Where are the Prophets?
Without doubt God speaks in many ways, and the spirit of prophecy flows through anyone God chooses to use for his purpose. Edification, exhortation, and comfort, for example, pour out the prophetic nature of scripture and bring hope and encouragement to the Church. (1Cor14:3). All Christians are motivated to prophesy in this manner. However, not all have the gift or ministry of a Prophet, just as not all Christians are Teachers or Pastors. The purpose of this paper is to ask the question, where are the Prophets, and question how we deal with the words of a Prophet today? The presupposition here is that the ministry of a Prophet is different from prophecy defined by the fruit of the spirit. That Prophets are relevant today, as are the other spiritual gifts of Eph 4:11-13. Second, while Prophets bring edification, exhortation, and comfort to the Church, this is not their primary function. A Prophets reward includes correction, direction, and rebuke.
Ironically the area of correction, direction, and rebuke is the main reason that tension exists around the prophetic anointing. We simply don’t like the idea that God speaks with such blunt clarity. However, if edification, exhortation, and comfort were the extent of a Prophet’s ministry, then indeed we have no need for Prophets! This I believe, is where the Church is situated today. In our hearts we have no need for Prophets, therefore true Prophets, are hard to find. We’re living in a time not dissimilar to inter-Testament times when the voice of God was rare. The Church has effectively disenfranchised, or at least hobbled those that are primarily responsible for protecting the Church, by controlling what is said, how it’s said, and when it’s said. Perhaps the intentions are well-meaning, but the reason for this approach is manipulated by fear and control. The fullness of a Prophets ministry has been gradually exorcised, resulting in the Church being left vulnerable to internal and external forces. A friend once told me, “It’s not disagreement that’s the problem, it’s the process we follow to address it”.
Rapid changes in cultural and social mores, the seductive influence of subjective humanism, the rise of socialism, and the general decline of civil society might suggest that the Church should be an ever-brightening beacon of difference, yet this doesn’t appear to be the case. Though people are still drawn to Christ through friendship evangelism, the Church as an institution appears to generate a mostly negative impression, an impression of unintelligent people who have very little relevance. It might be argued that the marginalization of the Prophetic, is partially responsible for the Body of Christ losing its cutting edge.
Most of what we might define as prophetic today is not the message of a Prophet. It invokes an emotional response, but when subjected to any basic standard of testing, it’s little more than words of prayer and praise. I can’t remember the last time I heard the blunt clarity of a Prophet. The current obsession with itinerant speakers who describe themselves with a prophetic anointing is somewhat spurious, and the essence of their message is more or less an academic display of religious soothsaying, not unlike the best of mediums. It’s a sad testimony of the level to which the prophetic has descended. Why am I so critical, it’s because if we accept that Prophets exist, then this current charade holds very little of the biblical character, purpose, and message, one might expect to identify them as Prophets. We probably wouldn’t flock to them with such eager enthusiasm if we understood the wider potential of a genuine Prophet’s message. I don’t accept subjective theology that suggests Prophets have a different role today, or that they don’t exist, for the same reason that I don’t accept that the remaining four ministry gifts of Eph 4:11-12 have changed either, refer v13.
Unless prophecy bathes our egos with what we want to hear, we reject it. Years of erroneous teaching have caused many Prophets to sanitize God’s word, changing it to become spiritually impotent, to prevent offence, or hurt anyone’s feelings. However, taking offence is not consistent with Christianity. To be clear we should expect the biblical character of the prophetic, in the same way, we might expect certain character traits from a Pastor. However, we subject Prophets to a different set of rules, all in the name of creating a safe place for the flock. Yet, if indeed they are Prophets, this attitude appears self-defeating, even draconian.
It’s unfortunate that while many acknowledge the place of a Prophet, we’ve found more ways to judge the messenger than test the message they bring. Why? The single most obvious reason is the fear of offence. Most would accept that errors have occurred in all areas of ministry, not just prophecy, and there will be prophecies that originate in the mind of man and not the heart of God. One might ponder the religious culture in Jesus’ time, to see the parallels of this statement. Of greater concern is that we have very little protocol about receiving, testing and reporting on prophecy. It appears that very little prophecy is recorded at all, and many churches could not trace the hand of God over any given period. Little or no biblical testing occurs, and many prophecies never find their way back to the church.
A genuine effort to establish some biblical process would guide leadership in the process of testing a prophecy, including those of the Prophet. The messenger must accept responsibility for the words they have spoken. This acceptance and responsibility, will with time find its level of maturity, as those moved to speak in God's name, become aware of their accountability. Likewise, the Church must learn not to take offence so easily.
Unfortunately, the fear of offence is so common today. It exposes the level of spiritual maturity that believers have generally settled for. It may be that those at risk of being offended are the very people for whom the prophecy is needed. Likewise, to presume that people will be offended is governed by fear and control, not leadership, and the offence seems to rise when the prophetic isn't being treated with the importance it deserves. Secondly, fear is not a biblical approach to the prophetic, and certainly not a valid “feeling” to test it. There is no reason for fear to exist in the first place. Controlling the Prophetic may have the appearance of showing leadership, but it ultimately hurts the spiritual.
Any tendency for control is fraught with problems, and whoever marginalizes, or manipulates the prophetic out of fear, risks manipulating God himself. This is a responsibility to be pondered with all seriousness by those in leadership, because at times it appears, we place more importance on our prejudice than we do the purposes of God. In general, the prophetic is treated as an amusement, a somewhat mystical utterance that tickles our religious egos, but in reality, is treated with little or no importance.
