As the ministry of Prophecy Today moves into a new era, it is good to look back to what we were saying thirty years ago.

The ministry of Edmund Heddle...

From the very first issue, through many years, the late Edmund Heddle was a regular contributor, writing on the Biblical Prophets and what they teach us. Edmund was a Baptist Minister whose ministry culminated as Warden of the prayer centre at Ashburnham Place.

His Bible teaching brought a major contribution to the PWM regional conferences as well as to Prophecy Today. He was a pastor to the PWM team as well as a Bible teacher.

I recall his preparations for the next topic for his Prophecy Today article as we travelled from town to town. He would sit quietly in the back of the car and prayerfully ponder his way through the countryside. Then after each regional meeting he would remind us that it was our responsibility to pray for the people in the town we had just visited.

Good memories of Edmund come flooding back. He is missed as our work goes forward into the next generation. Yet, he has left a heritage. His teaching articles are still with us and are as relevant today as they were thirty years ago.

The early articles

In the first edition of Prophecy Today (March/April 1985), Edmund asked the question, “what is a Prophet?” This article reflected an important principle, which continues to underpin our work: a prophet is not to be seen as a foreteller predicting the future like astrologers seek to do, but a forthteller, a spokesperson for the God of the Bible.

A prophet is found listening to God and speaking or writing accurately what has been commissioned. The Biblical Prophets were men anointed with God’s Spirit. They stood in the Lord’s council and were privileged in that the Lord shared His secrets with them. As Edmund said, they were,

…men called by God, on whom the Spirit had fallen, becoming a ‘mouth for God’ in their generation. Today as never before, there are homes, communities and nations that desperately need to hear what God in his love is yearning to say to them. Nothing, therefore, could be more important than the recovery of the ministry of prophecy today.

In the second issue (May/June 1995), Edmund considered the calling of a prophet. He took the examples of Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, Hosea, Jeremiah, Amos, Micah and Ezekiel to illustrate the variety of circumstances and characteristics of God’s chosen ministers. The central teaching was that no prophet is self-appointed. God chooses them. They are commissioned by God and made directly responsible to Him. Edmund made it clear that the expectations on the character of the prophets were very high, and concluded,

No prophets could ever meet such demands from their own resources. It is essential to the carrying out of their calling that the anointing of the Spirit has come down upon them (Zech 4:6). All we have discovered about the prophets of the Old Testament applies equally to those whom God is calling to the ministry of prophecy today.

In the third issue of Prophecy Today Edmund considered the Spirit of Prophecy. He delved deeply to bring understanding that the central role of a prophet is understood through Revelation 19:10 – “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy”, thereby urging us to understand that,

all true Christian prophesying will be distinguished by the fact that it points to Jesus and promotes his honour. For this is what the Spirit of prophecy is constantly urging all true prophets to do.

Still relevant today

Issue after issue of the ministry of Prophecy Today has been anchored by such teaching – a teaching that is as relevant today as it was then. It is good to look back as we go forward once more, so we will be re-publishing selected articles from the original print issues in an online archive.

Looking back to go forward in the right way

Edmund’s teaching is reliable because it is firmly rooted in the Scriptures, drawing on what we learn from the Prophets of Israel and Judah. We look back to his teaching and in so doing find ourselves looking back into Biblical history. This is the way that God would have us go.

A disciple of Jesus, whether called to the prophetic ministry or called to some other ministry, has been likened to a man rowing a boat. As he rows forward he is always looking back to where he has come from. Our present and future history is connected with our past. Our ministry is defined through what God has said and done through His people over all ages.

Prophets of former ages point not to themselves but to the God of history who gave us the Bible as the essential written record of His Story (as Edmund Heddle would put it). That is still to be the hallmark of prophecy today.