PROPHETIC PREDICTIONS FOR THE COMING YEAR
By David Ravenhill
Every year the prophetic community releases their plethora of prognostications for the coming year. If taken seriously, you’d have to believe that around November or December, God looks over His Gregorian Calendar, and begins to draw up His list of resolutions for the year ahead.
Having spent the last forty eight years around the prophetic community, I can be guaranteed that God will release some new type of anointing in the coming year.
If my recollection of the past years are accurate, we have already been given anointing for evangelism, prayer, signs and wonders, as well as all types of “breakthrough” anointings — just to name a few.
The question that always comes to mind when I read about these new anointings is: “Why did God withhold them in previous years?”
Let’s face it, if God is about to release a new anointing for evangelism, does that mean He slacked off regarding the “lost” the previous year?
Can you see how confusing our prophetic brothers and sisters can be? I was always of the belief that “God has no variableness or shadow of turning,” and that He never vacillates when it comes to saving the lost.
Another prophetic prediction I can count on is that the coming year will usher in a new “company” of some sort. I can still vividly recall that while still in Bible College in the early sixties, there was all types of chatter about a coming Manchild Company. Since then we have seen the rise of The Joseph Company, The Elijah Company, The Issachar Company, The Joshua Company, and even The Bridal Company, etc., etc.
I’m still waiting for The Job Company, The Martyr Company, The Servant Company, or The Humble Company. If it’s not some new company, then there is always a new “generation” that is about to emerge like The Joshua Generation. What concerns me about all these “companies” and “generations” is that nothing appears to change, and yet every year a new one is about to emerge or be released.
Another favorite among the prophetic is their ability to interpret what’s going to happen based on the last one or two digits of the year. For example the year 2007 was the year of completion, fulfillment or perfection. 2008 was to be the year of new beginnings. With that in mind, 2013 is going to bring bad luck for all. (It’s a joke, OK?)
Some prophetic words are just plain weird. Take for example one prophetic word given several years ago in which the “prophet” announced that after the death of Terry Sciavo and Pope John Paul God was going to release one billion souls into the Kingdom as a homecoming gift to these two “saints” who he referred to as a Queen and King. Anyone with half a brain knows that this type of “prophecy” is just plain ridiculous.
If you buy into that type of prophetic reasoning then the death of Billy Graham should usher the rest of mankind into the Kingdom of God.
During the time of the Gulf oil spill there was a prophetic word that no man would be able to stop the flow of oil and that God Himself was going to bring about some type of divine solution to the problem.
What troubles me the most is that these dreamers never apologize for their mistakes, but continue to churn out words every time there is some newsworthy event.
If you have read this far, please forgive me for my levity in these matters. Seriously though, is this really what the prophetic ministry is all about? I look at the state of the Church, and see her drowning in a sea of sin, carnality, and compromise. She’s awash with every form of sensuality, greed, pornography, pride and worldliness. Yet the prophets are uniformly silent about it. The word repentance seems to have been lost from their vocabulary. Instead you hear words like “This is going to be a year of realignment.” When I heard that, I wasn’t sure if I was to make an appointment to see my chiropractor, or take my car to Mr. Good-Wrench.
I’ve come to the conclusion that most of the prophetic community just want to stay in the spotlight and appear to be relevant.
Am I asking too much of God to raise up some genuine prophets that will fearlessly denounce sin and raise the standard of holiness? That said, I recall how Pharaoh refused to tell his magicians and wisemen his dream, stating that anyone can make up an interpretation after first hearing the dream. Didn’t God promise us that He would first reveal to His servants the prophets what He was about to do? (Amos 3:7)
Which begs the question: Why does the prophetic community always reflect on past events rather than warn us about what God has told them is coming? Everyone can sound wise with hindsight but the true prophets should have foresight. Or am I wrong?
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David Ravenhill was born in England in 1942, the son of renowned Bible expositor Leonard Ravenhill. He is a graduate of Bethany Fellowship Bible College in Minneapolis. He and his wife Nancy served with David Wilkerson’s first Teen Challenge Center in New York City, after which they worked with YWAM, serving two years in New Guinea. From 1973-1988 David was on the pastoral team of a large church in Christchurch, NZ. He and Nancy returned to the States in 1988, and David served as the senior pastor of a Washington state until 1997 when he resigned to commence a full-time itinerant ministry throughout the United States and overseas. David also taught in the Brownsville Revival School of Ministry in Pensacola, Florida, during and after which he traveled with Evangelist Steve Hill and the Awake America Crusades. David and Nancy have three grown daughters, two sons-in-law and seven grandchildren. David has written five books, and continues his international itinerant ministry. His burden is to see the Church come to maturity through intimacy with God. Visit his website at: davidravenhill.com.
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