In answer to a question which was posted to me.

You ask

Is it possible to be a true Christian without believing in prophecies


The answer is "Yes" and "No"

Now that is not really helpful to you is it? Of Course not. Why?

Consider this:
A person hears about Jesus Christ and the Gospel and believes. They repent and turn to Jesus Christ. They have salvation, they are true Christians in every sense of the words. But they may not have yet heard about prophecies. And if they have not heard then how are they to believe in the prophecies? Yet they are True Christians. Most new Christians do not hear about prophecies, sometimes for years, For how many ministers and pastors speak of the prophecies? And when they do hear, they may hear about them from one who does not believe in the Modern present day Prophecies and speaks against them. Is that New Christian to loose their salvation because of that? No, Why? Believing in the Prophecies is not a requirement for obtaining salvation, nor is it a requirement to keep your salvation. So since failing to believe in the Prophecies does not in itself stop one from being a True Christian.

What then?
There are many who believe in the Old Testament prophets, but not in the modern prophets. Some have seen so very many false prophets and have not been able to distinguish between the True prophets of the Lord and the False prophets.

So what might be the result of such rejection of present day True Prophets? The same as it was for those who rejected the words of the Old Testament Prophets. They will suffer for not knowing, and in not knowing, of not changing when the warnings are given to them.

Next comes the question: Does rejecting the words of the True Prophets constitute a sin against God??
To find that answer, we must look into the Bible to see what it is that the Lord God has told us about Prophecy in our times.

Amos 3:7 "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants, the prophets."

This tells us that when the Prophet of God speaks what God has given him to speak, that it is not the prophet who is speaking, it is God himself who is speaking through the prophet to the people. This is timeless. It holds as much today as it did when it was written in the Bible.


Joel 2:28:29 (Acts 2:16-18) "I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy."

This tells us that God will speak in the last days through many of our sons and daughters, for it is the Holy Spirit of God who will speak through these young people.


1 Thess 5:20 "Despise not prophesyings"

This gives us a warning that we are not to ignore the speaking of God through His prophets. To see what happens to those who despise the prophecies of modern day prophets of God, one has only to look at the Old Testament to see what happened to those who ignored, or despised, the prophesyings of God's Prophets.


In the Church
The gifts of the Holy Spirit-- 1Cor 12:8-10 "For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the Gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues"


And the Word of God has told us that not only has the Holy Spirit given the Gift of Prophecy in NT times, but also within the Body of Christ, the Lord God has placed Prophets. So that those who refuse the word of the Prophets the Lord has placed into the leadership of God's Church, is refusing the Godly direction and council of the leaders of God's Church. Therefore those who refuse, or despises the Words given by the Prophets of the Most Holy Lord God, are NOT following Jesus Christ, but rather are following their own selfish hearts, declaring themselves before God as being placed higher in the Church than Jesus himself.

For the authority of the Church of Jesus Christ flows direct from Jesus Christ, down to His Apostles and to the Prophets who are subject to Jesus Christ First and to the Apostles second. Who is higher in God's church than these??

1 Cor. 12:27-30
27 ¶ Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
29 Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?

You see that the Prophets are part of the Church leadership, and as such are not to be despised, for when one despises the Prophet when he speaks for God, it is really Jesus Christ that they are despising. For it is the Lord God Jesus Christ who they hear speaking, and not the man called as a prophet.

1 Cor 14:3
3 But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

It must be noted that there is very little that any Prophet of God actually speaks about future events. Almost all that a Prophet speaks at the command of God is to help men to come closer to Jesus. To give correction, to give warnings, and on rare occasions may be called upon by Jesus to pronounce a judgment upon someone who has refused all corrections and all warnings.

Today the Prophet is usually not recognized because a prophet may not have yet pronounced any words of future events, which the people believe is the sole purpose of the Prophet. It is not. The carrying of messages from Jesus Christ to the people to whom the Lord either does not speak directly to, or to the people who refuse to hear when Jesus has spoken to them, is the real primary purpose of the Prophet. The Prophet speaks as The Holy Lord God tells them to speak, just as the Apostles speak out as the Lord God Jesus Christ has commanded them to speak.

1 Cor 14:24-25
24 But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:
25 And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.

1 Cor 14:39
39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.

We are told that to be chosen to Prophesy by the Lord God is a desire that we should all have. Why? For the very closeness with Jesus that comes with that position in the Church. There is not one true prophet who has really sought out the position of Prophet. Not one of the prophets that I know wanted the job to start with, they only wanted to be as close to Jesus as they could get.

The very thought of starting as a prophet of Jesus Christ, then going off into never never land of their own ego, carries penalties beyond anything I would ever want to think about.


1Ti 4:14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.


2Pe 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.


Re 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

My Friend, What I see in the Word of God in the Bible, and after praying to Jesus for Guidance in answering you, I can say that you most definitely can be a True Christian and not be into Prophecy. Yet at the same time, those who have read the Word, or heard the Word, about prophecy in the church, such as given above and much more in the Bible, if those people now start to reject the messages which the Lord God sends to them by the mouth of a prophet, then those persons are outright disobeying what the Word of God has said to them in the Bible, for they are despising the Prophecy. And disobedience of God is a Sin, which must be repented for. Not because they did not believe the prophecies. For one may hear or read the prophecy and not accept it, and suffer accordingly. The believing of the Prophecy is not a requirement for salvation, as long as one does not disobey God by dispising it. A wait and see attitude is not rejecting or dispising a prophecy.

So there it is, the answer is Yes and No, depending upon each persons situation and knowledge. A baby is not held to the same standards as is an adult.

Only the Holy Spirit of God can show you who is a true prophet of God as opposed to a false Prophet who is speaking out of their own heart, instead of from God.

With the Love of Jesus
Jack Barr