Here a prophet, there a prophet


I've been thinking a lot about prophecy recently.  A lot of it because, at least in Charismatic/Pentecostal circles, there seems to be a lot of "prophecies" and prophets wanting to sell these prophecies around.  So I've been trying to reach back in my brain to my Lee University days and remember what I learned about the markers of a prophet.  I learned a lot in classes about prophets and prophecy, but I learned a lot more by hearing actual prophets.

The textbook definition of a prophet is someone who forth-tells or fore-tells the word of God.  So it's someone that brings forth God's word for a nation, a church, a situation; or someone that can tell the future; or both.

Now because I've grown up in Pentecostal circles, I am extremely cautious when a "prophet" wants to start telling the future.  There was always someone trying to sell a book to predict when Jesus would come back or when God would judge America or when we would be attacked by terrorists again.  One of the distinctives of these false prophets that I have gathered over time is that most of the time they use a lot of stagemanship, flash, hype in order to work up the emotions of the crowd they are selling to.  They like to stir up fear or anger also.  And all of the time they are trying to sell you something or sway your political ideas.  Prophets and politics are always a fun combination.    Their books, conferences that you have to pay a ton of money for but only there can you get a special "prophetic impartation".   They want to sell you a subscription to their special prophetic newsletter where you can get "inside intel" on what God is doing in the world.  They want to make money off of people.  That's what they want to do.

So how do we discern what is real
and what is false?  How can we discern what God is doing in the world?  The simple answer?  The Bible.  But wow that's not so simple, is it?  The Bible can be used in a lot of weird ways, huh?  Used to justify slavery, used to oppress people, used to create entire doctrines that aren't at in line with the story in scripture.  So what do we do?   Well I think to be discerning we need to learn how to read scripture as literature.  It is a collection of books, but there is a whole story to the narrative.  Simply put the story is: Creation, Fall, Promise, Incarnation, Death, Ressurection, Age to Come.  The role of prophets of scripture is calling the people of God to repent for their sin by speaking truth to power, bringing forth the good news of the Messiah, warning people of God of coming judgement, and calling the people of God to live in a counter-culture community of neighborliness (The Kingdom).  That's why there are the continual themes of loving your neighbor as yourself, caring for the poor, being generous, showing hospitality, making peace.  These are all distinctives of the Kingdom of God.  That's a basic, basic understanding.  There are plenty of good scholars that expound on these things way better than I can.  Chris Wright, NT Wright, and Walter Brueggeman just to name a few.

But I think an even easier guide we an use is found in Luke chapter 4.  Jesus had just spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting and praying and being tempted by the devil.  He returns to town and goes to the synagogue and reads his mission statement:  "The spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor".  He is quoting Isaiah 61, which is signifying to the people in the synagogue (who know the book well) that HE is the messiah, the anointed one, that he is the fulfillment of the prophesies.

The prophets throughout scripture echo the themes in this mission statement by Jesus.  Good news for the poor, set the oppressed free, release prisoners, sight to the blind, hope, peace, restoration, new creation, etc....This is why prophets speak, this is their message, and it's all about Jesus and the kingdom he brings.  The kingdom the prophets call us to imagine and live is about loving your neighbor as yourself, caring for the poor, being generous, showing hospitality, making peace, being kind to foreigners, etc.  Jesus further describes his coming Kingdom in the Beatitudes.  So this is the lens that I personally use to help me discern what is real and what is false prophecy.  What's interesting is that for me, it's not about accurately predicting the future.  Psychics can do that.  Soothsayers can do that.  We are warned about false prophets in the Bible.  It's my understanding that scripturally speaking, the test of a prophet is simply faithfulness to Jesus.

Another thing to consider is the act of selling prophesies.  God gives his forgiveness of sins freely.  We come to Jesus, we repent of our sins, and he makes all things new again.  He makes us clean.  We don't have to buy his forgiveness with money.  This is why Martin Luther railed against the Catholic Church for selling indulgences (forgiveness of sins).  It was demonic to take advantage of people that didn't have the Word Of God for themselves for profit.  God's grace is not for sale.  In the same way, The Holy Spirit is not for sale.  God gives his gifts of the spirit freely, to whomever asks.  He gives so many good gifts to his people and the spiritual gifts edify his church.  When a "prophet" starts selling high-priced tickets to his or her conferences and states that you can only get a certain measure or "impartation" of God's gift by coming to THEIR conference, RUN. THE. OTHER. WAY.  If you want more of God, if you want the Holy Spirit to fill your life with power, with love, with authority, THAT'S AWESOME.  Seek it.  Pray for it.  Join with your local body of believers and seek God together.  And he will give it to you.  FREELY.  Because THE HOLY SPIRIT IS NOT FOR SALE.  He will give you his presence and his power if you seek him.  That's it.  You don't need some sweet talking "prophetic" scoundrel to sell you God's gifts of the Holy Spirit because It's not for humans to own or buy or sell and trying to teach that idea is absolutely from HELL.  It's demonic and not of God, I don't care how many scriptures that person quotes, if what they are teaching is that you need THEIR BOOK or THEIR CONFERENCE or THEIR "SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE" to get closer to God, they are absolutely a false prophet.  If you want to know what God is doing in the world, read the prophets in the Bible.  Read about Jesus, and seek his kingdom.

A True prophet of God has spent much of their time and life in scripture, in prayer.  They know the story.  They know the transforming power of the gospel.  They know that it is good news for the poor and the speak it and live it.  The know the power of the resurrection to make everything new in this broken world and they embody and teach and live the power of the resurrection.  When a true prophet speaks, people are overcome by the spirit of God and drawn to repentance and the grace of Jesus floods over them in healing and restoration.  A true prophet of God echos the voices of the prophets of the Bible.  And a true prophet of God is there to serve, not to acquire any money or wealth by selling prophecies because a true prophet of God knows that our good God gives his grace freely and a prophet of God wants to share that with everyone.  The motive is love for God and love for people.  A true prophet of God speaks truth to power when necessary and inspires groups of people to imagine the beauty of the kingdom of God...as described in scripture.   They don't create entire doctrines that aren't in the story.  A true prophet of God understands Jesus' words that "my kingdom is not of this world" and does not seek to overthrow politics and governments because Jesus didn't do that.   There are a lot of true prophets, or people with the gift of prophecy, but they more than likely are no some of the bigger names we hear about.  They are more than likely the faithful servants in local churches or teachers in colleges and seminaries or local pastors.  They are love and fire, for God, for the kingdom, for people.

It's so important for God's community to use wisdom and discernment when hearing all of these different prophecies thrown our way.

So when a prophet is giving a word to you individually or regarding a church or a nation, here are a couple questions you could ask yourself:
1.  Is this bringing me closer to Jesus?
2.  Does this fall in line with the message of the prophets in scripture?
If the answers to these questions are yes, then it's probably a good word

3.  Is this person trying to sell me something?
4.  Is this person's message antithetical to Luke 4:18-19 or the message of the prophets in scripture?
5.  Does this make me feel further from Jesus?
If the answers to these questions are yes, you probably need to disregard what this person is saying.

This is not by any means exhaustive but I think it's good for the body of Christ to use discernment and to have the tools to be able to discern well.

I believe in all of the gifts of the spirit and when I have encountered a message from a person that was speaking prophetically, I have been moved deeply and often convicted of my sin but brought to a new awareness of God's grace as well.  When I have heard false prophets, I sense anxiety and fear and confusion.

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