“You brood of vipers. Who told you to flee the coming wrath?!” (Matt 3:7 – John the Baptist to the church leaders) “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?” (Gal 3:1 – Apostle Paul to the Galatian church leadership and congregation)
One thing I have heard consistently enforced throughout prophetic circles (books, conferences, small groups, mentorship) in the last 3 years since I was exposed to the prophetic circles has been that you must only prophesy something that builds up, comforts, or encourages someone, based on the verse in 1 Corinthians 14:3 – 3 But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. (NKJV) This verse has been cherry picked out of the entire canon of scripture and twisted by the devil’s pill of political correctness into something prophetic leaders never intended by enforcing this guideline. 1 Corinthians 14 is geared toward the body of Christ prophesying, but the devil has used that very passage to hogtie the very prophets that the prophetic leaders were trying to train!
I can understand in training circles the importance of creating a safe culture to practice. Prophets, due to the way they are wired and trained by God toward purity and maturity, tend to be a very wounded bunch. They seem to wear an invisible bullseye for rejection glued to their forehead. It’s called anointing & calling. They’re born with it. Believe me, most would rather chose to be anything else but a prophet. Demons can see their spirits, including their anointing and calling, and will use any unsanctified tongue / body to bring destruction early in life so they never step into awareness of their true identity. For God’s own reasons, He has ordained a higher amount of prophets to be born in this generation, who are maturing at this Kairos timing. The devil can only imagine what God has planned and is desperately trying to twist as many as he can into false prophets. The hallmark of a false prophet, surprisingly, is not his accuracy level but rather his obedience to God’s commandments. (Deut 13:1-11)
I can see the wisdom in teaching to people’s levels of understanding and not feeding babes meat so they don’t choke. However, it’s time to get out of the milk bottle mentality and start giving the babies finger food. Let THEM decide what they can and cannot handle. You’ll be surprised what a baby can eat without choking when you trust God’s built-in gag reflex with close supervision. Ever see a baby pick up a big hunk of chicken? Give them long enough and a hungry, slobbering baby will have that thing sucked and gummed to oblivion.
There’s also the very real problem of Pharisee spirits in church buildings, which birth judgmentalism and criticism under the guise of religion. Their bitter poisonous barbs can cause much wounding, leading to spiritual sepsis. Instead of teaching true Holy Spirit-led discernment and dispensing Holy Ghost mouthwash as needed, we simply throw out anything that sounds negative and hamstring the entire congregation of its purity. Suck it up, folks. Having a boil lanced hurts but then again, having a boil in the first place hurts, too! If it isn’t drained and cleaned out properly, it will fester, growing more painful by the day until the entire body is weakened by infection and eventually death if ignored.
Now to the crux of why I’m writing today. The Holy Spirit abruptly shook me awake this morning with the warning that the devil has used this well-meaning safeguard of prophesying the 3 smooth things as a means for a Spirit of Pharaoh to slide into the prophetic circles. Through the undiscerning leaders, this spirit has hog-tied the prophet’s tongues as per Isaiah 30:9-10, which this morning, the Holy Spirit called “Cherry Picking Prophets.” They release the good words but bite their tongues on anything that doesn’t fit “The Protocol,” choosing to fear man under the deceptive guise of “respecting their leadership” rather than God who gave them the message in the first place.
Isaiah 30:9-10:
9 That this is a rebellious people,
Lying children,
Children who will not hear the law of the LORD;
10 Who say to the seers, “Do not see,”
And to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things;
Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.
Do you see how the safety guideline for the 3 smooth things – build up, comfort, encourage – can become lopsided when practiced as a rule outside the classroom? John the Baptist and Elijah would (and will) be kicked out of the church building for “not being loving”, for being “judgmental, critical, and condemning”, as they confront the wickedness in God’s people and call for people to repent of their evil ways to flee the coming wrath of His judgment. Instead of God’s definition of love, which old fashioned parenting books called “Tough Love”, the church has twisted the definition into a flimsy phileo self-love. “If you tell me I’m contaminated, then YOU don’t love ME!” Wake up, people! What could be more loving than to tell you that you’re contaminated and allow the Holy Spirit to give you the solution on how to get back into the pure presence of the Most High God?
Christians seem to have forgotten that hell is a very real place! Church attendance and schmoozing within the prophetic circles does NOT guarantee you a place in heaven! Jesus warned in Matt 7:22-23, “22 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? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity (those who break God’s commandments)” You must turn from your wicked ways and turn TO God, receiving the shed blood of Jesus Christ for YOUR sins, not just in theory of Jesus coming into your heart. Yes, I just called you a sinner. Get off your high horse and join the club. Last time I checked, ALL have sinned including Job (who didn’t start out so perfect in all his ways), Pastors, Small group leaders, Intercessors, Missionaries, Prime Ministers. They ALL fall short of the glory of God. Hell will receive payment of blood for our sin. It’s up to us whether we stubbornly hang onto our own blood all the way to the depths of hell or humbly repent and cry out for Jesus’ blood to save us from that which we cannot save ourselves.
Jesus clearly preached, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt 4:17) Repent of what? Your sins and turn to God! What is sin? Doing what God says to NOT to do, and NOT doing what God says TO do. John the Baptist said the same thing, ““Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (Matt 3:2) We sing songs in a church building that wax emotionally about how we love Jesus then subconsciously add, “according to my fleshly definition of love.” Jesus himself said, “IF you love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) Note He didn’t say the church denomination’s commandments or the small groups’ commandments. Whenever man’s rules conflict with God’s commandments, we ought to obey God rather than men. Get off the fence, people, and choose this day which God/god you will serve. The day you keep quiet when God is telling you to shout from the rooftops what he has spoken to you in secret, you have just made man your your god and committed idolatry . .
It was the religious church leaders that tried to kill Jesus because they lacked discernment. They didn’t like how He confronted their wicked hearts instead of honoring their impressive titles and show of white-washed exteriors. Now if that offends you because you’re a church leader, vomit up the bait of offence and cry out to God for discernment so you can identify when God is moving in a new way. It was King Herod’s wife and daughter that led to John the Baptist’s head being served up on a platter. King Herod was grieved over her request yet chose to abdicate his authority in order to save his reputation. (Matt 14:9) Jezebel’s prophesy of Elijah being beheaded just like her false prophets came to pass. John the Baptist, who carried the spirit of Elijah, was beheaded by one who carried the spirit of Jezebel because King Herod, who carried the spirit of Ahab, didn’t have enough balls to do the right thing and repent of his sin when John confronted him nor his foolish vow to Herodias’ daughter. It was King Ahab who threw Micaiah into prison with bread of affliction for speaking the truth, while the false prophets spoke pleasing platitudes into the King’s ear. It appeared the King was the one who liked his ears tickled, not just his congregation. Imagine that! If the King had listened to the harsh words of Micaiah and humbly repented, his life would have been spared. That was love in action, for Micaiah to know King Ahab hated his guts and had the power to snuff his life out, and still speak God’s truth into King Ahab’s ear. When he was summoned by King Ahab, he COULD have said, “I’m not going and you can’t make me. I’ll call down fire on you if you try to force me. He deserves to be deceived by his false prophets and die in battle for being so passive and allowing wickedness to take over God’s kingdom.” Instead, he was willing to lay down his life to give King Ahab – God’s chosen king – one more chance, even though it wasn’t heeded. A true prophet will release the truth at the expense of his own reputation, his own social status, his own life.
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