My question has to do with those individuals in the Body who claim to have received visions or angelic visitations concerning what is coming to pass. A particular incident happened to a godly man that my sister and I know. He says that he had an angelic visitation about 6 mos ago and just recently shared his experience after consulting with the pastor and leadership. The message he received is identical to one given by a close friend of his in 2008. My question is since the messages are identical, is that a confirmation of their validity, or is it an unconscious affirmation that he believes what his friend declared?
Confirmation occurs when a second person, who had no way of knowing what the first person said, delivers the same message. It takes the testimony of two or three witnesses to confirm something (Deut. 19:15). Your friend, being close to the person from whom the original vision came, is probably not sufficiently independent to offer a legitimate confirmation.
But more importantly, no matter how many people repeat it, a vision also has to conform to what the Bible has already revealed. Hebrews 1:1-2 says that Jesus is the prophet for the last days. That means all prophetic messages have to agree with what He has already said. There is no new revelation, there are only new details supporting the Bible’s original revelation.
Contrary to a currently popular opinion in some parts of the Church, personal revelations, including dreams and visions, do not carry the same weight as the revealed Word of God, and are to be viewed with a great deal of scepticism.