Prophets of Peace and the Pandemic
Greetings in the Lord~
Today's word comes from Amos 4 and is quite interesting in light of our recovering pandemic situation. It is a chapter in which Amos begins by calling the people "fat cows" because they are so pampered and are not reflective about any of the hardships they have been through. They just call to their spouses to "bring me more" food and drink and whatever else while they lie around and think of resuming business as usual. They do not realize that their hardships: plagues and sickness, drought and rain-less days on the land, blight and mildew on the crops, war and attacks by enemies---were calls from God to repentance. They simply wanted to petition God in their usual, superficial religious and self-serving ways and poof! It all be back to "normal." Kinda sounds like the time we're in now!
"I struck your farms and vineyards with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured all your fig and olive trees. But still you would not return to Me," says the Lord.
"I sent plagues on you like the plagues I sent on Egypt long ago. I killed your young men in war and led all your horses away. The stench of death filled the air! But still you would not return to Me," says the Lord.
"I destroyed some of your cities, as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Those of you who survived were like charred sticks pulled from a fire. But still you would not return to Me," says the Lord. Amos 4:9-11.
Yes, its true, even when struck by a pandemic and the whole world shuts down there are many who will not acknowledge the hand of God in the middle of it. Wow--I'm not sure what more is needed! In fact, judgment is real; issuing judgment is just one of the many facets of God's Sovereignty over us, but it is indeed true. And unless we can see it, at least in part if not the whole, how then, will we ever see a need for repentance? For that is the true issue at hand--God allowing our circumstances to be shaken to the point where we come back to Him. And I'm not just talking about people in general, but also within the Church.
Recently, I watched a podcast with a couple of prominent prophetic voices and a world-travelling evangelist. They were discussing the elephant in the room within the prophetic community, which is: How come there were so few prophetic voices that announced the coming pandemic or issued any warnings at all about a coming disaster? How had they missed it?
Well, let me tell you that it was an interesting podcast, with the first 5 minutes being the most revealing, for me. The conversation began by the guy who does not consider himself to be a prophetic voice letting the prophetic community off the hook by blaming all Christians for missing it since "we all are supposed to hear from God." Wow--it seems unfair to hold all believers to the same level of accountability and discernment as those who proclaim and make a living by speaking the words of God. It was sad to see him play the part of a lap dog as I'm sure he has much more to offer.
The other guest on the show was a prominent prophetic voice in the prophetic community and I was very curious to hear what she had to say. Well, she immediately deflected by saying that no one was wrong or "missed it" since we all prophesy "in part," then, she tried to prove that she didn't miss it because "back in 2012 I prophesied about a great transition coming." Um, yeah, OK. Now we're playing shadow puppets on the wall, I get it. Actually, it was at that point that I shut off the podcast to digest what I had heard and to re-assess the speaker, whom I had heard prophesy a few times over the years. Her words had usually resonated positively with me, so it made me wonder if her popularity had caused her to become prideful or if she was just protecting her "prophet" status, i.e. saving face. Interestingly, the other prominent prophetic speaker gave no personal commentary whatsoever, and by omission, that spoke volumes as well. You could just tell that she was bothered by not receiving any prophetic word about the pandemic and felt the need to have this discussion.
So although none of them admitted directly that they did not get a prophetic word about the single greatest natural disaster (via a bio lab!) the world has experienced in modern history beforehand, they did finally acknowledge that there is a need for accountability for those who prophesy and for greater discernment within the Body of Christ, in general, and finally, for repentance from the Body of Christ as surely, this pandemic did not manifest by accident. OK, now we're talking.
Today's prophetic word is emphasizing our need to acknowledge that the pandemic was not just a natural phenomenon or battle with an "invisible enemy," but also had spiritual implications, namely, that persistent, habitual and pervasive sin opens the door for God's discipline; it was time to get our attention in a meaningful way. God's judgment is a very real concept, and as Christians we need to get a better understanding of that, or at least get a clue, and humble ourselves before God. That starts by calling a spade a spade: some disasters, hardships and calamities do happen as a form of judgment, and permitted by a loving God who does not want anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance.
As for the prophets, who can say unequivocally why so few prophetic voices decreed disaster before the pandemic erupted, but truth be told, and I've said this many times, most American prophets with a public ministry only want to speak about happy things anyway---health, wealth, blessings, miracles and encouragement. They even make ministry "rules" about this and quickly point to New Testament Scripture about "edifying and uplifting" the Body, etc. as the only criteria for prophesy. Jeremiah the prophet addressed this distinction within the prophetic community when he said, "From early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many countries and great kingdoms. But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true." Jeremiah 28:8-9.
Well, since most American prophetic voices only give vague, feel-good prophetic words that can't be verified one way or another, I can never be sure if they're truly sent by God to speak or if they're talking out of their butts. However, truth be told, any other type of prophetic ministry other than "feel-good" would not sustain them financially and they would not be popular with people---and they know that. Nobody likes a doom and gloom prophet, and fewer still get into ministry because they want to be unknown. No, everybody wants to be a rock star these days, the comedic prophet, the celebrity prophetic speaker that gets to travel the world and be invited to conferences and on TV. But the biggest problem isn't this prideful, self-aggrandizing that plagues the prophetic community---no, it is the "bitter jealousy" (NLT) rampant among those who prophesy. And that's just the bigger truth.
In my 20 years of being used in a prophetic capacity, you simply would not believe all the vile and nasty behavior, and deceptive words spoken in this community all stemming from this bitter jealousy and envy. Many prophetic speakers are in competition with each other and will go to war with anyone they are jealous of. The usual ways are by calling their "adversary" an "evangelist" or "watcher" or worse, a "false prophet"--instead of acknowledging someone's true prophet calling; and they like to use the size of their ministry and prophetic network and travel log as proof that they are more prophetic and close to God and have all the answers. But honestly, most of them are good-looking and charismatic enough that they could have built much of their public ministry on their own efforts apart from the leading of the Holy Spirit. (I'm not trying to be disrespectful here, I'm just pointing out the obvious.) In fact, some of them are so obsessed with being "prophetic" and "prolific" and the center of attention that they remind me of many university sports coaches who only live and breathe their sport---the whole world revolves around themselves and "winning" and they are completely out of touch with "everyday" people and ironically, with what God is really doing in the world these days. At any rate, it doesn't surprise me at all that only a few prophetic voices got the "memo" about the pandemic disaster and were brave enough to tell it publicly, as it is clear that something is out of order with the American prophetic community and it is important that we get things back on track.
Therefore, friends, repentance is in order. The jealousy, pride, fear of man, and popularity contest has to be repented of and done away with. And for those prophetic people who have embraced a presence on the internet and desire to be some Instagram star or famous YouTuber, be especially careful. The bitter jealousy and all of that will attract a witchcraft spirit, as it opens the door to it. Humble yourselves now and avoid problems. Fires of purification in the form of persecution will come, which won't be a bad thing for those that need it, but still, unpleasant. There is coming a great harvest, so now is the time to draw near to God, to let Him do the work that is needed in us for the days ahead, especially if we are going to try and use worldly systems like the internet to "reach the lost." All electronic data technology is a part of a worldly / antichrist system so the trick is to use it without being corrupted, but that will be for another blog.
~Be blessed and be a blessing.
Today's word comes from Amos 4 and is quite interesting in light of our recovering pandemic situation. It is a chapter in which Amos begins by calling the people "fat cows" because they are so pampered and are not reflective about any of the hardships they have been through. They just call to their spouses to "bring me more" food and drink and whatever else while they lie around and think of resuming business as usual. They do not realize that their hardships: plagues and sickness, drought and rain-less days on the land, blight and mildew on the crops, war and attacks by enemies---were calls from God to repentance. They simply wanted to petition God in their usual, superficial religious and self-serving ways and poof! It all be back to "normal." Kinda sounds like the time we're in now!
"I struck your farms and vineyards with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured all your fig and olive trees. But still you would not return to Me," says the Lord.
"I sent plagues on you like the plagues I sent on Egypt long ago. I killed your young men in war and led all your horses away. The stench of death filled the air! But still you would not return to Me," says the Lord.
"I destroyed some of your cities, as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Those of you who survived were like charred sticks pulled from a fire. But still you would not return to Me," says the Lord. Amos 4:9-11.
Yes, its true, even when struck by a pandemic and the whole world shuts down there are many who will not acknowledge the hand of God in the middle of it. Wow--I'm not sure what more is needed! In fact, judgment is real; issuing judgment is just one of the many facets of God's Sovereignty over us, but it is indeed true. And unless we can see it, at least in part if not the whole, how then, will we ever see a need for repentance? For that is the true issue at hand--God allowing our circumstances to be shaken to the point where we come back to Him. And I'm not just talking about people in general, but also within the Church.
Recently, I watched a podcast with a couple of prominent prophetic voices and a world-travelling evangelist. They were discussing the elephant in the room within the prophetic community, which is: How come there were so few prophetic voices that announced the coming pandemic or issued any warnings at all about a coming disaster? How had they missed it?
Well, let me tell you that it was an interesting podcast, with the first 5 minutes being the most revealing, for me. The conversation began by the guy who does not consider himself to be a prophetic voice letting the prophetic community off the hook by blaming all Christians for missing it since "we all are supposed to hear from God." Wow--it seems unfair to hold all believers to the same level of accountability and discernment as those who proclaim and make a living by speaking the words of God. It was sad to see him play the part of a lap dog as I'm sure he has much more to offer.
The other guest on the show was a prominent prophetic voice in the prophetic community and I was very curious to hear what she had to say. Well, she immediately deflected by saying that no one was wrong or "missed it" since we all prophesy "in part," then, she tried to prove that she didn't miss it because "back in 2012 I prophesied about a great transition coming." Um, yeah, OK. Now we're playing shadow puppets on the wall, I get it. Actually, it was at that point that I shut off the podcast to digest what I had heard and to re-assess the speaker, whom I had heard prophesy a few times over the years. Her words had usually resonated positively with me, so it made me wonder if her popularity had caused her to become prideful or if she was just protecting her "prophet" status, i.e. saving face. Interestingly, the other prominent prophetic speaker gave no personal commentary whatsoever, and by omission, that spoke volumes as well. You could just tell that she was bothered by not receiving any prophetic word about the pandemic and felt the need to have this discussion.
So although none of them admitted directly that they did not get a prophetic word about the single greatest natural disaster (via a bio lab!) the world has experienced in modern history beforehand, they did finally acknowledge that there is a need for accountability for those who prophesy and for greater discernment within the Body of Christ, in general, and finally, for repentance from the Body of Christ as surely, this pandemic did not manifest by accident. OK, now we're talking.
Today's prophetic word is emphasizing our need to acknowledge that the pandemic was not just a natural phenomenon or battle with an "invisible enemy," but also had spiritual implications, namely, that persistent, habitual and pervasive sin opens the door for God's discipline; it was time to get our attention in a meaningful way. God's judgment is a very real concept, and as Christians we need to get a better understanding of that, or at least get a clue, and humble ourselves before God. That starts by calling a spade a spade: some disasters, hardships and calamities do happen as a form of judgment, and permitted by a loving God who does not want anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance.
As for the prophets, who can say unequivocally why so few prophetic voices decreed disaster before the pandemic erupted, but truth be told, and I've said this many times, most American prophets with a public ministry only want to speak about happy things anyway---health, wealth, blessings, miracles and encouragement. They even make ministry "rules" about this and quickly point to New Testament Scripture about "edifying and uplifting" the Body, etc. as the only criteria for prophesy. Jeremiah the prophet addressed this distinction within the prophetic community when he said, "From early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many countries and great kingdoms. But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true." Jeremiah 28:8-9.
Well, since most American prophetic voices only give vague, feel-good prophetic words that can't be verified one way or another, I can never be sure if they're truly sent by God to speak or if they're talking out of their butts. However, truth be told, any other type of prophetic ministry other than "feel-good" would not sustain them financially and they would not be popular with people---and they know that. Nobody likes a doom and gloom prophet, and fewer still get into ministry because they want to be unknown. No, everybody wants to be a rock star these days, the comedic prophet, the celebrity prophetic speaker that gets to travel the world and be invited to conferences and on TV. But the biggest problem isn't this prideful, self-aggrandizing that plagues the prophetic community---no, it is the "bitter jealousy" (NLT) rampant among those who prophesy. And that's just the bigger truth.
In my 20 years of being used in a prophetic capacity, you simply would not believe all the vile and nasty behavior, and deceptive words spoken in this community all stemming from this bitter jealousy and envy. Many prophetic speakers are in competition with each other and will go to war with anyone they are jealous of. The usual ways are by calling their "adversary" an "evangelist" or "watcher" or worse, a "false prophet"--instead of acknowledging someone's true prophet calling; and they like to use the size of their ministry and prophetic network and travel log as proof that they are more prophetic and close to God and have all the answers. But honestly, most of them are good-looking and charismatic enough that they could have built much of their public ministry on their own efforts apart from the leading of the Holy Spirit. (I'm not trying to be disrespectful here, I'm just pointing out the obvious.) In fact, some of them are so obsessed with being "prophetic" and "prolific" and the center of attention that they remind me of many university sports coaches who only live and breathe their sport---the whole world revolves around themselves and "winning" and they are completely out of touch with "everyday" people and ironically, with what God is really doing in the world these days. At any rate, it doesn't surprise me at all that only a few prophetic voices got the "memo" about the pandemic disaster and were brave enough to tell it publicly, as it is clear that something is out of order with the American prophetic community and it is important that we get things back on track.
Therefore, friends, repentance is in order. The jealousy, pride, fear of man, and popularity contest has to be repented of and done away with. And for those prophetic people who have embraced a presence on the internet and desire to be some Instagram star or famous YouTuber, be especially careful. The bitter jealousy and all of that will attract a witchcraft spirit, as it opens the door to it. Humble yourselves now and avoid problems. Fires of purification in the form of persecution will come, which won't be a bad thing for those that need it, but still, unpleasant. There is coming a great harvest, so now is the time to draw near to God, to let Him do the work that is needed in us for the days ahead, especially if we are going to try and use worldly systems like the internet to "reach the lost." All electronic data technology is a part of a worldly / antichrist system so the trick is to use it without being corrupted, but that will be for another blog.
~Be blessed and be a blessing.
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