Spiritual Gift?

Spiritual Gift - Mormon Doctrine Studies - Posted: 27th Feb, 2007 - 6:16pm

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Post Date: 27th Feb, 2007 - 5:12pm / Post ID: #

Spiritual Gift?
A Friend

Spiritual Gift?

I have a friend who knows a member in their ward who claims she can see the future...see what will happen before it will happen. This "see-er" is open about the gift she has. She told my friend when she would have her baby (didn't happen when she said it would). She has had other experiences where she was "right" and did foretell the future accurately - the events she had "foretold" did happen as she had predicted.

I have looked and haven't found a spiritual gift such as this in the scriptures.

But I have also had dreams that have told me of things to come in my life. I have had inklings of events to come, and when they did come, I felt as though I had been prompted so that I could prepare, somewhat, to handle that event in my life. I do see this as a gift of mine. I can accept it as a spiritual gift because it pertains to me, and the people I am involved with. It has always been about ME being prepared to handle difficulties or about ME having hope in MY future. am struggling with this person seeing the future of OTHERS. Is this false prophecy? Is there somewhere in the scriptures that would talk about such a gift coming from GOD and not from Satan?

~Elaine

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27th Feb, 2007 - 6:16pm / Post ID: #

Gift Spiritual

QUOTE
I have looked and haven't found a spiritual gift such as this in the scriptures.


Yes, it's the Gift of Prophecy:

"To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues." (from 1 Cor. 12:4-10):

We are indeed Prophets to ourselves in many ways and many people possess this gift not only the Church Prophet. This is what I found:

QUOTE
Those who receive true revelations about the past, present, or future have the gift of prophecy. Prophets have this gift, but we too can have it to help us govern our own lives (see 1 Corinthians 14:39). We may receive revelations from God for ourselves and our own callings, but never for the Church or its leaders. It is contrary to the order of heaven for a person to receive revelation for someone higher in authority. If we truly have the gift of prophecy, we will not receive any revelation that does not agree with what the Lord has said in the scriptures (see Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 3:203-4).
QUOTE
Another spiritual gift is the gift of prophecy. "And to others it is given to prophesy." (D&C 46:22; see also Moro. 10:13; 1 Cor. 12:10, 1 Cor. 14:1.)

The Bible has many references to women who had or will have the gift of prophecy. One of the clearest of these is from the sermon Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost. Relying on a prophecy from the Old Testament (see Joel 2:28-29), he declared:

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

"And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy." (Acts 2:17-18.)

The Book of Acts states that four daughters of Phillip were blessed with the gift of prophecy. (See Acts 21:8-9.) One of the two mortal witnesses of the divinity of the infant Jesus was the aged woman, Anna. She was a holy woman who "departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day." (Luke 2:37.) When Anna saw the infant Jesus in the temple, she gave thanks to the Lord and 'spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem." (Luke 2:38.) This is a classic illustration of prophetic testimony and utterance.

The Inspired Translation of the Old Testament contains a prophetic utterance by our first mother, Eve. (See JST, Gen. 4:11; Moses 5:11; see also references to prophecy by other women in Num. 12:2; Judg. 4:4.)

How can a woman have the gift of prophecy when she does not hold the priesthood? That question has confused some, because the nouns prophecy and prophet and their variations, such as the adjective prophetic and the verb prophesy, are used in several different senses.

When we hear the word prophet in our day, we are accustomed to thinking of the prophet. These words signify him who holds the prophetic office and is sustained as the prophet, seer, and revelator. The priesthood offices and powers exercised by the President of the Church are unique. As we learn in the Doctrine and Covenants, it is given to him to have "all the gifts of God which he bestows upon the head of the church." (D&C 107:92; see also D&C 46:29; D&C 50:26-28.)

The spiritual gift of prophecy is quite different. As we read in the Book of Revelation, "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Rev. 19:10.) The Prophet Joseph Smith relied on this scripture in teaching that "every other man who has the testimony of Jesus" is a prophet. (Teachings, p. 119.) Similarly, the Apostle Paul states that "he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort." (1 Cor. 14:3.) Thus, in the sense used in speaking of spiritual gifts, a prophet is one who testifies of Jesus Christ, teaches God's word, and exhorts God's people. In its scriptural sense, to prophesy means much more than to predict the future.

The scriptures often use the word prophet and its derivatives in the broad sense of one who teaches and testifies of God. When the prophet Moses was asked to forbid two men who "prophesied in the camp," he refused, expressing the wish 'that all the Lord's people were prophets." (Num. 11:26, 29.) The Apostle Paul taught that Christians should "desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy." (1 Cor. 14:1.) The Book of Mormon describes various times in which there were many prophets. (See 1 Ne. 1:4; W of M 1:16-18.) In our day, Elder Joseph Fielding Smith declared that "all members of the Church should seek for the gift of prophecy, for their own guidance, which is the spirit by which the word of the Lord is understood and his purpose made known." (Church History and Modern Revelation, 3 vols., Salt Lake City, Deseret Book Co., 1953, 1:201.)
QUOTE
I am struggling with this person seeing the future of OTHERS. Is this false prophecy? Is there somewhere in the scriptures that would talk about such a gift coming from GOD and not from Satan?


Not necessarily. I know a couple of members who possess this gift and who have predicted certain things about the lives of other people. I am not sure about this one, it's tricky since I do not know this sister you are talking about and I do not know the kind of practices she uses for these "predictions". Is she into Astrology, adivination, etc? If so, well we know the answer for that one.




 
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