Prophets vs. Seers: Is There a Difference? (Thoughts On)

Prophets vs. Seers: Is There a Difference? looks at that question from a Biblical viewpoint. There are some Bible teachers who teach that prophets and seers are fundamentally different, and they offer some supporting evidence, while others say they merely variations in manifestation of fundamentally the same gift and calling. Is there enough Scriptural evidence to conclude that they are the same kind of person, or the same kind of calling, or are they indeed different? An in-depth analysis of related Scriptures leads the author to a solid conclusion.

Dave Arns was raised in church, but didn't start actually serving the Lord until his sophomore year of high school, in 1972. Being of a rather analytical turn of mind, he was delighted to see that there is a Biblical mandate for all Christians to be analytical: I Thessalonians 5:21 (NIV) says "Test everything. Hold on to the good." That, coupled with Paul's exhortation to teach what "the Holy Ghost teaches," not depending on man's wisdom (I Corinthians 2:11-14), and the commendation of the Bereans, who "searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11), pretty much define Dave's life, in the spiritual realm, as well as the natural realm. In the mid-1970s, Dave heard a sermon in which he was exhorted to "know what you believe and why you believe it," and he has been trying to put that into practice ever since. He has been known to abandon long-held beliefs when someone showed him that they were incompatible with Scripture; that attitude seems to be necessary if we want to continue to grow in the Lord.