The Shepherd’s We Need in this Prophetic Crisis

What happens when pastors stay silent and prophets go viral?

We live in crazy times but I think the greatest threat to the Charismatic church isn't the culture raging outside our walls, but the insidious confusion festering within them. The real fight isn’t against the voices crying God isn’t real but from unchecked voices claiming to speak for God. Not all deception comes from the world. Some come wrapped in Christian language, claiming divine authority.

Jesus never had a problem with the world, He had a problem with leaders who could not or would not see the truth. And we are seeing that play out today with the proliferation of false prophets, apostles, and teachers.

I’ve seen firsthand what real prophetic ministry looks like. It’s simple, Spirit-led, and grounded in community.

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This past Sunday we had a testimony in our church. There was a member who was being tormented by a supervisor at work. It became a bit of a mental health crises. They wound up taking a few weeks off work to care for a relative but was dreading going back to their job because of this supervisor. In that time I had a word in the middle of my message. I got the clear impression that someone was being tormented and that the torment would return to the tormentor. I said, “It’s going to be like I’m rubber, you’re glue. It bounces off me and sticks on you.”

I knew it was silly. But that’s what I heard. When I shared this word, I didn’t say it was for the world. It wasn’t for everyone who wanted it to be for them. But it was for someone.

In the testimony, they said just before they returned to work that supervisor was fired and they instantly remembered the prophecy that was given in service. They knew that God had heard their cry and liberated them from this torment.

This is what it looks like when prophetic ministry is rooted in the local church and submitted to Christ. But sadly, what we’re seeing in the wider charismatic world today looks very different.

I believe in prophecy. I believe in prophets. I believe in apostles. But I also believe Jesus was serious when He warned His disciples to beware of false ones. That warning wasn’t an afterthought. It was a command to the people He was preparing to lead the Church after His ascension.

I know that many charismatic pastors are quietly concerned. They see self-appointed "national prophets" claiming to speak for God, untethered from Scripture and unchecked by any meaningful accountability. Much of what is being portrayed as prophecy today would fall under the biblical phrase of vain imaginations, prophecies stemming from human desires or thoughts rather than a genuine divine impression.

I regularly wonder how many Christians died because of the false prophecies about COVID leaving within a month. I wonder how many people wound up in jail after January 6th because they believed the political prophecies. I also wonder how God's justice will be displayed against those who caused these young ones to stumble. This is sobering to me, and it should be to every pastor and leader reading this.

Instead of confronting the issue, many pastors remain silent. Some stay silent out of fear, others out of uncertainty of how to confront these things, and some because they're afraid of being labeled as critical or divisive or not being spiritual enough.

Jesus Warned Us

Shepherds aren't called to follow the prophets. They are called to shepherd the flock against the wolves in sheep's clothing.

Jesus didn’t leave us guessing about this. He told His disciples to watch out for false prophets who look harmless but prey on the people of God. He said some would even use His name, perform signs, and still be lawless. That’s not speculation. That’s red-letter warning.

And yet here we are, in a time when spiritual leaders are more afraid of being called judgmental than of failing to protect their people. If Jesus said false prophets would come, and even perform signs, then why are we so hesitant to question what we’re seeing?

For leaders in the Church, discernment is not suspicion. It’s obedience.

Paul Named Names

Paul didn't speak about it vaguely in his apostolic role. He named names. He didn't treat error as a minor issue or a private disagreement. He confronted it openly and unapologetically for the sake of the gospel and the safety of the believers.

• Hymenaeus and Alexander (1 Tim. 1:19-20): Paul says he "handed them over to Satan" so they might learn not to blaspheme.

• Hymenaeus and Philetus (2 Tim. 2:17-18): He says their teaching is like gangrene, upsetting the faith of some (Hymenaeus got the double dose).

• Alexander the Coppersmith (2 Tim. 4:14-15): He warns Timothy to watch out for this man.

• The Judaizers (Gal. 1:6-9): Paul says they should be accursed.

• The "super-apostles" (2 Cor. 11:13-15): He calls them false apostles who disguise themselves just as Satan does.

This from the man called “the apostle of grace.” Paul believed in apostles. He also believed in calling out false ones. He wasn’t being sectarian or a hater, he cared enough about his people to protect them from false teachers at the danger of his own reputation.

These false ministers were a problem because they were influential. Paul had enough integrity to speak out against popular ministers who were teaching a false gospel at his own peril.

Photo by Ivan Zhuldybin on Unsplash

Real Shepherds Guard Doctrine

The early church leaders carried this apostolic mantle. Take Irenaeus. Writing in the second century, he called out false teachers like Valentinus and Marcion by name. Why? Because their twisted teachings were hurting real people. He famously warned that error often looks more convincing than the truth to the untrained eye.

A generation later, Tertullian chimed in. He didn’t mince words. Heretics, he said, don’t teach Scripture. They use it, like a tool, to manipulate and mislead.

These weren’t academic debates. These were pastors doing what pastors do: naming danger and protecting the flock. Apostolic ministry has always involved drawing a hard line around the truth of the gospel.

But in today’s charismatic world, people seem to graduate above the Church to national ministry. The idea of a prophet with a national platform who speaks without correction or accountability just isn’t in the New Testament. Prophets in the early church weren’t influencers. They were part of a local body, and their words were weighed by others in the community.

And God knows we can’t wait for national apostles to correct national prophets. These folks got too much wrapped up in book deals and conferences to jeopardize upsetting anyone.

That’s what makes today’s situation so troubling. We’ve created a version of prophetic and apostolic ministry that’s disconnected from community and immune to correction. Instead of being tested in the church, these voices have become elevated above it.

There were no celebrity prophets in Scripture. There were only faithful ones and false ones. And you could tell which was which because you lived life with them.

Brave Pastors Are the Answer

Given this landscape, where does the true responsibility lie? It falls squarely on the shoulders of the local church pastor.

Let’s face it, the only people looking out for the average believer is the local church pastor. That super prophet isn’t going to deal with the fallout of their false prophecy. That super apostle isn’t going to flesh out with someone how their false hermeneutic distorts the teaching of Jesus.

Nope, it’s going to have to be the pastors. People like you and me who are in it for the people Jesus died for.

We have to be brave enough to tell our people:

• Just because someone has a healing gift does not make them an apostle.

• Just because someone sells lots of books does not make them a national leader.

• Clicks, likes, and plays does not qualify someone to be a prophet.

• When someone has a vision nobody in the history of the church has had, it more likely makes them a heretic than a prophet.

• And not for nothing, we need to teach our people that Jesus called himself a pastor. Not a prophet. Not an apostle. A shepherd. And that’s who we are.

We take care of the people of God.

Maybe you are intimidated to say that guy who has not had a prophecy come true in 30 years is a false prophet, but you can begin to equip your church with critical language.

When the latest prophecy of doom or domination comes, ask questions that require critical thinking to answer:

“What’s their track record been like?”

“I’m not sure that’s biblical. Can you research that in Scripture?”

“If history tells us anything, God is not talking to these people about elections or healthcare. Why do you think they keep giving these words even when they keep getting them wrong?”

If you're a pastor, start by teaching your people how to test prophecy. If you're a believer, ask your leaders to help you grow in discernment.

The goal is not to be critical, it’s to be courageous. We can’t control the culture. But we can protect our churches. We can preserve the gifts of the Spirit without surrendering to deception.

I’m convinced, the solution isn’t silence. It’s faithful, anointed, brave shepherds.