Preface to article by Priscilla:

I disagree with Lars about warrior characteristics not being among the prophetic as Christ Himself is a warrior King...Isaiah 42 calls Him a man of war.  So any characteristic of Him will be evident in His disciples.  But what he has to say about fatherhood is priceless and helpful.

Fatherhood

Aspects of the Prophetic Office

By Lars Widerberg

And Elijah went up by an windstorm to heaven. And Elisha saw it and

cried out: "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its

horsemen." 2 Kings 2:11-12.

Prophets sent by God are sent forth into the world, heavenly

commissioned to represent and reflect the fatherheart of God. A

prophet's mandate lies in his willingness and eagerness to mirror and

personify the fatherhood of God Almighty. Prophetic ministry stands for

the principle of fatherhood. Prophets personify the identity of the God

they serve.

Prophets, their stature and dignity, is recognised by the peculiar

people which is marked by a desire for true spiritual growth. The

twice-born are made able to discern the shepherd's voice and to reject

any counterfeit. Growth unto maturity, becoming a man, is by all means a

matter of fatherhood.

Elisha was taught the most difficult lesson on earth to be learned,

trusting the future into the hands of the only true Father amidst the

loss of the object of identification - an earthly father. The mixed and

doubleminded multitude of vanity prophets are never able to produce the

fruit of true fatherhood, which is hope for the future, through their

voluminous and at times precise predictions and forecasts.

When Elisha became sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash

the king of Israel came down to him and wept over him and said: "My

father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" 2 Kings

13:14.

Prophets are recognised as fathers, as trustworthy, protecting

fatherfigures even by kings and men in authority. Fathers are welcomed

into action on the arena of governing by men whose desire is to see

dignity to be restored. Dignity restored - salvation - is a matter of

fatherhood. Becoming what one were meant to become takes fatherhood,

both on personal level and on national. National identity and safety is

a matter of fatherhood, of source, origin and belonging. Prophets are

men of the Covenant, and principles of covenanting rules and regulates

any social structure.

Fatherhood is basically and foundationally the ability to provide

covering. The key-elements constituting fatherhood is protection and

provision. What man is, he is according to his strength and to his

source of strength. What a prophet is, he is according to his ability to

establish peace and bring protection. A fatherheart is weaker than a

weakling's and much stronger than any antichrist. A prophet's heart

never bows to emotionalism or sensationalism. Prophets cry salty tears.

Prophets stand when common trend tries to get the crowd to bow down and

to fall.

The prophetic voice, echoing the father-heart, invites to and offers rest

- Hebrews, chapters 3 and 4. The prophetic voice calls any and every ear

to return to true listening. The prophetic voice directs any and every

heart back to its purpose of existence - restful worship. The prophetic

voice has to be as sharp as any sword to bring about a turning back to

the Father.

Prophets are sent to establish obedience. But most voices pretending to

be prophetic causes the people of God to run about like wild horses, run

away from proper protocol and intended route as if whipped and pinched

by the ugliest demon.  Prophetic presence brings peace and obedience. Prophetic presence brings purpose and direction, quite contrary to the show at the Ephesian

theatre - confusion, many voices shouting, the majority not knowing for

what cause they come together, Acts 19:29-32. Prophets bring peace and

calm the crowd. Prophets never involve themselves in "prophetic prayer

warfare", instructed by and adapting methods, mode and mood belonging to

the enemy they want to conquer.

The great falling away, the final apostasy of the end times is caused by

the absence of genuine fatherhood, by the lack of true prophetic

ministry. A major mark of the great falling away is the crowds of

prophets in the Church ready and able to deceive the many,

Matt 24:11,24.

Samuel provides a pattern for the true prophetic office: "Far be it from

me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you," 1 Sam

12:23, "but I will instruct you in the good and right way" He prayed

like a father and he had a father's courage to stir a little unrest -

conscience touched - for the sake of returning to true rest. The

presence of God, the Father, causes fear and trembling. God is awsome.

One dares to follow the crowd these days on its way into apostasy

because no voice is to be heard on the subject of veracity and

obedience.

Fatherhood brings rest. Fatherhood teaches waiting.  Prophets are

watchmen. " I will stand on my guard post, and station myself on the

rampart".  "Though the vision, the fulfillment of it tarries, wait

for it."  Hab 2:1, 3.  

Fatherhood teaches the art of waiting on God.

Prophets are men of the Covenant - God has made a covenant with time, he is even

able to redeem time. Fatherhood goes against the modus operandi of this

present age. Instant and overwhelming results are requested. Instant and

thrilling experiences are demanded. Fathers never heal the brokenness of

the people superficially, saying peace, peace without any tie to the

spiritual reality behind the word.

Sheep recognize the shepherd. A child recognizes its father. Sheep,

twice-born men and women, recognize the Holy Spirit who gave them life.

Sheep practice discernment - the mixed multitude following any vanity

prophet digs into any stew pot just like their brother Esau.  Flip the

coin - true shepherds and prophets divide between sheep and goats.

If you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have

many fathers, 1 Cor 4:15.   Fathers give birth.  Prophets give birth

through prayer, Gal 4:19. Tutors, teachers, educators bring discipline

according to outer patterns of behaviour.  Prophets bring obedience

through life.  Some "eminent" apostles build their own kingdoms and take

others by force. True fatherhood gives away any item owned just to save

one single sheep. The ones always learning, yet never truly learning,

prefers kingdom builders. Sheep like shepherds.

Fatherhood establishes ability to live. Fatherhood brings ability to

cope. The Father qualifies us to share in the inheritance of the saints

in the light, Col 1:12.  Fatherhood strengthens any saint and son for the

attaining of all steadfastness and patience, Col 1:11.  Prophets speak

practical instruction, not generalizations. Prophets who offer glorious

descriptions of God's new moves and outpourings not including any

practical program for participation prophesy vanity. God is not

religious, he is relevant. Spiritual growth towards manhood includes

sober work descriptions.

Spiritual growth touches the emotional compartment of human existence, but spiritual growth is not an automatic inner evolvement into christ-likeness. It develops out of a full mobilization of every sanctified human effort in close companionship with the instructor, the Holy Spirit. Love completely with all heart, all soul, all mind, all

motivation an all strength, Mark 12:30. This experience towards a fully sanctified character cannot be transferred by a touch. Holiness cannot be transferred by any human vessel - it takes fatherhood for the development of holiness.

Above all, fatherhood teaches the noble art of waiting on God. Waiting

is the mark of a truly spiritual character. Waiting equals worship.

Worship equals rest. Rest equals availability. Availability allows God

to act as God Almighty. Availability is not passive - it is the same as

uninterrupted attention. Waiting brings obedience. Obedience, surrender

brings fruit in the form of God's own presence. Obedience brings

fatherhood just as fatherhood brings obedience.

The prophetic office manifests in Covenant consciousness and waiting on

God. The Covenant reality manifests in spiritual maturity. Fatherhood

provides covering on Covenant basis. Tampering with the terms of the

Covenant takes away the covering promised and guaranteed. Breaking the

Covenant disrupts the protection. Cutting covenants besides the Covenant

is a direct invitation to spiritual forces pretending fatherhood to

enter the scene.

What spiritual force blesses disobedience with all sorts of strange

experiences allegedly purporting God's presence? Who offers protection

and emotional bliss to a Church that has left its Covenant obligations

behind? Who is pretending to be benevolent father in a Church who has

made a decision against obedience unto holiness? Is it possible to

pretend spiritual experiences as if God is present, yet hiding the heart

from a real touch of the Father? The prophetic answers to these

questions are horrifying and would turn any sensible heart to

intercession on behalf of the straying Church for the rest of its time

on earth.

Men is God's method. Dignity restored; character is God's goal.

Perfecting human character and skill is God's aim for the sake of Heaven

on earth.  Prophets are sent to the Church of our day - a Church who

reflects the absence of Fatherhood.  This present age is indeed

anti-christian in its character and inclination.  It is a grand statement

against fatherhood, brotherhood and friendship. It despises weakness.

Its holds on to the necessity of authority at the cost of love, humanity

and servanthood.  Its attitude aims at rulership at the cost of dignity.

The poor and needy pay the bill, as usual.

Man robbed of his dignity becomes cruel and authoritarian. Man robbed of

dignity tries to take any kingdom by force, even the Kingdom of God.

Christians have to fight against many categories of principalities and

powers, but they are never meant to be warriors - the warrior spirit

contradicts humility. The most militant deed in the Kingdom of God is to

allow oneself to fall into the ground, like a grain of wheat.

The spiritual dynamics of the Antichrist is caused by the absence of

fatherhood. The core of the spiritual dynamics of the Antichrist is the

denial of Fatherhood, 1 Joh 2:22.   It is fully possible to "confess

Christ" motivated by anti-christian prospects of gain, even concluding

that gain is godliness. The prosperity prophet operates in the

anti-christian spirit of denial, yet reaching out for the benefits of the

Gospel.

Prophets pray; fathers avoid at any cost the sin of prayerlessness.

Prophets put the confounder to shame by true modesty. The father brings

in an alternative solution into the rat-race for survival and prosperity.

Fatherhood is ready to die. Fatherhood states: "I do not have to

survive, live and come out on top. I have a valid alternative. I can

die. I can die, waiting on God, waiting for his intervention."

An antichrist, a false prophet, a father denying genuine fatherhood

lacks the ability to love and show affection. He is proud and stubborn.

He does not take correction. He never listens, 1 John 4:6. He is never a

partaker, he never shares his heart. He cannot cry, he sulks in

self-pity. He fights to have his own way. He plays a game of mutual

recognition in which a true prophet always loses. His mentality is that

of a viking, a Mongolian warlord or a modern terrorist. Prayer warriors

adopting such imagery and reaching out for such a spirit brings disaster

to the House of Prayer.

The emotional mix produced when fatherhood is absent consists of anger,

hatred, jealousy and scornfulness. Spiritual retardation and neglect of

true duty are but two results, A pastor without a fatherheart hits and

beats up the sheep he cannot control.

Fatherhood expresses itself in terms of a Covenant. Fatherhood brings

rest. Fathers protects and provides. Prophets generates Covenant

consciousness. Prophets can be trusted. Prophets do not need a track

record or formal recognition. The reflection of the Father heart of God

speaks louder and in an other language than does precise predictions.

Prophets bring in an willingness to obey, and an eagerness to practice

waiting and listening.

Prophets are fathers. Prophets are fathers for the young and

inexperienced. Prophets are fathers who inspires to the pursuit of

maturity and holiness. Prophets produce fatherhood. Their legacy is hope

for the future. Sons are left with a rich and abundant inheritance from

the prophets. Sons inherit the ability to handle life from a prophet.

Pursue the prophetic dimension for the sake of holiness. Pursue the

prophetic dimension for the sake of the presence of the Lord. Pursue

fatherhood for the sake dignity restored. Follow hard after the Lord.

Learn the art of waiting on God. Do this for the sake of a common return

to true worship.