Tag: prophetic
The Importance and Significance of John-the-Baptist’s Ministry
John the Baptist’s unorthodox, unique, and unprecedented forerunner ministry burst forth suddenly, unexpectedly, and dramatically, to say the least. In bringing forth John’s ministry, God ingeniously, if you will, circumvented or bypassed every existing authority structure and system at the time—civil and religious—which demonstrates this is the reason the Holy Spirit inspired Luke to set the scene as He did.
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Distinguishing Flakey from False Prophets
The prophetic movement and or prophetic leaders have perhaps been the most controversial in the Body of Christ the past several decades. Some of it has to do with the fact that many people are afraid of any move of the Spirit and or criticize that which they do not understand. However, as someone who has functioned in prophetic ministry since the early 1990’s, I would say that a fair share of criticism against the prophetic is warranted because of either “flakey or “false” prophetic ministries. It is the objective of this article to attempt to bring a distinction between a flakey and false prophet.
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The Role of Fivefold Ministry (Part 3)
Now as pointed out before (in the book, Charismatic Captivation), the Church is the quintessential Theocracy. Its government is not a political government wherein the governed themselves constitute, devise, and effect their own government, such as that of this nation, the United States, which is a form of democracy (republic), supposedly “of the people, for the people, and by the people.” Rather, the Church is literally governed by a singular Supreme Potentate—the Lord Jesus Christ—who God has appointed as its Sole and Sovereign Head. The absolute necessity of understanding this one concept is emphasized and re‑emphasized repeatedly in this volume, and indeed is the ultimate and salient point of this book.
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Practical Guidelines for Personal Prophecy
This is a list of practical guidelines for personal prophetic ministry aimed at helping to avoid the pitfalls inherent in operating the prophetic gifts of the Spirit.
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12 Reasons “Spiritual Covenants” Are Not of God
Recently, I interfaced and interacted with a group whose primary commonality is their claim to be apostolic leaders, which, in my view, is extremely dubious in the case of but only a few. In the aftermath, a great disappointment and matter of dismay to me was being made aware, despite the decades of disapprobation and disrepute, some of their number, including some of their senior leaders, continue to employ in working/relating “covenant relationships” with junior leaders of their group such “spiritual covenants” of the ilk described and referenced herein. I was deeply grieved in my spirit by what I saw, discerned, and experienced at that conference.
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Apostolic-Prophetic Restoration in the 21st Century (Pt-2)
Apostles and Prophets are the Master-Builders, or General Contractors, of the House of God—the Church Jesus is building. They are the foundation-layers.
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Apostolic-Prophetic Restoration in the 21st Century (Pt-1)
Following His death, burial, resurrection, and numerous appearances in His resurrected Form, on the Day of Ascension, on the Mount of Ascension, as He was ascending on High, the Apostle Paul, who, as an apostle born late (1 Cor. 15:8), as it were, was not even there, but who reveals to us by revelation of the Spirit, that Jesus relegated and delegated His five-faceted anointing that He Himself ministered through during His fleshly ministry, unto the Church that He is building (Eph. 4:8-13), fulfilling the type and shadow of Elijah’s Prophetic Mantle falling down upon his successor, Elisha, as he was being translated into Heaven alive, having eluded death (2 Kgs. 2:1-15). Jesus, as He was ascending, according to Paul’s prophetic narrative in Ephesians Four, relegated and delegated His five-faceted ministry anointing unto certain persons of His own election: “some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the service (ministry), to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain unto the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”
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Our Great Deficiency
I can only say that I have observed one significant lack among evangelical Christians which might turn out to be the real cause of most of our spiritual troubles. Of course, if that were true, then the supplying of that lack would be our most critical need. The great deficiency to which I refer is the lack of spiritual discernment, especially among our leaders. How there can be so much Bible knowledge and so little insight, so little moral penetration, is one of the enigmas of the religious world today.
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10 Prophetic Abuses and Manipulation
I have found the prophetic gift, including inspirational preaching, teaching and prophetic words to be the most edifying of all the gifts as St. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14. However, with every true gift of God comes either a counterfeit and or an abuse. You can say that about all of the cluster of gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4:11. The prophetic gift can especially be very dangerous if left un-checked, since people think the words spoken are directly from God and will often obey them without question or the use of discernment. Based on all my years of operating in the prophetic, as well as mentoring, nurturing, overseeing and hosting many prophetic ministers, the following are ten signs of prophetic abuse and manipulation.
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Prophetic Purpose
With all the proliferation and promotion of the prophetic that is happily taking place now in some streams and camps of the Church, it is critical that we understand what the true purpose of the prophetic really is. Some prophetic novices and new prophetic groups appear to think that prophecy itself, whether in the form of personal prophesying over people or publishing prophecies on the Internet, for example, is the goal of the prophetic. Moreover, the actions, attitudes, and speech of some regarding the prophetic seem to indicate they think that the prophetic is an end in itself. But, it’s not.
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Five Warning Signs That Prophetic Ministry Has Gone Awry
Prophetic ministry has great potential for blessing and building up the people of God. But when abused and misused, it has the same potential to trouble and destroy. In order to derive the greatest benefit from prophetic ministry, we need both the guidelines of Scripture and the lessons of history to point the way.
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