Hundredfold Ministries, Int'l

We end this part of the book by addressing the frequently controversial issue of personal prophecy.

Personal Prophecy Is Biblical

Examples of personal prophecy are readily found in Scripture.

1. Old Testament

There are numerous examples of personal prophecy in the Old Testament. To mention just a few, Elisha gave a personal prophecy to the Shunamite woman telling her that she would have a son (II Kings 4:16), “a prophet” gave God's word to King Ahab that he would defeat the army of Ben-Hadad (I Ki 20:13-30), and the prophet Samuel spoke God's word to Eli declaring the end of his family line because of the sin of his sons. (I Sam 2,3).

2. New Testament

Personal prophetic words to individuals continued to be recorded in the New Testament. The prophet Agabus gave Paul a personal prophecy in which he was warned of the consequences of going to Jerusalem. (Acts 21:10-11). While the prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch were fasting and worshiping the Lord, they received a prophetic word to set apart Barnabas and Saul (Paul) for the work to which they had been called. (Acts 13:1-3).

Personal Prophecy Today

I believe that God continues to give His people personal prophetic words today. In fact, I have received them myself and have been present when others have received them. By personal prophecy, I am referring to those occasions when one person gives a prophetic word to another person as an individual.

I knew a woman in the late 1980's whose Christian daughter was scheduled to leave home to go to a secular university. The woman was inwardly deeply troubled about the effect such an environment may have had on her daughter. In fact, the burden grew and grew to a point of inward stress as well as much prayer over the matter.

One evening the woman was at a friend's home where several Christians were gathered for fellowship. One of the people present that evening was a prophetess from another city. During the course of the evening the troubled woman entered the room where the prophetess was sitting. The prophetess locked her gaze on the troubled woman and began to exclaim over and over, “Everything is going to be alright! Everything is going to be alright! Everything is going to be alright!” She told the troubled woman she didn't have the exact setting into which she was speaking but she believed God wanted to reassure her. And He did. He did it through this personal prophetic word.

God had sent His word to lift this woman's burden. And, everything was alright. The daughter found delightful spiritual fellowship among Christians on the university campus and grew stronger in her faith while she was there! Yes, there is a valid place for good, sound, biblically based, personal prophecy in today's church.

Yet there are great abuses in the realm of personal prophecy. A mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit occurred in the United States in 1948. This move included the forceful use of prophetic gifts. However, the move very quickly diminished and fell into great disfavor among many Christian leaders of that day. Why? With the low level of understanding of prophecy in the church, people were awe struck when a prophecy came forth. It seemed that anything and everything prophesied was accepted as the literal word of God. And, of course, the “prophet” invariably said, “Thus saith the Lord” to authenticate the words spoken.

The problem was that not all of the prophecies of that day were of the Lord. Some were of the devil--many were of the flesh. Those who tried to stop or control such prophecies were branded as “jealous” or “unspiritual,” thereby rendering their warnings useless.

Here is an example of the false prophecies of that day. One brother with whom I spoke actually heard this prophecy given to a new believer who had a history of marital problems. It went something like this:

How unscriptural! How false! How audacious! Yet it was believed and accepted by the man to whom it was given! Why? First, he didn't know Scripture. Second, he didn't know how to judge prophecy. Third, he refused the counsel of the elders. And fourth, it told him something he wanted to hear.

This is but one example. Prophecies of every sort imaginable were dispatched to destroy lives and churches. Some so called prophecies left a wake of chaos. Of course, many such prophecies were successfully refuted and did not accomplish the demonic purpose intended. But great damage was done.

I have already made clear that personal prophecy is not wrong in and of itself. There are times when God unquestionably directs His word to one certain individual.

But the major problem with personal prophecy is that the safeguards covered in chapter four are often set aside. There are too many instances in which the person prophesying and/or the recipient do not understand that there are three sources of prophecy--God, human, and demonic. And, even if they understand the three sources, very often they do not have the discernment to distinguish the source of a particular utterance comes.

Settings in Which Personal Prophecy Occur

Try as we may, there is no way to stop the occurrence of personal prophecy. It is going to happen. But what we can do is to be informed and teach people about its dangers. Personal prophecy is usually not given in public church settings. Here are the most common settings in which personal prophecy occurs.

1. In Private Homes

Whenever Christians are gathered in private homes for prayer, worship, Bible study, or fellowship, there is an opportunity for personal prophecy to occur. In fact, there may be a virtual “welcome” sign hung out for personal prophecy!

2. Small Groups or Prayer Meetings

The gathering of Christians in small groups or prayer meetings provides another open setting in which personal prophecy may freely occur.

3. The Telephone

In the western world the telephone is the greatest tool ever invented for the facilitation of personal prophecy! The telephone rings, someone answers it, and there is the voice of the “prophet” saying, “I have a word from the Lord for you.”

When a prophecy is received in a home, a small group, or over the telephone as genuine, the safeguards provided by the spiritually mature in the church may be eliminated. It is precisely because of this relative lack of oversight that false prophets are often drawn to these private settings to prophecy.

I am not blaming anyone for wanting to hear from God, but, as I have already said, it seems to me that seeking out someone to prophesy God's word over you is a spiritual shortcut. The proper way for a maturing Christian to hear from God is to spend time in His presence by developing a lifestyle of regular prayer and daily Bible study. Many are not willing to pay that price--they want to “hear from God” without that discipline or a change in their lifestyle.

Remember that extremely important spiritual principle:

If one seeks the supernatural, he will surely find it. But whose supernatural, God's or Satan's? If one seeks the one true God, who is supernatural, then all else falls into its proper place. Therefore, I never seek a personal prophetic word. If God chooses to give me a prophetic word, I praise Him for it! I will accept it. But the prophetic word, especially in the area of personal prophecy, needs to be His prerogative, not mine.

4. Prophetic Conferences or Presbyters Meetings

There is another, more public setting, which can facilitate personal prophecy. This setting is the “prophetic conference,” “presbyters meeting,” or seminar specializing in prophecy. These conferences are very popular in America today. As I see it, such gatherings draw three kinds of people. 1) Those who want a word from the Lord, 2) those who want to deliver words from the Lord, and 3) those who want to learn how to prophesy. It is easy to see how such gatherings become the seed bed of private prophecy!

I have grave reservations about such conferences. It has been my observation that these meetings tend to be characterized by a high degree of subjectivity. Emotions run high with very little follow-up on the validity of prophetic words. A second problem I have with them is that, in my experience, the teaching is very poorly substantiated by Scripture. It is not enough to simply use some examples of prophetic words from Old Testament prophets and then encourage whoever is present, and who believes he or she is being “led by the Holy Spirit”, to begin to prophesy. Without proper safeguards those attending can leave thinking they have indeed entered into a prophetic call on the basis of that one conference experience.

Let me deal briefly with the argument I have heard in support of these conferences. It is based on Paul's writings in I Corinthians 14:31 which states, “For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.” (NIV). This verse is often used for the proposition that every believer is to seek the prophetic gifts, including the public gifts. I reject this argument.

The entire context of this 1 Corinthians 14:31 passage is Paul's teaching the church at Corinth to be orderly in their services. In context, I believe Paul is addressing those who are already moving in the gift of prophecy and he is simply attempting to put some order into their meetings. His emphasis is not on "all" but on "in turn." I do not believe that this section of Scripture can be used to justify the premise that every single Christian is to seek the gifts of prophecy or to become a prophet.

As we see in Part II of this book, God calls His prophets, we don't choose to be one. I also believe that God calls certain people to operate the prophetic gifts. It is simply not available to every single believer.

However, I have already said in chapter six that we are all to learn to use the tools the Lord has for us in order to grow in our calling. Thus, I do very much believe in well taught, very scripturally based teaching seminars that are geared toward those who genuinely believe that God has called them to move in the prophetic gifts. If the seminar is well taught, it will become clear to the participants whether or not they are called to a prophetic ministry. At least one of the objectives of such a seminar should be to help those attending determine even if they are called. Then those who are called should continue to learn to use the tools to fulfill the call.

Safeguards

Since there is no reasonable way to prevent personal prophecy from occurring, nor indeed do we want to stop its valid use, we must have safeguards to protect the unwary from spurious prophecy. Every Christian would benefit from knowing and applying the following rules:

1. Share Prophecies with Spiritual Mothers/Fathers

If a personal prophecy is received in private, or out of the hearing of spiritually mature believers, the essence of the prophecy must be told to the spiritual mothers or fathers in the church. If there is anything wrong with the prophecy, their years of maturity and discernment will detect it.

Listen carefully to their reaction to the prophecy, and most of all, abide by their counsel regarding the prophecy. I cannot overemphasize the importance of relying on the wisdom and maturity of such people whom God has placed in His church.

2. Seek the Lord's Confirmation

Any time a personal prophecy is received, privately or publicly, it is imperative that you seek confirmation from the Lord. A word of caution here regarding how to seek God's confirmation.

Do not ask God to confirm the prophecy by having thus and so happen. You are then 1) confining God to your terms, and 2) opening the door for Satanic influence. Yes, I know Gideon used the fleece to test God's word to him, but Gideon didn't have the Holy Spirit living within him. Since Jesus' resurrection, if one is born again, the very Spirit of God lives within him! We do not need to nor should we resort to our personal tests as a means of confirming God's word!

How then should we seek God's confirmation? We should simply ask God to confirm the word--in His way and in His time. And then we need to be alert to His confirming hand. This gives God the freedom to speak to us as He wills. It has been my experience that the Lord is always faithful to show us whether or not a prophetic word was from Him. God is not in the business of hiding His will from us!

3. Scriptural Confirmation

Here is an absolute which I have already stated but is worth stating again:

If any prophecy, either in whole or part, contradicts Scripture in any manner, it is to be flatly rejected. Period. Now, back to the prophecy I spoke of early in this chapter telling the man to leave his wife. Did that violate Scripture? Yes! Thus, it should have been rejected immediately.

If these three simple guidelines are applied to all prophecies, the possibility of our being led astray by false prophecy is greatly reduced. Listen carefully to the counsel of the spiritually mature, ask God to confirm prophetic words, and make sure every part of the prophecy is in line with Scripture. I refer the reader again to the charts on judging prophecy, Figures 4-2 and 4-3, of chapter four.