Ernie : Coming from a Baptist background, also with Lutheran and Buddhist experiences that have shaped my understanding, and more could be added, my standards for what constitutes valid prophetism are "high bar," to use that metaphor. My experience with Charismatic / Bible church prophetism in action is very limited and, from it, is essentially negative. By way of comparison, today's "church prophets" strike me as similar to a shop keeper who goes into politics, or a dentist, or a high school teacher. In either case it is something that one makes up as one goes along. And, allowing for special exceptions, I have extreme difficulty in accepting any such thing. Amateur hour in politics has no more appeal than amateur hour in matters of faith , at least concerning such matters that effect whole congregations or whole populations. Hence my criticisms of LDS doctrine that holds that all male heads of families are "prophets." Sure they are , and being a lifelong rancher prepares one for being a prophet how ? Or for that matter a lifelong banker or lifelong salesman. Same exact principle for Bible churches, etc. My standard is Old Testament or, cie vous plait, Zoroastrian --in which genuine prophets , or prophetesses, are uncommon in any population. A lot about Jeremiah I disagree with, and also parts of Amos and Isaiah 1, but these, to me are "real" prophets. As was Zarathushtra. In each case they took on the establishment of their day, they were not reluctant to challenge political power or religious authority. They did not do so 100% of the time, but in all cases where it was needed. Do Mormon "prophets" do any such thing ? Do church "prophets" do any such thing ? To ask the question is to answer it, of course not. For me that disqualifies such people from any kind of authentic prophetism. Not sure exactly how best to read the Apostle Paul on this issue. At times he seems to affirm the "Charismatic" position, yet taking a very dim view of glossolalia, but at other times his standards seem to be consistent with the views in the Hebrew Bible / OT. In any case, while I make allowances for exceptions, basically I am OT about this. A genuine prophet has to go through a helluva lot of bad stuff to be taken seriously, has to persevere, and has to not only have a powerful moral message, but an original message that contributes to knowledge. Simply expressing inner spiritual feelings doesn't begin to cut it. My view, anyway Billy
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