2012 And The Mayan Prophecy?

It's 2012 and I just cannot believe it! In my spirit, I am still hovering above the year 2000. During that time, I was residing in Pittsburgh, PA. The Y2K saga was raging and every news media in USA was blasting predictions upon predictions. Many interviews and reactions were on air and fear of a complete breakdown of the world's economy system was very real. Then the clock struck midnight and we crossed into 2000. 

Nothing bad happened. After a couple of weeks into the New Year, a pastor was giving all the food rations that he had stored in the basement of his church to the poor. Everybody climbed out of their private shelters of fear and began to air their frustrations at the media and those doomsday's advocates. 

Books on Y2K written my many so-called "Christian prophets" were at rock bottom prices. Before Y2K, these self-styled God's spokesmen had already made tons of money feeding the fear of believers. Then like a fog being hit by hot afternoon sun, they faded away with their cash safely stored in their bank accounts. The Christian community seemed to be so forgiving and some of these soothsayers came back into business almost before the year was over. If they were to live in Old Testament time, they would have been stoned to death for false prophecies.

This year, we are once again faced with an apparent crisis - the Mayan prophecy of the End of the World on 21 December 2012. Prophetic voices are already giving their opinions. The media is also broadcasting stories about this ancient prophecy and relevant books are marching in and out of bookstores all over the world. 

So, here we go again but I am unperturbed. Apart from still hovering over 2000, I have absolute faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as I had then. Like Paul the Apostle, I can say, "I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day." (2 Timothy 1:12).

Evaluating Prophets and Prophecies Today

By Rev Albert Kang

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good… (1 Thessalonians 5:19-21)

Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. (1 Corinthians 14:29)

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)

We live in a time and age of great spiritual blessings but it is also of spiritual dangers. Prophets and their prophecies, both true and false, not only saturate the churches but also flood the mass media. For the believers, it has become difficult to distinguish between what are true and what are false. Since all prophets and their prophecies must be ‘judged’ or evaluated by the Word of God, I have listed some guidelines, although not exhaustive, for us to evaluate the authenticity of modern prophets and their prophecies.

1. There are many so-called prophecies but they are mostly just words of encouragement. For example, someone would say, "The Lord says that He is happy with you and what you are doing". These are not predictive but supportive. They are not foretelling but forth-telling.

2. Do watch how so-called prophets who make claims about their divine callings. If a person has to use excessive mystical claims, such as having special glasses to read golden tablets from heaven (Joseph Smith of Mormonism) or Jesus asking the person to sit on his throne (a local fallen prophet) or other mysterious claims that could not be verified, then our alarm bells should go off.

3. We also have to carefully evaluate to whom the prophet is pointing too. There are those who use Jesus Christ to verify their own ministries. They first point to Christ and then subtly the focus moves towards themselves. After a while, many begin to trust their prophecies and to certain extent 'worship' these prophets. This 'utility-based' approach is a good indication that the authenticity of the prophet concerned is to be questioned.

4. Watch out for the 'Holy Man' or 'Swami' syndrome. The prophet concerned moves around as though he has a personal telephone line to God and that his words are often times more popular than the bible.

5. We have to check all the prophecies made by the so-called prophets... especially those that predict events. For example, I can write 5000 different prophecies (or in another word - guesses) and in a general way. Let's say 30 of these may become realities but what about the rest?

6. Check how the prophet quotes scriptures and check his exegesis and hermeneutics. Remember the Bible never says what it never did say.Listen very carefully whether he adds or takes away from the Word of God. There is a so-called prophet who does not take money but claims that God is wanting him to write "The Final Testament".

7. Evaluate the prophecies whether the prophet is repeating some of those prophecies claimed by previously known false prophets.

8. Check whether the prophet uses excessively terms such as "the Lord told me" and "according to the Lord" instead of "according to the Bible" or "according to these scripture verses".

9. Here is a warning by the Apostle Peter -- But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. ² Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. ³ In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. (2 Peter 2:1-3)

As for the recent prophecies that flood the internet world, I would recommend that you just stick to the prophecy mentioned by our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, found in Matthew 24

 Matthew 24:4-8
Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains”.