Greetings, dear family, in Christ and His love. Once more I come with truth in love, passing on what I’ve learned. I’m not an expert on this topic by any means. There are so many great apologists and theologians out there which can explain this so much better than I (and I will add some links below to them), but I still want to share what I’ve learned in prayerful hope to lead someone out of falsehood and into God’s truth.
There is a trend with hyper-charismatic churches, like the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR)—as seen with Bethel, which focuses on Prophetic Ministry. Prophetic Ministry “is about igniting purpose, hope, and identity through the gift of prophecy” (Bethel). So-called “churches” which practice such emphasize “teaching, equipping, and activating believers in the gift of prophecy and words of knowledge” (Bethel).
First, if you really think about it, this whole definition is a me-centered concept. Me-ology it’s been called (as opposed to Theology). Elevating the self (the “true” self, the identity) over God. This is heavily influenced by New Age. It is New Age. Another New-Agey term we see here is “activate.” I did a simple online search of “activate the spirit,” and the first thing to come up was an article with a person in a lotus pose (yoga—of false religion which invokes pagan gods) and the title “Activating the Spirit Light Body in Daily Life.”
After I clicked on the article, look what else was found
—SPOILER ALERT: IT’S ALL NEW AGE
(So guard your mind as you read, asking the Holy Spirit for truth and discernment):
Openhand is a unique approach to spiritual evolution: integrating enlightened wisdom of spiritual masters through the ages, it is a way of tapping into the Benevolent Guiding Consciousness of the Universe and aligning with it in your life. It helps you unveil your True Self, remove karmic blockages and unfold your Divine Destiny. It leads to authentic, resilient and truly successful living…. Openhand is the name we give to a highly evolved benevolent consciousness (the writer of the article is self-named “Open”).
Likewise, a separate article which popped up claims, “Spiritual activation is when we live with integrity and loving, joyous service for the world without attaching to an outcome… It’s when we bring ourselves… into the world, and be the living embodiment of the healing… and be the embodiment of the vision we have for the world (this is from someone on behalf of a meditation center).
Notice some New Age buzz words or ideas in these two sources that you’ll also see in the prophetic ministry: true self, authentic self, divine, tapping into, aligning, healing, vision …
What is New Age, though? By basic definition from Britannica, New Age is a “movement that spread through the occult and metaphysical religious communities in the 1970s and ʾ80. It looked forward to a ‘New Age’ of love and light and offered a foretaste of the coming era through personal transformation and healing… [New Age embraces] Buddhist and Brahmanic notions such as reincarnation… Traditional occult practices (e.g., tarot reading, astrology, yoga, meditation techniques, and mediumship) were integrated into the movement as tools to assist personal transformation.” All in all, “The New Age movement is a counterfeit philosophy that appeals to the feelings of individuals, leading them to think that that they are God and can enhance their lives through their own person” (Got Questions). It is very self-centered.
All this, at least to me anyway, is sickening. It’s utterly detestable to see such false religious display in the face of truth and the One True God of the Bible (but we know Satan himself masquerades as an angle of light, as do his demons as servants of righteousness—2 Corinthians 11:14-15). And so many Christians are buying into it, to New Age posing as Christianity via hyper-charismatic and corrupt “churches” in the NAR movement and the like.
Those such “churches” have used methods such as card reading (tarot cards or what they call “angel” cards) and spirit boards (similar to Ouija boards) within their “ministry.” And when you listen to modern “prophets” within these “churches,” what they say is often reflective of what’s been heard by psychics and their cold readings. AND MANY PEOPLE THINK THIS IS CHRISTIAN! It is NOT biblical by any means, but is, in fact, demonic. It is satanic!
I do not consider myself cessationist or continuationist. As I’ve made clear in other writings, I do feel the Holy Spirit indwells us and gifts us with truth power (the ability to rightly understand and divide Scripture—2 Timothy 2:15), salvation/moral power (salvation and sanctification), and service/ministry power (specific gifts to build up the church, such as teaching, serving, giving, etc.) From my studies, however, we do not have miraculous gifts today which are utilized in the same manner as the appointed Apostles of the early church. If we did, we would be actively healing everyone we could today, but that is not seen. That is not to say that God Himself does not still perform miracles. He does still do this (because He is God), when and if HE so chooses by HIS own power and authority, not ours. We cannot command, demand, decree, declare or catalyze miracles or anything of that nature. Scripture specifically tells us to ask/request by petitionary prayer (Philippians 4:6). To “demand” (declare/decree) is the exact opposite (the antonym) of “request”! God is the Commander, the Master, we are the subordinate, bringing our petition to Him, for Him to respond at HIS will. Not ours.
When someone demands/decrees/declares something, they are in opposition (rebellion) to Scripture, which both sets the example and tells us specifically to bring our requests and pleas, asking God to do His will. Only He can demand. He is the Master. Even Jesus plead ‘Your will be done.’
Matthew 6:10/ Matthew 26:39, 42/ Philippians 4:6/ Psalm 119:170/ Daniel 9:17-18
*Now, I will add, it is to my discernment at this time that some may have a form of the spiritual gift of healing in the way of being a doctor or ministry in the medical field. There are many Evangelists which also serve as medical aids in foreign lands. But it isn’t exactly done by miraculous occurrence. Likewise, some may have the gift of tongues in the way of picking up and learning new languages (like Spanish, Swahili, or Bantu) in order to convey the Gospel, translate Scripture, and build up churches in foreign lands. Some of us are linguistically talented, having an ear for languages, and some of us have an ability to remain composed in tense medical situations.
I heard a great explanation by Joshua Birx who said:
Prophecy—I’m not talking about telling the future, although that is what prophecy is (in the Bible). A prophet simply speaks the words of God. God has already told us what the future is, the prophet can tell this *from God’s Word*, and he does it plainly and clearly, and quite frankly, a prophet is not afraid of stepping on people’s toes. Some…may have the gift of prophecy. A prophet sees things white or black, day or night. There’s no gray. There’s no middle ground; it’s just very clear cut, and he’s not afraid to tell people the way it is based on the authority of *God’s Word*.
The following portion has been updated (some remains the same, some has been altered) as of June 2023, as I've studied and have gained more wisdom and discernment about this subject.
Prophecy today is simply conveying God’s Word (the Bible), expounding God’s Word—including the prophecies made within His Word, and specific convictions from the Holy Spirit that agree completely with His Word (ex. the urge to pray for someone, or the urge to correct a Christian sibling who sins). Otherwise, no new revelation is needed until the second coming of Jesus, as Scripture is said to be complete and sufficient (Revelation 22:18-19/2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Even so, if someone were to have a prophecy (because God is God, Master/Lord, and can do what He wants by His will), it wouldn’t be frequent, certainly not routine, it would completely align with and satisfy Scripture, it would be precisely specific and detailed, it would fully come to pass, and IT COULD NOT BE TAUGHT. The whole purpose of spiritual gifts is that they are gifts *from* THE SPIRIT. From God. Not from man, and not cultivated by man. Only God can decide which gift we have and cultivate that gift in us by His Spirit.
As Melissa Dougherty has said (in the video below), “I believe that there actually might be authentic prophetic words for the church that is recognizable by looking at the prophets in Scripture.”
To understand this further, the original Greek word for the verb prophesy (in regard to spiritual gifts, like 1 Corinthians 14:1—what those “churches” use to justify their conduct) is prophēteuō, and its proper usage concerning the New Testament church is “to teach, refute, reprove, admonish, comfort others” (Blue Letter Bible). It is seen in 1 Corinthians 11:4, 5; 1 Corinthians 13:9; 1 Corinthians 14:1, 3-5, 24, 31, 39. Its noun version, the gift of prophesy itself, is prophēteia, meaning “of the endowment and speech of the Christian teachers called prophets” (Blue Letter Bible). It’s “”the speaking forth of the mind and counsel of God” (Blue Letter Bible), which, for today, we see is already recorded in Scripture.
Those who hold to a hyper-charismatic view of five-fold ministry use the passage of Ephesians 4 to support those gifts today.
Ephesians 4:11-12 says:
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.
It’s interesting to see the wording choices in the translation from original Greek. Some translations say, “Christ himself gave,” “He Himself appointed,” “He who gifted”… all these are past tense, however. What we can interpret properly from this passage is that *Christ* did the work of enlisting and equipping, and that He “gave” or “appointed” (past tense) chosen individuals with specific gifts in order to build up the church (His body). So, it seems this particular passage—specific instruction/guidance for the church in Ephesus from Paul—is a statement that Christ appointed those offices in order to build unity (still ongoing at that point, which is why it says “until we all attain”). Otherwise, it would have translated “will give,” “is giving,” or just “gives.” This is especially true if we look at the passage of Ephesians 2:20, which tells us that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ as the Cornerstone—a foundation is already laid; there’s no second foundation, no new foundation, no new additions to the foundation; it’s an initial work. I haven’t studied this particular passage in-depth but found the wording of how it is translated interesting and worthy of taking into account.
Please pray over this. Ask God to reveal truth to you by His Spirit and through His Word—reading and studying with sound exegesis and hermeneutics.
In the meantime, here are some of the resources I found beneficial:
UPDATE—June 27, 2023: I have created this visual to help understand biblical vs. false prophecy. The full post is on my Instagram page. 
I also implore you to read “Counterfeit Kingdom”
by Holly Pivec and R. Douglas Geivett.
*I do not receive any compensation for this recommendation. I am recommending and promoting from my own desire to share the content of this book.
References
Birx, Joshua. Bible Doctrines, Lesson 79. Abeka Academy. 2009 DVD.
Bethel. Prophetic Ministry (definition). https://www.bethel.com/ministries/prophetic
From Spiritual Activation with James Baraz, Insight Meditation Center of Berkeley, September 2010
Melton, J. Gordon. “New Age movement”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Sep. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/topic/New-Age-movement. Accessed 2 December 2022.
Got Questions. What is the New Age Movement? https://www.gotquestions.org/new-age-movement.html
“G4395 – prophēteuō – Strong’s Greek Lexicon (esv).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 2 Dec, 2022. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g4395/esv/mgnt/0-1/>.
“G4394 – prophēteia – Strong’s Greek Lexicon (esv).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 2 Dec, 2022. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g4394/esv/mgnt/0-1/>.
Dougherty, Melissa. November 7, 20220. The Ten Most Sketchy Things I Used to Believe as a New Ager in the Occult. Retrieved December 3, 2022 from https://youtu.be/7eULf_PT9qc
Doughtery, Melissa. July 11, 2022. The Time When I Went to a Prophetic Seminar. Retrieved December 3, 2022 from https://youtu.be/M_jdASNLGXY
Winger, Mike. June 18, 2021. 20 Questions with Pastor Mike (Episode 37). Retrieved December 3, 2022 from https://youtu.be/AgDZE6ymMKw
Childers, Alisa and Dawain Atkinson. February 28, 2021. An Ex-NAR Apostle Tells His Story, with Dawain Atkinson. Retrieved December 3, 2022 from https://youtu.be/PwlfBFbh3rk
Childers, Alisa and Holly Pivec and Dr. Doug Geivett. November 13, 2022. Bethel Redding & Modern Apostles: A Biblical Analysis. Retrieved December 3, 2022 from https://youtu.be/lYAtKSua59M
Virtue, Doreen and Holly Pivec and Dr. Doug Geivett. November 30, 2022. Bethel False Prophets & Apostles Exposed. Retrieved December 3, 2022 from https://youtu.be/ALwYGU42_2o