In 1 CORINTHIANS 14 Paul is giving instructions on prophecy and speaking in tongues to the Christians in Corinth, because they had been abusing these gifts and their fellowship meetings had descended into chaos. [For  more on the difference between prophecy and tongues, go to GIFTS OF SPEAKING.] Below is a summary of the main points.

1.   Prophecy is a spiritual gift to be eagerly desired because it is the privilege of speaking out for God.

2.   Because it is such a privilege it can easily be abused and so needs to be exercised with caution and tested by others gifted in this area as well as by the Body of Christ. In practice church leaders need to protect the flock from false prophets by testing every prophecy before allowing it to be given to the fellowship. This is especially true where the person claiming to have a prophetic word is nota member of the fellowship or known by the members to be a true prophet. Testing the prophecy includes testing the prophet's lifestyle. Any word claiming to be a prophecy that contradicts the Word of God is clearly not of God. And anyone unwilling to submit to godly leadership is clearly not operating under the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

3.   Not more than one person should prophesy at a time, and each prophecy
should then be tested by two or three in leadership before being broadcast.

4. True Biblical prophecy 
      causes people to repent of sin and turn back
     or is confirmed by later events

5  We should not quench the Spirit by refusing to allow God to speak through his children gifted in this way, just because it can be abused.

The answer to abuse is proper use, following the guidelines outlined above.

  on TRUE & FALSE PROPHETS