I do not know about you, but I have, in my short years as a believer, been studying prophets in Scripture in comparison with what’s happening in the name of prophecy in the Body of Christ today and all I can is that something quite doesn’t match. I have carefully outlined my concerns below and I hope some Christian will read this thoughtfully and scripturally. Again as a reminder, all this is not for the sake of meaningless criticism, but for the growth and sanctification of God’s people.
Fallible prophecies
The word “fallible” is there to describe something that has a mistake; something full of errors and problems. Check inside your Bible and tell me if there is any hint of any prophet of God who spoke something and it did not happen. If anything, Deuteronomy 18:21-22 contains a strong warning not to entertain any supposed prophet who claims to speak for God yet what he speaks doesn’t come to pass. When it comes to prophecy, the Lord demands 100% accuracy or else His own Name is at risk of being blasphemed as a lie. Yet it is not the case with today’s prophets – all of them! What they usually do is to have a few prophecies that come true – that they boast much about – while a whole lot of other “prophetic utterances” never come to pass and they even have the nerve to make excuses for their lies because they know that their gullible supporters will defend them. I do not think there is a need for me to name and shame these “great men of God” who have many times embarrassed the body of Christ with wrong “messages from the Lord”. Apart from accuracy, it still concerns me that most of what passes as prophecy today is nothing more than unclear riddles and parables that do nothing other than confuse innocent souls all the more. Do I need to mention that football and political results prophecies don’t add anything to the salvation of souls and the glory of Christ, except perhaps to pump the prophet’s pride about his gift? I suppose we would all be safer inside a crocodile’s mouth than we would be if we lived our Christian lives under the ministries of today’s prophets.
Bad theology
Modern prophets are very good at boasting about their “prophetic anointing”, which, according to them, proves that they are so close and so connected to God, unlike the rest of us common Christians. Yet, all their boasting is betrayed by their bad teaching and false doctrines, which prove that in reality, they have no clue about the true Gospel of Christ and the basic doctrines of the Christian faith. I struggle to understand how a so-called “anointed” individual cannot even grasp the basic principles of Bible interpretation and proper hermeneutics. Instead, what you hear as sermons from these guys are the same old motivational skits that jump from one favorite verse to the other to pump the ego. By the way, who is responsible for inventing the all-embarrassing prosperity gospel? It’s the prophets! Apparently, the good Lord anoints people so that they can propagate false doctrines that harm people. Me think not my friend.
Immorality
Who can deny that ever since the prophetic noise flooded the Church, there has been an increase in sexual immorality and women abuse stories? Why? Well, one of these notorious prophets tried to excuse this by saying, “the anointing, if not handled correctly will make the man of God do these things.” I do not think there is a bigger blasphemy than this: to accuse the good Holy Spirit of causing immorality! Right inside your Bible, there is a clear definition of what the Holy Spirit does to us; love, peace, joy, patience, gentleness and self-control. Therefore, you cannot be serious and tell me that there are gifted prophets today, yet they can’t control their zippers. You cannot!
Pride
Philippians 2:3-8 is a good advocate for the Spirit of humility among believers, just as our Lord humbled Himself to the point of death on a wooden Cross. Yet, humility and today’s prophets are as far from each other as Cape is from Cairo. The “I am important” attitude is what you get from the mouths of these guys. Actually, being a prophet is so valued these days such that everyone wants to declare himself a prophet so as to get that honor from men. Compared to what I see in the Bible, something …quite…doesn’t click.
Materialism and the love of money
Like I hinted above with the issue of the prosperity gospel, today’s prophets are well-known for inviting people to come to them with the false promises of getting job promotions and new cars – really? Is that what the Gospel is about? Is that what Jesus and Paul and all the Bible prophets did in their ministries?
Reliance upon dreams and visions above Scripture
Today’s prophets are good at undermining the sound doctrines of the Holy Book, only to go on and establish their own teachings that are mainly inspired by their visions and dreams which they have in private corners. Many of these men claim to have seen angels, trips to heaven via hell, and a whole lot of strange things. Hence they come with different messages from these mystical experiences –much to the confusion of innocent people. Somehow they think that visions and angels are a sign that they walk with God. Free advice to my Christian brethren: never trust someone’s dream more than you trust your Bible. Thank you
Acceptance by the world
These words are actually a good test if an individual is a false prophet or not, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, because this is what their fathers did to the false prophets (Luke 6:26)”. Try to think about the most famous prophet you know, then observe how the world has accepted that minister and how they flock to his church. The true Gospel of Christ has never been a friend of the worldly crowd. “They are of the world, therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them”, says John (1 John 4:5).
I prophesy over your life?
This is just another thing that worries me; “I prophesy over your life”. Honestly, I struggle to understand what that means. Does that qualify as a prophetic message from the Lord or it is just words that mean something else? If it is indeed a word of prophecy directly from the Lord through the mouth of His servants, then it must all come to pass or else it’s a false prophecy. Brethren, it would be simple and better for us to sit under ministers who preach and teach Scripture as it is written, then we go on to obey that word as the Lord expects us to.
Conclusion
The main objective of this document was to examine the Biblical gift of prophecy and the prophets of the Bible in comparison with those who claim the gift today. And I am confident that I laid out my concerns as orderly as possible. It’s up to you then dear reader to decide what’s best for your faith. As for me, because of the above reasons, I will not trust anyone who claims to be a prophet. I believe I am far safer with only my Bible as the rule and governor of my faith. Scripture is therefore the true prophet of my life. So help me God!
Sinothi Ncube
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