The Truth About Prophecy That Most Charismatics Won’t Admit
Reclaiming Prophetic Integrity in a Culture of Confusion
Remember, I am a Charismatic pastor writing to Spirit-filled believers. And for those who aren’t Charismatic or Pentecostal, if you are a Christian, I think you have the Spirit as well, so read on if you like.
Before His ascension, Jesus told His disciples that He had more to teach them, but they could not bear it at that moment. He promised that the Holy Spirit would come to guide them into all truth, speaking to them and preparing them for what was to come, including prophetic revelation or prophecy.
We need to have a serious conversation about what we Charismatics are calling prophecy. Over the past 30 years, I’ve attended schools of the prophets, prophetic roundtables, and even laid hands on people for an 'activation' of the gift. But after all this time, one thing has become clear: the popular way of teaching prophecy simply isn't working.
The fruit isn’t there. It’s not producing what the Bible says prophecy should produce. And in fact, in many cases, it’s doing more harm than good.
Thus Says the Lord
About 20 years ago, I went with a prophetic friend to minister at a church. He had been conducting a school of the prophets and wanted to hold a kind of graduation ceremony. We were there to minister prophetically, but he also wanted his recent graduates to participate. I remember it like it was yesterday. A woman gave me a word that was so far off base I almost wondered if she was still talking to me. She ended her time by telling me who my wife and I were supposed to submit to. Then, as she went to hand the mic back to my friend, she turned around and said, “Oh yeah. Thus says the Lord.”
I almost laughed. It was so silly. The only thing she got right was that I was married.
Prophetic Schools
In Charismatic circles, teaching people how to prophesy is completely normal. But the way we are “teaching” prophecy denies Paul’s rhetorical question: “Are all prophets?” (1 Corinthians 12:29). Today’s church seems to give an emphatic YES! But if we’re all prophets, why would we need prophets?
I understand the desire for “...that all the Lord’s people were prophets” (Numbers 11:29) and Paul’s “...especially that you may prophesy” (1 Corinthians 14:1). I’ve read Stronstad’s The Prophethood of All Believers, but what we’re seeing today isn’t that. Saying that God the Spirit can inspire anyone is the opposite of saying anyone can learn to “grab a word” whenever they want.
My Overcorrection
After a trip to Bethel Redding to attend a Leader’s Advance, I connected with Kris Vallotton, found his Basic Training for Prophetic Ministry, and began using it for prophetic training. I was relieved to find guidelines and order, and my concerns were somewhat alleviated.
In these teachings, prophecy shifted from “Thus says the Lord” to words that edify, exhort, and comfort. While this is biblical, it’s far from the whole counsel of God. Suddenly, anyone who could come up with something encouraging was “prophesying.” And all of a sudden, becoming a prophet was as easy as buying a book. The Amazon page for Vallotton’s book literally says:
Have you been called by God to be a prophet?
Learn how to develop your calling and increase the strength of your gifts from someone who has given hundreds of prophetic words worldwide
I still don’t know what a “stronger gift” means, but sign me up!
Here’s the problem: in the recorded history of humanity’s interactions with God, prophecy has never looked like this. Not in Jesus’ ministry. Not in the book of Acts. Not in Paul’s writings. And the bigger concern is that this isn’t even a concern!
Paul’s encouragement to use gifts for unity has been taken out of context and turned into the sum total of prophetic ministry.
What’s at Stake?
There is a disregard for the third guideline Yahweh gave the children of Israel as they came out of slavery and into freedom: "Never say I said something I didn’t say." Yet here we are. Teaching people to just say whatever comes to mind and tag on a casual, "Oh yeah, thus says the Lord."
Beyond encouraging literal blasphemy, we are robbed of genuine prophetic ministry. I have been the beneficiary of this precious ministry many times. It always blows my mind how God uses me prophetically. But if everything is prophecy, then nothing is. If every word spoken in encouragement is called prophecy, we have failed to equip believers on how to carefully weigh and handle genuine prophetic unction.
This all leads to us terribly misrepresenting God. The Baptism in the Spirit should produce an intimacy with God that makes us care more about Him and how we characterize Him. Hosting the Holy Spirit should produce a reverence that makes us cautious about what we say He said. God’s word becoming more casual is the opposite of what Spirit-filled ministry should look like.
Pastors Step Up!
We need pastors to begin to recognize and encourage the Romans 12 gift of exhortation. That’s all most of what is parading as prophecy is. The difference is when you exhort, you have to connect with people and own your words. When you prophecy you can stay at arms distance, never create community, and outsource all responsibility for the word to God.
We need pastors to not be so scared to call something a false prophecy. I am not talking about being a heresy hunter. But we do need to root out some heresy. I did an entire Tik Tok series on “God didn’t say that” where I played videos of prophecies and ended the video with, “God didn’t say that.” Here is something that recently popped up on social media feed:
God didn’t say that. If there is a grace greater than the resurrection and ascension I must have missed that week in seminary. But I’m pretty sure God is not actually extending grace for repentance and spiritual awakening for a limited time and only announcing it through one guy on Twitter.
Despise Not Prophecy
I have no suggestions about national prophetic ministers. Mostly because I don't believe in their legitimacy. But for the pastors who care about helping their congregation navigate this well, here are a few of my humble suggestions:
Teach on biblical prophecy. It was always redemptive in nature. The words of judgment were always followed by words of reconciliation. If people have a word that does not reflect the redemptive life of Jesus, tell them to come back when they get the second half.
Give people agency. Just as one person thinks they have a word from God, the person on the receiving end is fully empowered to ignore it. Nobody gets to boss anyone around with a prophetic word. Nobody in the congregation gets to speak for God. Each person tells what they perceived God speaking but they never have the full revelation because if it is a real prophetic word, it was not spoken to them, it was to be delivered through them for the interpretation and application to be determined by the recipient within their circle of trusted advisors.
Require people to submit prophetic words to you in writing. You will find that the people who don’t’ have time to carefully write words with proper grammar (to the best of their ability) are not bearing the holy. If it’s not important enough to be proofread, it’s not important enough for you to judge it. If you have this rule, God knows, and He can give a word that matches your timeframe. Nobody ever has to be allowed to stand up and yell in your service if you don’t want them to. And nobody gets to appoint themselves the leader of a meeting.
Teach people to be Spirit led encouragers. “I really feel like you are going to make it through this somehow” is a really good word. It’s a biblical word. And it’s a word for anyone in any situation. That is not the “Word of the Lord.” That’s being a good Christian who is being compassionate by the Spirit. That is a word that connects one person’s heart to another person’s pain. That’s what we desperately need. Encourage that.
When someone brings a word, ask them its origin. Have them explain precisely where it came from. Did you hear something? Did someone say something and it came to mind? Did it jump out of the Bible when you were reading? Did an angel visit you? Did you have a dream? Describe for me the dream, in detail. Ask clarifying questions. I have found that when I am receiving a word from someone in my church, I get more understanding from how they heard the word than what they think the word was or how they think I am supposed to apply it.
Create a culture where if you allow people to prophesy, make them follow up on their prophetic words. If you are going to give a word, you have to be willing to own it and receive feedback. Nobody gets to stand above the community and prophesy. That’s not how it works. If you aren’t going to walk with me through this word, I’m not interested. That’s what the prophets of old did. That’s what Peter gave his life to, just like Jesus.
Most of all, teach prophecy as a community activity. There are people who get a word, people who receive a word, and people who test and judge a word. So there are at least three involved. The Holy Spirit gives gifts as He wills and they should foster community not separate someone from the community as special.
Give grace to people who get it wrong. But be honest, brutally honest with the prideful.
Finally, even in this day and age, despise not prophecy. God is still talking. He is still working in ways we can’t imagine. And He still has more to teach us, sometimes we are just
not ready yet.
This article is a blessing! I was really hoping the "national prophetic ministers" would go away after the 2020 election debacle, but somehow they persist.
Fair minded and insightful as always brother.