an evil spirit.
Paul says in Ephesians that he prays that the Lord may give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowedge of Him. If that happens through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit then why the need for a human seer? Wouldn't going to a human seer instead of trusting the indwelling Holy Spirit be a lack of trust in God, of putting a human in the place of the Holy Spirit? Also, there is no support in Scripture for the Holy Spirit to lay open to all and sundry the inner lives and thoughts of people to a third person. Even in the case of Ananias and Saphira, their whole lives and the state of their hearts were not revealed to Peter. All the Spirit told him was that they lied to him about the amount they had put at the Apostle's feet. Paul had a discerning of spirits when he discerned that the servant girl was speaking the words of the demon that was in her.
This is not the same as a "seer" giving personal prophecies over people and peering into people's inner thoughts and attitudes. We are not told in details what the office of New Testament prophet entails. We get a clue from Agabus in Acts, but there is no comprehensive user manual for the role. But I am sure that it is a role for giving prophetic words to the whole Church in order to show God's heart and attitude to the people. I am not sure whether this role exists these days in our seriously divided Church. I think it is more that a member of a church operates the gift of prophecy as described in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 for the building up, comfort and exhortation of believers in a Christian service.
So, I don't really know what my conclusion should be. My view, when I have an "amber light" in my spirit about something, I give it a poke with a very long barge pole, ready to run away if it turns to bite me. And I have, not a red light, nor a green light, but definitely an amber light concerning the Seer role in our modern church.