Kim Clement
by Steve Lumbley, Apostasy Watch!
Deuteronomy 18:20-22
"If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come
true, that is a message that Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken
presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.”
Much has been written about Kim Clements most recent failed prophecies regarding
the capture of Osama Bin Laden as well as his claims of March 11 2004 being the
beginning of some kind of “unusual chain of events” in the Kingdom of God.
If you are unfamiliar with these, Tricia Tillin of Banner Ministries has an
excellent summary of Clements faux pas here >
Kim Clements
Prophecy Examined
Even after these spectacular failures many people still consider Clement to be a
legitimate prophet. Steve Schultz, publisher of the Elijah List website even now
has this to say about him;
”As many of you know, Kim Clement is not only one of my favorite people, Kim is,
in my opinion, one of the highest level prophets known today. But along with
that anointing...that gifting...comes the ability to teach and equip the saints
to both Hear God's Voice for themselves and prophesy to others.”
Schultz’s Elijah List is promoting an 8 tape teaching series from Clement
called, ironically, “Becoming His Voice”
"Becoming the voice of God ultimately makes you the greatest witness on earth.
You don't actually hear the voice of God, you perceive it." - Kim Clement
As with all false prophets Clements occasionally mixes a little truth with his
lies. When he says that he doesn’t “actually hear the voice of God” I’d have to
say that he is 100% correct. As to his supposed prophecies his percentage is
much lower.
Kim Clement is a Christianized version of an old time fortune teller or medium.
He uses a variation of a technique known as cold reading to make guesses at
future events. If you’ve ever seen John Edward supposedly talk to the dead on
his TV show Crossing Over, you’ve seen this technique in action.
Cold reading is a technique whereby the ‘medium’ (psychic) picks up clues from
their subjects expression and body language while asking seemingly innocent
questions. It is somewhat of a shotgun approach in which a number of random
possibilities are offered.
For example, the ‘medium’ may say - I’m hearing a J or G sounding name, or I’m
perceiving a name like either Ellen or Helen, or Eleanore-it's like an
Ellen-sounding name? He may also throw out a list of items such as a watch, or
ring or brooch, etc. The willing subjects then interpret these vague questions
in light of their own experience. The misses are ignored while the “hits”,
elicit a reaction that allows the medium to glean more information from the
subject.
The Clement version of this technique uses current events to offer educated
guesses about what the future will hold.
For example on Feb 15 of this year Clement said
” In 2005, in the months of August, September and October, those three months, I
will bring about such great festivities, because of the breakthrough that shall
come and governing powers will be on your side, says the Lord.
Governing powers shall be on your side because of the new elections. The Spirit
of God says, they will try again to do what they did to Bush. They will try
again to do the same thing, and they will accuse of corruption, and they will
accuse of mishandling. But God says, Oh no you don’t! You leave it! For that
shall not resurrect again. I will stop it in an instant. And God says, there
will be those that will cry out in agony. But God says, the government will be
on your side because this shall be a thing that I will grant unto you because I
love you and because your heart is pure, says the Lord of Hosts."
Now I don’t know about you but I don’t think it takes a prophet of the Lord to
say that President Bush’s enemies will try again at some point to accuse him of
corruption. Also if you’ll notice he refers to Aug. Sept. And Oct of 2005 and
says, “Governing powers shall be on your side because of the new elections“. If
I’m not mistaken, our elections will be held in Nov. 2004. Do you think maybe
God is confused about when we hold our elections?
Then on June 28 of this year he said:
” God says, “You pray, for your prayers will shake the Nation, your prayers will
shake this Nation. Those who have endeavored, once again, to bring from the
ashes; corruption, it shall not happen. But this country will rejoice greatly at
the end of this summer. August, September and October are your months of great
satisfaction,” says the Lord.”
Well, which is it, Aug, Sept, Oct of this year or next?
During the same supposed prophecy he claimed :
”There shall be an attempt, not to bring punishment to Saddam Hussein, but to
bring him back into power.”
Again, it doesn’t take any special mystical power to see that there are elements
in Iraq who would like to have Saddam Hussein back in power. The current
insurgency in places like Fallujah could be considered a fulfillment of this.
Also, there could very well be an even more overt attempt to resurrect Saddam
such as an attempted jail break or something like that. This is not prophecy.
Clement is simply a keen observer of the current scene and is adept at making
guesses. Like the medium using the cold reading technique, the misses are
ignored while the hits are interpreted by willing listeners to be the power of
God.
Kim Clement has been widely regarded to have prophesied the events of Sept. 11
2001, five years before they occurred.
Steve Schultz - “Just to remind you, Kim Clement is the one who, five full years
before 9/11, prophesied this:”
"I am shaking this place. I am shaking your ground. I am shaking the earth.
There has been a terrorist act and there will be another.' For the Spirit of the
Lord says, 'America will retaliate,' but God says, 'even as they retaliate with
natural weapons of war, and they say, 'we will go the place of the east, and we
will go, and we will bring them down for what they did to our people as they
flew in the air over Long Island."
"But the Spirit of the Lord says, 'Another will take place, but I will prevent
many deaths, because I will cause a security thing to happen so they will not
die. I will look after you, America'. 'But,' God says, 'the retaliation will not
be right. It will not be of my Spirit. It will be a wrong decision, but,' God
says, 'the saints of the Lord, of the most high God, will begin to pray. And
your God says, I will strike down the god of the east. I will bring something to
pass very soon. I have told you about it. The very god of the east, the very
king of the east, the very prince of the east. The one that waged a war against
America. They spoke about the mother of wars.' For God says, 'This is going to
be the mother of wars as you have never seen. For the Spirit of God will rise up
against the prince of the east, and He will bring him down.'" -- Kim Clement,
July 25, 1996
From this reference to “our people as they flew in the air over Long Island” ,
has grown the myth of Clements prophetic ability. But is that actually what he
was saying at the time?
Please notice carefully the date of the prophecy, July 25, 1996.
That date is important because it was only 8 days after TWA flight 800 exploded
in the air OFF THE COAST OF LONG ISLAND killing all 230 people on board.
One of the first theories was that the downing was terror related. The official
government explanation later was mechanical failure but many even today believe
that this was a terrorist act that was covered up by the Clinton administration
so as not to alarm the flying public. In fact, an Islamic terrorist organization
did take credit for the bombing the day after the event. Eight days after the
event it was a reasonable assumption to infer that this was a terrorist act.
Regardless of what actually happened it seems clear that Clement had that event
in mind when he “prophesied”. He was claiming that this was a terrorist act and
that the U.S would retaliate for it against “the god of the east”. Did we
retaliate for that event?
Now, after the fact some have re-interpreted this false prophecy in an attempt
to make it fit Sept 11. But even there is falls short.
In the alleged prophecy Clement claimed that “there has been a terrorist act and
there will be another”. Did it really take a prophet of God in 1996 to claim
that there would be another act of terrorism?
By July 1996 the U.S. had already experienced the first World Trade Center
bombing (Feb 26, 1993), the Oklahoma City bombing (April 19, 1995), the bombing
of the U.S. military headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Nov 13, 1995), and
the bombing of the U.S. military barracks at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (June 1996).
In 1996, Kim Clement wasn’t the only one who could have predicted that there
would be another act of terrorism targeting America. But he also added this:
"But the Spirit of the Lord says, 'Another will take place, but I will prevent
many deaths, because I will cause a security thing to happen so they will not
die.”
Has this part of the prophecy been born out? Since that time we have
experienced;
August 7, 1998: Twin bombings at the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar
es Salaam, Tanzania, kill 224 people and wound thousands of others.
October 12, 2000: A suicide bomber attack on the USS Cole in Yemen's Aden harbor
kills 17 American sailors and wounds 39 others.
Sept 11, 2001 Approx 3,000 dead in attack on World Trade Center in New York
City, The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and rural Pennsylvania.
In any act of terror or even in a natural disaster it is always possible to say,
it could have been worse. It is always possibly to say that God prevented many
deaths. This is not prophecy. It is a statement of the obvious.
The most glaring weakness in this alleged prophecy though is this part;
'But,' God says, 'the retaliation will not be right. It will not be of my
Spirit. It will be a wrong decision, but,' God says, 'the saints of the Lord, of
the most high God, will begin to pray. And your God says, I will strike down the
god of the east
Isn’t this just a bit contradictory? First he says that the retaliation will not
be of the Spirit of God, then God supposedly says “I will strike down the god of
the east” Which is it? Is he saying that because God’s people begin to pray that
God will change His mind and the retaliation will become His will?
Do you see how appealing this is to the flesh? We can change God’s will by our
prayers. We don’t have to line up with His will, We can cause His will to line
up with ours. This allows our flesh to glory in what God is doing.
Now before you write me about Jeremiah 18:7-8, let me say I know what it says
and it doesn’t apply here. These passages of scripture do not say that God will
change his mind just because His people begin to pray. It says that when God
pronounces judgment against a nation, that judgment is conditional upon the
people’s repentance and return to God.
Clements claim is that God did not want us to retaliate against Saddam but
because we Christians began to pray he changed his mind and decided to go ahead
and bring down the “god of the east”.
Do you see the subtle deception here? A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
Kim Clement is no prophet. He is an observer of current events and a good
guesser with the ability to tell people what they want to hear. The more
specific he gets, the less accurate he becomes.
In his “March 11” prophecy he claims that this date will be the beginning of a
ten year period of peace and prosperity for America.
To that I say
Ezek 13:8-11
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies,
therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD.
And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies:
they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in
the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of
Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was
no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered
morter:
Say unto them which daub it with untempered morter, that it shall fall: there
shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a
stormy wind shall rend it.
Let God be true and every man a liar!
Steve Lumbley 2004 www.apostasywatch.com
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