THE FALLACY OF DENYING THE ANTECEDENT IN PROPHETIC MINISTRIES

 

 By Rev Michael Benson Ajayi 

 "So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it. " Romans 9:1

  "Although the fig tree shall  not blossom, neither shall fruit  be in  the vines; the labour of the olive shall  fail, and the fields shall yield no meat;  the flock shall be cut off from the fold,  and there shall be no herd in the stalls:  18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy  in the God of my salvation." Habakkuk 3:17

     The born again life is determined by the holy Spirit. The Bible says them that are led by the Holy Spirit are sons of God. Being led by the Holy Spirit does not mean a person would no longer use their brain. Failure to use common sense ( wisdom) in our daily judgments and dealings can be disastrous. 

    One way of putting aside wisdom is the fallacy of denying the antecedent. This is what is used by many self acclaimed prophets as an escape rout when their predictions fail.

    This is how it works. A prophets speaking to about ten thousand persons saying God is going to raise billionaires in a year's time on the condition that they give a certain amount of money as seed to him, prayed and fasted for 30 days .

   At the end of the year not up to two become billionaires through their businesses or ponzi scheme and when the poor congregation begins to question the prophecy , the crafty prophet now claims those who could not make any money did not have faith enough or they violated the laws governing religious fasting.

    There are so many of such examples in our religious centres and this is the reason why many persons are giving up on religion completely. 

  In the first place Jesus Christ is not a promoter or member of any religion , he healed the sick on the Sabbath which was against Jewish laws and customs which eventually resulted in his death and thank God for the resurrection. Secondly, miracles are for free, no payment needed (Matthew 10:8)

   The prophecy by the prophet is a Conditional  Statement consisting of two parts An Antecedent and secondly a Consequence .

 The antecedent always with ' IF ' and the consequences comes with THEN. 

If A then B

If not A therefore not B. Example:

 If beer is free , students are happy 

Beer is not free , therefore students are not happy . This presupposes that happiness only comes from drinking free beer. That's not true. 

In identifying a fallacy of denying the antecedent we are seeking to disprove a thing, by showing how it can be caused by something else. Then show that the cause does not happen (then assume that this proves the antecedent is also false). In this case we prove that you can become a billionaire by being creative in business.

  Applying this to the prophecy, the prophet is presupposing that fasting and prayers was the Only way to be a billionaire. This denies the truth that there are genuine businessmen with creative ideas that have turned them into billionaires.

     So the unsuspecting church members are misled . Jesus thought  us to seek his counsel and it involves common sense. The word of God is truth (17;17) Truth is logical and factual , therefore  our faith should be a reasonable faith.

  We are reminded in  Habakkuk 3:17;about how unpredictable some aspects of human life is for instance you cannot predict how many times you shall turn on your bed while asleep .  Simply put, things don't always walk out as planned  but regardless of the outcome , all things work together for good.

 Prayer: Heavenly father forgive me of my sins against you I believe that Jesus Christ died and was raised again for my salvation , I receive him as lord and saviour and ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit and power to preach the gospel .

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