The Final Convergence

Sola Scriptura, Bible Alone

Menno Zweers

Biography

Menno Zweers is a discernment researcher and author of multiple works in biblical apologetics and prophetic studies. A Dutch-born American living in Tennessee, he spent four decades in NAR-influenced Christianity before a Sola Scriptura reorientation shaped by careful, honest engagement with the full counsel of Scripture. He writes with prophetic urgency and pastoral conviction for everyone who is hungry for truth that does not shift with the cultural moment. “Buy the truth, and sell it not.” — Proverbs 23:23

Does God Still Speak Through Prophets Today? What the Bible Actually Says

Published: April 24, 2026 | thefinalconvergence.com

It is one of the most practically urgent questions in the modern church, and one of the most consistently answered with emotion rather than Scripture.

Does God still speak through prophets today?

The question matters because the answer shapes everything. If God is still speaking through contemporary prophets, delivering fresh divine revelation through specific individuals whom He has appointed to that office, then every believer has an obligation to listen to those prophets, to evaluate their words seriously, and to potentially order their lives according to what those prophets declare. The prophetic word becomes, in practice, a source of divine guidance alongside or even above the written Word.

If, on the other hand, the prophetic office as it functioned in Scripture, delivering new, authoritative divine revelation, has ceased with the closing of the canon, then the entire apparatus of contemporary prophecy in the charismatic and NAR movements is operating without biblical authorization. The words being delivered as divine communication are not. And the people receiving them as the voice of God are being misled, with consequences that range from the personally harmful to the eternally dangerous.

This is not a secondary question. It is a question about the nature of divine revelation itself, about whether the Bible is finished or still being written, about whether the canon is closed or still open, about whether Scripture is sufficient or still being supplemented.

The Bible answers it. Clearly. Finally.

How God Spoke, and When

The opening verses of the letter to the Hebrews provide what may be the most theologically compressed statement about the history of divine revelation anywhere in Scripture:

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds” (Hebrews 1:1-2).

Two epochs of divine revelation are described here with surgical precision.

Time past, the prophetic era. God spoke at sundry times, at various moments across history, and in divers manners, through dreams, visions, direct speech, angelic messengers, audible voices, and the inspiration of human authors. The prophets of the Old Testament were the instruments of this communication, genuine bearers of the word of the Lord, speaking with divine authority because God had genuinely spoken through them.

These last days, the Son. But something decisive has changed. The phrase hath spoken, the Greek verb is in the aorist tense, indicating a completed action with permanent results, marks a transition from the ongoing prophetic era to something definitive. God has spoken, in these last days, by His Son. Not by additional prophets. Not by a new apostolic order. By His Son, the eternal Word made flesh, whose life, death, resurrection, and ascension constitute the final and complete revelation of God to humanity.

The implication is staggering in its completeness. If God has spoken His final and definitive word in His Son, and that word has been perfectly preserved in the Scripture that the Son authorized and the Spirit inspired, then additional prophetic voices claiming to deliver new divine revelation are not supplementing the Word of God. They are competing with it.

The Canon’s Closing Warning

The final verses of Scripture are not accidental. The book of Revelation closes the biblical canon with the most severe warning against addition that appears anywhere in the Word:

“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Revelation 22:18-19).

The severity of this warning, plagues added, name removed from the book of life, is not the language of a cautionary suggestion. It is the language of a completed revelation being sealed against alteration. The canon is closed. What has been written is complete. To add to it is not a theological preference, it is a catastrophically dangerous act that Scripture pronounces the harshest possible judgment upon.

This does not mean that no one has ever again claimed to speak for God since the canon closed. Manifestly, many have, and the history of the church is full of the damage those claims have produced. It means that genuine divine revelation, the kind that carries the authority of the voice of God and demands the obedience of every believer, ended with the apostolic witness preserved in Scripture.

The Foundational Nature of the Apostles and Prophets

Yesterday we examined Ephesians 2:20 in connection with the NAR’s claim to have restored the apostolic office. The same verse speaks directly to the prophetic office:

“And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone” (Ephesians 2:20).

Apostles and prophets together constitute the foundation. The church is not built on an ongoing series of foundations, it is built on the one foundation laid at the beginning, by the apostles and prophets whose testimony is preserved in Scripture, with Christ Himself as the cornerstone.

A foundation by definition is not repeated. You do not keep pouring a foundation throughout the life of a building. The foundation is laid once, definitively, completely, sufficiently, and everything built afterward is built on it, not alongside it. The apostles and prophets of the New Testament era are that foundation. Their work is done. Their testimony stands. And the church that wants to build faithfully builds on what they have left, not on new foundations being poured by self-appointed successors.

Paul reinforces this in his letter to the Ephesians with a description of the church’s maturity that is directly relevant:

“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:13-14).

The goal of the church’s growth is not dependence on ongoing prophetic voices, it is the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God that produces stability. The church that is mature in the Word is precisely the church that is not tossed about by every wind of doctrine, including the wind of contemporary prophecy.

The Old Testament Standard Has Not Changed

We examined Deuteronomy 18:22 briefly in yesterday’s post on the NAR. It deserves fuller treatment here because it is the biblical standard for evaluating all prophetic claims, and it has not been softened, qualified, or replaced in the New Testament.

“When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him” (Deuteronomy 18:22).

One hundred percent accuracy. Every time. No exceptions.

This standard is not an Old Testament relic that was softened in the New Covenant. The New Testament adds to it, 1 Corinthians 14:29 instructs that prophecies be judged, 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 commands that prophetic words be tested, 1 John 4:1 commands that the spirits be tried. None of these passages lower the bar. They all assume that genuine prophecy must be tested, and that the test, applied rigorously, will expose the false.

The modern charismatic and NAR movements have effectively abandoned this standard, arguing that New Testament prophecy is a different gift, fallible by nature, subject to a lower bar of evaluation. But Scripture provides no basis for this lower bar. A word that is fallible did not originate with God, because God does not speak falsely, imprecisely, or partially. The fallibility is not a property of prophecy. It is evidence that the word did not come from God.

How God Does Speak Today

To say that the prophetic office has ceased is not to say that God is silent. It is the opposite. God speaks, constantly, richly, sufficiently, through the written Word He has preserved.

“The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Psalm 19:7-8).

Perfect. Sure. Right. Pure. The Word of God does everything that the contemporary prophetic movement promises fresh revelation will do, but with the reliability, the sufficiency, and the authority that only God’s own breathed-out Word can carry.

God speaks through His Word, in the quiet of the morning study, in the exposition of the faithful preacher, in the memory of a verse recalled at the moment of temptation, in the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit applying Scripture to the specific circumstances of the believer’s life. This is not a diminished form of divine communication. It is the richest possible form, because it is the voice of God Himself, preserved without error, sufficient without supplement, and available to every believer in every generation without the need for a self-appointed prophetic intermediary.

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105).

Not the prophet’s word. God’s Word. Already given. Fully sufficient. Perfectly illuminating.

The believer who wants to hear from God does not need to attend a prophetic conference or submit to an apostolic network. They need to open the Book.

The Peace of a Closed Canon

There is a profound peace available to the believer who fully accepts the sufficiency and finality of Scripture, a peace that the perpetual hunger for fresh prophetic word can never produce.

The believer who is dependent on ongoing prophetic revelation is always waiting for the next word, always wondering whether they have received enough, heard correctly, applied what the prophet said with sufficient faith. The prophetic culture produces not stability but anxiety, not the settled confidence of one who knows the Word but the restless seeking of one who is never quite sure they have heard enough.

The believer who rests in the closed canon rests in completion. God has spoken. Fully. Sufficiently. Finally. In His Son and in His Word. There is nothing left to add, not because God has gone silent, but because He has already said everything that needed to be said for the salvation, sanctification, and complete equipping of every believer in every age.

“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

He will perform it. Through His Spirit. By His Word. Without the need for supplementary voices.

The canon is closed. The Word is sufficient. And that is not a limitation.

It is a gift.

📖 What Is Truth? Unshakable Truth in a Post-Truth World — the biblical answer to the questions the prophetic movement cannot settle. Available now on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. Written by Menno Zweers | Get your copy on Amazon →

This article is part of the What Is Truth? series. View all articles here → What Is Truth? — Articles, Teachings, and Biblical Analysis

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6 responses to “Does God Still Speak Through Prophets Today? What the Bible Actually Says”

  1. suzanholland Avatar
    suzanholland

    If I might gently push us toward Scripture once again and ask that we please reconsider some facts:

    1. OT prophets didn’t always “write Scripture” when they prophesied, i.e., sometimes they spoke prophetically and it did not make it into the Canon.
      1. there was a “company of prophets”, but we have nothing recorded of what any of those prophets may have spoken (1 Samuel 10:10-11; 19:20; 1 Kings 18:4; 2 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 5; Acts 11:27)
      2. some of what the prophets said and did were recorded in “books” that did NOT become Canon (1 Chronicles 29:29; 2 Chron 9:29; 12:15; 13:22)
      3. God spoke to prophets in both dreams and visions (Num 12:6), and we certainly do not have all of those detailed in Scripture; as well as directly (Jer 1:2,4,11,13; 2:1; 13:3,8, etc.; Ez 1:3; 3:16, etc.) 
    2. NT prophets likewise. (Acts 13:1; 15:32; 21:10; etc.)
    3. The role of the OT prophet was not “to write Scripture”, even though some of what they spoke we read about in the Canon.
    4. NT prophets likewise; AND it is important to consider what we have detailed in Scripture about the role of prophecy in the NT and how they (Prophets and/or those with a gift of prophecy, or g. of word of wisdom, or g. of word of knowledge) are to function in the congregational setting (Eph 4:11-13; 1 Cor 12; 14:29f)
      1. to warn (Acts 11:28)
      2. to strengthen, encourage, comfort (or “for edification, exhortation, and consolation”; 1 Cor 14:3)
      3. to speak in an orderly fashion–one at a time, let two or three speak and the rest ‘pass judgment’ (i.e. not just accept what they say as ‘gospel truth’); but we DO (or would have) “an obligation to listen to those prophets, to evaluate their words seriously, and to potentially order [our] lives according to what those prophets declare”–IF there were such a Prophet today… [and, just as an aside, there will be again (at the very least one “before the great and terrible Day of YHVH”, and two during Daniel’s 70th week), so this is not only a hypothetical consideration, and I pray that we not find ourselves “kicking against the goads” when they are sent]
    1. There is a difference in Scripture that is often overlooked between being called as a Prophet and someone having a g. of prophecy, a g. of speaking words of wisdom, or a g. of words of knowledge (1 Cor 12:8).  These gifts were all active in the early Church, and to suppose (or claim) that the few examples of utterances recorded in the NT are all that they collectively spoke is clearly ‘absurd’.  [As we have already seen, only SOME of what an OT or a NT Prophet spoke was recorded for us in the Canon of Scripture.] 
    2. We are also told in Scripture to “not despise prophecy, and Jesus said He would send more prophets. This is a biggie. May we not be guilty of this. Further, we are told to “receive a prophet”; i.e told host them and to heed (not despise) what they are speaking! (Matt 10:41; 23:34; Luke 11:49; Eph 4; 1 Cor 12:28; Rev 11:10,18; 18:20). There is ZERO evidence, indication, nor inference in the text of Scripture that either Prophets, nor the gifts of prophecy, were ever intended to cease.
    3. There are certainly false prophets in both OT and NT times, and there will be more!  😕 (2 Pet 2:1; 1 John 4:1; Rev 16:13; 19:20)
      1. We are told in the OT that a false prophet is one who speaks a “prophecy” that does not come to pass, and that being a false prophet is a very serious offense (Deut 13:5; Jer 5:31; 14:4; 23:25-26—so much like today!  Ez 13:8; 22:28)
      2. We are warned against these false prophets in the NT (Matt. 7:15; 24:11,24; Mark 13:22; Luke 6:23; Acts 13:6)
    4. Lastly, I would just like to add that there were both male and female prophets in both OT times and NT times.
      1. Miriam, the prophetess (Ex. 15:20)
      2. Deborah, the prophetess (Judges 4:4)
      3. Huldah the prophetess (2 Ki 22:14)
      4. a prophetess, Anna (Luke 2:36)
      5. four virgin daughters who were prophetesses (Acts 21:9)

    Why this is so relevant for today:

    1. As you have so aptly pointed out, there are many false prophets today, and it is important not only to understand the Biblical role of the NT Prophet, but also the various gifts of prophecy–whether direct word of instruction or warning (via someone with “the g. of prophecy”), or “words of wisdom” (w.o.w.) and “words of knowledge” (w.o.k.).
    2. There is a great lack of discernment (and correct Biblical doctrine) in the Body of Christ in this regard.
    3. There is a conflation by many (Cessationists in particular) of the Prophet (OT and NT) with those with a gift of prophecy, a gift of w.o.w., or a gift of w.o.k. [And no, I am not claiming here that these gifts are currently being given as such, even though God sometimes chooses to, Himself, give a w.o.w. or w.o.k. or prophetic utterance to someone–even in an unknown tongue (with interpretation), when He desires to do so.  Many of us have seen this first hand—and I am wondering if you, Menno, in your time in Pentecostal circles did not ever witness this yourself. ?]
    4. There is a false idea (often repeated in Reformed circles), that “everything a Prophet speaks is Canon” (a false equivocation with it being “the Word of the LORD”, therefore, Scripture), as the basis for wrongly claiming that there can be no prophetic revelation today because “that would add to the Canon of Scripture”.  This is demonstrably untrue (as I think I have adequately shown with the Scriptures presented in this reply, for starters).

    I offer these additional points for your prayerful and careful consideration; and, as always, may Scripture alone inform our doctrine.

    charis kai shalom

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    1. The Final Convergence Avatar
      The Final Convergence

      Suzan, thank you again for this careful and Scripture-rich response. You have clearly given this serious thought.

      You make a genuinely important distinction that I want to acknowledge: not every prophetic utterance in Scripture became canon, and there is indeed a difference between the office of prophet and the gifts of prophecy, words of wisdom, and words of knowledge. These are fair and accurate observations and I should have been more precise in drawing those lines.

      Where I would gently push back is here:

      On the office vs the gifts: The cessation of the office of apostle and prophet in the foundational sense, those bearing authoritative new divine revelation, does not necessarily require the complete cessation of every gift listed in 1 Corinthians 12. The debate among careful Reformed scholars on this is genuine and I hold my position with some humility. What I am most concerned about, and what What Is Truth? addresses directly, is the office being claimed today with the authority to deliver binding new revelation. That is what Hebrews 1:1-2 and Ephesians 2:20 speak against most directly.

      On “zero evidence gifts were intended to cease”: I would point you back to Hebrews 1:1-2. The aorist tense of “hath spoken” indicates a completed action, God has spoken definitively and finally in His Son. This is not silence about cessation, it is the most theologically compressed statement about the completion of divine revelation in Scripture.

      On the eschatological prophets, from a careful historicist reading of Revelation 11, the two witnesses are best understood as representing the Old and New Testaments bearing witness through history, not future individual prophets. This actually reinforces rather than undermines the sufficiency and finality of Scripture as the witness God has given the world.

      On your closing question, yes, I witnessed many things in four decades inside Pentecostal and NAR circles. That is precisely why I am careful. The question is never whether an experience was real to the person experiencing it. The question is always, does it speak according to this Word? Isaiah 8:20 remains the standard.

      I appreciate your heart Suzan and I receive this exchange as genuine iron sharpening iron. May the Lord lead us both into all truth, through His sufficient and final Word.

      Menno

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      1. suzanholland Avatar
        suzanholland

        Good morning, dear Brother.

        100% agree with you that “the office being claimed today with the authority to deliver binding new revelation” by all the false apostles and false prophets is absolute nonsense (at best). It has been incredibly damaging to the Church as a whole and to thousands of individual members, devastatingly so.

        Here’s my “however”– However, it is not impossible that God should choose to send a messenger (Apostolos) in the future, so I do believe we ought to refrain from saying this office has “ceased” (even though it is not being given today). The analogy of a volcano just popped into my mind–the difference between a dormant one and an extinct one. The office of Apostle is dormant, perhaps, not extinct. It is not exegetically possible to claim the “office” has “ceased”, even though the Canon is–and will remain, closed.

        Insofar as Hebrews 1:1-2 being a “compressed statement about the completion of divine revelation in Scripture” (in response to the continuation of the gifts), I am a bit confused. All of the Apostolic Writings (the Gospels and Epistles) were God-breathed after God “spoke through His Son”, and the authors weren’t just rehashing what Jesus said–they were “adding to” Scripture; i.e. divine revelation was NOT complete. And I am not sure what this has to do with cessation of the gifts, since the gifts were given to men after Jesus ascended, so I am not sure I follow you here. I think you are just trying to defend the point that what these present-day charlatans are “speaking” is not to be taken as Scripture. If so, agreed!

        I think what Matthew Henry (or many of the other well-recognized commentators) has to say about these verses might be worth considering: 1:1-3 “God spake to his ancient people at sundry times, through successive generations, and in divers manners, as he thought proper; sometimes by personal directions, sometimes by dreams, sometimes by visions, sometimes by Divine influences on the minds of the prophets. The gospel revelation is excellent above the former; in that it is a revelation which God has made by his Son. In beholding the power, wisdom, and goodness of the Lord Jesus Christ, we behold the power, wisdom, and goodness of the Father, Joh 14:7; the fulness of the Godhead dwells, not typically, or in a figure, but really, in him.” [i.e. nothing to do with a “closed canon” or “cessation of the gifts”.]

        On eschatology–we can save that for another time, as that is not the primary focus of your post, although I would have much to say on this subject. (I did find it quite surprising–very pleasantly so, when I heard MacArthur speak publicly about a coming “Elijah”–yet future.)

        Just for clarification, when asking what you might have witnessed in your time in Pentecostal and NAR churches, I was not asking what you may have “experienced” (emotionally or otherwise), but if you may have seen any legitimate (according to Scripture) prophetic utterances, tongues with interpretation, healings, etc.

        I did not grow up in Pentecostal circles, but in mostly non-denominational churches. My father attended Moody, Biola, then Fuller (before it went off the rails with Wager et. al), and I was raised on the mission field (4th grade-high school) in Latin America. I had never even heard of a “pentecostal” until many decades later. (Just to give you a sense of where I ‘come from’.)

        That said, I had witnessed several things that were Biblical–absolutely Scriptural, that would be considered “Pentecostal” or “Charismatic” by most today, even though I did not have that box to put them in at the time. I knew these things were in the Bible, and were “by God”, so I had no problem accepting them as true (some, 100% undeniably so), and a “normal” part of Christianity. Because the Bible says so. This included prophetic utterances, albeit not from “a Prophet”, but from someone in our non-denom mission board who would sometimes give a word of wisdom or w.o.k. (But, again, I never would have called it that back then as I did not have that vocabulary or “box”.)

        I appreciate the opportunity to have this exchange. Thank you for your willingness to engage… and I am grateful to God for it!

        20 To the Law and to the testimony!

        peace be with you

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  2. suzanholland Avatar
    suzanholland

    (not sure why the formatting didn’t hold this time; I hope the outline is not too confusing without the numeration)

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  3. The Final Convergence Avatar
    The Final Convergence

    Suzan, good morning sister, and thank you for this.

    Your background explains the clarity and care with which you engage Scripture. A mission field upbringing and Moody/Biola formation is evident in how you handle the text.

    Your dormant vs extinct analogy is genuinely thought provoking. I will sit with that. My concern, and I think you share this, is not primarily about what God could do in His sovereignty, but about what is being claimed today by those who have caused so much damage. On that we are in complete agreement.

    On Hebrews 1:1-2, your pushback is fair and I want to be more precise. My point is that the entire sweep of Scripture culminating in the Son constitutes a completed and sufficient revelation. The apostolic writings are not an addition beyond the Son, they are the authorized witness to the Son, completed and sealed. That is the redemptive-historical point.

    On your question about what I witnessed in Pentecostal circles, yes. I witnessed things I could not easily dismiss. Things that seemed genuine. That is precisely what makes this so difficult and so important. The existence of genuine spiritual experience does not validate a theological system. It makes careful testing against Scripture more necessary, not less.

    Interestingly, Fenna has asked a question in the comments on Facebook that I believe addresses the heart of much of what we have been discussing, the distinction between the office of prophet and the gift of prophecy. I decided to write a dedicated blog post on exactly this distinction this coming week. I believe it will also speak to several of the points you have raised so carefully in this exchange.

    I think we have sharpened each other well here Suzan. This is the kind of exchange the church desperately needs, people who love Scripture, hold it as the final authority, and are willing to reason carefully together without descending into camps.

    May the Lord bless your continued study and service. 🙏

    Menno

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  4. suzanholland Avatar
    suzanholland

    Good morning, Menno. Glad to know you have a presence on Facebook. I have sent you a friend request (no pressure to add me), in case you are interested in seeing more about what I post there. (I make all of my posts public, so no need to add me in order to see the posts.) I also found your “Convergence” page and have followed you there.

    I would just like to take a moment to comment on “The apostolic writings are not an addition beyond the Son, they are the authorized witness to the Son, completed and sealed.”

    First, let me comment on this part: “The apostolic writings are not an addition beyond the Son, they are the authorized witness to the Son…” Since there is much instruction to the Church, and commandments beyond what Christ gave (expanding upon), I am curious that you do not consider this “beyond the Son.” These Writings are given by the Spirit–revelation “beyond the Son” temporally (after Christ’s ascension), and contain material that is not directly a “witness to the Son” directly. That said, we do see the entire Book of Revelation–the unveiling of the Son, certainly as further witness to the Son.

    Second, on the latter part of your comment: “completed and sealed”. While the Canon is sealed, God’s revelation to His people is not “finished”/sealed. The Holy Spirit still speaks (gives revelation) to His Church; His people still can hear His voice. It is the very work oof the Spirit to “guide us into all truth”. Not in order to add to the canon, but to teach it to us, and to help us function as members of His Body and to fulfill the Great Commission.

    My concern with Cessationism is two-fold. One, it seems to close people off to certain gifts God might give (and is giving!) to His Church today. (And it limits the expectation of individual Believers as well as entire congregations.) And two, I have seen people call what is of the Spirit: “of Satan”, which, at the very least, borders on blasphemy. May we not find ourselves “kicking against the goads.”

    This matters. Doctrine matters. A humble heart matters. (I have been praying for about a dozen years now that God would keep hearts–especially pastors’ hearts, supple.)

    Many will reject the legitimate for fear of the fake. May God help us all!

    ~for His glory and the edification of the Saints

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