Episode 154: Acts 13:1-12 - Timing and Prophets

JOEL 2 GENERATION PODCAST

It was in the fulness of time, the PERFECT TIMING that Christ came. The fulfillment of prophecies from thousands of years earlier, including the 5500-year prophecy that ancient Judaism and the early Christians believed was given to Adam when he and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden.
The world was ready for the spread of the Gospel - a Roman Empire characterized by peace, roads built and a unifying language (Greek) - and the Jews had a Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, that fit into all of this - the Messianic prophecies contained within and a chronology that pointed to the time of Christ as the fulfillment of the 5500-year prophecy. The later Rabbis removed 1500 years out of their Hebrew Old Testament (that became the Masoretic text) to discredit the Septuagint (LXX). Why? To discredit the belief that Jesus of Nazareth was/is the promised Jewish Messiah!
In Acts 13, we meet a "false prophet" and interestingly, that term is used and abused by many Christians today who have little idea what the New Testament and the earliest Christians believed false prophets to be. Today, misusing OT passages that NO LONGER APPLY because they are a part of the Old Covenant that ended/passed away, Christians often think (I call it "the Myth of the False Prophet") that if a Christian prophetic person/prophet misses a prophetic word or gets it wrong that that makes them a "false prophet". Unfortunately, that is NOT what a false prophet is in the New Testament.
Beyond the New Testament, the earliest Christians had ways that they "tested" for false prophets - IF ONLY WE USED THEIR TESTS TODAY! In short, if $$$ was involved, the so-called 'prophet' was to be rejected! Supernatural ministry was not linked to finances in the early church. OH, THE WISDOM!!! And if any supernatural ministry today is charging money (requiring $$) for their supernatural ministry, then RUN from it!!! Should those in supernatural ministry (prophetic, healing, deliverance) be supported??? ABSOLUTELY. But not "for" their the use of their gifts!!! Charging $$$ for supernatural ministry was considered a serious sin in the early church.
So we delve into all of these topics - the timing of Christ's 1st coming, false prophets vs. true prophets today and ultimately end by discussing the prophetic times in which we are currently living. What is God saying?