The Prophetic Word

By: Poul Madsen

THE prophets of the Lord met their greatest problem and their most dangerous opponents in the persons of the false prophets. In the Old Testament there were swarms of these, and they were always in the majority. The Bible teaches us that the downfall of the people of Israel was occasioned by their listening to the false prophets instead of heeding the messengers of the Lord. All spiritual calamity is caused by listening to the wrong things, accepting falsehood and so becoming deceived.

The false prophets were hardly ever called this but usually described as prophets. They prophesied in the name of the Lord and frequented His Temple. Many of them attended the schools of the prophets and were familiar with the scriptures. They experienced spiritual ecstasies, did symbolical acts and spoke convincingly: the large majority of the people accepted them unquestioningly as speaking for God. They could tell the crowds that they had had wonderful dreams and seen marvellous visions; they spoke about the future with confidence, and they were listened to with appreciation and pleasure.

The true prophets are hardly ever distinguished as such, but just like the others they are called prophets, or prophets of the Lord. They were often quite alone and always in the minority. Happily most of what the false prophets said has long ago been forgotten. Hardly anything of their work has been preserved as have the prophecies of the true prophets. Therefore it is not difficult for us to discern between the false and the true prophets of the past . If, however, we had been their contemporaries, would we have been able so to discern? The question is not irrelevant, for each generation has its share of prophetic utterances demanding discernment, and the problem of distinguishing between true and false speaking in the Lord's name will become more and more important as we approach the coming of the Lord.

Prophetic speech is speaking in the name of God and on His behalf -- in other words, what we call preaching. The prophets were preachers; they all spoke on the Lord's behalf, they all introduced their messages with: 'Thus saith the Lord' and they all had some kind of association with a profession of faith in Him. (I am not thinking of heathen prophets, the prophets of Baal and Ashera and such like. These were quite different and easy to distinguish.) What was not easy for the contemporary people of God was to discern between true and false messages in the Lord's name, for those speaking all seemed so convincing, and all sought support from the promises of God's Word.

The prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah especially give us an insight into their continuous conflict with the false prophets, revealing how often their own inspired messages were countered by these deceived men. Ezekiel emphasises that these so-called 'colleagues' prophesied out of their own heart (see Ezekiel 13:2 and 17). They spoke because a situation arose where they felt that they must say something. This does not sound so unreasonable, especially when we remember that the situation in which the people found themselves was often catastrophic, calling for some word from the Lord. Yet they did not get direct contact with Him but spoke out of their own heart, and this was the basic reason for the way in which the people were led astray. It stands in complete contrast with the words of Jesus. He never spoke out of His own heart, but only said what He had heard the Father say. Paul did the same: "As of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ" (Danish -- "Out of God we speak in Christ before the face of God") (2 Corinthians 2:17).

WORDS can be extremely dangerous. We not only influence others but also ourselves by what we say. It often happens that it is our words which form our thoughts and opinions, whereas they should spring from and express them. Having spoken in this way, we are apt to become bound by our own words, and then our wrong opinions take hold on us and we become prisoners to them. From this state of bondage we are all too ready to continue bombarding other people with our words. The prophets of Ezekiel's day followed their own spirit, without having seen anything from God (Ezekiel 13:3). Today we would say that they spoke subjectively, that is to say from their own feelings and the imagined inspiration of their own senses. Far too often we hear a talk which begins with: 'I feel that ...' and continues with some thin discourse which has little or no [61/62] substance. Surely to follow your own spirit becomes the same as preaching yourself, drawing attention to yourself, whereas Paul said plainly: "We preach not ourselves" (2 Corinthians 4:5). He knew, as we should also know, that God frowns on this kind of preaching.

Ezekiel tells us that these prophets saw vanity and prophesied lies, even while they were using the orthodox formula: 'the Lord saith' (Ezekiel 13:6). The amazing thing is that they themselves expected that their words would be confirmed by the Lord. They were acting in what we would call 'good faith'. They were not aware that the Lord was not with them. They were subjectively convinced that they spoke on the Lord's behalf and that He would act in accordance with their words. That was why they spoke with such confidence, the people being persuaded by their very earnestness.

Jeremiah gives us the basic description of the difference between true and false prophets. As to the latter he says: "They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord" (Jeremiah 23:16). This corresponds to what Ezekiel had to say about subjective preaching, which sprang from the prophet himself and not from God. In order to attract the attention of their hearers, these prophets often said: "I have dreamed, I have dreamed" (Jeremiah 23:25). This made people listen with wrapt attention, captivated by these strange and attractive men who had had such a marvellous experience as a dream in which the Lord had spoken to them. 'What more can we ask for?', they said to one another. 'If it was a dream it must surely be from heaven.'

BECAUSE these false prophets spoke out from themselves according to the situation in which they were found, they spoke the kind of words that the people wanted to hear. In the time of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, God's people were in the most acute crisis condition. Jerusalem was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, and they wanted to know how it would turn out. What should the prophets say? Their own heart, their own spirit, urged them to proclaim to the people some good news that the Lord was about to intervene. This was the kind of message that the people's desperate plight demanded and it was naturally what they all wanted. What is more, their reasoning suggested that the Lord simply must intervene -- He could do no other. Firstly because the remnant of Judah who were left in the land were beset by heathen, and surely God would never let such a remnant be given over into the hands of idolaters. Then Jerusalem was God's chosen city which could therefore never be overthrown. Finally, and most important of all, it was the place where stood His holy Temple, the house which Solomon had built, the house which had been filled with God's glory. Was not the mercy seat there in the Holy of Holies? Had not the Lord Himself promised that when the people were in need and prayed towards that house, then He would hear and would deliver? What else could the prophets proclaim but an optimistic assurance that for His name's sake, the Lord would intervene and repeat the marvellous deliverance which He had given when the Assyrians besieged the city in the time of Hezekiah? They wanted to say it and the people wanted to hear it and would have no patience to listen to anything other than this man-made 'gospel'. Before we hastily condemn them, should we not ask ourselves if under such conditions we would be able to discern and reject this message of deliverance as utterly false? Would we perhaps be beguiled by the wrong use of the name of the Lord?

Remember, it was God's people and not the heathen who welcomed this kind of ministry. It was they who allowed the false prophets to hold their attention and gain their popularity as fine preachers. They enjoyed hearing what in their own hearts they would have liked God to say. When Jeremiah stood up boldly among them and said: "Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these" (Jeremiah 7:4), who could accept that this was the true word of the Lord? Not one of them. How could he say that it was not the temple of the Lord when their past history and their present reasoning told them that it was?

Jeremiah also said: "The prophets prophesy lies in my name; I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake I unto them: they prophesy unto you a lying vision, and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their own hearts" (14:14). He advised the people: "Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto you" (27:14). Who was prepared to accept such a message? Nobody! In their eyes, Jeremiah was a traitor who, in its most desperate situation, [62/63] deprived the nation of both courage and hope. Like Ahab of old they said: "There is one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord. but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil" (1 Kings 22:8). So they acclaimed the prophet Hananiah as a real spokesman for the Lord, and greatly enjoyed his dramatic promise of deliverance when he took the bar from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck and broke it (28:10). No hasty reply came from Jeremiah. He just went quietly away and waited until he had fresh instructions from the mouth of the Lord. His experience was sadly like to that of the Lord Jesus who later prophesied among these same people of Israel: "Because I say the truth, ye believe me not" (John 8:45).

THE reason why Jeremiah so differed from the prophets of his time was that, unlike them, he "stood in the council of the Lord, that he should perceive and hear his word; he marked his word and heard it" (23:18). He was a man who sought quietness in the Lord's presence, a man who waited on God and listened to Him. He knew that his own thoughts would not be the same as God's thoughts and that his own ways would be different from God's ways, so he neither listened to the people nor to his own ideas, but made it his business to keep close to the Lord and be sensitive to His voice. Others could make themselves popular by telling the people what they wanted to hear, but he could only seek the mind of God and then proclaim it. God's thoughts were so diametrically opposed to what the people thought and wanted, that nobody would listen to Jeremiah.

"The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat? saith the Lord. Therefore I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words everyone from his neighbour. Behold I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues and say, He saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy lying dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting: yet I sent them not, nor commanded them; neither shall they profit this people at all, saith the Lord" (23:28-32). As we have already said, words can be very dangerous. If such words purport to come from the Lord they are the most dangerous of all unless, of course, they are truly from Him and not just human opinions. Those of us who speak to others in the name of the Lord truly carry a very heavy responsibility. The fact that some of those prophets were sincere did not alter the case at all; they were false prophets. deceiving themselves and leading others astray.

WHAT can we say about the true prophets? Firstly that they were all men who trembled before the Lord and His word, men who were quick to listen and slow to speak. Moses would rather not have accepted God's call; Jeremiah also asked to be excused; while Isaiah cried: "Woe is me for I am undone" (literally, 'I am silenced'). None of them were masters of the word of God, but all were mastered by it. As men with contrite hearts and humble spirits, they constantly stood in the council of the Lord. When we compare ourselves with them, we may well ask whether we are at all competent to speak in the Lord's name. Have we become professionals, glib talkers, polished preachers? Do we write or speak because we like to do so, because others invite us do so, or under divine constraint? Would we prefer to be silent? We need to beware of being carried along with the tide of the many who readily speak and write in the name of the Lord today.

There were times when Jeremiah determined never to preach again, but the Lord overrode his decisions and sent him out again with the fire burning in his bones. Elijah wanted to hand in his resignation and was ready to run away. The angel of the Lord, however, met him and led him to the mount where he was re-commissioned and sent back to the task. Amos refused to call himself a prophet at all -- he was a dresser of sycamore trees. None of these men wanted to speak. That is probably why they were the very men to do so.

So again I ask, What about us who have been so ready to speak and write on spiritual matters? We must take nothing for granted in our ministry. Paul trembled at the responsibility of the task. He understood that even the forming of the message, that is the right choice of words, was of the utmost importance. 'Pray also for me that I may preach it with the right words,' he appeals, 'for you cannot preach the gospel with words taught by man's wisdom, but only with words which the Spirit teaches' (1 Corinthians 2:13). Since, then, not only the content of the message but also its expression in words is the responsibility of the man who speaks on God's behalf, we certainly need earnest prayer before we speak. [63/64] We need to spend more time in God's council chamber and we need to speak when God gives a message and not just when people want to hear us, to speak as 'in the sight of God'. It may well be that we shall use less words when we so speak, but they will be true and life-giving. Above all we need much closer communion with Him who is Himself the Word.

www.austin-sparks.net/mags/ttm-5-4.html

Building Watchman Towers of Prayer and Intercession

God is calling Christians to watch and pray. Are you on your post?

Are you building walls of religion or towers of prayer? Your answer could denote the difference between a woe-filled fate and a fulfilled destiny.

Prophets obsessed by the fear of man or unholy desires will not fulfill God’s ultimate plan. We must be careful, then, not to prophesy according to the party line in order to establish and preserve popularity in ministry circuits. If we fall into this trap we find ourselves in danger of perverting the gift of God by building walls of religion.

True prophets are not always the most popular five-fold ministry gift on the block because they are bold enough to release a word of the Lord that deals with sin or that warns the local church of potentially unpleasant circumstances coming down the proverbial pike. In order to properly carry this mantle, genuine prophets must build towers of prayer.

False prophets build walls of religion that lead people astray with fabricated edification, misleading exhortation and counterfeit comfort. “These evil prophets deceive my people saying, ‘All is peaceful!’ when there is no peace at all! It’s as if the people have built a flimsy wall, and these prophets are trying to hold it together by covering it with whitewash! Tell these whitewashers that their wall will soon fall down” (Ezekiel 13:10 NLT).

Verily, verily, the whitewashed walls of religion are going to come tumbling down in a heap of self-righteous rubble and the false prophets are coming down right along with them. Let’s not forget that Jesus pronounced woe on the Pharisaical hypocrites, calling them whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean (Matthew 23:27).

You can’t whitewash sin. You can’t whitewash religion. And you certainly can’t whitewash false prophecy. We must guard our hearts in order to maintain a pure prophetic flow and a life of prayer that will wash away the plans of the enemy instead of fortifying his deception by watering down the truth for the sake of acceptance.

True prophets may not always have the flare, charisma or appeal of their false twins, but who said they are supposed to? Jeremiah wasn’t the most popular prophet in his time, nor was Ezekiel in his day. John the Baptist had his head served up on a silver platter for warning the people of the looming decision between everlasting life and eternal hellfire. But they were the unadulterated mouthpieces of God. And so it should be.

One of the key disparities between the true and the false prophet is prayer. The Bible says the foolish prophets discussed in the 13th Chapter of Ezekiel did not stand in the gap or make up a hedge for the house of Israel so that it could endure the battle. These diviners did not intercede in prayer to protect God’s people.

True prophets, by contrast, may not win any popularity contests in the local church, but they will sacrifice to make intercession. Instead of building walls of religion, they build towers of prayer; watchtowers in the spirit that allow them to see the assignments coming against the local church. They take that revelation and use it as spiritual mortar to make up a hedge in prayer.

You can’t separate a prophet from prayer any more than you can separate an evangelist from preaching the Gospel. The very first time you ever see the word “prophet” in the Bible, it is connected to prayer. In the Book of Genesis when Abimelech took Abraham’s wife, the Lord said, “Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live…” (Genesis 20:7). So while not every intercessor is a prophet, every prophet is an intercessor.

Consider the prophets of old. They were often called watchmen. Scripture reveals three types of prophetic sentinels whose mission is to stand guard, keep watch and report what they see. We find Old Testament prophets on the walls, walking in the streets of the city and in the countryside.

“I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence…” (Isaiah 62:6) Watchmen on the walls are positioned to see far distances in the spirit and discern whether friend or foe is approaching. The watchman gives word to those in authority so they can decide whether to sound an alarm of welcome or an alarm of war. In today’s local church, these watchmen help protect against enemy attacks. Every prophet is called to this post.

“They surround Jerusalem like watchmen surrounding a field, for my people have rebelled against me, says the Lord,” (Jeremiah 4:17 NLT). This relates to the prophets in the harvest fields. Prophets have a clear role in evangelism as watchmen who protect Gospel-preaching efforts against the destructive work of principalities and powers that keep the lost from hearing the truth. Prophets should be deployed on local church outreaches and international missions to watch, guard, pull down and destroy opposition to the Good News.

“The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city” (Song of Solomon 3:3; 5:7 NIV). In today’s times, this watchman is assigned to stand guard over the Body of Christ to see emerging problems. This is a larger responsibility that carries with it a heavier prayer burden and greater implications for the Church at large.

The point is anyone who stands in the five-fold function of prophet should keep their spiritual binoculars around their neck and watch. But not just watch – watch and pray always. Anyone carrying a prophetic mantle needs to closely examine the fruit of his or her ministry. If we have prophesied peace unto popularity, then we need to repent. We need to trade in our whitewash for some substantive mortar and start building towers of prayer that will bring genuine edification, authentic exhortation and legitimate comfort to God’s people.

Let us not be foolish prophets who build our ministries on the sands of seduction for the sake of acceptance because Jehovah promises that rain will pour from the heavens, hailstones will come hurtling down and violent winds will burst forth against those whitewashed walls and expose them (Ezekiel 13:11-12).

Instead, let us build our ministries on the Rock and prophesy the mind of Christ so that when the hurricanes of religion come against the local church and when Jezebel hurls her spiritual sleet at the sanctuary and when the winds of witchcraft blow against the walls, the foundation of our ministries and our local churches will be fortified to stand and withstand in the day of battle.

Jennifer LeClaire is the editor of The Voice magazine. You can visit her online at www.jenniferleclaire.org

Strange Fire: Mystics in the Church of God

Something is wrong, bad wrong! Are there mystics, soothsayers and spiritists in the Church of God?

Many people are pursuing prophetic ministry and it seems there is no lack of confusion surrounding its proper function. Whether you are called to prophetic ministry or just serving Christ with all your heart, you will be faced with many odd, even strange things that will require much spiritual discernment during your walk with God. Spiritual discernment will come from the Holy Spirit and find confirmation in many Scriptures throughout the written Word of God.

Let me say this: The Holy Spirit is not strange, weird or mystical. He is the third part of the Trinity. He is a gentleman, a statesman and a loving Spirit Who lifts up Christ, the only begotten Son of God. He is not a female presence. He is not an “it,” a “thing,” a “mist,” a “feeling” or some orphic force.

History has introduced many divagating leaders with strange manifestations. Your advantage is 4,000 years of written biblical history, from Adam to Christ, to serve as your guide to accuracy. One cornerstone for staying biblical is using that written history as your foundation for measuring truth. When strange things happen, look to the Word for biblical examples. If you can’t find any, then something is terribly wrong.

Experiences, even vivid, powerful, and supernatural ones, are not measurements for truth. In my generation I’ve seen meetings where gold dust, feathers, gems, and people barking and roaring like lions were showcased. A search through the Scriptures gives no evidence that the Holy Spirit used any of these manifestations to confirm Christ’s resurrection. These are only a few examples of strange fire.

Someone may tell you the things of the Spirit can’t be understood by the natural man. That’s not true at all because the Holy Spirit can be understood. He never violates the written Word. The things of the Spirit are understood by the logos, the Bible (Hebrews 4:12). Again, the Holy Spirit is not strange, weird or mystical.

Prophets of Deception
In my generation, Jezebel and Baalim prophets are the prevailing enemies of true prophetic ministry. In the last 20 years these spirits have grown sophisticated. They’ve built their own network of churches, followers and training schools. They’ve written books and produced many training videos. These spirits intend to hijack the prophetic ministry and hold themselves out to be the “experts” in the field. They condemn criticism as irrelevant, unloving, ignorant and judgmental. Hopefully by the time you read this material you will see their folly and will escape their deceptions. More than likely things will grow worse. If so, you will find them as your strongest opponents.

The prophetic groups of Jezebel and Baalim – and others you will encounter – have all types of strange signs and wonders in their meetings. Just remember not all wonders, no matter how mystical and exciting, are from the Holy Ghost (1 John 4:1). Even legitimate miracles in meetings do not confirm these ministers are flowing right. Scripture says, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:22-23).

One particular trait among some ministers is the love of money that finance extravagant lifestyles. Some who embrace these spirits are merchandisers. A merchandiser sells prophecies, healings, religious oils, potions and various products that reinforce their message. Typically they work within their own networks, focusing on getting as much money from people as possible. They have all kinds of gimmick offerings that manipulate people. They are always recruiting followers to join their groups. I have seen some work every kind of evil when it comes to stealing from God’s people.

One young man, we’ll call him Scott, hooked up with one of these merchandising networks. He came to meet with me recently, looking to repent. Scott offered up his ordination papers from the various ministers within the network and renounced his involvement. He went on to reveal the purpose of their many conferences: to raise money, not to advance the ministry of Christ. After these services the organizers divide the offerings among themselves. Scott shocked me when he shared the mindset of these merchandisers. They believe that the amount of money one raises confirms the level of one’s prophetic anointing.

For several hours, Scott spoke of many individuals, some well-known and others obscure. He disclosed numerous evil strategies for meetings across our nation. I learned that they even merchandise one another! They look for young naïve upstarts to turn into devils like themselves. There is every sort of evil working behind the scenes among these people. These are “professional prophets.” They watch videos and listen to audio with the intent purpose of learning the sayings and particular mannerisms of true ministers of the Gospel so they can imitate them (Jeremiah 23:30). Avoid them and don’t do any meetings with them – and don’t attend them. Beware their accolades, flatteries and smiles toward you. At first they will flatter you. If that works, then they will merchandise you. If that doesn’t work, they will blackball you. Just remember, if you can be flattered, you can be bought. Christ’s servants are not prostitutes.

Psychics, Mystics and Spiritists
A spirit of rejection may attack you if these leaders shun you. If you feel that way just think of it like this, rejection is protection. You don’t need anybody’s approval save Christ’s. God’s servants can’t be bought at any price! Don’t try to learn anything from them. You are not a psychic, mystic, spiritist or soothsayer. You are a minister of Christ. You have a responsibility to use your gift as a faithful steward to serve the Body of Christ. The purpose of the anointing is to establish and advance the Kingdom of God, give witness to the love of God and confirm to the world the resurrection of Christ our Savior. True prophets are also called to turn the heart of people toward God, walk in holiness, confront sin and build the Church of Christ. Avoid fame, accolades from men and vain glory, and mind your motives in all things (Proverbs 4:23).

The flow of New Testament prophets is primarily used for edification, exhortation and comfort (1 Corinthians 14:3). This gift also helps turn logos, the written Word, to rhema, a life-giving Word, as the Holy Spirit wills. Again, New Testament prophets are not physics. A psychic uses demon powers to prophesy. As already said, prophets are not mystics. A mystic is one that uses spirit counterfeits to appear like they have some sort of special access or favor with God.

False prophets can release fear and curses. I have heard some tell people they are endangering themselves if they don’t obey their prophetic words. That type of stuff is nothing but witchcraft. Bind it up and carry on for Jesus. No prophet is anointed by the Holy Spirit to curse people. Paul said “bless and curse not” (Romans 12:14). Cursing is a sure sign of a false prophet. Baalim, a true prophet gone bad, did the same and lost his life for it. God doesn’t send storms, hurricanes and earthquakes to judge people, cities and nations for their sins. Jesus said these things would increase before His return. Yes, one day their will be a judgment of the living and the dead but fear does not lead people to Christ. God’s loving kindness, the good news does, and the offer of forgiveness of sin to the repentant (John 3:16).

Searching Hidden Secrets
Prophets of Christ depend only on the Holy Spirit and the written Word of God. They don’t need objects from people’s clothing, locks of hair or photos to assist their prophetic utterances. Nor will they need to astral project into the spirit world. True prophets will not blend the New Age teachings of the god-self into their teachings or try to unlock hidden meanings or secrets within Scripture. They will not sell prophecies, potions or elixirs. They are not occultists, soothsayers, mediums or shamans. Occultists search for hidden secrets and “knowledge of the hidden.” They use various methods to find obscured ‘truths’ like numerology and the reading of Hebrew symbols and letters. Numerology is the study of relationships between numbers and objects needed by spiritualists for divination. Kabala practitioners, for example, look for knowledge of the hidden in numbers and symbols. This is not biblical!

I have seen people use the Hebrew calendar and its annual symbols to prophesy events of the coming year. This is not the working of the Holy Spirit but the sign of ancient Babylonian soothsayers. Jannes and Jambres are biblical examples. Scripture says the secret things belong to our Lord and what He has chosen to reveal are found in His Word, only occultists search for the forbidden. “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29).

Some things will not be easily discerned. In some cases you will have to wait for the appearance of fruit (Matthew 7:17). As you wait for the fruit to appear remember that the Holy Ghost doesn’t produce unstable, bizarre or flaky people. They will be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. They will be full of love, power and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).

Beware unholy mixtures. Don’t knowingly preach with amoral teachers, preachers, musicians or singers – and don’t sit in their meetings, either. You will find that some in error are very talented but talent does not usher in the presence of the Holy Ghost. Talent is seen in skillful performances and useful for entertaining. Entertainment, however, will not change hearts. New Testament prophets are called to turn hearts to Christ, not put on a show for people.

Avoid the gold, the glory and the girls. This is an old proverb that will help you make it. Yes, God will prosper you because obedience to His Word always brings a measure of prosperity. Scripture says, however, that “The love of money is the root of all evil.” As you minister don’t forget that all the glory belongs to God. Scripture reminds us, “He will not give his glory to another” (Isaiah 42:8). Finally, beware of sexual sins. When you get married, stay faithful to the spouse of your youth. Sexual sin has destroyed the ministries of thousands of people before you arrived on this earth. It can take you out, too.

Polished Showmanship
As already said, avoid strange fire. Strange fire is the introduction of something foreign into the ministry, message, church, prophecy, prayer, offering or ‘anointing.’ The sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, offered strange fire and lost their lives (Leviticus 10:1-10). The ministry is a holy ministry with holy servants serving a holy God.

The prophet’s gift is not to put on a show. Prophets are not entertainers. Deceitful prophets are showmen and know how to work a crowd. Polished showmanship, no matter how mystical, seemingly spiritual or entertaining is not the anointing. You may live in a time where the difference is not clear and God may use you to bring clarity. Some revivals attract strange fire. You can read the history of the Welch revival in Whales and the Azusa Street revival in North America for examples of strange fire that got into the meetings.

When you’re not sure of things beware the ministry of novices and seek counsel from the trusted old-timers, those gray haired saints that have been walking with Christ for a long time. The safest are those that have been in the ministry a minimum of 25 years and have lasting fruit. Don’t look to beginners even if they appear to be highly anointed (1 Timothy 3:6). I have seen these young ‘superstars’ come and go. The race for God’s ministers is a long one. It’s a marathon race that’s completed at heaven’s finish line.

The very things that are the strangest, the Jezebel and Baalim prophets, will present themselves as the experts. You should also know that moves of the Holy Spirit are not confirmed by the number of people attending the meetings or by the endorsement of celebrity Christian personalities. Only by the Word, witness and fruit can you know for sure. Even some fruit is misleading. As already said look for lasting fruit, changed lives, salvations and glory for Christ alone.

Some of what I have written will probably grieve you. That’s good. If it doesn’t something might be wrong. If you are going to walk closely with God, you will be required to die much inside along this journey. Many things you see will sadden you. Lamentations, morning and woe will be your traveling companions. These will prompt you to intercede for Christ’ will to be done in the lives of your brothers and sisters in the Lord. The good news is that you can make it and bring honor to Christ along the way. The Apostle Paul said it best, “Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3). Avoid strange fire and watch for the return of the King of Glory, the Author and Finisher of our faith, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Article Here - The Voice Magazine
Also: Jonas Clark Website

Discerning Signs and the Supernatural

By: David Coker

What’s the purpose of supernatural signs that point toward your destination?

God is building and establishing His Kingdom. But He’s not pressured to build His Kingdom using media hype and hocus-pocus. No, He’s doing it His way, according to His Word. He’s setting apostolic governing churches in territories to build His Church. One function of true apostles and prophets is to expose the counterfeit operations of Satan that try to slip in and subvert the credibility of the Word. If Satan can discredit the quality of a move of God by sending the false, he is able to successfully restrict and limit the effectiveness of the true move as it happens. In this season, it is vital that we build everything we do upon the foundation of the Word of God. I’m not trying to criticize any particular move of the past or present. My goal today is to equip you with knowledge and understanding to help identify a true move of God.

Imagine you are driving to your favorite vacation spot. When you get about 30 miles from your destination, you see the first road sign with the city’s name. Do you slam on your brakes, slide across the median and jump out at the sign? I would hope not! Yet, in the body of Christ, it seems we have become sign hunters. At the first sign of a “miracle” or the “supernatural,” we bring everything to a screeching halt so that we can take pictures of the sign, dance around the sign, and even build churches to the sign. How foolish we have become! The sign’s purpose is to reveal location. Spiritual signs are no different. When you see a spiritual sign, it is not advertising itself, it is merely pointing the way to where God wants you to go.

Jesus said in Matthew 12:39, “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.” Jesus didn’t say they were “slightly in error.” He called them EVIL and ADULTEROUS! What He is saying is that if you are seeking after a sign, you are showing love for the sign rather than the one who gives the sign. You are actually cheating on the truth. You are adulterous, looking for benefits from something that you don’t have real relationship with.

How many churches and “revivals” have become so “sign” minded that they have become adulterers to the Truth?

In our media-sensitive world, we have billboards everywhere and they can distract us from our real focus. If we’re looking too intently at a billboard, we could miss a signal from another driver and cause a wreck. When the sign becomes the focus, we lose sight of the true destination.

In the Old Testament, people had to live by signs. They didn’t have a born-again spirit from God to give them direction through an inner witness (Eph. 3:16). They needed outward signs from God in order to know where to go and what to do. Moses followed a cloud of fire and Gideon set out fleeces, but Paul simply prayed in tongues and built up his inner man (1 Cor. 14:18). He then proceeded to write two thirds of the New Testament! In Proverbs, David prophetically writes that the spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord and searches all the inward parts of the belly. As New Testament Christians with the nature and Spirit of God resident in us, we don’t have to look for outward signs. We can simply know in our “knower.” We are to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7), meaning we follow the leadings and promptings of the Spirit that dwells in us.

The New Testament not only tells us which signs are from God, it even lays out which signs are used in which situations. There are signs that follow believers (Mark 16:17), there are signs to the unbeliever (1 Cor. 14:22), and there are gifts of the Spirit that are operations of the government and power of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12, and Ephesians 4).

Signs come from different sources and serve different purposes. Some are road signs that regulate driving, some are billboards that advertise, and some are identifiers that tell what and where things are located. All of these signs are legitimate, but they aren’t all from the same people. In the supernatural, there are all kinds of signs but they aren’t all from God. How do you know the difference between a legitimate sign from God and just a billboard?

One Sunday as I was preaching in my church, just as I pointed at one of the ceiling fans someone happened to turn the fan on. Now I know people who would take it as a sign that the “wind of the Spirit is moving.” No, it was just a coincidence. I call these “Santa Claus signs” because it’s like a young kid that convinces himself Santa is real because the milk and the cookies are gone the next morning when he wakes up. When you want something badly enough, circumstances can always line up to support your hopes that it is true. If you’re looking for a sign, the devil will make sure you see one. I absolutely believe in prophetic and supernatural signs, but I also know how to measure them against my born-again spirit.

I’ve known family members and friends – good people, many of whom sincerely loved Jesus – who visited psychics. Those psychics were able to tell them why they were there, what they were looking for and what the outcome of a situation would be, and it all came true. Does that mean you should visit a psychic? By all means NO! Psychics operate with the help of demonic, familiar spirits, not the Holy Spirit. Demonic power can be real, not just a powerless imitation.

Nowhere in scripture do we find signs of jewels appearing, gold dust falling, people being led to act like animals, stigmatas (blood or oil from peoples hands like the wounds of Christ), odd “friendships” with angels, or special angels that carry special anointings. These are “billboard” signs that have been put up by other supernatural powers but don’t fit into God’s reality. The important thing to understand is that these false signs are just as real as the other signs. Have you ever followed billboard signs, looking for a certain restaurant or café, only to get there and find that the location doesn’t exist? Just because a sign is real, doesn’t mean it’s from God or that it’s pointing you to God. Many signs point you to dead ends. It’s important to remember that there is a real spiritual world out there, and God isn’t the only one putting signs up on your spiritual road.

Don’t get me wrong; I’ve seen God do some very interesting things. I’ve seen people healed, delivered, and set free. I’ve seen miracles that simply cannot be explained. However, there is one common element to everything God does… His Word. God’s response is always in line with His Word. And His Word will bring real transformation in the lives of His people.

If there’s one thing I know, it’s that people can be completely ignorant and still operate in the Spirit. I once worked for a great man of God. He loved Jesus and wanted to live right before Him. One time he was in the hospital with pneumonia and had a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ walking up a hill with His back beaten and bloody. He recounted this vision to me with such detail, recalling even the sharp contrast in the red blood against the green grass. I have no doubt that it was a true vision from God. The problem was that he was ignorant in how to interpret the vision. He thought that it meant that since Jesus was willing to suffer that much for him, then he should be willing to suffer pneumonia for Jesus. How sad! He was given a vision showing that Jesus had already carried his sickness and healed all his diseases to strengthen his faith, but because he lacked understanding, this man got it all wrong!

I’ve known other folks who genuinely loved God, but got distracted by the bright billboard strategies of Satan. These good people wanted to experience a mighty move of God so badly that they got caught up in the flakiness of whatever the current “revival” was doing. I have watched many get excited about “something new” and then disappointed (and sometimes deeply wounded) over the outcome. Unfortunately, I’ve also seen plenty of these people who became so deceived by the trickery that they completely lost touch with God’s plan for their lives. Consider William Branham, the great healing evangelist of the 1940’s. He started off pursuing God, but then started experiencing visitations from angels. He became so deceived that he started to think he was Elijah the prophet. Because of his deception, many other believers began to doubt that God really wanted them healed. Now that is exactly what the enemy intends; to discredit God’s reality, destroy ministries, and turn people away from the Faith.

Any text that we take out of context is a pretext. The same goes for any sign. Any sign taken out of the context that it was received (good or bad) is a pretext and can get us into trouble. That’s the problem with living by signs. They can be interpreted incorrectly. They can come from the wrong people. We can build a temple and worship at the sign, never making it to our God-purposed destination. We MUST learn to walk by faith after the Spirit. We must understand how to discern signs and compare them to our instruction manual. We must keep our focus on where God is taking us and not get caught up in the supernatural things around us on the way.

David Coker has a refreshing voice and the heart of spiritual father. He is a 1985 RHEMA graduate and the founding apostle of Gateway Believers Fellowship in Carnesville, Ga. He is also pioneered Breakthrough Apostolic Ministries Network (B.A.M.), A relational network of apostolic ministries. His ministry can be reached at www.gatewaybelievers.com.