When I was a child, I'd hear my friends make crude lunchtime jokes about "ABC" food--as in, "already been chewed." But in the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), some prophetic words are "ABT"--as in, "already been tested." To see what I mean, check out this article, posted on a blog published by Charisma Magazine.The article, written by the NAR prophet R. Loren Sandford, is titled, "Tested Prophecy Speaks to Pre-Revival Warfare." It records a prediction that a massive outpouring of the Holy Spirit is on the way and will be accompanied by intense spiritual warfare. The claim that seems to be made--in the article's title--is that the truthfulness of this prophetic word has already been tested. Tested by whom? Presumably by NAR leaders. By what standard? We're not told.So what's the problem with "ABT" prophetic words?The problem is they promote blind faith. They encourage people to pass the buck to their leaders rather than learn to test prophetic words for themselves--on the basis of Scripture and careful reasoning. Such unquestioning acceptance would seem to be a natural result of the claim that the words have already been tested. In other words, "No need to test this prophetic word because it was already tested for you."This begs a question. Why would Charisma's editors feel the need to add the word "tested" to the title in the first place? Perhaps people in the NAR have been burned so many times by prophetic words that never materialized that an authoritative descriptor is needed to capture their attention. Or perhaps they're providing a short cut to the Bible's requirement that prophetic words be tested.But Scripture gives no indication that people are to just accept "pre-tested" prophetic words. On the contrary, they're warned repeatedly to evaluate prophetic words for themselves. The Apostle Paul told the members of the church at Thessalonica to "not despise prophecies, but test everything" (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21). He told the Corinthian Christians, "Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said" (1 Corinthians 14:29). And the apostle John warned about the presence of false prophets and urged Christians to "not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God" (1 John 4:1).Watch out for "ABT" prophetic words.