An article by Fred London:
So many of our prophetic words, dreams and visions are delivered with impunity, sort of "hit and run" tactics, with no sense of responsibility to the word or the people to which it is directed.. This lack of personal accountability to these “words” gives rise to ministerial malpractice. This ever- growing phenomenon must be called to account and be addressed for the sake of discernment and accurately knowing the Mind of Christ. With the myriads of prophetic words, dreams and visions posted on various websites, it is high time to examine these so-called “prophetic words” which are quickly compiling a track record of being scripturally unsound, or a “one size fits all” form of soothsaying, rarely coming to pass. “For God is not a God of confusion,” offering scores of contradictory “words,” heavy on power and blessing, and lacking in “Christ and Him crucified.”
Employing the Old Testament criteria for judging true prophets and their words would result in greatly reducing all of this free-wheeling prophetic hype we are currently being inundated with. In truth, it would almost be comical if it weren't so tragic. Not everyone who calls themselves a prophet, is a prophet. Based upon Scripture, it is therefore incumbent upon us to hold these messengers accountable and examine their words carefully, now more than ever. A line by line exhortation of Jeremiah 23 might work wonders in helping to eradicate the artificial and misappropriated prophetic words so commonplace in our day. It has become arguably a scourge of epidemic proportions, of the “prophetic word” made cheap. These things ought not to be.
Can the explanation for this ongoing “Mars Hill” prophetic circus, which continues to grow in popularity, be attributable to a true lack of the fear of God, an over active sense of self-importance or need to garner attention, and a lack of discernment by many who receive these words? Is it worth the risk of being found naked before God and men? You be the judge! Sooner or later, someone in the crowd will speak up and declare what should have been obvious to the multitude. “The king isn’t wearing any clothes!” Going along with the crowd in order to gain tacit approval or knuckling under to peer pressure simply will not fly. There is no escaping personal responsibility as it always comes down to, “Who do YOU say that I am?”
Here is an analogy. Terrorists are cowards at heart; bomb throwers, who use hit and run tactics, who avoid facing their targets directly, do not discriminate between combatants and innocents, and don't consider themselves accountable for their actions. This is what much of the so-called “prophetic ministry” has become, in word and practice. But, it is even more than that. It is a character issue. It is an integrity issue. It is a heart issue. It is time to come to grips with this matter. It is time to clean house. It is time to repent. It is time to treat this ministry as holy before the Lord.
Are we jealous enough to desire to see the reality and purity of the Lord’s testimony? It would serve us well to be restored to a healthy fear lest we “speak that which the Lord has not spoken.” What would be the result? It is quite likely that today’s glut of “prophetic words” would be significantly reduced and its scarcity would once again cause it be restored to its rightful preciousness. What should it be worth to us? No less than everything!
Fred London
7 comments:
You really are clueless, and so is Fred London. Beyond that which Christ has said through His word , all , and i mean all other prophetic utterances are false. There is no case for the so called prophetic to clean up its act, on the contrary, the case for true believers to declare this abomination as false is resounding.
Have you not read the scriptures? , have you not read Hebrews 1 :1
God , who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the Prophets , Has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.
The office of the OT prophet has gone, the Messiah of whom they prophesied to come, has indeed fullfilled prophecy concerning the destruction and judgement on the kingdom of darkness.Christ is the great prophet, the messenger of the covenant.
What you and countless others are oblivious to is that we are all prophets, by definition that we now declare that Christ has come, we prophesy by faithfully preaching the gospel of salvation, and anyone who presumes to foretell the future or whatever else ,is simply false, moreover , those who do not bear witness to the gospel , in both word and deed , are the false prophets.
To the anonymous commenter: read the bible, believe your bible and forsake the traditions you have been taught. Scripture makes it clear that God is not mute today and that His prophetic word continues.
The prophetic word is far more than “foretelling the future” and in fact is usually far different to “foretelling the future”.
I would even say that the majority of predictions presented as prophecy today are false. They have more in common with the messages of psychics than they do with true prophecy.
But the presence of the false is no reason to reject what scripture reveals as the truth about continuing prophetic gifts.
Hi Onesimus,
Miss your commentary on another forum. This is Kathleen. I appreciate this article. I have been long in searching and trying to figure out what constitutes the prophetic today. I agree with some of what "anonymous" stated but wouldn't go so far as to say prophecy has ended. That would go against scripture. I do believe that the foundation has already been built upon the Apostles and Prophets with Christ Jesus as the Chief Cornerstone. Maybe NT prophets get deeper revelation as to the already written word. What do you think?
God bless you!
Hi Kathleen I came across the following quote today on another forum:
“A Prophet is not only someone who gets revelation of future events, it is also someone who interprets and proclaims spiritual truth under revelation and inspiration of the Holy Spirit”
It is my view that the major prophetic role is described in the latter part of that quote. Revelation of future events is given far more rarely and never merely to satisfy someone’s curiosity or to give them the sense of being “in the know”.
In the rare times that the future is revealed it is for a specific purpose and to bring about a required response. It is not vague purposeless revelation. It is not a Christian substitute for clairvoyance or psychic prediction. Far too many “prophecies” today have more in common with the claims of psychics than they do with God’s revelation.
I miss posting on that forum, but it was a choice between staying on as moderator and closing my eyes to what was going on regarding that false Christchurch prophecy, or stepping aside and being asked to refrain from posting.
I see the prophetic gifts need to be give much more respect and tested far more rigorously before being broadcast publicly.
There is no way that Christchurch prediction should have been given a platform on that forum without at least a strong word of caution. However the forum owner would have accepted it as genuine if it had been presented without such a specific date.
To me the date was not the main problem.
Hi Tim thanks for the article. Mr. London's straight shooting from the hip, no nonsense approach, nor mincing of any words trying to make nice nice with compromise is imho refreshing! I agree wholeheartedly:
"Based upon Scripture, it is therefore incumbent upon us to hold these messengers accountable and examine their words carefully, now more than ever."
I am blessed to stand with likeminded brothers and sisters who simply do not compromise the TRUTH!
hi, followed the link you posted from another site (kpub). Would just like to say to the "Anonymous" first poster that if the entirety of this understanding is based on Heb1:1, that Anonymous would do well to see that the Greek says "who has spoken to us in Son". In other words, He has spoken to us who are in His Son. Doing the exact type of drive-by shooting that the article talks about. Thank you for the article.
Thanks for your comment Kpub.
Also "anonymous" makes the common error of basing belief on a solitary bible quote, interpreting it without taking into account the many references elsewhere in the NT to the continuing validity of prophecy.
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