I’m going to move away from my focus on the red letters to look a little at what St. Peter said in the book of Acts

 Acts 2:14-21

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

“‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

 These are some powerful words from St. Peter. Many Christian churches say that since Christ has come and saved us that there is no longer a need for prophets and therefore God has not sent any. But these verses say that sons, daughters, servants and others will prophesize. Maybe the church distinguishes between the act and the person? At the other end of the spectrum, there are churches that claim that their pastor is a prophet and the congregation therefore has an inside track to God’s plans. I was a visitor at a church like this once and they seemed to be praising the pastor/prophet almost to the exclusion of Jesus Christ! I believe that those preachers are letting their pride take over a big part of their lives. That is very dangerous for themselves and of course their congregation.

I just don’t know what is the right answer for accepting people who call themselves prophets in the coming days.