Predictions

At the beginning of this year one prominent Christian broadcaster made his annual predictions about what would happen in the year of our Lord 2008. Now I don't recall his predictions but I did go back to the predictions he made at the beginning of 2007. One of the predictions, and he claims that God gave him these predictions, was that there would be a major terrorist attack on the US which may include nuclear weapons. This did not happen. What was his explanations? He said that Christians heard his predictions and prayed and thus God stopped this from happening.
Now I cannot speak for him and maybe he did hear from the Lord but I am sceptical. Does God speak to us that way today? There will be times that He does but usually He speaks through His Word. The writer of Hebrews tells us that in the past God spoke to us through the prophets but in the last days He has spoken to us through His Son, Jesus Christ.
The making of predictions has a way of bringing ridicule on the church and though we are not looking for favour from the world we cannot stand in the market place and claim that we speak for God. Many who do this, and I am not judging this broadcaster, are really using the Lord's name in vain or discrediting the name of the Lord.
What about a prophet whose prophecies do not come to pass? The writer of Deuteronomy tells us in Deuteronomy 18:21,22 that the prophet has spoken presumptuously and that is not a message from the Lord. Let us not use the name of our God lightly. This is a violation of the third commandment.