Be Still And Know

1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. It has been estimated that as many as 20 per cent of the paintings held by Britain’s major museums may be forgeries. It is apparently extremely difficult to be certain of the precise origin of paintings and it takes a great deal of forensic work to gain any degree of certainty. The apostle Paul is greatly concerned about an even more serious kind of fake, and that is when someone claims to be speaking a word of prophecy but is not. This was clearly a matter of great concern for the early Church. There were undoubtedly many people who enjoyed the influence that they acquired by stating “thus saith the Lord” and were delighted by the ease with which they could deceive people. Paul was eager to encourage the Church to know how to approach prophecy. He certainly didn’t want them to dismiss all prophetic utterances just because there were some irresponsible people wh