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Originally Posted by Godsdrummer
Thank you Sam
I too have the Pentecostal Bible study course. And it is true at one time it was equired reading, along with the book United We Stand I can't remmember it seems there was one other book besides the bible, which had to have been read thru, to obtain your local license. I carried local for four years, as I could preach out with that, I did not get my general till we went to start a Home Missions church, as by UPCI standards one could not pastor or marry or baptize, unless he/she had General license. As I was never out for the title (maybe a little at first, just that I was a minister) I never did get ordained by UPCI although I had completed everything needed. I carried General license for six years. At such time let them go back.
To Ace, Stephenroehm, and Jeffery you can put all the examples you want about what a prophet did or said in OT or NT but as Sam has shown, what we think when we see the word prophet is not what was intened when the writter used the word. From my point of view a prophet would be nothing more than what we call a preacher in many congregations.
I don't have all the answers but I do have more than what most commonly accept as I have been exposed to more of the gifts of the spirit in the last three years than I did in 40+ years in UPCI. So I have made a point to study this in more detail.
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It concerns me that you are not willing to accept Biblical examples to broaden your knowledge. I am absolutely not saying that I know more than anyone else here, because if I did, I would instantly make myself a fool. Nor will I toss around the amount of experience I have in church or the time I have spent studying the Word as a way to prove my point, as it is irrelevant. God chooses to give wisdom to those who seek it, regardless of age or position or title. But one thing I do know is that as soon as we stop allowing ourselves to be open-minded to knowledge and revelation and as soon as we stop seeking those things with our whole hearts, we stop growing. The only "expert" on the Word of God is God.
The definitions of the words as well as the way those words were used in context in the Bible must agree, otherwise it's simply our understanding that is in err. How can the Bible inspire faith if it doesn't agree with itself? Could it be that prophecy is the gift that the LORD gives to His body and that one who possesses that gift is referred to as a prophet? Not necessarily as an "office of authority", but as a way to identify who possesses the gift? I am thinking of this in the same sense that a person who has the gift of athleticism to play the sport of basketball would be called a basketball player.