Ezek 13:3 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that
follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!4 O Israel, thy prophets
are like the foxes in the deserts. 5 Ye 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.6 They 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. 7 Have 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? 8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken
vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the
Lord GOD. 9 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. 10 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: 11 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. 12 Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be
said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it? 13
Therefore 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. 14 So 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. 15 Thus 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; 16
To 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.KJV
The Bible reveals that there are several different categories of prophets, not excluding spiritual mindedness equivalent to a prophetic life, because of the new birth. Therefore, there are genuine prophets, immature prophets (sons of the prophets-untested), intentional false prophets- those who intentionally prophecy things they know aren't true, false prophets who unintentionally speak out of their own deceptions, and false prophets who prophecy things out of their own spirit or ideas without the word of the Lord. Much could be said about each type. However, from my experience, accompanied by a large number of biblical references, I think the most dangerous type of false prophet is the one who prophesies out of his or her own spirit or ideas and tags the saying "thus says the Lord" onto the false prophetic word.
My reason for saying this is derived from several factors that I see affecting the believer today. We're living in a time when people are desperate. They're seeking for comforts, encouragement and hope in a time where everything about them is being tested and shaken. This condition can be both good and bad. It can be good because such desperation can push you into prayer to seek God, where you can discover His actual word for your situation, and deal with un-repented sin as well as identifying the areas of your life where things need to change. On the other hand, desperation can also make an individual naively vulnerable to false hope and temporary comfort. Desperate people often tend to believe anything they hear that eases their pain without testing it.
I am becoming increasingly concerned about what are being touted as "prophetic words and declarations", made in the name of the Lord, and which are so extremely generalized that they never cause the listening individual to deal with the reasons behind his or her conditions of misery. The problem is, when well-meaning "prophets", or believers so inclined, generalize and write or speak what could be interpreted as large and supposedly encouraging words and declarations from God, the messages often produce a false hope and shallow understanding of what personal responsibility is in God. In an attempt to ease people's pain, encourage them and make them feel better about God and themselves, these "pillow prophets" produce words that may literally sweep very real problems and sins under a carpet of temporary peace and make it sound like God is saying something specifically to the individual when in fact is is a general word, ignorant of the false hopes and problems caused.
Ezekiel addressed this when he wrote about a certain group of false prophets in Ezekiel 13. He stated that these false prophets prophesy, "Peace, peace", when in actuality, there were deep problems God wanted to deal with.We're living in very similar times.
My reason for writing this at this time is that I've been reading quite a wide variety of prophetic statements, declarations and decrees for a number of months now and I am bothered by the generalized words being made without consideration to the fact that people listen to what makes them comfortable, yet are ignorant of their individual conditions. Let me give you an example.
Many years ago, I knew of a man in the ministry who fell into the get-rich-quick pitfall and as a result seduced numerous people into his scheme, borrowing hundreds of thousands of dollars from them to support his vision. His plan fell through and the people lost their money. Then in the end of this, a so-called prophet visited a church where that man in ministry visited. The so-called prophet prophesied one of these generalized prophecies that endorsed the man's error. The man in ministry left the service feeling vindicated in his seduction and the rest of the people who heard it felt frustrated because how could they resist a word from the Lord. But where was the wisdom to test this error? It didn't happen.
We must be very wise in this day and age. We must seek God, discern, test and be slow to move on generalized words that dismiss holiness, personal responsibility and temporary comforts. They emerge out of a desire to comfort and encourage, but are not the genuine word of the Lord to the individual. They therefore create false hope. Real hope is only found in Jesus, in a personal relationship and developed prayer life. I weary of all the false hopes I see being promoted in the Church and society at large.My spirit is aching for the genuine word of the Lord that is consistent with all of His character, not just selective portions. Whenever a decree, declaration or encouraging general word comes into your life, and the individual speaking it makes it sound as if it is the absolute truth and word for you, take a step back and pray. It might be producing a false hope that later will further break your heart. Get His word in Truth for yourself through His Word, devotional prayer and consistent seeking His face. Let's stop settling for the good intentions of others and find out what God really wants to say to us personally !
The Bible reveals that there are several different categories of prophets, not excluding spiritual mindedness equivalent to a prophetic life, because of the new birth. Therefore, there are genuine prophets, immature prophets (sons of the prophets-untested), intentional false prophets- those who intentionally prophecy things they know aren't true, false prophets who unintentionally speak out of their own deceptions, and false prophets who prophecy things out of their own spirit or ideas without the word of the Lord. Much could be said about each type. However, from my experience, accompanied by a large number of biblical references, I think the most dangerous type of false prophet is the one who prophesies out of his or her own spirit or ideas and tags the saying "thus says the Lord" onto the false prophetic word.
My reason for saying this is derived from several factors that I see affecting the believer today. We're living in a time when people are desperate. They're seeking for comforts, encouragement and hope in a time where everything about them is being tested and shaken. This condition can be both good and bad. It can be good because such desperation can push you into prayer to seek God, where you can discover His actual word for your situation, and deal with un-repented sin as well as identifying the areas of your life where things need to change. On the other hand, desperation can also make an individual naively vulnerable to false hope and temporary comfort. Desperate people often tend to believe anything they hear that eases their pain without testing it.
I am becoming increasingly concerned about what are being touted as "prophetic words and declarations", made in the name of the Lord, and which are so extremely generalized that they never cause the listening individual to deal with the reasons behind his or her conditions of misery. The problem is, when well-meaning "prophets", or believers so inclined, generalize and write or speak what could be interpreted as large and supposedly encouraging words and declarations from God, the messages often produce a false hope and shallow understanding of what personal responsibility is in God. In an attempt to ease people's pain, encourage them and make them feel better about God and themselves, these "pillow prophets" produce words that may literally sweep very real problems and sins under a carpet of temporary peace and make it sound like God is saying something specifically to the individual when in fact is is a general word, ignorant of the false hopes and problems caused.
Ezekiel addressed this when he wrote about a certain group of false prophets in Ezekiel 13. He stated that these false prophets prophesy, "Peace, peace", when in actuality, there were deep problems God wanted to deal with.We're living in very similar times.
My reason for writing this at this time is that I've been reading quite a wide variety of prophetic statements, declarations and decrees for a number of months now and I am bothered by the generalized words being made without consideration to the fact that people listen to what makes them comfortable, yet are ignorant of their individual conditions. Let me give you an example.
Many years ago, I knew of a man in the ministry who fell into the get-rich-quick pitfall and as a result seduced numerous people into his scheme, borrowing hundreds of thousands of dollars from them to support his vision. His plan fell through and the people lost their money. Then in the end of this, a so-called prophet visited a church where that man in ministry visited. The so-called prophet prophesied one of these generalized prophecies that endorsed the man's error. The man in ministry left the service feeling vindicated in his seduction and the rest of the people who heard it felt frustrated because how could they resist a word from the Lord. But where was the wisdom to test this error? It didn't happen.
We must be very wise in this day and age. We must seek God, discern, test and be slow to move on generalized words that dismiss holiness, personal responsibility and temporary comforts. They emerge out of a desire to comfort and encourage, but are not the genuine word of the Lord to the individual. They therefore create false hope. Real hope is only found in Jesus, in a personal relationship and developed prayer life. I weary of all the false hopes I see being promoted in the Church and society at large.My spirit is aching for the genuine word of the Lord that is consistent with all of His character, not just selective portions. Whenever a decree, declaration or encouraging general word comes into your life, and the individual speaking it makes it sound as if it is the absolute truth and word for you, take a step back and pray. It might be producing a false hope that later will further break your heart. Get His word in Truth for yourself through His Word, devotional prayer and consistent seeking His face. Let's stop settling for the good intentions of others and find out what God really wants to say to us personally !
