Brother Prophet, Speak by the Holy Spirit or Shut up.

Prophets and Watchmen

Ephesians 4:11  And he gave some to be apostles; and some prophets

-rory moore

First, let us state there is no scripture giving pastors sole authority over a group of God's people.
Am I against pastors then? -NO! I love real pastors but today most only function as hirelings.

 We are missing ministries in the church.
Only once in the New Testament is the word "pastor" used (Eph. 4:11), yet pastors dominate evangelical Christianity. Prophets are mentioned in 45 NT verses yet are practicaly non-existent except for a few that prophesy for pay in the church world, and a plethora of prophet-watchmen" on the internet.

Many prophets are paid to speak to churches and most always prophecy prosperity, larger ministries, and a bigger name. We heard plenty of these types and they were welcome guest speakers in our assembly on a regular basis and usually were paid very generously.

Now consider the role of the prophet, of which God said He placed in the church also.  The real ones do not seek the limelight but will speak when the Lord puts His Word in them.  They are more loners and isolated as they are called to be somewhat remote as he does not have the warm and chummy personality of the pastor.  (people tend to be drawn to pastors and intimidated by prophets).

The prophet will "see" things others don't. For that he may be mocked, scorned, and rejected,  he is by nature a watchman.

 







Caution!:  It often falls on the prophet to bring correction to pastors, ministers, and God's people.

Why do we caution? Because the wannabe correctors' of others better be fully ordained by and sent from God to do so, and not in the will of self.
When you do so, it better be with the utmost humility, meekness, and love.
-And without any anger, revenge, malice, or assertive flesh-driven angst.

Your spirit must be clean and before you go checking the mote in another's eye, the beam must be out of yours.

2Timothy 2:25  in meekness correcting them that oppose themselves;
                            if peradventure God may give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth,
 Titus 3:2 to speak evil of no man, not to be contentious, to be gentle, showing all meekness
                toward all men.
Gal. 6:1 Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in any trespass, ye who are spiritual,
                restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

Those verses should close the mouth of a lot of critical, angry watchmen.  But if God sends us, we need to go.

I have been sent a few times in this manner and in each case, I did not want to go to the person with God's corrective Word. The Lord spoke to me in one instance that if I did not that He (God), would put their punishment on me also. 


Another time I was sent to a local pastor. Again, in no way did I want to share with him what the Lord had given me as I knew he would not receive it. I counseled with other elders who agreed I needed to go.
Of course it turned out exactly as I foresaw and I was rejected and labeled a "false prophet" by him.
But on the way home the Lord spoke to me and said "I cannot send judgement before I send them a prophet first".

A man may prophesy according to the measure of the gift in him. And he will do well to grow in his gifting. A young prophet may be sitting on a church pew and get a dream or two, or a revelation from the Lord, but he has a long ways to go. The Lord will season him thru suffering, and mature him through many fiery trials...

A new testament prophet may "prophecy in part"..
The "part" is part the spirit of the man and part the spirit of God. In other words, he can get his prophecy right but get some of his own knowledge mixed in.. That is why you see a lot of prophets prophesying by the news..

Very few understand what it is to be a prophet, and the false ones have muddied the waters. Very few have walked in a prophets shoes... Many of them just get conformed to a role in a church by a church system that has been so leavened that they are un-recognizable.

The prophet is drawn to, of all things, PROPHECY, and loves the Book of Revelation, Daniel, and the other prophets. He will get revelation from the Lord and it will usually upset the comfortable traditions and status quo of "church".  He makes pastors uncomfortable because he strains at their leash.

When he walks in the Spirit, he is passionate for God's Word and calling people to seek the Lord.
He will be perceived as harsh, moody, difficult, and unsociable,which is often true because he just does not conform to the church "system" unless he gives himself over to gain and pleasing people.

He is also called to be a minister and servant to the body of Christ, not a glorified idol of spiritual mysteries that prostitutes his gift for the reward of a Name or filthy lucre.

In this respect, he ought to be able to minister and pray for people, often "hearing" the Holy Spirit direct him and revealing to him the afflictions and infirmities of the people he ministers to.

Prophets are more likely to be discerned first by Spiritual people, other prophets, and later acknowledged by others. John 4:19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet...

***any prophetic man or woman worth their salt can tell you about their battles with the spirit of jezebel.***, -a spirit which absolutely hates and despises the prophets among us.

       He can be carnal and he hates his own failures.
       He is zealous for people to repent and be holy.
       He seeks spiritual things from above, visions, and dreams.
       He is very sensitive and perceptive of spiritual atmosheres.
       He will shout the truth from the rooftop then hide.
       He is excited by revelation from scripture.
       He may miss a prophecy and it fail when flesh or emotions get in the way.

       His prophecies are disdained.
       He is rejected but he loves people..
       He is known for his personal flaws and weaknesses.
       He makes people uncomfortable when he speaks about God.

      He is against the establishment order of man-made ministry,
       a contrarian who is stifled by ritual and routine.
       He has a fiery heart and speaks fiery words. Sometimes to his regret.
       He talks to many about God.
       He carries the Word and truth, but is scorned as a lone ranger Christian.
       He is modest and not flashy.

       He is not comfortable taking money from people for ministry.
       He is called to suffer affliction.
       He is without honor in his own house and country.
       He is called to suffer. Take, brethren, .. an example of suffering and of patience
            the prophets who spake in the name of the Lord. -james 5:10

       He dies when he is conformed to another man's ministry and loses his own Spiritual identity.
       He is better for staying home and hearing from God than hearing a 3-point Bible College sermon.
       He knows he is "different", but does not know why.

       He rejoices when demons are cast out and people healed.
       He positively grieves for what promotes itself as Christian.
       He does not follow the mainstream crowd.
       He hears from God and it is usually different from what is commonly taught.

      He thinks something is wrong with himself when the reality is it is the church that has apostasized
         and it is his calling to examine themselves in the light of Scripture.

For this he is marginalized, tolerated (as long as he financially participates), and very seldom recognized in the assembly as a gift of ministry from the Lord.

The missing minister of  the prophet in the local church is tragic.
He has been homogenized into the mainstream milk that calls itself Christian. Typically he sits in a pew or is molded into the job of a pastor, but inside there is a burning fire that wants to speak for the Lord.
   
       He is not seeker sensitive in the stagnant water of the typical church service.
       When mature,  he rejects being hired for money, reputation, or popularity.
       He is non self-glorying, non self- promoting.
       Forget the "Prophet Appreciation Month"  -he does not want it.

 If you have been around church very long, you have met prophets, pastors, teachers, and perhaps an apostle.
Most of them became nameless, faceless followers conformed to the image of their fellowship.

But God has them, oh yes, and the ones who come out from among them and follow the Lord "outside the camp" of modern Christianity will be as candles in the night

Next post: Watchmen Warning!  -how "knowledge pollutes the gift.

To Our Spiritual (and carnal) Brethren

To Our Spiritual  (and carnal)  Brethren

Colossians 1:9 For this cause we also, ... do not cease to pray and make request for you,
that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding

What is "spiritual" ?   Who is  "spiritual" ?

The word "spiritual" is not used in scripture until the New Testament.
For you Bible Word students, it is:
G4152 pneumatikos From G4151; non-carnal, that is, (humanly) ethereal , or (demoniacally) a spirit , or (divinely) supernatural, regenerate, religious: - spiritual.

The New Testament ushered in the fulfillment of all previous covenants in Christ, which gave us a "Better Covenant", the "Eternal Covenant" and reconciling us to God.

Hebrews 13:20
 Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus,  as Jesus commanded His disciples to "tarry in Jerusalem" that they might receive "the PROMISE of the Father.."
 Acts 1:4 and, being assembled together with them, he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem,
              but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, said he, ye heard from me:

In a nutshell, "the promises" of God are in Christ, and they include eternal life, salvation, deliverance, provision, protection, healing, and wholeness.
Nothing is left out, and we receive them when we are fully persuaded in faith that they are ours, and we keep our part of the Covenant by repentance, faith, and obedience.
-as we "abide in my Words", and "keep my commandments".. (as given in our New Testament Covenant).

What is "spiritual"?
Our "abiding city", "New Jerusalem" is a spirtual city.  (Heb. 13:14, Rev. 3:12)
 There is "spiritual food" and "spiritual drink"  (1Cor. 10:3-4) for the "spiritual man" who has a born again  spirit from above, and a new spiritual nature.

There are "spiritual brethren" , "spiritual gifts" , "spiritual songs" , "spiritual sacrifices" , a "spiritual body" , a "spiritual house", and "spiritual blessings".
There is "spiritual understanding" of "spiritual words" , and there is "spiritual wisdom and understanding" . 

The  "discerning of spirits" is spiritual.  Speaking in tongues is spiritual language, there are spiritual visions, angels and demons are spiritual beings, and God Himself is Spirit.

Revelation from scripture is spiritual: 

Galatians 1:12 For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it,
                      but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ.

The church was expected to walk in spiritual  "revelation" :
1st Corinthians 14:26 ...When ye come together, each one hath a psalm, hath a teaching,
        hath a revelation, hath a tongue, hath an interpretation.
:30   But if a revelation be made to another sitting by, let the first keep silence.
Ephesians 3:3 how that by revelation was made known unto me the mystery,
        as I wrote before in few words...

and Paul prayed for the saints in Ephesians 1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him;

Yes, we know some people can get flakey and over-spiritual.
And  we also know that carnal-minded and letter-minded  brethren will reject a spiritual revelation unless they have a gift from God to "see" and "hear" what the Spirit saith to the churches.

However the spiritual overseers of a spiritual assembly called the church, are spiritual brethren (or should be) that are given to judge and discern.
The apostle Paul even said "if any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge the things that I write are the commands of God".
He ENCOURAGED the saints to have and get "spiritual wisdom and understanding".
 Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our message? and to whom hath the arm of the LORD been revealed?

Spiritual people received spiritual revelations often missed by the majority:

Matthew 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jonah:
         for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven.
Luke 2:26 And it had been revealed unto him by the Holy Spirit, that he should not see death,
                 before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

And to the saints in 1st Corinthians 2:10 But unto us God revealed them through the Spirit:
          for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

When we left the church world in 2004,
Linda and I had purposed to return to the diligent study of God's Word. Because we had followed Jesus Christ out of the sheepfolds of men, He became our teacher as He said in John 14:26 and 1John 2:27.... of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any one teach you; but as his anointing teacheth you; concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you...

At that time, what we read from others served to point us toward the Word for ourselves to "prove all things" as it is written, and we have done so ever since. The lexicons in Greek and Hebrew became tools used almost daily, Scripture word searches are examined numerous times per day also, as well as our regular reading of the Word.
And the Lord has blessed  with non-stop revelation and understanding from the Word, much of which we never heard taught in "church".
Indeed, we hear a similar testimony from many others after they "exodused" from Church Inc. and the organizations formed by men.

Many obvious truths were hidden in plain sight. (Such as the naked truth about tithing never given to the churches by the apostles that gave us the New Testament writings.)  

Other revelations come by prayer and study, and are a gift from God.

An example was the hidden prophecy of the endtime in Joshua 6, or the revelation of the Nicolaitane error that Jesus said He hated,  true church government, and more as the Lord reveals.

In fact, once the Lord begins to open your eyes to some of the deeper truths ("But unto us God revealed them through the Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God") you will realize how small our understanding is.

How wonderful it is when He blesses us with deeper truth and spiritual understanding than what is in the plain text in the letter! Jesus did so virtually every time He spoke! -And it was not only in the parables.

Let's read an example of Jesus "spiritualizing" the scripture:
Mat. 12:
47 And one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand outside, seeking to speak to thee.
48 But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?
49 And he stretched forth his hand towards his disciples, and said, Behold, my mother and my brethren!
50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.

Huh? said the carnal brethren.

Now look at Jesus "spiritualizing" the law:

Matthew 5:27 Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
28 But I say unto you, that every one that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Matthew 5:21 Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
22)  but I say unto you, that every one who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment

And John wrote in "spiritual" terms: 1st John 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
They already knew it was wrong to murder but John "spiritualized" it to include hatred, which means "to despise"!

As we "searched the scriptures", we found the word "spiritual" only came into use in the New Testament, which testifies to the fact that a spiritual people who make up God's spiritual house.As we realize His temple is not "made with hands"  but is built from "living stones".
1st Peter 2:5 ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices),  who were "born from above" by the Holy Spirit.

The flip side is that we can easily lean on our own understanding which is the "natural man" and who loves fleshly reasonings.
1st Corinthians 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ.

-and see where Paul pointed this out in 1st Corinthians 2:14 Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him;
and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
spiritually: non-physically, that is, divinely, figuratively.discerned: properly to scrutinize, that is, (by implication) investigate, interrogate, determine: - ask, question, discern, examine, judge, search.

Let me ask this, can a prophet read someone's book in order to prophecy by the Spirit of God?
Can God give another man or woman a revelation about His Word that is not heard in "mainstream" Christianity?
Is God's truth limited to those with pulpits and Bible College  Certificates?

1Cor 2:12 But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God; that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God.
13     Which things also we speak, not in words which man`s wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth

 1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
 1 Corinthians 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory

Colossians 1:9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

-You don't get that from a book. Men may instruct, but revelation comes from God.