Premonitions on the future

My answer to both questions: No.

There is no scriptural evidence for this. If someone is given an "impression" or "premonitions" about the future, that would be ongoing revelation.

Amos 3.7 is part of a rebuke because Israel was disregarding God's prophets, and imo, there are no prophets today.

Is. 44 is also a rebuke, and refers to God's prophets as opposed to the false visions of the diviners.

 

PastorSBC -

The New Testatment talks about the gift of prophecy. I have no reason to doubt the New Testament in that regards.

 

I say no to both also. God has closed the canon of Scripture according to Revelation 22. Peter reminds us that he as given us "all things that pertain to life and godliness...." We have all the truth we need to be saved and live for God. All we need to know about the future has been given us.

The human mind has a great ability to reason and make evaluations and judgments. Any so called "premonitions" are mere coincidence or a function of the human mind.

The Bible also clearly condemns our functioning in the spirit world through the occult, wizardry, etc.

Remember that the final test of a prophet (one who can foretell the future) is that he will always be right. Even Jean Dixon was right in her predictions and so-called premonitions a majority of the time. However, she failed the Biblical law of the prophet (Dt. 18:20-22) in not always being right.

 

Prophecy does not always mean giving the future; it actually means speaking out the truth of God's word.

OT prophets were giving rebukes, encouragement, and direction as well as things ordained for the future as revealed to them by God. I think prophecy in the NT does not include future events. If it did, where are the prophets doing this today and whom should we believe? There are a number of people claiming to be giving God's word on future events. I don't believe any of them.

 

I agree with you regarding the dangers of the occult and God's reaction to it, HOWEVER:

Biblical Prophecy is NOT dealing with the Occult. That is clear since the great prophets made their prophecies after the bible condemns the occult.

And people say that Revelations was not actually the "last book of the bible" written.

In the bible, every truly great prophecy was a warning from God to repent. I see no reason to believe that the next prophecy will be any different, and I see no harm in warning people to repent.

 

I don't think we are limiting God or putting him "in a box" to say that there is no new revelation beyond the canon. If there is, we better be adding pages to our Bible.

 

PastorSBC -

Over the years many Christians have shared with me "things being placed on their hearts," that they prayed about diligently, and then later recognized why they felt the strong urge to seek out God.

When September 11th happened, many Christians later reported that they missed those planes or skipped going into the WTC because "something" told them to stay back and they listened. These people now credit the Almighty with the fact they were not killed.

I know a wonderful young Christian minister who says that they were down to their last bit of food in his family, didn't know what they were going to do, and felt a need to call on a certain member of the congregation. When they did, it turned out she was a lonely widow who begged him to stay for supper. He explained he had a wife waiting, and she insisted he and his wife join her. Then she sent home loads and loads of leftovers which got the family through until the next paycheck arrived.

I think God still moves today.

I think that in our fear of being lead by false teachers, we've tried to "gag" God.

 

I think when we're in God's will for our lives, or are trying to be, that we are given glimpses of tomorrow. God promises to take care of all our needs so if we trust, we're already open to the answer.

I will have a feeling of peace or a feeling of preparation when praying for someone's health.

I always felt I was going to have 4 children. There was no doubt in my mind that God was going to bless me with 4. Jim opted, and I submitted, to have a vasectomy after our 3rd came just months after our second. 18 years later God gave us Nick through adoption from our daughter. Nick was born on MY 44th birthday and I knew when he was born that he was going to be my child.

I get feelings of concern and then will call one of my grown kids to hear one of the children is ill. I don't have that 'bond' with my mother.

I KNEW my brother was drinking again before I was told and had told my mother just days ago that something quite bad was going to happen to Michael and he won't live much longer. He was in a bad wreck yesterday.

 

Marcia

You are right about biblical prophecy more often referring to proclamation of God's Word, than future telling, although Agabus (Acts 21) did predict Paul's future imprisonment.

It would be interesting to do a biblical study on what kind of activity the Holy Spirit has done with those in scripture and see if He still may work that way today.

I have already mentioned Agabus' prediction. The Spirit testifies with our spirit concerning assurance, makes intercession with "groanings" we cannot understand when we don't know how to pray, helps us to remember the words of Christ (if you think that goes beyond the apostles).

There must be others?

 

"A few years ago I was serving as youth pastor at a church. The pastor of the church invited me to the parsonage to have dinner with my family. As I walked into the church parsonage I had this overwhelming feeling that I would be living there someday. I thought it was pretty nuts at the time, and I was sure that I had just had some indigestion or something. However the feeling I had never left, in fact God continually gave me a peace about the situation. And 2 years later I was moving into that parsonage to be the pastor of the church."

I had a similar experience about 25 years ago. I stepped to the pulpit in a large church as a guest speaker and had an overwhelming feeling that I was home, that I would pastor there one day.

Didn't happen, not even close to it.

Preminitions are often correct and they are often incorrect so don't trust them in particular.

 

exscentric

Thanks for throwing some reality in.

 

Yes God can and does.
You might feel led to pray for someone at a certain time but didn't know at that moment they desperately needed it.
Or don't leave to go somewhere right away because you have a bad feeling. You get down the road and there was a bad accident you just 'happened' to miss. Many times you can get an impression in your spirit. What about when you meet someone and you get a really bad feeling even though they are very charming, then turns out they are bad news?
Things like that happen all the time.

 

To say that things aren't revealed anymore seems to be a stretch to me. That would mean that the pastor of a Church that proclaims "I felt I was supposed to deliver this message" is wrong. It would mean that praying for help in a time of decision is useless, because God is not going to reveal anything new to us.

I'm sorry, but my God is a Living God. He can, and will, reveal himself to us. He is an active force in the life of Christians.

 

All right, I have to ask. How do you know it won't happen yet?

Karen

 

I think this is a good point. It is one thing to say that the canon of Scripture is closed.
Quite another to say that God does not, therefore, guide the Christian except in the most general way. Personal guidance is not new revelation that reopens the canon.
Of course, that does not mean that every feeling or circumstance is guidance.

Karen