Over the last several years, I became increasingly alarmed by practices of those associated with the prophetic movement. Furthermore, since the beginning of 2020, many public national prophecies have not come to pass.
Two significant erroneous prophecies are the prediction that COVID would quickly dissipate right after the Passover and Donald Trump’s re-election.
In early April 2020, most of an influential prophetic panel endorsed these prophecies at their Zoom meeting. That level of agreement and the fact that some prophets had an entrée to White House meetings with President Donald Trump may have contributed to the president’s overly optimistic view of the situation. He already was steeped in the positive thinking of Norman Vincent Peale, who was Trump’s pastor for a time in New York City.
I was one of the few dissenting voices who discerned that COVID would be here for a long time. I held back any word about the president’s re-election. Also – I was never willing to publicly endorse Trump before or after the election since I minister to various segments of the population
This whole experience in 2020 added to my fears about the state of the prophetic movement. Even after President Trump’s controversial loss on election day, several high-level prophetic voices have continued to contend that he will remain in office. Kat Kerr, Johnny Enlow, Hank Kunneman, Kenneth Copland, and many others were still contending throughout January 2021 that Trump would remain president through divine intervention. (Click here and here for a few examples.)
Some have made public apologies: Shawn Bolz, Jeremiah Johnson, and Kris Vallotton [associated with Bethel Church, a mega-congregation in northern California and Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry}.
I want to be clear that I speak from the Charismatic movement that believes that prophetic ministry is still valid today. I adhere to what some call the continualist movement of believers who belong to the Pentecostal, Charismatic, and 3rd Wave tradition. As a continualist, I function within the gifts of the Spirit, including the gift of personal prophecy which was mentioned by Paul in his famous passage on spiritual gifts that he included in his first letter to the church in Corinthians (12:5-8).
You have probably read several of the critiques from people external to the community. Now, you might consider reading how the prophetic community itself is dealing with the problem. I would welcome any comments, critiques, and corrections as long as they are well-intended.
The problems that should lead to repentance
I started writing several articles about why the prophetic movement was going awry. Just after election day, I penned another warning, mostly to no avail: “8 Reasons Why Some Prophetic Voices Do Not Have 2020 Vision.”
One particular pattern should have warned everyone that something was awry. Many of the contemporary prophetic voices were going to God merely when they wanted to “release a word” to their online audience. The bad synergy of an inside word from God with an eager audience that guaranteed traffic for websites just kept building. Where were the efforts to plumb the depths of God to know His ways? This takes time and reflection, not internet reactions. (See my article entitled “Are You Pursuing God or the Prophet?”)
Now, the day of the inauguration of Joe Biden as America’s new President has passed. This means that the very next day a reckoning came for many in the prophetic movement. Judgment begins first in the house of God as Peter the disciple of Jesus wrote (1 Peter 4:17).
The focus of too many people of God was upon Donald Trump’s re-election rather than living a balanced Christian life. Many were easily sucked into conspiracy theories (i.e., Q Anon) and shallow, politically-driven prophetic words that were not grounded in scriptures’ fundamental principles. God now has uncovered the sick, shallow underbelly of the contemporary prophetic movement. This has resulted in the public humiliation of the prophetic.
I remember the train wreck of the numerous apocalyptic warnings given in the late 1970s that wrongly predicted the looming bodily return of Jesus within a generation of Israel’s birth as a nation in 1948. (See books like “The Late Great Planet Earth” by Hal Lindsey.)
The crisis is bigger than these utterly misled prophets. Indeed, there is a crisis in the Charismatic world.
Repentance is a turning point so that introspection can take place about how to live more faithfully to God.
Many of the current crop of prophets can’t discern the difference between “their hopes and”adulation of their subconscious mind.
These prophets obviously did not discern the difference between their human soul/spirit and the Spirit of God, The Prophet Jeremiah pointedly told the Israelites during a period of great political turmoil and war, “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.”(23:16). Sounds like pretty good advice for today, too!
Many of them fell into a mass prophetic delusion caused by group-think. I certainly noticed this problem when disagreements with their political prophesies were met with a shut door. We have several instances of national group-think in ancient Israel that was a product of a prophetic corporate spirit of deception (See the 1st Book of the Kings of Israel, chapter 22 on the role of spiritual deception in politics). That brings me to the corrupting influence of certain political trends.
They need to check their political bias at the altar and get rid of the lens so-called “Christian nationalism” that blinds them to the contours of sin and decay around them.
By “Christian nationalism,” I am referring to the belief that God made a covenant with America similar to the covenant He made with Israel: to represent Him and bless the world. A sovereign God surely had a particular plan to use America for the good like spreading the gospel and blessing the world. But, and here is the difference between “Christian nationalism” and prophetic calling: we recognize that America was never entirely a Christian nation. This is obvious from our blighted history, starting with legalized slavery.
Furthermore, God has a plan for all nations, not just the United States (Psalm 2:8-9). God’s saving grace of the individual soul (John 3:3-8) is the necessary preparation for Christian service to our neighbors. Get the heart right, so that you can get right with your neighbors.
The prophets were mistaken to focus their prophetic gift as influence on the national election.
The primary use for prophecy is to glorify God by building up the people of God (1 Corinthians 14:2-4). Political motivations seem to undermine the goal of building up the church. It only creates mistrust and disbelief too when the prophetic directions go awry.
The mistaken prophets practiced presuppositional apologetics for … Q Anon!
It is hard for me to grasp that several mature prophetic leaders informed me that many in their camp are being influenced by Q Anon posts. Q Anon is cryptic and originated in the dark web. It is anonymous and is often wrong! How does this match up to the sureness and openness of the word of God?
The New Testament followers of Jesus, particularly the Apostle Paul, dealt with a similar dangerous threat of “secret prophecies” done in darkness. The Apostle admonished us to know those who labor among us (do you know Q Anon ?), have nothing to do with anything done in darkness, and judge all the words with the teaching given by the Bible (1 Thessalonians 5:12, Ephesians 5:11, 1Corinthians 14:29).
Q Anon takes our focus off the Christian analysis of the way evil comes into the world by sin (Romans 3:23). Q Anon blames all societal evil on a secret cabal of Democrats supposedly involved with human trafficking. To be a saving grace for America, we need to be aware of our own bent nature, our own likelihood to follow anyone but God.
Jesus called this state of self-reflection being the salt of the earth. Jesus can make us the salt of the earth to influence a nation’s laws so that a Christian ethos can be reflected in its policies. So, Christians are very interested in cultural change toward the highest Good.
To do national work, the prophets need to go back to devoting time with God to know his ways rather than prioritziing getting a prophetic word. The Old Testament prophets and New Testament apostles focused on knowing God’s ways rather than advancing their own ministries. This is evident in Psalm 25:4, Jeremiah 9:23-24, Hosea 6:3, John 17:3, Philippians 3:8-12, and 2 Peter 3:18. God desires that we seek Him for His sake because we delight in Him. This is the only way to mature as a Christ-follower (Psalm 37:4, Psalm 42, Psalm 63, Psalm 103:8).
This going back to God will be enabled by the prophets repenting from equating their prophecies with the canon of scripture.
Only the Scriptures are purely God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Thus, no other words or experiences are equal to the more sure word of prophecy, which is the compilation of sacred writings we now call the Bible (2 Peter 1:19-21).
The church needs to repent from an over-reliance upon visions and dreams. This visionary dream perspective was lodged into the responsibility of the Old Testament prophets, but by the New Testament, the role of dreams and visions had changed.
In the Old Testament, God primarily spoke to the prophets through visions and dreams (Numbers 12:1-8, Ezekiel 1). However, in the New Testament, dreams were usually used for guidance before the Spirit was poured out upon the Church (i.e., God led Joseph in dreams, as shown in Matthew 1-2).
We see only significant instances related to guidance by a dream or vision in the post ascension church when Peter had some sort of vision about Gentiles being acceptable before God (Acts10). Paul was also led to Macedonia through a dream (Acts 16). Most of the time, the leading of the Lord took place by the Holy Spirit collectively speaking to the Church or through the individual’s spirit (Acts 13:2, Acts 15:28, Acts 16:7-8, 1 Corinthians 2:10-14, Romans 8:14-16).
During a crisis, the prophetic always becomes very popular. The uncertainty of our contemporary time motivates people to long for an assuring personal Word from the Lord. Many people who function in the prophetic know they can easily garner many followers on social media by dispensing prophetic statements. However, when we read the scriptures, we learn that it is most valuable to know God’s ways. To know God’s ways is to understand His character, loves and dislikes. Unlike receiving a prophetic word, understanding God’s ways is a life long journey.
The significant consequences
The erroneous prophetic words influenced, perhaps, millions of naive, sincere Christians, who longed to see the candidate of their choice get elected so that he could “save the republic.” Instead, they will receive dire consequences unless they get some guidance based on mature Gospel thinking.
Masses of rank and file naive Christians are disillusioned with the charismatic gifts. At worst, many may become disillusioned with Christianity itself if their faith was intrinsically integrated with the prophetic.
The movements built upon the prophetic will be shaken to their core. Those networks will likely have seismic aftershocks that may even threaten their very existence soon if they do not honestly repent and make immediate changes.
Younger leaders will decline to find fellowship with their older prophetic mentors/peers.
Younger evangelicals generally eschew extreme political connections to Christianity. Many of the young leaders in the prophetic movement that I know are considering placing a distance between themselves and some in the prophetic movement and their leaders.
The secularists will leap to lump all Evangelicals /Charismatics together. This certainly serves the secularists self-interests and their political goals. They are attempting to excoriate all Christians because a minority of them went along with Q Anon prophetic type activism.
The world will likely be inclined to question the validity of all of the beliefs of those who confidently prophesied things that did not come to pass. Unfortunately, this includes the historic belief in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ; he is our only hope and is Himself the gospel.
The Best Way
The best way to get to know God is by being filled with His Spirit while saturating oneself with the Word of God (Psalm 119:97-99; Ephesians 5:18-20).
One time, a young man asked me for a “Word from God.” I asked this young man if he went to church.
He said, “Rarely.”
I asked him if he took the time to pray. He said, “Rarely.”
Then, I tried again to see how well he was preparing his soul for a fruitful word of advice. I asked him if he read his Bible regularly.
“Once in a while,” he said.
I responded, “This is the Word of the Lord for you: read the Bible!”
I suspect that in the time of the Coronavirus, God has placed the whole world on a forced Sabbath rest so that we can commit our lives to know God.
According to the Westminster shorter catechism when asked the question “What is man’s primary purpose? The answer is, “Man’s primary purpose is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”
May it be so with us.
Dr. Joseph Mattera is an internationally-known author, consultant, and theologian whose mission is to influence leaders who influence culture. He is the founding pastor of Resurrection Church in Brooklyn, New York, and leads several organizations, including The U.S. Coalition of Apostolic Leaders and Christ Covenant Coalition. Dr. Mattera is the author of 12 bestselling books, including his latest “The Jesus Principles,” and is well-known in his circles for teaching how to apply Scripture to understand contemporary culture. To order his books or to join the many who subscribe to his newsletter go to www.josephmattera.org.
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