We can forecast the Beast from the East...but can we recognise the signs of the times?

The weather forecasters did a good job warning us of the approach of the ‘Beast from the East’. Of course, it did not prevent many roads being closed, cars getting stuck and accidents happening: but at least we were warned in advance so that we could take precautions or change our travel plans. But how good are Christian preachers in giving forewarning to people of what is likely to happen in the nation?

Where Are Church Leaders?

There is increasing anger in the Brexit debate – people are getting fed up with constant bickering among politicians and news programmes swamped with journalists arguing among themselves – always emphasising the bad news and stirring up controversy and confusion.

Now the EU has put forward their plan, which would require Northern Ireland to stay in the European Union and would break up the United Kingdom – wilfully adding to the problems facing our negotiators and stirring divisions among Brits in the hope of causing the Government to fall and, in the resulting chaos, the decision to leave the European Union will be reversed.

The EU leaders are aided and abetted by people like Tony Blair, George Soros, John Major, and many others, who want to keep us tied into the oppressive (demonic?) institutions of the EU and their vision of an atheist, secular humanist world empire.

But where is the voice of the Church? Why do we not hear Christian preachers thundering from their pulpits about the spiritual forces of evil that are creating chaos and confusion? Could it be that they are like the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to Jesus asking for a miraculous sign? He replied,

When evening comes, you say, “It will be fair weather, for the sky is red”, and in the morning, “Today it will be stormy for the sky is red and overcast.” You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times! (Matt 16:2-3).

The weather forecasters were able to warn us of the ‘Beast from the East’ – but where are the Christian preachers able to warn about what is coming to the nation?

Wrong Theology?

Could it be that our Church leaders are unable to discern the signs of the times because they’ve got their biblical theology all wrong? Earlier this week I received an email from a minister of a London church reporting a message he had given to his congregation promising them a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit and of supernatural power to overcome the enemies of Christ because we are now in the last days leading up to the coming of Jesus!

I was horrified to read this because it is a distortion of the truth! The great shaking of the nations may lead many to give their lives to God but there is no promise that Christians will rule the world. In fact, the first words of Jesus on the subject were warnings about deception!

He also said that in the last days, nation will rise against nation, there will be an increase of wickedness with persecution and betrayal of believers, with false prophets and teachers deceiving the people and many turning away from the faith (see Matthew 24).

Isn’t this what we are seeing today? There are plenty of signs of growing tension between the nations as well as the terrible wars in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Nigeria, Myanmar, South Sudan and many more places around the world, where people are being slaughtered and vast numbers of refugees are on the move.

Could it be that our Church leaders are unable to discern the signs of the times because they’ve got their biblical theology all wrong?

Jesus also said that the Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world - and this is also undoubtedly happening today, despite all the persecution of believers and the falling away from the faith in the Western nations. The Church worldwide is growing at a faster rate than ever before in history, with vast numbers of new believers in China, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Africa and in South America.

In fact, the Gospel is even growing in the Middle East where Christians are evangelising in the refugee camps and Jesus is appearing to Arabs in dreams and visions, leading to increasing numbers of secret believers among the Muslims.

These are amazing days if we are willing to recognise the signs of the times!

Heresy in the Church

But Jesus also warned about the love of many growing cold. Peter actually says that judgment will begin with the family of God (1 Pet 4:17). And he warns about false teachers coming into the Church and “secretly introducing destructive heresies, even denying the Sovereign Lord” (2 Pet 2:1).

Christians should be on their guard against false teachings and destructive heresies that sound so attractive and appealing – promising great power to perform miracles and heal the sick. Popular prophecies today are promising that Christians are going to take control of broadcasting and TV and spread the Gospel through the mighty power they will exercise, which will enable them to take control of the Government and enforce righteous laws which will prepare the way for the Kingdom of God.

They believe that once Christians have established the Kingdom of God on earth, Jesus will return and they will present the Kingdom to him. This is the teaching variously known as, ‘Kingdom Now’ or ‘Dominionism’ or ‘Latter Rain’. But this teaching is not in the Bible!

Beware!

Many Christians in the Western nations, especially in the USA and in Britain, are embracing this dangerous false teaching. It is dangerous because Christians who imbibe these beliefs are preparing for the wrong things.

Dominionism is dangerous because Christians who imbibe these beliefs are preparing for the wrong things.

It’s like if the weather forecasters, instead of warning us that the ‘Beast from the East’ would bring snow, promised sunshine and warm temperatures so that we put on light clothing and suntan lotion instead of getting out our wellies and shovels!

The message to Christians should be, “Beware of deception!” Read your Bible and see what Jesus and the Apostles said about the days leading up to the second coming of Jesus. Lift up your heads and rejoice even in the dark days when our faith is severely tested! Maranatha! Come quickly Lord!

Words of revival in the charismatic movement. Part 1 of 2.

After looking at words of warning last week, Dr Clifford Hill turns to the many words of revival that have been given through the charismatic movement.

This article is part of a series. Click here for previous instalments.

Promises of Revival and Blessing

We look now at prophecies which contrast strangely with the warnings considered last week. By far the most popular prophecies among charismatics have been those promising renewal and speaking of days when great power and prosperity would be enjoyed by the Lord's people.

These prophecies actually pre-date the charismatic movement and began in the Latter Rain Revival movement in North America (see also the part of this series written by David Forbes). It is relevant here to note their persistence over a period of more than 50 years. Concepts which have no biblical foundation, some of which were banned as heretical in the 1940s, have reappeared time after time in the charismatic movement. They have been popularised by charismatic speakers and uncritically accepted.

A prophecy by David Minor which was given to an assembly of the Lutheran Church in the USA had a wide circulation among charismatics reaching many countries. It conveyed a message with a promise of revival preceded by a time of cleansing and purification of the Church. These were described as 'winds'. It is a long prophecy but it is reproduced here in full because of its influence in the charismatic movement.

TURN YOUR FACE INTO THE WIND

The Spirit of God would say to you that the Wind of the Holy Spirit is blowing through the land. The church, however, is incapable of fully recognizing this Wind. Just as your nation has given names to its hurricanes, so I have put My Name on this Wind. This Wind shall be named "Holiness Unto the Lord".

Because of a lack of understanding, some of My people will try to find shelter from the Wind, but in so doing they shall miss My work. For this Wind has been sent to blow through every institution that has been raised in My Name. Those institutions that have substituted their name for Mine, they shall fall by the impact of My Wind. Those institutions shall fall like cardboard shacks in a gale. Ministries that have not walked in uprightness before Me shall be broken and fall.

For this reason man will be tempted to brand this as the work of Satan, but do not be misled. This is My Wind. I cannot tolerate My Church in its present form, nor will I tolerate it. Ministries and organizations will shake and fall in the face of this Wind, and even though some will seek to hide from that Wind, they shall not escape. It shall blow against your lives and all around you will appear crumbling. And so it shall.

But never forget this is My Wind, saith the Lord, with tornado force it will come and appear to leave devastation, but the Word of the Lord comes and says, "Turn your face into the Wind and let it blow." For only that which is not of Me shall be devastated. You must see this as necessary.

Be not dismayed. For after this, My Wind shall blow again. Have you not read how My Breath blew on the valley of dry bones? So it shall breathe on you. This wind will come in equal force as the first Wind. This Wind too will have a name. It shall be called "The Kingdom of God".

It shall bring My government and order. Along with that it shall bring My power. The supernatural shall come in that Wind. The world will laugh at you because of the devastation of that first Wind, but they will laugh no more. For this Wind will come with force and power that will produce the miraculous among My people and the fear of God shall fall on the nation.

My people will be willing in the day of My power, saith the Lord. In my first Wind that is upon you now, I will blow out pride, lust, greed, competition and jealousy, and you will feel devastated. But haven't you read, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven"? So out of your poverty of spirit I will establish My Kingdom. Have you not read, "The Kingdom of God is in the Holy Ghost?" So by My Spirit, My Kingdom will be established and made manifest.

Know this also, there will be those who shall seek to hide from this present Wind and they will try to flow with the second Wind. But again, they will be blown away by it. Only those who have turned their faces into the present Wind shall be allowed to be propelled by the second Wind.

You have longed for revival and a return of the miraculous and the supernatural. You and your generation shall see it, but it shall only come by My process, saith the Lord.

The church of this nation cannot contain My power in its present form. But as it turns to the Wind of the Holiness of God, it shall be purged and changed to contain My glory. This is judgment that has begun at the house of God, but it is not the end. When the second Wind has come and brought in My harvest, then shall the end come.¹

This prophecy became influential in the charismatic movement as much for its emphasis upon 'holiness' as for the reinforcing of the expectation of supernatural power. But the concept of 'holiness' it conveyed was not biblical. The Hebrew understanding of holiness was of separation from the world. Hence the prophets could speak of the 'wholly otherness' of God. The temple vessels and priestly garments were 'set aside' from common use for the exclusive service of God.

Concepts which have no biblical foundation, some of which were banned as heretical in the 1940s, have reappeared time after time in the charismatic movement.

But this popular charismatic concept of holiness does not speak of a people 'set aside' from the world for the exclusive service of God a people who have renounced the values and ways of the world. It concentrates upon personal morality; the elementary things which all people of goodwill who accept the Ten Commandments as the basic rule of life should be following. There is nothing special about turning away from 'pride, lust, greed, competition and jealousy' which the prophecy says will cause the Lord's people to feel devastated!

In testing this prophecy, we should ask, why should this make us feel devastated? But the prophecy was never subjected to biblical testing - it was simply uncritically accepted because it sounded good and made people feel good. So it was passed around charismatic churches across the world.

Nobody queried the phrase “Have you not read, ‘The Kingdom of God is in the Holy Ghost?’", the answer to which has to be NO! It's certainly not in the Bible! Yet it is subtly used here to introduce a promise of “a return of the miraculous and the supernatural. You and your generation shall see it”.

This promise is certainly not in the Bible. Nevertheless, promises like this appeal strongly to Western Christians who long for power and prestige in a world where they feel powerless and lacking in social acceptance.

Rick Joyner’s ‘Harvest’

Another prophecy which had considerable influence in the charismatic movement was published as a small booklet entitled 'The Harvest' by Rick Joyner.² In this he predicted a time of worldwide revival and great spiritual awakening.

This was fully in line with the expectations and hopes of charismatics. It was a popular word that was eagerly received and passed on from one to another. It helped to reinforce the belief that a great and glorious, supernaturally-endowed Church was about to be raised up by God.

This belief was picked up and passed on by many charismatic leaders, who incorporated it into their teaching so that it became part of the accepted body of doctrine in the charismatic movement.

Rick Joyner’s ‘Harvest’ prophecy helped reinforce the belief that a great and glorious, supernaturally-endowed Church was about to be raised up by God.

John Wimber and Vineyard

Undoubtedly the prophecies which have had the greatest influence in directing the development of the charismatic movement have been those coming from the Vineyard/KCF ministry. The Vineyard group of churches was founded by John Wimber in 1981 and in 1989 the Kansas City Fellowship of six churches was incorporated. Their major emphasis was upon prophetic revelation.

Wimber recalls that in 1987 he himself was at a low ebb in his spiritual life. He told his congregation that he hadn't heard from God for about two years.³ Nothing was going right in his ministry. David Watson, with whom he had become firm friends, had died of cancer despite Wimber's confidence that he would be healed. Up to that time he had been saying that they were seeing a considerable proportion of healings amongst those prayed for, including the healing of cancer. He has since confessed that that was not true and they actually saw very few healings.

Wimber's cup of bitterness was compounded in 1987 by the discovery of adultery and immorality among his leaders. He struggled to rectify these things during the next year and then he records, “On December 5th 1988 Paul Cain visited me in Anaheim. Paul was living in Dallas, Texas, at that time, and he had a proven, mature prophetic ministry on a level of which I had never heard before…”⁴

Paul Cain had been out of ministry for 30 years since the death of William Branham and his days as a Latter Rain Revivalist preacher. He says that God told him to attach himself to a man with an established ministry in order to promote his teaching about an end-time 'new breed' of men anointed with supernatural power. He could hardly have chosen a more appropriate moment to approach Wimber whose ministry appeared to be on the wane and who was in a highly vulnerable condition. Cain also accurately predicted a minor earthquake in California which convinced Wimber that God had sent him.

Paul came with reassuring words that God was with us. He said, ‘God has told me to tell you in the Vineyard, grace, grace.’ He said that if we repented God would spare us from judgment for our sins. Further, I was admonished to no longer tolerate low standards and loose living in the Vineyard, and to discipline and raise up a people of purity and holiness. My role, he said, would be significantly altered more authoritative and directive…Paul Cain (and others) also introduced a new dimension of ministry and God's working to the Vineyard…We have produced few people with a prophetic ministry…quite honestly, I didn't take prophecy too seriously. All that has now changed. During this past year I have had to look at prophecy seriously for perhaps the first time in my life.⁵

Undoubtedly the prophecies which have had the greatest influence on the charismatic movement have been those coming from the Vineyard/KCF ministry.

Paul Cain was introduced by Wimber as a prophet of extraordinary spiritual power and insight. He was presented to the British churches as the herald of a new breed who would be the end-time people of God possessing extraordinary spiritual power. In the write-up prior to his public meetings in Britain it was reported,

Today it isn't unusual for Paul to call out twenty or thirty people by name in meetings and to know the most intimate details of their lives (family relationships, birthdays, secrets of their hearts, prayers, where they live) and then bring prophetic direction regarding repentance, forgiveness, calling, gifting, and ministry.

However, the most satisfying aspect of Paul Cain's ministry isn't his remarkable prophetic insight into people's lives, although naming people and knowing intimate details of their lives does catch one's attention. More significant is his clarion call by word and example to live holy lives that are submitted to God, and thus join the new breed of men and women whom God is raising up in the 1990s.⁶

This promise of a 'new breed' was central to Cain's teaching. There can be no doubt that Wimber saw Cain as a divine messenger to give revelationary confirmation and support to his own teaching of 'power evangelism', power healing and power for signs and wonders and miracles.

Speaking on Wimber's platform in Anaheim in 1989, Cain said that there was going to be a worldwide spiritual awakening and the Gospel was going to reach every part of the earth. It's going to:

...reach every cavern, every cave, every foxhole, every land, every tongue, every nation...God is going to reach them with the supernatural, with the power evangelism that John Wimber so eloquently speaks about. It is the power evangelism that's going to do it...⁷

I tell you we're in a crisis stage right now where the church is going to be forced to pray and forced to believe for the prophetic ministry because that's our only salvation. If God doesn't raise up apostles and prophets and power evangelists and pastors and teachers, then we've had it because the church is going to fade into oblivion...⁸

This 'prophecy' was based upon Latter Rain teaching and the expectation that the restoration of the offices of Apostle and Prophet would be the key to raising a glorious end-time Church to rule the world. Cain continued:

God has reserved a day after due process and after preparation. God is going to raise up a people out of a people and they're going to be a bunch of nobodies from nowhere. They may not have a lot of degrees and they may not have a lot of clout and they may not have a lot of PR, they may not have a great vocabulary, they may not even be able to do any more than groan in the Spirit, but if that's all they do, it's going to be power. It's going to be powerful and it's going to accomplish more than all the beautiful words of oratory in the world...the Lord is doing his new things in these last days. The gospel of the kingdom is not just the word, it is the word and power. The word will do you no good.⁹

It is hard to imagine what Cain meant by the phrase 'the word will do you no good' as he did not elaborate it, but when such phrases slip out it indicates something basically wrong with the preacher's attitude to Scripture. Cain's prediction that ordinary people with little education and no special status were going to be given supernatural power was a highly popular prophecy received with great acclamation.

Next week: Prophecies of revival contd.

References

1 This prophecy was given by David Minor on 6 April 1987.

2 Joiner, R, 1989. The Harvest. Distributed by Morning Star Publications, N Carolina.

3 Pytches, D, 1990. Some Said It Thundered. Hodders, London, p52.

4 'Introducing the Prophetic Ministry', article by John Wimber in Equipping the Saints, special UK edition/Fall 1990, Vineyard Ministries International.

5 Ibid pp5-6.

6 Springer, K. Paul Cain: A New Breed of Man. Ibid p12.

7 Paul Cain, speaking at 'School of Prophecy', Anaheim, Vineyard Ministries International, November 1989. Transcript of tapes published by Holly Assembly of God, Missouri; Session 7, Part 1, p6.

8 Ibid p7.

9 Ibid p7.

Prophetic warnings given within the charismatic movement during the 1970s and '80s.

After last week’s study examining biblical definitions of prophecy and false prophecy, this week Clifford Hill turns to the kinds of prophetic words that came to define the charismatic movement in the latter part of the 20^th Century.

This article is part of a series, republishing the 1995 book ‘Blessing the Church?’ (Hill et al). Click here for previous instalments.

Two Strands of Prophecy

An examination of prophecies coming out of the charismatic movement reveals two strands. On the one hand there have been prophecies giving warnings of difficult days and testing times.

Secondly, by contrast, there have been prophecies with promises of revival and restoration, predicting good times and days of prosperity.

We look this week at those prophesying testing times and the shaking of the nations.

Warnings

Some of the earliest prophecies giving warning of difficult days ahead were given in the mainline churches. The following, for example, was given in 1975 at an international conference of Catholic Charismatic Renewal Groups:

Because I love you, I want to show you what I am doing in the world today. I want to prepare you for what is to come. Days of darkness are coming on the world, days of tribulation…Buildings that are now standing will not be standing. Supports that are there for my people will not be there. I want you to be prepared, my people, to know only me and to cleave to me and to have me in a deeper way than ever before. I will lead you into the desert…I will strip you of everything that you are depending on now, so you depend just on me.

A time of darkness is coming on the world, but a time of glory is coming for my church, a time of glory is coming for my people. I will pour out on you all the gifts of my Spirit. I will prepare you for spiritual combat. I will prepare you for a time of evangelism that the world has never seen…And when you have nothing but me, you will have everything: lands, fields, homes, and brothers and sisters, and love and joy and peace more than ever before. Be ready, my people, I want to prepare you…¹

Prophecies coming out of the charismatic movement follow two strands: either giving warnings of difficult days or promising revival and prosperity.

Another prophecy, even more specific in its warnings of economic and social upheaval, came from Catholic charismatic renewal groups at a national meeting in the USA in January 1976:

Son of man, do you see that city going bankrupt? Are you willing to see all of your cities going bankrupt? Are you willing to see the bankruptcy of the whole economic system you rely upon now, so that all money is worthless and cannot support you?

Son of man, do you see the crime and lawlessness in your city streets, and towns, and institutions? Are you willing to see no law, no order, no protection for you except the protection which I myself will give you?

Son of man, do you see the country which you love? Are you willing to see no country, no country to call your own except those I give you as my body?

Son of man, do you see those churches you can go to so easily now? Are you ready to see them with bars across their doors? Are you ready to depend only on me and not on all the institutions of schools and parishes that you are working so hard to foster?

Son of man, I call you to be ready for that.

The structures are falling and changing. It is not for you to know the details now, but do not rely on them as you have been. I want you to trust one another, to build an interdependence that is based on my Spirit. This is an absolute necessity for those who would base their lives on me and not on the structures of a pagan world.²

There were many prophecies of a similar vein in the mid-1970s. One came from the USA and was addressed specifically to church leaders. It was given at an inter-denominational charismatic renewal conference which was attended by leaders of most of the mainline churches, including Pentecostals, but with the exception of the Assemblies of God. The prophecy was a strong word calling for repentance:

The Lord has a word to speak to the leaders of all the Christian churches. If you are a bishop or a superintendent or a supervisor or an overseer or the head of a Christian movement or organization, this word is for you. The Lord says:

You are all guilty in my eyes for the condition of my people, who are weak and divided and unprepared. I have set you in office over them, and you have not fulfilled that office as I would have it fulfilled, because you have not been the servants I would have called you to be.

This is a hard word, but I want you to hear it.

You have not come to me and made important in your lives and in your efforts those things which were most important to me; but instead you chose to put other things first. You have tolerated division among yourselves and grown used to it. You have not repented for it or fasted for it or sought me to bring it to an end. You have tolerated it, and you have increased it.

And you have not been my servants first of all in every case, but you have served other people ahead of me, and you have served your organization ahead of me. But I am God, and you are my servants. Why are you not serving me first of all?

I know your hearts, and I know that many of you love me, and I have compassion on you, for I have placed you in a very hard place. But I have placed you there, and I call you to account for it. Now humble yourselves before me and come to me repentant, in fasting, mourning, and weeping for the condition of my people…³

Some of the earliest prophecies giving warning of difficult days ahead were given in the mainline churches.

Another prophecy coming from within the mainline churches in the early days of the renewal movement was delivered in Canterbury Cathedral at an international Anglican conference on spiritual renewal in 1978. The message not only referred to things that were wrong within the Church but also gave an uplifting message of God's desire to restore and renew his Church.

Within this mighty edifice the stones cry out.
The stones beneath your feet cry out;
The stones beside you cry to heaven,
And these that soar to heaven cry out too.
The stones cry out - of glory and of shame.
They cry out - of time when cloud and fire
From God on high came down
And filled this place.
And some saw that and some saw not.
Some had their lives transformed;
Some went on and plodded on the way
And saw no vision of night or day,
To take them in the new and living way
Which called them on.
These stones cry out - have always cried
In thousand years of love, grace, power
And of the great consuming fire of God.
But I say to thee –
That I have greater things to make
Than this great building.
I have a living work to do
With stones that live
In infinite and gracious detail
In the quarry of my heart.
I look upon the stones that I have made,
And they are wayward stones.
From their surface chisel oft has glanced aside
And that which I did purpose has been marred;
And yet I stoop again with broken tool
To take the stone that I have made
And work again upon that stone,
That it may be as I have
Long desired that is should be...
And let these stones cry out
Of what the living stones must be...
That you may truly High exalt the Saviour's name.⁴

Ten years later also in Canterbury Cathedral, Patricia Higton gave a more specific warning that the desire for unity and good relationships with people of other faiths was leading the Church dangerously towards multi-faith worship.

I have been speaking to you of unity. And yes, you are beginning to understand that you must reflect my divine nature in its harmony. But I would say to you I am a God of creativity. The unity which I long to see amongst my children will be a diamond with many facets. Each facet will reflect something of my revelation but is of little worth unless part of the whole. So there must be a glad recognition that you belong together and need each other. But again I would warn you, my children, that my enemy is seeking to bring about a unity which is not based on my word. It will appear to have as its goal the peace of this world, but it is not centred on the cross of My Son.

I am warning you of these things for I would not have any of you deceived by wandering down the path of acceptance, leading to toleration of any form of worship which does not uphold my name and my word. The end of that path is that many will one day worship a Christ who is not my Son. The very stones of this building will witness this terrible thing, unless my church repents.⁵

This warning went unheeded and the prophecy was fulfilled the following year when a 'Festival of Faith and the Environment' was held at Canterbury Cathedral. People of all faiths and philosophies were invited to participate and were encouraged to join a 'pilgrimage' walk from temples and shrines of other faiths culminating in a multi-faith celebration in the Cathedral.

Other messages not only warned about what was wrong within the Church but also gave an uplifting message of God's desire to restore and renew it.

The multi-faith festival brought protests from evangelicals of all denominations. The protest within the CofE was led by Tony Higton, a leading Anglican charismatic, Director of ABWON (Action for Biblical Witness to Our Nation) founded in 1984. An open letter to the leadership of the Church of England opposing multi-faith worship was signed by over 2,000 clergy, which sent shock waves through the hierarchy, and the activities of Cathedral Deans who were arranging a number of multi-faith activities came to an abrupt stop. This is an indication of the power of prophetic witness to influence Church policy even in days when scant respect is paid to biblical correctness.

Five years prior to the Canterbury festival, a new magazine, Prophecy Today was launched in London by the ministry which I lead. From the beginning it carried an uncompromising biblically-based message. Its editorial policy statement reads:

It is published with the intention of conveying the word of God for our times to the people of God, and through them to the nations of the world.

We define prophecy as the forthtelling of the word of God. This was the task of the prophets in ancient Israel. It is the task of the church today…Christ wants his church to be a prophetic people proclaiming his word to his world. It was for this reason that the Holy Spirit was given to the New Testament community of believers.

We also believe that the present world situation is so serious that the very existence of mankind is under threat. In all the nations a spirit of violence and disorder appears to have been loosed that is disturbing family life, disrupting the community, overthrowing moral and social stability and threatening to lead to worldwide destruction. We believe that the root problems facing mankind are not simply economic, social or political, but spiritual, and that the Gospel is the only answer.

We note that in times of crisis in ancient Israel God used the prophets to alert people to danger and to correct their ways…so today we believe God is longing to use his church in this prophetic role in the world. The most urgent need for the nations is not to hear the opinions of men, but to hear the word of God. It is as a contribution towards the prophetic task that Prophecy Today is published.⁶

By the early 1990s Prophecy Today had reached a circulation in excess of 16,000 - the largest circulation of a Christian bi-monthly magazine in the UK. With each copy being read by an average of three persons this means that Prophecy Today was read by approximately 50,000 in the evangelical/charismatic churches. Typical of the warning note it sounded was the following prophecy:

The nation is sick and heading for massive disaster, but I hold my church primarily responsible for the moral and spiritual life of this nation. You are the watchmen of the nation and you have not been faithful upon the walls of the cities to discern the onslaught of the enemy or to blow the trumpet to warn the people of danger, so the enemy has been allowed to come in like a flood and pervade the land.

The land has been polluted by the shedding of innocent blood, by violence and pornography, by adultery and sodomy, by corruption and injustice, by greed and avarice, by oppression and unrighteousness, by lies and deceit, by witchcraft and idolatry and by a lack of compassion for the poor and powerless.

In the face of all this evil and corruption your voice is still not heard in the nation. The prophetic declaration of the word of God is not heard upon the lips of the leaders of the church. It is for this reason that the church languishes, its numbers are in decline, its finances are unhealthy and there is disunity, discord and a lack of vision.

Now is the time to repent. Now is the time to recognise your faithlessness and the way you have strayed from the paths of righteousness and failed to uphold my word in the nation. If you will now repent publicly of your own sinfulness and declare my word within the church and in the sight of the whole nation, the people will respond. If you refuse to hear this word and harden your hearts against me, you will bring upon yourselves terrible consequences as the days darken across the nations.⁷

Several prophecies that were influential in the charismatic movement were given at an international conference in Israel in April 1986. These were the first to give forewarning of the shaking of the nations, which would be accompanied by a worldwide harvest as the Church continued to expand rapidly in many nations.

The 1986 Carmel conference forewarned of the shaking of the nations, which would lead to worldwide harvest for the Church.

The shaking of the nations would be through both political and economic upheaval. One of the prophecies said that the great shaking was about to begin with the Soviet Union. Three weeks later the Chernobyl nuclear power station erupted which began the shaking of the USSR and led to its eventual demise. The following is a small part of one of the prophecies. It referred specifically to the downfall of Gorbachev and the collapse of the Communist empire:

I, only I, can overcome this evil regime. But through the prayers of my people I will break the power of this man. For this reason you should pray for your enemies. I will send a famine. It will bring the Kremlin to their knees and make them open to my word.⁸

Four years later this prophecy was fulfilled in the breakup of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact countries of Eastern Europe. It was the famine caused by the Chernobyl meltdown which began the whole process.

Next week: Prophecies of revival and good times.

References

1 Published in New Covenant, February 1978. Charismatic Renewal Services, Ann Arbor, Michigan, p4.

2 Ibid, p5.

3 Ibid, p6.

4 I am indebted to Patricia Higton of Time Ministries International (Essex) for the record of this prophecy.

5 Ibid.

6 Prophecy Today, published by PWM Trust (Bedford). Published in each edition of Prophecy Today since March 1984.

7 Prophecy Today, Vol 10 No 4, July/Aug 94.

8 Prophecy Today, Vol 2 No 4, July/Aug 86.

David Forbes finishes his chapter on the roots of the Toronto Outpouring.

This article is part of a series, republishing the 1995 book ‘Blessing the Church?’ (Hill et al). Find previous instalments here.

The British Connection

The charismatic Church in Britain was fully exposed to the Kansas City prophets with all their aberrant 'revelation' teaching and their directive personal prophecy.

They were first introduced to this country by way of a book entitled Some Said It Thundered, written by Bishop David Pytches and published by Hodder and Stoughton in the spring of 1990. David Pytches had made a visit to Kansas City the previous year and his book was an encouraging and sympathetic account of the history of the Fellowship and its prophets. John Wimber then brought a number of them to meet British charismatic leaders at a series of meetings arranged by Holy Trinity, Brompton, where he sought to convince them of the authenticity of their prophetic ministry.

Despite the fact that warnings had been given, specifically by Clifford Hill, that much more time and research needed to be put into verifying the Kansas City Fellowship ministry, the majority of British charismatic leaders happily embraced Cain, Jones and the other prophets as truly spiritually credible. In fact, a number of them went so far as to sign a statement endorsing the ministry of the Kansas City prophets as being God-given.

It is difficult to understand why so many British charismatic leaders were prepared to underwrite this ministry given the bizarre teachings which lay behind it. It can only be assumed that they saw a need to inject into their churches and fellowships the kind of excitement and promise which this prophetic movement generated.

The Kansas City prophets were first introduced to Britain by way of David Pytches’ book ‘Some Said It Thundered’.

It was obviously exciting to many charismatic Christians to be given a glimpse of super-power and great signs-and-wonders ministry, where a powerful church would rule the world for Jesus. This was a glimpse of the fulfilment of all that had been promised to them by their leaders for the previous 20 years. They even had a glimpse of possible earthly immortality. There may also of course have been a sense that the love and respect in which John Wimber was held by most charismatic leaders in the country simply covered a multitude of sins.

Expectation of Revival

David Pytches' 1990 book on the Kansas City prophets.

One of the important aspects of the visits which John Wimber and the Kansas City prophets made between July and October 1990 was that they raised the expectation for revival in the United Kingdom.

In fact, Paul Cain went so far as to prophesy that revival would surely come to Britain in October 1990. It was in the expectation of the fulfilment of this prophecy that the London Dockland Conference was arranged that October, and so high was the expectation that revival would come that John Wimber brought his whole family from America so that they could be there on the last night.

Sadly, no revival appeared, which brought disillusionment and discouragement to many in the charismatic Church. John Wimber himself undoubtedly returned to the United States a very disappointed man. He subsequently distanced himself from the ministry of Paul Cain and there even appeared to be a waning of his promotion of the whole prophetic ministry. Although Paul Cain was taken under the wing of Dr RT Kendall, of Westminster Chapel, he did not again appear to have prophetic influence over leadership in the British charismatic Church - which also appeared to put the whole question of prophecy on hold.

It needs to be stressed that the foundation for the teaching and prophetic ministry of the Kansas City Fellowship, including Paul Cain, was the tenets of the Latter Rain and Manifest Sons of God movements of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. Despite the protestations and denials that there was any association with these movements, there has never been formal renunciation of their belief in the classic Latter Rain doctrines:

• The end times restoration of the Church through specially-chosen apostles and prophets, bringing her to perfection and the 'overcomers' to immortality,
  
• A great signs-and-wonders ministry surpassing that of the Acts of the Apostles,
  
• A great worldwide revival.
  

Similarly, there has never been any statement made by British charismatic leadership as to where they now stand on their signed affidavit of July 1990 on the authenticity of the ministry coming from Kansas City. Consequently, many are left in confusion as to what is the truth about the prophetic ministry. The lack of solid biblical teaching and honest examination of these experiential events in many charismatic churches simply adds to the confusion.

There has never been any statement made by British charismatic leadership as to where they now stand on the authenticity of the ministry coming from Kansas City.

A New Disguise?

At the same time, undoubtedly there were many adherents (especially in the United States) of these movements who, although now part of the charismatic movement, hung on to their original agendas and rejoiced at whatever progress was made in fulfilling their visions.

Although both Latter Rain and the Manifest Sons of God movements lost their overt credibility by the early 1960s it appears that an underground movement for these beliefs was sufficiently strong for serious attempts to be made from time to time to hijack the charismatic renewal movement. I would contend that one such attempt was made by the prophetic movement as epitomised in the Kansas City Fellowship. I would also contend that what has been dubbed the Toronto Blessing may have been an attempt by some to resurrect the old Latter Rain and Manifest Sons of God visions.

The foreword to Richard Riss's publication on the Latter Rain movement was written in 1987 by James Watt - the same James Watt who had been part of the Sharon group at North Battleford and had inspired George Warnock to write The Feast of Tabernacles. Watt says,

In a sense, the fulfilment of the Feast of Tabernacles came forth with the blowing of trumpets from North Battleford...the Church has been in part exposed to the day of atonement. The Harvest, or Booths, is now upon us, and the time of the restitution of all things is about to take place...The early and latter rain are about to be poured out in the same month! According to Paul Yonggi Cho of Korea and twenty other prophets, the last great move of the Spirit will originate in Canada, and by seventy Canadian cities will be brought to the 210 nations of the earth before Jesus returns.

Marc DuPont, of the Toronto Airport Vineyard, who is considered to have a prophetic ministry, had reported that the Lord gave him a two-part prophetic vision in May 1992 and June 1993 of a mighty wall of water rising in Toronto and flowing out like a river into the rest of Canada.¹

DuPont believed this to be the start of a revival beginning in Toronto and reaching its climax worldwide between the years 2000 and 2005. DuPont also stated that, “This move of the Spirit in 1994 is not just a charismatic and Pentecostal experience, concerning power or gifting. It is one thing to be clothed with power; it is another to be indwelt with the Person of God”.²

DuPont did not enlarge on what he meant by being 'indwelt with the Person of God' and therefore the question needs to be asked whether he envisaged 'this move of God' as being the final fulfilment of Latter Rain and Manifest Sons of God visions.

I would contend that what has been dubbed the Toronto Blessing may have been an attempt by some to resurrect the old Latter Rain and Manifest Sons of God visions.

George Warnock was of the opinion that the manifestation of the sons of God, which would take place at the fulfilment of the 'Feast of Tabernacles', involved the Lord coming to physically indwell his people on earth. His thesis was that when this happened we would no longer have a Head in heaven and a Body on earth but we would have the one new Perfect Man who would fill both heaven and earth. This would be the fulfilment of the Second Pentecost, the early and latter rain of Joel 2. Warnock also believed that there would be a 40-year wilderness experience for the Church from the time of the late 1940s Latter Rain revivals until the Second Pentecost.

Prophesying Toronto?

Randy Clark, who introduced the 'new move of God' to the Toronto Airport Vineyard, said that the Vineyard churches had a 'prophetic foundation' for embracing the Toronto Blessing.³ He said:

We are looking for revelation from God as to what he now wants us to do with our lives and in our cities. The prophetic revelation has already been given as a foundation. This is the beginning of a great revival...But it's a fun time, a time of empowerment. There will be ebb and flow, there will be a number of waves. There is a time for an initial inflow, an initial outpouring. Then a time when God is maturing us, then a time of persecution, then a major outpouring. This is a low power time right now. Someone in Toronto prophesied: ‘I'm giving you my power now in weakness, but there's more coming’.

Clark also told us that what happened in Toronto had been prophesied by the Kansas City prophets over ten years previously. He said that in 1984, to Mike Bickle “in visitations from the Lord, the audible voice of the Lord said ‘In 10 years I am going to visit my people’".

Later, he said a prophecy was given to the Kansas City Fellowship (subsequently renamed the Metro Vineyard), “The rain is coming”. He further quoted prophecies from Paul Cain and from John Paul Jackson, another of the original Kansas City prophets, that had been given to them in the 1980s, that 1993 and 1994 would witness “this great outpouring from God”.

Clark also quoted Paul Cain as saying that at this time God was giving “sovereign vessels” who were bringing in “an outpouring of the Lord which is such that it goes beyond anything anybody alive today has ever seen or ever heard or read in church history”. Bearing in mind the prophetic record of the Kansas City prophets regarding previous revival dates, how should these predictions have been evaluated?

Rodney Howard-Browne, a South African from the Faith/Prosperity stream (he was a lecturer at Ray McCauley's Rhema Bible School) and often cited as one of the initiators of the Toronto Blessing, was fond of using the old Latter Rain and Franklin Hall 'Holy Ghost fire' imagery. Here is an example of one of his prophecies concerning the Toronto Blessing, given at Kenneth Copeland's church in September 1993:

This is the day, this is the hour, saith the Lord, that I am moving in this earth...This is the day when I will cause you to step over into the realm of the supernatural. For many a preacher has prophesied of old that there is a move coming. But it is even now and even at the door. For the drops of rain are beginning to fall of the glory of God. Yes, yes, many of you who have sat on the threshold and have said, 'O God when shall it be?' O you shall know that this is the day and this is the hour when you shall step over into that place of my glory. This is the day of the glory of the Lord coming in great power. I am going to break the mould, says the Lord, on many of your lives, and on many of your ministries and the way you have operated in days gone by. Many shall rub their eyes and shall say, 'Is this the person we used to know?' For there is a fire inside him. For this is the day of the fire and the glory of God coming into his church. Rise up this day and be filled afresh with the new wine of the Holy Ghost.

It is vital for the health and growth of the charismatic movement that we diligently go back to searching the scriptures like the Bereans.

Search the Scriptures

It can be clearly seen that there are blatant associations in this prophecy with the teachings of Franklin Hall, with the teaching of the Latter Rain movement and with the teachings of the Manifest Sons of God groups. So, we seem to have come again full circle to a further attempt to involve the Church with these non-biblical doctrines.

All of us who are sincere and committed believers, not only in God the Father and God the Son but also in a living Holy Spirit who lives within the Church as Jesus promised so that he might 'teach us all things', must rejoice when God moves overtly in the lives of his people. According to the scriptures, God is in the business of blessing us and reviving us and if we seek him we will surely find him. However, questions need to be asked regarding both the spontaneity and genuineness of much that has happened, and is happening, in the charismatic renewal movement today. How much is there of an agenda that is sweeping many of us along without us really being aware of either its beginning or end?

I would seek strongly to counsel that the time may be upon us when it is vital for the ongoing health and growth of the charismatic movement that, like the new believers in Berea, we diligently go back to searching the scriptures to see if the things we are being told are true (Acts 17:11).

References

1 Dupont, M, 1994. The Year of the Lion. Mantle of Praise Ministries Inc, Mississuaga, pp1-2.

2 Ibid, p3.

3 Randy Clark, 1995. 'A Prophetic Foundation' (audio tape message).

An overview of the Kansas City Prophets.

We draw near the end of David Forbes’ assessment of the forerunners of the Toronto outpouring, turning this week to the Kansas City Prophets. This article is part of a series, re-publishing the 1995 book ‘Blessing the Church?’. Read previous instalments here.

The Kansas City Prophets

By the end of the 1980s, the charismatic renewal movement had become used to so much extra-biblical experience and had become focused on the fulfilment of so many eschatological promises, that it was possible for thousands of British charismatic Christians and their leaders to be affected and influenced by the 'prophetic movement' as epitomised by Paul Cain and the 'prophets' from the Kansas City Fellowship in the United States.

This movement came to prominence in America as the result of first a sermon and then a published report by Ernest Gruen, a Kansas City pastor, criticising the way in which the leadership of the Fellowship were seeking to take control of the spiritual life of the city.

The situation was further promoted by the fact that John Wimber and the Vineyard churches decided to take the Kansas City prophetic movement under their wing and assume responsibility for its future behaviour.

The basic complaints being made against the Kansas City Fellowship were the use of directive prophecy to control the lives of believers and take over other fellowships, the use of 'new prophetic revelation' to determine doctrine and practice, and the promotion of an elite group of apostles and prophets centred on themselves. Part of the accusation regarding their 'new' doctrines was that it was simply a return to the old Latter Rain/Manifest Sons of God tenets.¹

By the end of the 1980s, the charismatic renewal movement was used to extra-biblical experience and had become focused on the fulfilment of many eschatological promises.

A feature of John Wimber's strategy, with regard to taking on responsibility for the Kansas City prophets and their senior pastor Mike Bickle, was to send in a team of his senior leaders including Dr Jack Deere, a former Professor at Dallas Theological Seminary and now the Vineyard's chief theologian. They examined all the complaints of biblical malpractice being made by Ernest Gruen and published a report acknowledging certain errors which in retrospect to a large degree simply papered over the cracks and allowed the Kansas City Fellowship to continue virtually undisturbed under the Vineyard aegis.

The errors which were acknowledged and by implication would not recur included “the attempt by some prophetic ministers to establish doctrine or practice by revelation alone, apart from biblical support”, “the use of prophetic gifting for controlling purposes”, “using types and allegories to establish doctrine”, and “using jargon that reflects the teaching of groups that we do not wish to be identified with”.

This last confession referred specifically to the accusation of promoting the Latter Rain and Manifest Sons of God doctrines. However, it must be said that irrespective of how sincerely these errors were acknowledged initially, subsequent events showed that little attempt was made to learn the necessary lessons, especially with regard to the use of establishing doctrine by revelation and the continued teaching of Latter Rain and Manifest Sons teachings.

Paul Cain

The decision by John Wimber and the Vineyard churches to support the ministry of the Kansas City prophets was undoubtedly the result of the link-up which they had made with Paul Cain.

Cain had an early history not unlike that of William Branham. Born in 1929, he had been aware of supernatural power guiding his life from its earliest days and had experienced what he believed to be direct communications with the Lord through audible messages whilst still a small boy. He became part of the Pentecostal healing movement which arose in North America in the 1940s and 1950s, led by William Branham, Oral Roberts and others, and began an itinerant ministry as a healing evangelist in his early teens.

The Vineyard movement took responsibility for the Kansas City prophets and initially acknowledged certain errors in their conduct, but in retrospect this simply papered over the cracks.

According to Paul Cain's own testimony he was much encouraged in his ministry by Branham who allegedly saw in him a similar kind of 'anointing' to his own. It is said that there was a particular bond between William Branham and the young Paul Cain, that they frequently ministered together and that Cain would often stand in for Branham at meetings which he was unable to take, although for some unknown reason Cain's association in ministry with Branham has been vehemently denied by the Branham family.

However, Cain's healing and evangelism ministry was undoubtedly marked by the same kind of ‘revelation knowledge' of people and their personal circumstances that had characterised Branham's, but by the early 1960s, disillusioned by the 'stardom' status accorded to him and his contemporaries and the general lack of integrity in the ministry, he withdrew from public life and lived as a virtual recluse until he went and met the Kansas City prophets in early 1987.

He believed that the Lord was re-commissioning him for ministry with the special purpose of restoring the prophetic ministry to the Church worldwide and that to that end he needed a public platform. His strategy was to be that of taking a prophetic message to every significant evangelical leader in the United States. The leader who responded by accepting him and his message would be the one whom God had chosen to give a platform for his ministry.

In 1988, Paul Cain felt he should contact John Wimber and following a visit from Cain, Wimber decided that the Lord was calling him to be the leader who should give Cain his platform.

Joel’s Army Teaching

Paul Cain consistently denied that he ever subscribed to the Manifest Sons of God movement. However, although there is no reason to believe that he was ever a card-carrying member of the movement, his 'prophetic' preaching clearly promoted the ideas of immortality for overcoming believers here on earth in these end times and he used the same spiritual jargon as the Manifest Sons of God exponents.

This came over in a very specific way in, for example, his teaching on 'Joel's Army'.² This teaching, based on the destructive army mentioned in Joel chapter 2, was claimed to be the result of revelation which he had received at the age of 19 when he had a visitation from the “Angel of the Lord, and he was standing in his majesty like a warrior and he had a bright shining sword and he pointed up to a billboard like that, and on the sign it said, ‘Joel's Army in training’".

Cain had not understood and had asked, “Lord, what does this mean?”. He had from then on received divine revelation as to the meaning of the book of Joel for today and on this he based his prophetic message.

According to Paul Cain's own testimony he was much encouraged in his ministry by William Branham, who allegedly saw in him a similar kind of 'anointing' to his own.

The basic theme of the teaching was that God was about to raise up out of the Church a Joel's Army. The purpose of this army was to bring in the restoration of the Church and a great end-times revival accompanied by signs and wonders the like of which had never been seen before, not even in the life of the early Church. These signs and wonders would be accomplished by the 'new breed', the 'dread champions' whom the Lord would raise up to form this mighty army.

The purpose of this army was in fact twofold, for not only would it be the vanguard of the great signs and wonders revival, but it would be responsible for the purging of the Church and the destruction of all those who are unworthy to be part of the Bride. Cain taught, in true Manifest Sons style, that:

If you have intimacy with God, they can't kill you, they just can't. There is something about you; you're connected to that vine; you're just so close to Him. Oh, my friends, they can't kill you...If you're really in the vine and you're the branch, then the life sap from the Son of the living God keeps you from cancer, keeps you from dying, keeps you from death...Not only will they not have diseases, they will also not die. They will have the kind of imperishable bodies that are talked about in the 15th chapter of Corinthians...This army is invincible. If you have intimacy with God they can't kill you.³

Paul Cain was, of course, giving this teaching to the Vineyard churches before the Kansas City Fellowship report acknowledging errors, so it could be assumed that following the publishing of that report no further mention would be made of this kind of teaching.

It may be of interest to note that at a meeting between John Wimber, Paul Cain and Mike Bickle with Clifford Hill, I asked John Wimber and Mike Bickle if they could specify which teachings were being referred to in the errors acknowledged by the Kansas City Fellowship. Neither was prepared to answer my questions clearly on this subject. It was therefore perhaps not surprising to find that after the Kansas City report both Jack Deere, the Vineyard theologian who had been given the job of checking and verifying the biblical soundness of their teaching, and John Wimber, took up the Joel's Army teaching. Wimber propounded it at the London Docklands Conference in October 1990.

In Deere's version of the Joel's Army teaching he underwrote the divine revelation foundation of the teaching and extended Cain's tenets by an extravagant use of hyperbole. He made the point over and over again that this Joel's Army would be composed of believers who would outshine in their service anything that God ever accomplished through any of his servants in the past.

Deere taught that, “This army is unique...When this army comes, it's large and it's mighty. It's so mighty that there has never been anything like it before. Not even Moses, not even David, not even Paul. What's going to happen now will transcend what Paul did, what David did, what Moses did, even though Moses parted the Red Sea.”

Paul Cain clearly promoted the idea of immortality for overcoming believers here on earth and used the Manifest Sons of God jargon.

Deere went on to equate this army with the 144,000 in Revelation 7 who, he said, “follow the Lamb wherever he goes, and no one can harm that 144,000”. Most extraordinarily, he taught that 144,000 is a multiple of 12 and that since 12 stands for 'apostolic government' then 144,000 is the 'ultimate in apostolic government'.

In his version of the Joel's Army teaching, as given at the London Docklands Conference, John Wimber was much more cautious in his use of language, although he undoubtedly underwrote in principle most of both Cain’s and Deere's teaching. With regard to the great signs and wonders which this army would perform, Wimber simply said: “This army is large, powerful, unique, unlike any army that's ever existed before or will again. Even as the Lord started this thing with a bang, (Acts 2) he is going to end it with something so incredible that we'll talk about it throughout eternity. It will be the buzz for ever”.

However, on the subject of immortality Wimber did not fully support Cain and Deere, saying of the army: “anyone who wants to harm them must die”.

Bob Jones

The leading prophet in the Kansas City Fellowship in 1990 was Bob Jones and it was his prophetic utterances and revelation-based doctrine and practice that were behind most of the controversy that surrounded them and had occasioned Gruen's outbursts.

Jones came from Arkansas and in his young days had been a member of the Baptist Church. His spiritual life had, however, been fairly non-existent and he had engaged in petty crime. Nevertheless, his testimony, like Branham and Cain, was of boyhood and early teen 'angelic visitations' including an out-of-body experience at the age of 15 when he says he was taken before the throne of God.

With the advent of the Korean War, Jones joined the US Marine Corps where he became heavily involved in drunken brawls and gambling. With his life in an obviously downward moral and physical spiral he left the Marine Corps and moved to Oklahoma State where he opened an illegal liquor store - Oklahoma being 'dry' - with considerable financial success.

However, his life of debauchery brought him to the point of a complete breakdown which not even drugs appeared to alleviate, and he ended up in hospital in Topeka near Kansas City, where it appears that following a combination of good psychiatric treatment by a Christian doctor and a number of visitations, both divine and demonic, he was discharged.

Bob Jones then started to attend church and read the Bible again and after a number of further 'visitations' he was converted and baptised in the autumn of 1975. Because of the visions and prophecies which he brought to church leadership he found himself often becoming unpopular and ended up being rejected and unable to fit into normal church life. Eventually in the early 1980s Jones found himself accepted by the Kansas City Fellowship, even though Mike Bickle had originally believed him to be a false prophet, where he began to be valued for his prophetic utterances.

It was the utterances and practice of Kansas City prophet Bob Jones that lay behind most of the controversy which surrounded the group.

These were often bizarre and spiritually extravagant. Jones was very much 'into' seeing both demons and angels on a regular basis and having strange nightly visions and out-of-body experiences. According to both Jones himself and Mike Bickle, “Bob normally gets five to ten visions a night, maybe sees angels ten to fifteen times a week”.⁴ Apparently he had been doing this since 1974 and it does not take much mathematical skill to conclude that these supernatural experiences far outweigh all of those recorded as being given to people in the scriptures!

Jones was also very much the initiator of spiritual elitism for the Kansas City Fellowship based on 'prophetic revelation' and it seems that the more bizarre his 'prophetic utterances' the more they were promoted by the leadership. For example, he introduced the concept of an 'elected seed generation'. In this he taught that the children born since 1973 to members of the Kansas City Fellowship were the “elected seed” who had been especially chosen by Jesus and the angels from “billions of little round yellow things” floating around in heaven to be the “end time Omega generation”.⁵ These 'little yellow things' were the seed from actual blood lines and they were from the “best of every blood line there has ever been Paul, David, Peter, James and John the best of their seed unto this generation”.

This elite group were described as “the chosen generation of all history” who would “possess the Spirit without measure”. They were also described as 'the Bride of Christ'; the man child of Revelation 12; the ministry of perfection; the Melchizedek priesthood; the manifested sons of God; Joel's Army; and many other biblical epithets.

Jones taught and Bickle underwrote (as senior pastor of the Kansas City Fellowship) that this "end time, Omega generation super church” would do “10,000 times the miracles in the book of Acts”. They would also conduct meetings of “a million or more” where they would “move their hands and the power of God will go like flashes of lightning, and as they go like this over a million people, if a person is missing an arm…it will instantly be created”. Jones claimed that 300,000 of Mike Bickle's generation and their super-children would be last days' apostles, and that 35 apostles from the Kansas City Fellowship would be “like unto Paul”.

Again, we have never been able to find out whether all of these bizarre prophetic teachings of Bob Jones were included amongst the list of errors. When John Wimber brought the Kansas City prophets to Holy Trinity Church, Brompton in July 1990, there was an embargo put on Bob Jones regarding public teaching and prophecy but he was allowed to minister to leaders behind the scenes.

References

1 Gruen, EA, 1990. Documentation of the Aberrant Practices and Teachings of Kansas City Fellowship. Full Faith Church of Love, Kansas City.

2 Deere, J. Joel's Army. Audio tape message, 1990.

3 Gruen, EA, Documentation (see note 1), p218.

4 Ibid, p10.

5 Ibid, p12.

Monica Hill continues to look at the spiritual ‘manifestations’ of 1 Corinthians 12.

This article is part of a series. Click here to access the archive.

“to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits” (1 Corinthians 12:7-10)

“…the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort” (1 Corinthians 14:3)

“Be eager to prophesy” (1 Corinthians 14:39)

In this series we have already looked at the ministry of the prophet in Ephesians 4 and also at the natural gift of prophecy in Romans 12, which is often related to the proclamation of the word of God.

Although these two gifts come from the same root as the manifestation of prophecy mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12, and all three are often linked together and have much in common, there are also many differences which we need to explore here.

What is a Prophecy?

Bringing a word of prophecy as a specific message from God is almost always a manifestation of the Spirit given to an individual just as the Spirit wills, and will usually be in response to a specific situation in the community or the nation (we will deal later with prophetic words for individuals, which often contain words of knowledge, although we broached this last week).

Words of prophecy or ‘prophetic words’ are not ‘owned’ by individuals or given only to those who have a prophetic ministry. Any mature believer who has a close relationship with God will be listening for his word and receiving his guidance all the time – it will be part of his or her daily life. The Lord desires that we are open and eager to share the good things we have received with others - especially those things that build up the Body (this may well include scriptural words of Jesus and of course, prophecy will never undermine Scripture).

When a mature believer is willing to be a messenger, God can use them to speak to the rest of the Body concerning the fellowship, the nation or the world. Edmund Heddle highlights examples from the New Testament of reasons for the use of prophecy – to warn of trouble ahead, to foretell a future event, to appoint church workers, to mobilise for action and to bring enlightenment.¹

Prophetic words are not ‘owned’ by individuals or given only to those who have a prophetic ministry – they can be given to any mature believer.

Having received a word of prophecy, the messenger is then tasked with portraying this word from God to others in the Body of Christ. This should always have as its main purpose that of building up believers in some way. The Spirit will not only give the word, but will also alert the messenger to what they should be doing with it – and usually will also open up opportunities for it to be delivered.

Figure 1.Many people think that ‘prophetic words’ always have to be given in the first person, as a direct word from God, in order to be authentic. But giving it as a word in the third person – ‘This is what I hear the Lord saying to me…’ - can be tested by hearers more easily, not only for its validity (see section below on Weighing Prophecy), but also for its source.

Distinguishing Between Spirits

The manifestation of ‘distinguishing between spirits’ is listed alongside ‘prophecy’ in 1 Corinthians 12 and is an initial safeguard which should always be exercised immediately that a prophecy is given. When an individual receives a word, others who have the allied gift of ‘distinguishing between spirits’ should, on hearing it, be judging whether it really is from God, or from an evil spirit, or - what is often more likely - from the messenger’s own spirit.

This is not testing the message as such, but identifying the source, and does not preclude the necessity to test every word that is received. As we can all be aware, there are many times that a message can start off well but then be influenced by the messenger who at times is tempted to ‘help God out’ – to express it more clearly and perhaps slightly change the emphasis! Many messages can be like the curate’s egg – ‘good in parts’ - and just because this happens, it does not mean that the whole word should be ignored.

A Word About Discernment

Distinguishing between spirits is not the same as ‘discernment’. The latter is not an instant gift given to specific individuals but can be seen much more as a fruit which comes with experience, available to ALL believers as they mature in their faith and become fully in tune with biblical teaching.

All believers should be able to discern between right and wrong and should be able to give reasons for this from Scripture.

Distinguishing between spirits is a gift given to specific individuals – discernment is a fruit which comes to all believers as they mature.

Prophecy in Practice

We are given a good example of prophecy being exercised wrongly in the local church in what went on in Corinth, from which we also get the teaching Paul gave to bring things back into order. We get the impression that this community of new believers were not good advocates for the faith and needed much help - from which we can also benefit!

The lovely passage on the nature of true love in 1 Corinthians 13 places the exercise of prophecy in context, so that all can be aware of what is needed as the gifts are being exercised. The great love poem used at so many weddings follows Paul’s significant teaching on how everyone is part of the Body of Christ, in which he emphasises that if love for one another is not shown and does not surpass everything, whatever gifts believers feel they have will be of no significance (1 Cor 14:1-5).

This is in spite of, or even because of, the fact that they were competing for what they felt were the ‘greater’ gifts. Instead, they were challenged to “try to excel in those that build up the church” (1 Cor 14:12).

Weighing Prophecy

There is a list of 12 ‘tests of prophecy’ elsewhere on this site with which we should all familiarise ourselves so that we can learn from the mistakes of the Corinthian church. Additionally, the same instructions apply to us today as did to them: “Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said”.

The fear of interrupting someone who speaks authoritatively in our society does not often permit us to follow these instructions: “if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged”. This is because “The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. For God is not a God of disorder but of peace” (1 Cor 14:29-33).

The Corinthian church is a good example of how not to do prophecy!

In addition to helping promote orderly worship, this certainly also helps us to understand that we should not be in a trance when giving a word from the Lord – we can be in control of our mouths, our minds and all our actions when we prophesy and we can be fully aware of what God is saying to others through us – but without adding to the word or distorting it.

‘Prophecies’ to Individuals

More recently in some circles the practice has been to bring prophetic words to individuals, who may also be identified by a word of knowledge. This needs to be followed up very carefully, as it can often mistakenly lay the recipient open to thinking that any word brought afterwards is a prophecy that will come true – especially if it promises healing.

Furthermore, there may be all sorts of reasons why people receive words for others and choose to make them public – so continue to test prophecies.

Finally…

Prophecy is NOT tongues, which is speaking TO God (we will look at this in more depth next week), but it is FROM God and given especially for believers to edify and build up the Church, so that the Church can be the prophet to the nation.

Witnessing a whole church prophesying can be very powerful – especially to unbelievers. An unbeliever can be convicted of sin by hearing a prophetic word and in this way it can have power:

But if an unbeliever or an enquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, ‘God is really among you!’ (1 Cor 14:24-25).

Finally, the manifestation of prophetic messages to the Church needs to be linked to the expounding of the word of God. The prophetic dimension of Christian life is often missing in the prayer life of the Church as there is a lack of expectation that God speaks to his people today.

Without this expectation, and without the manifestation of prophecy from God to each one of us, there will be no significant declaration of his word relating biblical truth to contemporary world events. But if preachers expound the word of God from the pulpit and draw attention to its teaching on these matters, it would transform the witness of the Church today.

References

1 See Heddle, E, 2016. Spiritual Gifts. Issachar Ministries. See also Figure 1.

Our final study on the non-writing prophets in Scripture.

In 2 Kings 22, and in its parallel in 2 Chronicles 34, we read the account of how the ‘book of the Law’, or the ‘book of the Covenant’, was found in the Temple in Jerusalem.

Josiah the Reformer

The boy king Josiah, son of the reprobate Amon who had been assassinated by his own officials, came to a living faith in God when he was only 16.

By the time he was 20 he set out to reform the religious life of Judah, breaking down the high places where the Lord was worshipped illicitly, and destroying the pagan shrines that had proliferated under his predecessors.

At the age of 26, in the 18th year of his reign, he began to tackle the repair and purification of the Temple in Jerusalem. We should not underestimate the difficulty of this task. The Temple, now nearly 400 years old, was as much a heritage site as St Paul’s Cathedral or York Minster, and its sacrilegious additions were considered memorials to the history of the nation. The kings of Judah had been defenders of faiths, rather than defenders of the Covenant of God, since Solomon’s time.

To reverse all this required considerable courage from the King and his supporters, and no doubt he was regarded as much a bigot as any king would be today, were he to try to purify the Church of England. As 2 Kings tells, the holy city contained numerous shrines, some requiring human sacrifice. Even the Temple entrance contained horses and chariots (statues?) dedicated to the Sun, and there were two pagan altars in the very courts of Yahweh’s Temple. Traditionalists must have been appalled at their destruction.

No doubt Josiah was regarded as much a bigot as any king would be today, were he to try to purify the Church of England.

Re-discovering the Book of the Law

Then came the incident, so beautifully told, when the King sent his secretary to liaise with Hilkiah, the high priest on the rebuilding work. At the end of their business, the priest, a little diffidently, said, “I have found the book of the Law in the temple of the LORD.”

Most scholars agree, probably rightly, that what he found was essentially the Book of Deuteronomy, though the liberal stream built their whole structure of Old Testament criticism on the assumption that Hilkiah or his allies actually wrote the book. However, Deuteronomy is constructed like a typical political treaty, or covenant, document of a much earlier age. Like such secular treaties, a copy was ordered to be kept “as a testimony at the heart of the nation, that is beside the ark of the covenant” (Deut 31:26). Perhaps Hilkiah found it there, or perhaps abandoned in some storeroom of the Temple.

Shaphan, the secretary, was as reticent as the priest. He mentioned the book to Josiah almost as an afterthought to his report, though it is clear he realised its importance. Josiah’s response, however, was anything but laid back. Hearing Shaphan read the curses attached to the covenant, he tore his robes. He realised how angry God must be against the nation that had reneged on their treaty with the Lord, the consuming fire, the jealous God (Deut 4:24).

Huldah the Prophetess

The King sent a delegation, including the high priest and his most important officials, to consult the Lord through Huldah. She too instantly recognised the book of the Law as the word of the Lord. Her response is an oracle prophesying disaster to Judah, according to the warnings in the book, noting Josiah’s own humility and weeping, and promising that he himself would be buried in peace before this destruction. It is a short oracle and we hear no more of the prophetess. But there are important lessons here.

This incident raises important questions about the function of prophecy, and its relationship to Scripture. The book of the Law was the written word of God to Israel, as the Bible is to us. When it was re-discovered, the leaders of the nation, especially the King, recognised it as such. Its message was clear, as we can see by looking at Deuteronomy itself.

Josiah realised how angry God must be against the nation and responded in a spiritual way, by repentance.

God's laws and standards were explicitly set out in writing, as were the curses attached to them for disobedience. Josiah, with a heart set ’to seek the God of his father David' (1 Chron 34:3), understood its implications immediately, and he responded in a spiritual way by repentance. Why then did he feel it necessary to consult a prophet as well?

It was not for greater knowledge, for Huldah’s words added very little to the plain words of Scripture except some personal words of comfort to the King. It was not for practical application either, for she gave none — and Josiah’s further reforms appear to have been his own response to the words of the Law. The answer must surely be that the prophet was the one authorised by God to confirm the truth of God's words to the people of that generation.

The prophet’s anointing seems not so much to bring understanding of God's ways, as certainty about their application, and communication of that certainty to the people. The prophet may tell us what we have already seen in God’s word (and never anything that we haven’t), but in a way that truly confirms to us that it is God who has spoken in that word.

This has much to teach us about not only the prophet of today, but the preacher as well. Indeed, faithful ministry of the word of God is prophetic by its nature. The preacher should not be looking for something new to say, but to make what, in one sense, is clearly stated in Scripture speak with the voice of God to his hearers. This is why it is the word proclaimed, and not simply the word read, that is the central ministry of the Church of Christ.

Huldah’s oracle is a good demonstration that it is the word proclaimed, and not simply powerful proclamation, that makes for a prophetic ministry.

The prophet’s anointing seems not so much to bring understanding of God's ways, as certainty about their application, and communication of that certainty to the people.

Huldah the Woman

No examination of Huldah, especially in our times, can ignore the fact that she was female! It is unwise to speculate on how she received her prophetic gift. She was a woman of social standing - a royal official’s daughter-in-law. But status is not a necessary qualification for prophecy. We know that Old Testament prophets received their call direct from God, but we know precious little about how that call came to be recognised ‘officially’.

Nevertheless, it is remarkable that in such an epoch-making matter as the re-discovery of the Bible, the King should seek the counsel of a woman. It is all the more remarkable when one considers that both Zephaniah and the great Jeremiah were prophesying at this time.

My explanation is perhaps over-simple: Huldah was consulted because she was close by and other prophets were not. Clifford Hill says that Huldah was an older woman, much respected for her prophetic ministry, whereas at that time Jeremiah was a very young man, who had not long been in ministry. But she must have been equally respected, for it would not have been impossible to send for one of the others.

No particular comment is made about her gender in the text, and to the inspired writer it was clearly a matter of indifference: what mattered was her mantle of prophecy.

Huldah’s oracle is a good demonstration that it is the word proclaimed, and not simply powerful proclamation, that makes for a prophetic ministry.

From this passage in isolation, then, it would be easy to see support for the contemporary supposition that gender in ministry is not an issue, since “in Christ there is no longer male nor female” (Gal 3:28). The only problem is, this example is before Christ, whereas the ‘difficult’ biblical teaching on male authority is after Christ.

I will not attempt to cast much light on these questions here, not least because the story of Huldah is not actually about these issues. But one or two points may be worth noting for further study:

• It was the King who consulted the prophetess, and not she who sought him out, and she remained subject to him, as indeed to Shallum her husband.
  
• The words she spoke bore only God's authority, and none of her own.
  
• Her ministry to Josiah did not involve teaching him, for as we have seen, he had already understood the implications of God's Law for himself. Hers was a confirmatory word.

The implications of these points for the Church today are for others to consider, but one thing should not be controversial: the role of women in prophetic ministry is in this story given clear scriptural sanction. Only let us never forget, whether we are male or female, that our ministries are far, far less important than the message we bring, and its effects on the hearts of people.

This study was first published in Prophecy Today, Vol 15(6), 1999.

What he said resulted in the reformation of a nation.

One can easily be excused for not having heard of Azariah before. He appears once in the Old Testament for a few brief moments, during which he delivers a short message, before disappearing. However, what he said resulted in the reformation of a nation.

His few words were power-packed, not because of natural ability or personal charisma, but because ‘the Spirit of God came upon him’. He could have borrowed the words of one of the greatest of all the prophets, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach...” (Isa 61:1).

A Banishing Change

Azariah came at a critical time in Judah’s history. The days described as the ‘golden age of Israel’ were but a memory. Solomon had been succeeded by his son, Rehoboam. The nation became divided during his reign and, after ruling for seventeen years, his epitaph was, “He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord” (2 Chron 12:14). He was succeeded by his son Abijah, who followed in his father's footsteps, and in his short three-year reign, “committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God” (1 Kings 15:3).

There then came a refreshing change, when his son Asa took the throne. Asa was to be king of Judah For 41 years. He did what “was right in the eyes of the Lord” (1 Kings 15:11). He started to rid the nation of its idolatry, expelled those guilty of sexual perversion, and deposed the queen mother because of her blatant idolatry.

Azariah’s few words were power-packed, not because of natural ability or personal charisma, but because ‘the Spirit of God came upon him’.

While he was in the process of purging the nation, the task still unfinished, he was met by the prophet Azariah. Azariah brought a message from God of encouragement, commendation and comfort, but also of warning. He said:

Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him he will forsake you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law. But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them.

In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil. One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress. But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded. (2 Chronicles 15:2-7)

That’s it, end of message. It was first addressed to Asa personally, and then to the nation. First to the leader, then to the people. Here is God's recipe for blessing any leader, and any nation. It is completely up to date. It could be delivered to any national leader, and any nation; to the Prime Minister of this land, or the President of the United States; to every king or queen, every dictator, and also to you and me personally.

Let us consider the word and apply it.

Listen

When God speaks it is important to look for two things: first what God says he will do, and second what God tells us to do. The first thing he wants is to get our attention. With a multitude of voices we need to hear and recognise his voice, and to obey. What is the message? Put God first. If God is first, then God is with you. If you forsake God, he will forsake you. And if God is not with us we're in trouble.

When God speaks, look for two things: first what God says he will do, and second what God tells us to do.

This is the truth that Jesus taught: “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt 6:33, emphasis added). It is the truth that Asa’s great-grandfather taught, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Prov 14:34).

The failure to put God first is the cause of every personal or national failure. What a wonderful promise the prophet gave to the king and nation, ’If you seek him, he will be found by you,’ Again, this truth is confirmed by Jesus: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matt 7:7-8, emphasis added). The choice is presented: “if you seek him”…”if you forsake him”…”the Lord is with you when you are with him”.

Learn

The prophet encouraged Asa to learn from the history of his own nation. When Israel forsook God, and his word was not being taught, and God's standard set before the people, there was nothing but trouble. It wasn’t safe to travel. There was turmoil, chaos and confusion. There was international conflict and inter-city strife, and “every kind of distress”. Who was causing all these disasters? Who was responsible? It was God!! The prophet stated it clearly, “God was troubling them” (2 Chron 15:6).

They were learning by experience that when a people forsake God, he forsakes them. However, the good news is that when ungodliness is acknowledged and confessed and repented of, and the people seek the Lord, God in his great mercy, grace and compassion is found by them, and he delivers them from all their fears.

What lessons can we learn from our own history? When God was acknowledged in this land, it prospered. In World War Two, when we faced defeat and distress, and the nation was called to prayer to seek God, God heard and delivered us.

Today we are in great need yet how often do we hear national leaders declaring our need of God? How often do we hear God acknowledged at all? Without God we are doomed. Thank God for all his faithful people, for his church who acknowledge him day by day, who intercede, who pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”! People who look to the future with hope knowing, as Isaac Watts did, that:

Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
Does his successive journeys run,
His Kingdom stretch from shore to shore
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.

Today we are in great need yet how often do we hear national leaders declaring our need of God?

Look

Having looked to the past, Asa is encouraged to look to the present and to the future. Irrespective of the mistakes others have made, the personal word comes ‘as for you’. There must be for Asa, and for you and me, the personal application of God’s word to us.

At the end of his life, Joshua resolved: “as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15). “As for you…be strong” and remember what Moses sang: “The Lord is my strength and song, he has become my salvation” (Ex 15:2). Be strong…don't give up…keep going. Asa had started a good work, but there was still much to do.

Look to the future, “your work will be rewarded”. In spite of opposition, discouragement and obstacles: when you are with God, God is with you. When you seek him he will be found by you. Be of good courage, there is only one direction, forward.

Liberation

Asa heard the prophet and obeyed the message. He took courage, returned to the unfinished task with all his heart, destroyed the idols, repaired the altar of the Lord, assembled the people together, and unitedly entered into a covenant with God to seek him (2 Chron 15).

The result was great joy among the people, and rest to the land. News of God's blessing spread and large numbers of people came to join them. The verdict on Asa's life was that, “Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life” (2 Chron 15:17).

Listen…the Lord is with you, when you are with him…be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.

Originally published in Prophecy Today, 1999, Vol 15(2).

The heart of God: Dr John Garvey considers the prophetic psalms of David.

King David does not often appear on the list of Israel’s prophets. But Peter certainly regarded him as a prophet (see Acts 2:30). In fact, there are more quotations in the New Testament from the psalms which are attributed to David than from any of the other prophets, with the exception of Isaiah.

Not only was David a prophet – he was the head of a school of prophets. In 1 Chronicles 25:1 we see that David set aside “some of the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals.” All the men of this hereditary guild of prophets were under the supervision of their fathers, and the fathers were under the supervision of the king himself. “The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets” (1 Cor 14:32) indicates that it was not only as their king, but as their senior prophet, that David was overseer of their ministry.

We can read the work of some of these men in the Book of Psalms, and this is also the place where we find David’s prophecy. The style and content of his words are very different from the other prophets. This is because the psalms were written as songs for temple worship, and not mainly for teaching or exhortation. What we know of David’s gifting agrees with this – he was a poet, not a preacher.

A Prophet and a King

But how did David become a prophet? We are used to prophets who confront kings, not kings who preside over prophets! We are not told directly of his call, but it seems likely that the start of his ministry coincided with his anointing by Samuel as king, when “the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power” (1 Sam 16:13).

The cosy idea we sometimes have of the shepherd-boy David writing psalms whilst tending his sheep is unlikely. In the NIV, there are a few psalm headings which may suggest that they were written before David began his reign (for example Ps 34), but he had already been anointed as king. He may have been a poet and musician from his youth, but it took the anointing of the Spirit to make him a mouthpiece for God.

Not only was David a prophet, he was the head of a school of prophets.

However, anointed kingship alone did not make him a prophet either. Of the kings who were descended from him, only his son Solomon was a prophet, and though Solomon wrote many proverbs he only wrote one psalm. What was so special about David? To answer that, we must look at the content of his prophecy.

It could be argued that every psalm is prophetic, because all were inspired by the Spirit and included in the canon of Scripture. But it will be more useful here to distinguish ‘prayer’ from ‘prophecy’ and look at those parts of David’s psalms which specifically declare God’s will and foretell his future acts. If we do this, we find that David’s prophecy has two particular emphases.

Prophetic Themes

His first theme is the righteous and the wicked, viewed as a king would view them; as the righteous who need to be encouraged, and the wicked who need to be disclosed and weeded out of the kingdom if the king is to rule well. Examples of this are Psalm 5:9-10 (quoted in Rom 3:13), where David calls on God to banish the wicked; and Psalm 12:5 – God’s own oracle to a discouraged king declaring that he himself will protect the weak and needy from those who malign them.

His second theme is the king himself, and in particular the descendant whom God promised would inherit his throne forever. God had made this promise to David by the Prophet Nathan: “I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever” (2 Sam 7:12-13). This is the promise, or covenant, on which depends the whole concept of Jesus as the Messiah, or Anointed One.

David may have been a poet and musician from his youth, but it took the anointing of the Spirit to make him a mouthpiece for God.

In Acts 2:30-31, Peter said that David was a prophet and “knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay.” This refers to Psalm 16:8-11, which Peter had already quoted to the Pentecost crowd.

The apostle presents a picture of David as trusting fully in God's promise and being enabled by the Spirit to see something of how it would be fulfilled in Jesus. How far he understood what he was seeing, and how far it was unconscious, we perhaps cannot know.

King of Kings

Some psalms, like Psalm 110, seem to have been written for use on royal ceremonial occasions, such as a coronation. That is, they concern David himself and the later kings as well. And yet, they include things which could never apply personally to any human king, as Jesus himself pointed out (Matt 22:41-46). In Psalm 110 David calls the king “my Lord” (v1) and “a priest for ever” (v4).

Other psalms, like Psalm 22, were personal prayers which, in the light of the events of Jesus’ life, astound us with their accurate prediction of his sufferings. It is almost as if David himself, half consciously and half unconsciously, were living out the life of the coming messianic king.

This is perhaps the best way to look at David's prophetic gift. Unlike the other prophets, he was not just a chosen watchman, but himself a central figure in God's salvation plan. He was the first of the royal line that would lead to Jesus. He was a ’type’ of Christ, just as the Passover was a ‘type’ of his Passion and the temple a ‘type’ of his Church.

Like King Jesus, King David rescued his people from their enemies, ruled them with justice and compassion, and led them in their worship of God. His victories foreshadowed Christ’s victory. His sufferings exemplified those of the one who was to come. Israel looked back at the golden age of David as a model of the eternal reign of ‘David’s greater Son’.

David was not just a chosen watchman, but himself a central figure in God’s salvation plan.

Understanding the Heart of Christ

No man before David ever understood better the mind and heart of Jesus. The very nature of his role as Israel's archetypal king, a “man after God's own heart”, led to so many comparisons with the life of his promised successor. Then again, God's providence created more parallels, such as his persecution by evil men and his betrayal by close friends. We see these reflected in David's prayers, prayers from the depths of a godly heart. If we add to that a spirit guided by prophetic insight to see what his descendant’s reign would bring, then we can see that David’s prophecy gives us a unique view of our Lord.

We might almost say that if you want to know what Jesus has done, you must read the Gospels; but if you want to understand his heart, you must read the Psalms. This, above all, is David's prophetic word to the people of God today.

The story of Micaiah.

In the fourth part of a series which examines the relevance of the message and ministry of the non-writing prophets for today, Campbell McAlpine looks at Micaiah.

The writer to the Hebrews begins his letter with the memorable words – “God who at various times and in different ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets” (AV). How wonderful of God to leave a record of what he said for our learning and encouragement!

Micaiah’s ministry was during the reigns of Ahab, king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. The setting was the meeting of the two kings with much pomp and ceremony. Their characters were completely different. It is written of Ahab, “There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel and his wife” (1 Kings 21:25). In contrast, it is said of Jehoshaphat that “he sought the God of his father, and followed his commands” (2 Chron 17:4). The two kings were linked through marriage, Jehoshaphat’s son having married Ahab’s daughter.

During this reunion, Ahab asked Jehoshaphat if he would join with him in war with the king of Syria to recover a city, Ramoth Gilead, which rightly belonged to Israel. He agreed, putting his army at Ahab’s disposal. Then he asked Ahab if they could enquire if there was any word from the Lord. It would have been better if he had asked that before he made his decision!

Jehoshaphat made an agreement with Ahab before seeking God’s approval.

Searching for True Prophecy

Ahab immediately sent for his prophets - four hundred of them. They all brought the same message: “Go…for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand”. To reinforce this message, one of them, Zedekiah, confirmed it with a sign. He had made horns of iron and declared: “This is what the Lord says: ‘With these you will gore the Arameans [Syrians] until they are destroyed.’”

This probably brought great applause, with many shouts of ‘praise the Lord’. However, Jehoshaphat had a lack of peace in his heart (which should never be ignored) and asked, “Is there not a prophet of the Lord here whom we can enquire of?" Ahab said there was another one, but he hated him for he never prophesied anything good about him!

It is generally believed that Micaiah was the unnamed prophet who met Ahab returning from a victory over Ben-Hadad, king of Damascus. After the battle, Ahab spared the life of the king of Syria in exchange for certain cities. The prophet said to Ahab, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You have set free a man I had determined should die. Therefore it is your life for his life, your people for his people.’” This was not good news! (1 Kings 20:42).

The king sent for Micaiah, and asked him if he should go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or refrain. Sarcastically Micaiah replied, “Attack and be victorious…” In other words, isn't that what you want to hear? The king turned on him, and said, “How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?”

Then Micaiah said: “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said, ‘These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.'” Ahab turned to Jehoshaphat and said, “Didn't I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me”.

Jehoshaphat had a lack of peace in his heart, which should never be ignored.

“I Saw the Lord”

What made one prophet stand alone, against four hundred? What drained from him the fear of man, in preference for the fear of God? “I saw the Lord.” What were two earthly kings to Micaiah when he had seen the King? Who were four hundred prophets when he had seen the mighty hosts of Heaven standing on the right-hand and the left, around the throne of God?

He had not only seen the Lord; he had heard him discuss Ahab. The Lord had asked the question from his throne: “Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?” Suggestions were made, but the one accepted was from an evil spirit who offered to be a lying spirit in the mouths of Ahab’s four hundred prophets. He could not do that without Sovereign God’s permission, which was given: “You will succeed in enticing him. Go and do it.”

There was no applause for Micaiah when he gave this revelation, rather the reverse. Then, as now, if you don’t like the message, attack the messenger. Zedekiah, who had taken such trouble to make the horns of iron, rushed up to Micaiah, struck him on the face, and said, “Which way did the spirit from the Lord go when he went from me to speak to you?”

Micaiah told Zedekiah that he would find out which had been the true message, when he was running for his life, and trying desperately to find somewhere to hide.

Into the Valley of Death Rode the Four Hundred

Ahab’s response was not only rejection of the message, but also the messenger. He gave orders to put Micaiah in prison, and put him on bread and water rations until his return. “If you ever return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me” responded Micaiah. Then, turning to the people, he shouted “Mark my words, all you people!”

In spite of his bravado, Ahab decided to go into battle disguised, but asked Jehoshaphat to go dressed in his kingly robes. The Syrian king had given orders to his army to concentrate on killing Ahab. During the battle Jehoshaphat became the target, but he shouted out, and they realised that he was not the king of Israel, so left him alone. Ahab could disguise himself from men, but not from God. During the battle “someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armour. The king told his chariot driver, ‘Wheel round and get me out of the fighting. I’ve been wounded.’”

What made one prophet stand alone, against four hundred? What drained from him the fear of man, in preference for the fear of God? “I saw the Lord”.

The battle went on and increased. Ahab was propped up in his chariot mortally wounded, and that night he died. His army returned to their homes like ‘sheep without a shepherd’, all according to the word of the Lord.

The Relevance of this Message for Today

The inspired scriptures are useful for “teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (1 Tim 3:16). What can we learn from Micaiah’s witness? I would suggest: the importance of judging prophecies.

Today there seems to be a proliferation of prophecies. Unfortunately, many are not ‘judged’ or weighed, sometimes resulting in confusion, disillusionment, frustration and a questioning of the real. What happened to the prophesied revival which was going to take place in May of 1997? As we saw in this story, the oft repetition of the same prophecy doesn’t necessarily make it true. Remember the question Jesus asked Pilate: “Is that your own idea or did others talk to you about me?” (John 18:34).

Many optimistic statements are made which can bring applause from the congregation. I haven’t heard too many cheers when you quote Isaiah 26:9: “When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.” We are not called upon to make people happy, but to help them to be holy, then the two go together.

I remember in the early days of what was called ’renewal', when a prophecy was given, the people were called to silence. The prophecy was considered by the leadership, who encouraged the application of the word - or to correct, if it was not a true word, but just something out of a person's own spirit. That was never for condemnation but for learning.

The oft repetition of the same prophecy does not make it true.

Revelation of and from the Lord

“I saw the Lord.” When Micaiah had revelation of the Lord, then he had revelation from the Lord. One of our greatest needs today is the knowledge of God which is supplied to us mainly through the Bible.

There is the danger of seeking quick guidance, instant revelation, rather than being like Jehoshaphat who ‘sought the Lord’. The danger is following the signs, rather than letting the signs follow. When Micaiah ’saw the Lord’ his desire was to obey God, rather than please men.

When Isaiah ’saw the Lord’ his desire was to be holy, and call others to holiness (Isa 6). When Ezekiel ’saw the Lord’ he was enabled to fulfil his ministry in the most difficult of circumstances (Ezek 1 and 2). When Paul saw the Lord, he was homesick, for Heaven “is far better”. When John ’saw the Lord’ he fell at his feet as though dead and was faithful in receiving and delivering the messages given to him — whether of judgment or of blessing.

Getting Things in the Right Order

As we saw in this story, Jehoshaphat agreed to ally himself with Ahab before enquiring of the Lord. How many times have we sought confirmation from the Lord on what we had already decided to do?

When Jehoshaphat returned to Jerusalem from the battle he was met by a prophet who brought him this question from God: “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this, the wrath of the Lord is upon you” (2 Chron 19:2). Scary isn't it? Multi-faith, beware!

There is danger in following the signs, rather than letting the signs follow.

Conclusion

Let's thank God for all true prophecy, and all true prophets. Let's pray for people of courage, free from the fear of men. Let's pray for discernment, to know the false from the true. Let's pray for leadership to rightly judge prophecy. Let's pray for hunger and thirst to know God through his word, so that we might ‘see the Lord’.

The full story of Micaiah can be found in 1 Kings 22, and 2 Chronicles 18.

Originally published in Prophecy Today, Vol 14(1), 1998. Revised July 2017.