When Prophets Get it Wrong

On our January World Zoom with our global pastors, Lynley Allan and Adele Richards shared a short teaching in response to a current crisis within the body of Christ on the question of prophecy and what to do when prophets get things wrong. This is a topic that has been brewing for a while but the events of the recent US election brought this topic more to the forefront.

Here are key highlights from Lynley’s teaching:

Why Prophets Get Things Wrong

Remember that prophets and prophetic people are human. They are not perfect and are not infallible. (Don’t completely discredit the prophet based on one inaccurate prophecy). Please extend mercy to them when they get it wrong as we would want when we’ve made a mistake. 

• Prophets can sometimes get things wrong when they are influenced by other prophecies and be swept up into a prevailing string of thought. Emotions can cloud hearing from the Holy Spirit clearly. Jeremiah 23:30 

• Prophets can have strong desires and opinions for a particular outcome so they may have a subconscious bias. That can become a filter on what they hear the Lord saying. Sometimes they can have selective hearing. 

• They may have an unhealed need for the approval of man and be insecure of their self image and own prophetic voice. There can be fear of painful outcomes and have an unhealed need of pride. 

• The other issue is prophesying presumption. They may be adding to what God is saying which muddies the waters. When their own minds and imaginations get involved it can mix with what the Lord is saying. 

Let’s continue to honour the prophetic people around us. It takes faith and guts to prophesy so let's not stone the prophets. We should take them off a pedestal and not idolize them. Let’s put them on the same level as the other 5 fold ministries with mercy and grace.

How to Weigh Prophecy

Adele shared it is also important to pastor and teach the church how to weigh prophecy since there are two very powerful people involved in prophecy – the person giving the word and the person receiving the word.

The New Testament makes it very clear that there is the need to test all prophecies, since “we prophesy in part” (1 Corinthians 13:9), i.e., no prophecy or modern-day prophet is infallible 

• “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil”. 1 Thess 5 v 19-21

• “Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.” 1 Cor 14.29 

We are careful but not cautious.

Weighing a word is not the same as criticizing the person who gave it or the prophecy. When we weigh a word we are looking for the gold in it.

Here are some questions to teach your people to ask when weighing a prophecy:

• Does this line up with scripture?

• Is Jesus glorified? Does it cause us to focus on or put our trust in Jesus?

• Where’s the hope in this word? (Even if it’s a stern or corrective word, if it’s from God it will be redemptive.)

• What fruit does this word bring? Is it good fruit? Love, peace, patience etc

• Which spirit does this come from – human (soulish)- someone’s opinion, God or enemy?

• Is the prophet who gave the word accountable?
  

  If it's negative or destructive you can throw it out. If it's a good word, partner with it and pray through it (“Eat the meat and throw the bones”). Notice if the prophecy is conditional e.g. “If you practise your guitar, I will anoint you to play like David played for Saul.”

How to Pastor Prophets and Prophetic People

A big clue is found in 1 Cor 14.29: “Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.” 

Prophecy is a team sport. In the Old Testament there were companies of prophets. We’re better together: get prophetic people in community e.g. our Global Prophetic Priority. You don’t want lone ranger prophets operating in isolation. 

The primary job of a prophet can be found in Ephesians 4:12 “to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the body of Christ”. They train and raise up others in a healthy, loving way.