As I spent some time today perusing many of the
"big named" prophetic sites just looking at their home
pages. I
was actually hoping to find something that I might add to
my research files. I was dumbstruck as I went from site to site
finding that these prophets are competing for the few Christian
dollars that are out there, trying to out class the other in their
presentation, to grab "you", the unsuspecting believer and convince you
that they are legitimate and are oracles of God. And where is Jesus in
this whole picture? I see the names of these "important" prophets
splashed across the page and every page I go to is all about the prophet
with hardly any mention of the name that is above every name, the name
that the Father has glorified, the name that is to be pre-eminent to the
summing up of all things, "Christ Jesus." I was grieved and I felt
as if somebody had died and I became overwhelmed knowing that the Lord
Jesus must be grieved over the same.
Self promotion has always been an issue with our
God since the days of the Tower of Babel where men were so determined to
reach the heavens by their own hand, to make a name for themselves
(Genesis
11:1-9), that they built a city with a tower to reach up to heaven,
proclaiming their glory. As we see in the story, God said, "Come let Us
go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand
one another's speech." And then God scattered them all over the face of
the earth and they stopped building their kingdom city.
It was equally disturbing as I read through their
own prophetic words that were given for our viewing. Most of these
prophets had words that had very little relationship to the Scriptures
and it was strongly implied that these were direct revelation from the
throne of God. Are these the clouds without water I thought (Jude
1:12) as I went from site to site, with all the leading voices in
today's Prophetic movement propping one another up, building their own
kingdom towers, making a name for themselves.
The Old Testament Prophet, Ezekiel, spoke clearly
to this problem that greatly affected the nation of Israel and concerns
us today as we watch many kingdoms being built in the name of man for
the purposes of man. If we look to Ezekiel 13:1-16, we hear the cry of
the real prophet as he speaks to the false prophets of his day:
1And
the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2Son
of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say
thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word
of the LORD;
3Thus
saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their
own spirit, and have seen nothing!
4O
Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
5Ye
have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the
house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.
6They
have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the
LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they
would confirm the word.
7Have
ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination,
whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken?
8Therefore
thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies,
therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD.
9And
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.
10Because,
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:
11Say
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.
12Lo,
when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the
daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?
13Therefore
thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my
fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and
great hailstones in my fury to consume it.
14So
will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered morter,
and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall
be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the
midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
15Thus
will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have
daubed it with untempered morter, and will say unto you, The wall is
no more, neither they that daubed it;
16To
wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and
which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the
Lord GOD.
Here we see Ezekiel speaking the Word from God to
the prophets who speak out of their own imaginations and have visions
that are not visions from God and who speak peace when their is no
peace. Today we have prophets that proclaim their words of "The Coming
Revival" and the "Ultimate Endtime Harvest" with all the strategies of
building the coming kingdom to the purposes of man and not of God. Of
course we would all desire to see these things, and that is the hook
that has many looking past the Scriptures to new revelation regarding
the end times. ("Beware of the false
prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous
wolves."
Matthew 7:16)
There was an accountability that had to be answered by the false
prophets of that day and there will the same required of today's so
called prophets.
At each stop on my journey through the websites of
the prophets I kept thinking that one of the tests for discerning true
from false prophets is to look at their fruits ("You
will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn
bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? A good tree cannot produce bad
fruit, nor can a bad tree product good fruit. Every tree that does not
bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then you will
know them by their fruits." Matthew
7:16-20). It might be confusing to some,
seeing all the flash and glitter of the names splashed over the entire
page, but I realized I was looking at their fruits. I was
hard pressed to see where Jesus was being glorified and all I could see
in front of me were those determined to make a name for themselves.
If we are truly walking in Jesus Christ then the
ministry must be about Him and His name. Paul writes in his letter to
the Colossians, chapter one, verses 15-18: And He is the image of the
invisible God, the first-born of all creation. For by Him all things
were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities---all things have
been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him
all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church;
and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He
Himself might come to have first place in everything. Where does it
state in His word that we are to put our names above His name? Is this
about us or about Him?
I fear for those that are bold enough to think that
their kingdoms and their names are going to remain standing for much
longer if they persist in promoting their names above the name of our
Lord and Savior. Throughout the history of God's people, anyone
who would diminish the glory of God was removed from the picture and God
only knows the how and when. The Scriptures tell us that every
tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown
into the fire and that is not an enviable position to be in.
