RE: Modern Day Prophets by Obourba Asante Taado

The writer of the above titled article wrote among other things in his article that, prophets are done with, in our present days quoting 1Corinthians 13:8 & 9 to back his claim that there should be no prophets in our days and hence any one professing to be one is making a false claim. I wish to draw attention to some contradictions and in-cogent arguments that were made in the said article. The writer in one breath argues that there should not be any prophet in our days because time for prophets and prophecy has passed according to 1Corin. 13:9 so there is no one that can lay claim to the fact that he/she is a prophet/prophetess and yet in the concluding portions of his article he emphasis the point that a true prophet is one who prophesies and it comes to pass and as such by their fruits we should know who a true prophet is and who a false prophet is. This clearly is contradiction. If you argue that there should be no prophets in our days because the time of prophets is done with, then no prophet should exist to be tested with the fruit litmus test. That is there should not be any prophets for us to judge whether they bear good fruits or bad fruits. The writer also asserted in his article and I quote “…any person who present himself/herself as a prophet/prophetess and yet lives ungodly life is not a true prophet”. The converse of this statement is an admission that there are true prophets. This implies that the author accepts the fact that we can have true or genuine prophets in our days today and that there are two kinds of prophets- true prophets and false prophets. So not all prophets of our days are false prophets; we have some true and genuine prophets in Christendom today. The argument that there cannot be prophets in our present time is therefore flawed. Now to the scripture in 1Corinthians 13:8, 9&10; which states: “Love never fails? But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away”. The subject matter of Apostle Paul’s message is LOVE. Apostle Paul was speaking superlatively that LOVE supersedes prophecy, tongues and knowledge. What this means is that comparatively as far as these four virtues are concerned LOVE is more valuable than all. This does not mean prophecy, tongues and knowledge are done away with. It is the same bible that says in Hosea 4:6 “For lack of knowledge my people perish. Because you have rejected knowledge I will reject you…” In the writer’s hast to present his lobe-sided view of the scripture, he forgets to see that in 1Corintian 13:10 “But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away” it is not only prophecy that should be done with, but knowledge and tongues if that is what was meant and hence by his argument, prophecy, tongues and knowledge should all be done with so no one should still have knowledge, no one should have prophecy, no one should have tongues.

What Paul meant by “For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away” (1Corinthians 13:9 &10) is that, now on earth we know in part so whatever we do is in part; but when we get to heaven which is perfect everything will be clear and perfect to us. This has nothing to with the coming of Christ as the author tried to explain that when Jesus Christ comes then that which is perfect is come. So after the coming of Christ prophets will cease to live. After all, the time Apostle Paul wrote this message Christ had come and gone so Paul would not have use a present tense “we know” in 1Corin. 13:9. He would have used the past tense we knew.

By Mawutorli Nyarku ([email protected])