Prophet defined

(Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said, “Come, let us go to the seer,” for today’s “prophet” was formerly called a seer.) 1 Samuel 9:9 

Prophets used to be called ‘seers’. The word ‘prophet’ in this verse in Hebrew is נָבִיא nabi meaning a spokesman, speaker, or prophet. Nabi comes from naba’; that means a prophet or (generally) inspired man — (prophecy, that prophesy, prophet). 

Now there have also been and are many false prophets – prophesying from a different source other than God. Usually they prophesy from their own minds but some prophesy from inspiration from other evil spirits. To those who are attempting to determine the ‘source’ inspiring the ‘prophet’ one must have spiritual discernment from God. In Paul’s letters to the Corinthian ekklesia, Paul described this ability as a ‘gift’ from the Holy Spirit called ‘discerning of spirits’. Without this ‘gift’ of the Holy Spirit one can only guess if the speaker is ‘false’ or ‘true’. For spiritual things must be discerned spiritually. (1 Corinthians 2:14)

How exactly did these prophets receive inspiration, revelation, and messages from God? 

The Hebrew word for ‘seer’ was ro’eh meaning a person / seer as one who receives through vision(s). Another Hebrew word chozeh also means ‘seer’ which referred rather to the spiritual comprehension of what was seen. All three Hebrew words nabi, ro’eh, and chozeh are used in 1 Chronicles 29:29 differentiating the different prophets of Nathan, Samuel, and Gad. All seers are prophets but not all prophets are seers. One who saw in vision or otherwise what they predicted, was a seer; whereas a prophet would sometimes speak as the Holy Spirit moved them, without seeing anything. 

Now a day before Saul came, the Lord had informed Samuel [of this], saying, 1 Samuel 9:15 AMP

The word for word translation from Hebrew is …
And Yahweh had told in his ear Samuel day one before came Saul saying, 

Most people who if they don’t have any life experiential reference with the Holy Spirit take this to mean that the Lord was speaking audibly into Samuel’s ear, whereas those who know the Holy Spirit ..know very well that the Voice of the Holy Spirit is recognized within the mind and is an ‘inner voice’ that directs the prophet. Those that ‘hear’ the Voice of the Holy Spirit can also be prophets who are not seers (or those who have visions or see into the spiritual realms).

A modern doctrine of cessationism does away with this ‘gift’ of a ‘prophet’ given to the ekklesia spoken about in Ephesians 4:11-12 by the apostle Paul. In my life experience I cannot agree with that doctrine or interpretation. I know personally those who are ‘seers’ and receive ‘messages’ from God. This ‘gift’ of the prophet to the ekklesia remains as people who are ‘gifts’ and are gifted to equip the Body of Christ for His ministry. The problem is that so many of these individuals don’t have mentors to help them grow and understand their ‘abilities’ for God’s purposes, and are often immediate cast or judged as ‘false’, because they ‘stumble’ in their delivery methods and often mixing their own words within the message or interpretation. 

This lack or vacuum within the American Church (ekklesia) has perpetrated a HUGE immaturity in the understanding of spiritual things. We need to identify these individuals early, just like the ‘other side’ does and nurture them in the Rhema and Logos Word / scriptures within a loving and accepting community of believers. There are those who are naturally ‘bent’ to see into the spiritual realms seeing demons and dark spirits, and the covens (Witches and other evil groups) attempt to identify these individuals at an early age and bring them into their fold and give them preferred treatment because of their abilities. As Christians we should not dismiss these individuals as ‘possessed’ individuals but understand what those natural abilities are and lead them into the Body of Christ where the Holy Spirit can help them understand the way they are and be able to recognize the sources of the visions and sight, and learn to dismiss the enemy’s avenues into their minds. So many within the ‘New Age’ movement have been sucked into the ‘other side’ because the Christians didn’t understand them or be able to speak their ‘spiritual’ language. 

The abilities God gives to individuals are vast and wide. Now with certain aspects of those dealing with abilities or the lack thereof who are on the ’autism spectrum’ can actually have savant types of spiritual sight and hearing. But amongst the ‘normals’ they are just seeing as ‘lacking’ and ‘less’ when they should be recognized for the gifts they actually have. I personally know of one certain young boy who has extraordinary spiritual abilities even though his autism makes speech extremely difficult yet he is VERY sharp utilizing a ‘speaking helper’ device. Caleb seems to be VERY adept in spiritual insights.

We should not dismiss these ‘gifted’ individuals but recognize them as VITAL members of the Body of Christ and LEARN from them.