Real Prophecy Brings Faith, Not Fear
Marc DuPont
Of all the spiritual gifts Paul wrote about in his letter to the Church of Corinth in I Corinthians 12-14, he highlighted prophecy as the gift that a believer should seek. I believe he did this for a reason. The other gifts, with the exception of tongues, are primarily for the work of the Kingdom, tools for ministry. Prophecy, however, reveals what the Father wants to communicate to us. In fact, Paul prayed for the Church of Ephesus to have "the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better." (Ephesians 1.17 NIV)
Prophecy leads us into greater intimacy with God. It can take us out of the religious posture of attempting to do what we think God would have us do by helping us to understand the Father's specific will and direction. When we study the life of Jesus, we see that He only did the things He saw the Father doing. (See John 5.19-20, 8.28-29.)
Prophecy also helps us to see things from God's perspective rather than from our human understanding. For example, it is easy to focus on the amount of sin and destruction, idolatry, and violence in the world today and have a dim hope for the increase of the gospel. But when we lift up the eyes of our hearts to God, we see that the "fields are ripe for the harvest".
Filtering the Word
One problem, however, is that sometimes the prophet's limited knowledge filters the revelation he receives and strongly influences his interpretation of what he experiences. When our hearts are right with God and resting in Him, we see and hear what the Holy Spirit shows us. This builds faith and confidence in what God wants to do. But when we have fear and uneasiness or a weak theology concerning such things as the sovereignty of God, we cloud the revelation with our own weaknesses. During the 70's and 80's several Norwegian pastors and leaders began to see similar visions and dreams of what appeared to be blood flowing down a map of Norway. It started from northern Norway where it borders the former Soviet Union and then flowed to southern Norway. At that time the Soviets housed a large army and several naval bases around Murmansk near the northern border of Norway. The Norwegians were afraid of the Soviet "superpower" that had already taken over many of its neighboring nations in Eastern Europe. Because of their fear of one day being invaded from the north by the Soviets, many Norwegians interpreted the vision negatively: unless the church of Norway prayed with great diligence, the country was going to be overrun by the Soviets as their Eastern bloc neighbors had been in years past. The bloodstained map represented to them the lives of the Norwegians that would be sacrificed in this invasion.
What really happened, however, was quite different. About the time of "glasnost" and peristroika" during the late 80's, a strong move of the Holy Spirit began in the northern Soviet Union after nearly 70 years of enforced atheism. Instead of being destroyed many Norwegian churches and leaders became deeply involved in a wonderful move of the Holy Spirit in the country they had always feared. Several large cities and different ethnic groups who had not heard the gospel for generations began to respond to Jesus.
As the move of the Holy Spirit grew, many churches in Norway who were involved in this fresh move of the Spirit began to experience a fresh dynamic move of the Holy Spirit, also. They began to reap locally what they were sowing in another place. Finally they realized that what God had been saying to them was not what they had feared, but rather the "blood of the Lamb" was beginning to flow along the northern border and then south through the entire nation of Norway!
Testing Words of Prophecy
Because of the tendency to filter the words through human frailty like the Norwegians did, when prophecies are given to the church, it is critical that we apply several tests to them. First of all, is the word, dream, or vision consistent with scriptural themes? It's not enough that a "word' contain a Bible verse, or religious terms, it must be consistent with the doctrine and spirit of the Bible. For example, a word that manipulates the hearers to give offerings out of obligation would be inconsistent with Paul's directive to give out of a joyful heart. (See 2 Corinthians 9.7.)
Next, does the word come to pass? No one except the Lord is infallible. The Holy Spirit speaks perfectly while we hear imperfectly. But, someone with a recognized prophetic ministry should prophesy accurately rather than give what amounts to a "false prophecy" that never comes to pass. I believe that there is another sort of false prophecy that is very evident within the church today. It comes from those who accurately prophesy things to come but give a false reflection of God the Father. There are, unfortunately, prophets who sensationalize words of judgment, destruction, and gloom but without giving any hope and encouragement to the church. The short-term fruit of these so -called "words" is fear and a lack of faith. The long-term effects of these "words" are apathy toward real words from God and lack of vision for the future.
Certainly God gives words of warning and directions for prayer, but true prophecy always produces peace, hope, and comfort in knowing that God is good! Paul wrote that God's intention in giving us prophetic words, visions, and dreams was to encourage, strengthen, and comfort us (See 1 Corinthians 14:3.) and to help us see things from God's perspective. And according to the Bible, God is always working things out for the good of those who love Him. (Romans 8.28.) In fact, even during times of famine the Bible promises that the righteous will have an abundance. (Psalm 37:19) God the Father allows nothing to take place in our lives that is not shaped by His tender heart for us.
During the last several years, though, I have heard many prophecies released to the church that I believe have caused more harm than good. Many of these words prophesied great collapses of societies and finances taking place at the turn of the millennium because of Y2K computer problems. Others have prophesied that parts of the U.S. would experience devastating earthquakes that would practically decimate entire cities and even states. There have been several words about other major nationwide disasters such as nuclear bombings in the U.S.
Many of these words have been characterized by sensationalism, which both the secular and Christian culture seem to constantly demand, and a lack of God's redemptive purposes. Not only were most of these words unfulfilled but they have produced bad fruit in some churches.
Examining the Fruit
Widespread acceptance of these "words" produced bad fruit in three ways. First, some Christians took their eyes off the Lord of the harvest and allowed themselves to be 'derailed' from a focus on the Kingdom of God as being an ever-increasing Kingdom. Second, many Christians have somehow forgotten the wonderful promises of Jesus to be with us and for us. Third, "words" like these have caused many people to completely distrust all prophetic words, even those that God gives to bring vision, hope, and direction.
In many places of the world such as parts of Asia, Africa, and South America, cities and nations are experiencing a great harvest. I also believe that God has been preparing churches in North America and Europe for the last 25 years for such moves of the Holy Spirit. As part of that process, God has restored prophetic ministry to the Church to strengthen her.
Some would say that these "judgment" prophecies were true words from God but because the church has prayed, God has withheld his hand of judgment. Although this may be true in some cases, we need to realize that in the last few years there has been an unprecedented amount of prayer made on behalf of our nations. Thousands of churches and leaders are taking to heart Solomon's encouraging words for any nation facing great difficulty because of its sin. "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."(2 Chronicles 7:14) According to His word, in the face of brokeness and humility, God will answer these prayers and continue to pour out His Spirit. It's a time for us to seek His glory, not His wrath.
As we continue to seek God for our nations, let us continue to lift up the eyes of our hearts to see that the harvest fields are ripe. Let's continue to seek after the Lord of the harvest for laborers for the harvest and trust Him that because He is a good Father, He speaks to His children to bring encouragement, strength, and comfort rather than fear of the future. Let's remember Isaiah's prophecy, "I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you." (Isaiah 42.6-9)
By Marc Dupont, Mantle of Praise Ministries February 2000
