Articles
The Spirits of the Prophets
And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. (1 Corinthians 14:32)
Those who claim that the Holy Spirit sometimes takes control of their minds and actions apparently never read this verse. Paul here affirms that the influence of the Spirit – even giving divine revelation to prophets – does not suspend free will or produce out of control behavior. He is directing the Corinthians to bring their worship to order, act with decorum, quit competing with one another and blaming it all on the Spirit’s activity.
But people are gullible. They’ll believe anything said by someone who claims the Spirit is acting upon him. Such claims should not be taken at face value. We should be more discriminating: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1). The unchangeable standard by which we can test the claims of others is Scripture. The Spirit will not violate His own revelation.
“God made me do it” is no better an excuse than “the Devil made me do it.” If “it” is something foreign to New Testament teaching, rest assured it didn’t come from the Holy Spirit. People hysterically screaming, flailing and swooning as “worship” and calling it the Holy Spirit are deceiving themselves.
