I have read that the office of Apostles and Prophets are not needed today as everything we need to know about the future is answered in scripture. How can we know that personal prophecies are real?
The word Apostle means “one sent forth with orders” so there are really many apostles, but there is no specific Office of Apostle in the church. Likewise there are many with the gift of prophecy but there is no one appointed to the Office of Prophet. That position is held by Jesus and on a grand scale He has told us everything God wants us to know about the future.
People with the gift of prophecy can give us personal information about what will happen in our future. The way you tell if personal prophecies are real is through a process called confirmation. Confirmation is when some one else who has no way of knowing what the personal prophecy is tells you the same thing, in effect confirming it. It’s an application of Deut. 19:15. “A matter must be established by the testimony of 2 or 3 witnesses.” Many people with a legitimate gift of prophecy will explain this when delivering a personal prophecy, because it protects both you and them.