The standard for prophetic accuracy in Old Testament days was pretty strict. One false prophecy and you could be stoned to death. Deuteronomy 13 makes it pretty clear about the treatment of a blatantly false prophet who prophesied to mislead the people of God …
Deuteronomy 13: 5 “That prophet or dreamer must be put to death … You must purge the evil from you.”
I’m sure many a would-be prophet took great care after that law was introduced. The prophetic ministry in Old Testament days is different to that of the New Testament – but that does not mean prophesying should be any less carefully conducted and prophecies properly weighed, confirmed and offered. The Old Testament prophets were called directly by God – often in extraordinary ways. Their ministries, although often not properly honoured by kings and leaders in their day were later, with the help of hindsight, revered and preserved in the scriptures. In the New Testament Jesus, Himself, hinted more than once that a new ministry of the prophetic word emerge. For example …
"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you.”
John 16:12-14 (NIV)
None of the apostles were ever designated prophets, as such, but they did prophesy, and so did the many believers who followed them. Holy Spirit is still leading us today, too - Romans 8:14 (NIV) “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” The apostle Paul very clearly explained that there were, indeed, those in the church called to be part of the prophetic ministry and who would be given spiritual gifts of prophecy in order to do so. This ministry is not about governance, but about encouragement, strengthening, comforting and inspiring the people of God, and more. Prophecy in the church today is not only biblically valid, but more important than ever. From the proven prophetic person it evokes enormous encouragement and hope for God’s people. The pleasing thing in these last 30 years, or so, is that God has been restoring the prophetic ministry to the church.
But I have a concern.
There is a flood of prophetic voices today – not many of them are truly prophetic. Almost anything is deemed a prophecy these days, and there is little accountability. There are YouTube “prophets” arising everywhere. One, that has caught my eye this last year, or so, dramatically and insistently prophesied that Donald Trump would be re-elected president of the United States in a landslide. God told him. Not once – dozens of times, he “prophesied” this. Then when Mr Trump lost the election, this same “prophet” prophesied that before the inauguration of Mr Biden, Mr Trump would be miraculously reinstated as president once all the court cases had proved the election was “stolen” by Mr Biden. He wasn’t. It never happened. Nothing was stolen. But this man continued to prophesy that Trump was God’s anointed instrument for this coming season, and later, he announced that God had changed his mind. Really? The fact that this man prophesied so loudly and so often, and so completely inaccurately, doesn’t seem to have diminished his supporter base. Few voices have spoken in censure. But now he is prophesying terrible things coming upon America. The apostle Paul reminds us that we see in part and thus prophesy in part (1 Cor. 13), we don’t see it all, or know it all – we can be inaccurate and need to own it when we are. I know I have got some things wrong in the past. But, we need to humbly acknowledge where we’ve missed the mark, correct the record, and keep learning. Hold on to what is good, and dump the rest. But not this man – and no one seems to be that concerned. Many Christians are infatuated with him. And he is not the only one – there are many self-described and self-appointed “prophets”. A predictive prophecy that didn’t come true? No matter – just gloss over it and keep going to the next one, and the next. It doesn’t seem to matter. Oh, but it does!
Jesus said of false prophets: Matthew 7:20 (NIV) “… by their fruit you will recognise them.”
There is also a growing number of “prophetic” voices who often begin by saying, “I declare this, or that over our nation, or city, or government (whatever it is) …” “Declaring” something doesn’t make a prophesy. This “declaring” thing is way more than a stylistic thing, it is really off. I could go on …
All of this is damaging to the genuine prophetic ministry of the church. It spooks people and breeds cynicism and fear – the very opposite of what this ministry should do. Dear friends, please be careful of what you are viewing and reading on the internet. Many have established their own prophetic soapboxes. Look for the fruit – carefully check track records, credentials, backgrounds and so on. What was said? Did it eventuate? Is it biblically sound? How have they handled mistakes and gracious correction from other leaders? To their eternal credit some have admitted they were mistaken and have humbly explained how they may have initially misheard God’s voice which helps in all of us guarding against similar errors in the future. God bless them! Meanwhile, those of us who might be tempted to tell them, “I told you so” ought to remember that God requires the same humility from us (Gal. 6:1; 1 Thess. 5:19–20).
There are some who, in my considered discernment are true prophetic voices whose fruit is good and God-honouring and has soundly stood the test of time. The late David Wilkerson is one such; James Goll and Ed Traut are others today. Humble men with clearly good fruit. There are not many, are there? I think for good reason.
Our school of the prophetic is always at great pains to be very careful in the weighing and conveying of prophetic encouragement to bless the church – not scare it witless, or recklessly bring into disrepute the Gospel and Christ’s Church. We are learning all the time – and not giving up. It would be a sin to throw the baby out with the bathwater when a mistake is made. And so, we press on to mature the prophetic ministry, and encourage God’s people.
I won’t name and shame here, I think that’s quite wrong. But if you want your pastor’s discernment on what to avoid - and why - drop me a line. Then you weigh things from there.
You are loved, so very much.
Ps Milton