THE PROPHETIC OFFICE

The Forthteller

God is never intimidated, nor silenced by Babylonian dizziness,

drunkenness or delusion. God is not perplexed, nor is his ability to

take action curtailed when encountering the Babylonian maelstrom of

confusion. A relevant, heavenly plan is set in motion within any given

Babylonian society to bring salvation to the afflicted as well as

judgment on perpetrators. The plan is a man. The plan is a person, a

prophet. The plan is a prophet who reflects the very obedience of the

Lord, Jesus Christ himself. He may be a Jeremiah, a man of tears, about

whom the Lord said: "Before conception there was a concept." - Jer 1: 5.

He may be an Ezekiel, whom God asked "Will you judge the city?"

Ez 22.2.

Before man is, there is a concept. Long before salvation is brought

about, there is a plan. Before there is a prophet in making, there is a

royal command. Most likely the things and the men that are not are

chosen for the task to nullify the things that are, 1Cor 1: 28.

Prophets are commissioned, sent by royal command. Prophets are

ambassadors - speaking and acting on behalf of a peculiar nation not

belonging to this world. They are seldom welcomed, at least not by the

undisciplined, disobedient crowd. He is certainly recognised, but rarely

accepted. To label him a recognised prophet is to disarm him and lock

him into the system which he is sent to confront. A true prophet is not

an attraction in crowded auditoriums.

Paul describes a delicate aspect of the prophetic office in his first

letter to Timothy. His own role was founded on a royal command, 1 Tim 1:

1. The young man, Timothy, receiving the letter was set apart for no

easy task. His allotted part of in the work was to "stay behind", to

bring order through instruction. He was divinely commissioned through

prophesy to preach a moulding, formative message - 1 Tim 1: 3, 18. The

two letters to the young brother belong to a small group of letters

labelled pastoral letters. The pastoral words and colours used are

anything but picked from a pastel palette.

Two of the keys to the first letter to Timothy is the Greek verb

paraggellein, and the great words of the Holy Spirit - parakletos and

parakalein. These words are indeed provocative. The Parakletos is the

Spirit of truth, the teacher, the interpreter and the one reminding the

obedient listener. Usually, the word is taken to mean to comfort, but it

is by far the rarest meaning of the word. Even if it is to be taken in

that sense, it still has the background of a comfort that makes a man

able to stand on his two feet facing life. Parakalein is used of

exhorting troops who are about to go into battle; it is the word of the

rallying-call. Paul said: "I urge you to remain. to confront false

doctrine", 1 Tim 1 :3. "I urge you first of all to pray.", 1 Tim 2: 1.

The other word, paraggellein, is repeated again and again in the

pastoral letters. The mildest and most soothing word found in the

English would be to instruct. First and foremost it is a military word -

a command issued to soldiers. It does not relate to harsh judgmentalism.

Holiness is never harsh. Paul says, "Prescribe these things.", 1 Tim 5:

7. Prescribe, instruct, teach, charge, urge, command, demand. These are

words used of doctrine relative to right, godly living. These are words

calling for adherence and summoning responsibility.

The prophet brings the people of the Lord to obedience. Prophecy allows

us to look into what the Lord is planning to do, but the greater part of

the work of the prophet is related to what the people is supposed to do.

His work is to put the people to work. Christianity is not an exciting

and thrilling experience, it is blue collar work. Christianity offers

lessons in the art of godly and righteous living according to heavenly

pattern and protocol.

Our prophet is a forthteller. This aspect of the prophetic office deals

with royal commands and heavenly demands. His words are distinct, "It

has to be said of you.". His words are sobering and humbling. They bring

you back to the Cross. They call for repentance. They are confrontative,

they hold admonition and bring warnings. Our prophet is a forthteller.

He dares to be labelled as offensive. He certainly rocks the boat. He

creates disruption and disunity for the sake of unity built or

righteousness.

Our prophet is a man who, like Jeremiah, is told to keep quiet for the

sake of unity. Bringing unity at the cost of holiness will open for

antinomianism, lawlessness and will in the end lead parts of the Church

to bow down to an antichrist. The community of churches, denominations

and religious multistructures are all too eager to display a unity

belonging to this inferior category. Their efforts prophecy the

spiritual disunity existing as a provocative force before the Lord. He

is not perplexed by the Babylonian confusion. He know how to divide

between right and wrong, between holy and profane. Amazingly, Jezebel

rules among those who profess the gift of discernment. Amazingly, too

much prophecy stems from a gnostic/spiritistic source at the so called

schools of prophets of today. Forthtellers, speak up. Forthtellers,

admonish and charge the straying sheep and their leaders.

The prophetic office has not changed its design or function as it moved

from the older dispensation to the newer. There is no new dimension or

pattern to be taken on by prophets of today. God is moving along the

same paths as in the olden times. God is, and was, and is to come. He is

light, never changing, no shades.

There is no present day truth - what is has always been. What is

available to the Church of today has always been at hand - holiness and

godly living. The gnostic prophet believes in a "new thing-ism" - new

truths and experiences gushing forth. His reformation is a

reinterpretation of the Book, reducing the message of the Cross,

allowing the Flesh to stay alive. There is no truth but everlasting

truth. The present day truth offer excitement to itching ears. The Old

prophets spoke perfectly true about our days. The true prophets of our

days bring the people in line with the message of old.

A prophetic message demands response. A message heard today to be

forgotten tomorrow, allowing the listener to run for new revelations

tomorrow holds no prophetic quality. Prophetic forthtelling captures

hearts and touches consciences. Prophetic forthtelling enlightens souls

and reinstructs minds. Forthtelling reintroduces the Cross and installs

it as the focal point it is meant to be. Prayer puts God to work.

Forthtelling puts the people to work in right and honourable praying.

The forthteller is commanded to speak out - Ez 20: 46. He is instructed

to prophecy against - Ez 21: 2. He is even there to judge - Ez 22: 2.

The Lord gives words to the forthteller; "Say to her" - Ez 22: 24-25.

The prophet knows what time it is, knows what kind of time it is. He

holds prophetic understanding of the mentality and mood of this present

time. He identifies and knows the trends of a society by looking at its

roots. He is able to analyse trends and upcoming events by judging

foundations. His words are a force against the mentality of the day. His

words are purifying words, never playing the game of soothsaying,

numerology and gnosticism. He rather cuts off the spiritistic influence

and shortcuts the flow of falsehood.

The forthteller is the cupbearer of the people. Probing and testing

belong to his office. Food and wine was to pass the mouth of the

cupbearer before reaching the king's table. Food and drink must undergo

complex scrutiny before served to the people. Certain men must be

hindered from preaching strange doctrine, 1 Tim 1: 3. Some careless and

unloving "prophetic leadership" dare leave the testing of the food to

those who have no ability to discern. The poor and needy are the first

to be sacrificed as always. Romantic prophecy, promising that God is

going to increase, prosper and protect at all times, robs the people of

a proper relation to reality. Prosperity prophets pacify the people.

Genuine comfort makes a man able to stand on his feet - literally -

facing reality. The holy Spirit lifts you up form any fallen state to

stand before the Lord. A prophet instils courage to take a stand. The

forthteller leads the people step by step to come to her senses. The

forthteller puts man in a position in which he will properly use any and

all godgiven faculties. He rules out passivity as an option.

He never invites man to abandon thinking and probing. He never give in

to the cry for encouragement in a time when most of the people are

heading in the wrong direction. Encouragement can never replace

instruction in a situation of straying. Disobedience leaves no room for

blessing. Blessed disobedience is counterfeit Christianity. Hananiah

predicts prosperity within reach whenever he shows up, Jer 28: 3.

Hananiah has no place among the forthtellers, he who makes the people

trust a lie, verse 15. His fortune telling will mobilise a forthteller

because he counsels rebellion against the Lord, verse 16. Obedience is

the central theme of a forthteller.

Mature men bring maturity. Leaving the sheep to find their own way

displays lack of love and insight into the laws of spiritual growth.

"What you have heard from me, entrust it to faithful men." - 2 Tim 2: 2.

Hype generates hype. Immaturity never produces maturity. You become like

the ones you befriend. You become like the one you worship, Ps 115: 8, 2

Cor 3: 18.

Prosperity prophets dare to offend the little ones. Forthtellers speak

up for the sake of healing and comfort. Forthtellers come to the defence

of the weak. Forthtellers shut the mouth of a soothsayer.

There is a prophetic war going on. The Babylonian hype and confusion is

to be judged in the end time. The vanity prophets even dare to

reinterpret the book of Revelation, trying to overrule and overcome the

very prophesies of Jesus for the sake of securing a greater and brighter

future ruled by themselves. A true prophet heals, prophets bring safety

and dignity by speaking up amidst the Babylonian golden hype.

The doctrines of a vanity prophet is to be split in three main sections.

He stands for infallibility. As he is commissioned, a man of God, he

cannot and need not be corrected. He has chosen not to listen. Romans 8:

2 is one of his favourite words, and he uses it as a shield. There is no

condemnation for the ones in Christ - do not touch the anointed. Made

righteous in his spirit, his outer actions can be taken lightly. He is a

holy spirit living in a body. As he is holy he cannot be touched. The

ones speaking up against him must belong to the enemy camp.

This brings us to the next section. Because the vanity prophet is a

righteous spirit - a super human - having become like God, he also holds

authority similar to God's. Certainly, a Christian holds authority, but

never on his own. The true Christian never act on his own - he is safely

and obediently positioned under authority.

Thirdly, these supermen, belonging to a new breed, holds power over all

things by faith, by christianised mind over matter techniques. They hold

on to a devastating, a very unchristian power doctrine which places them

among spiritists and new agers. This is the gnostic prophet.

One writer has the following to say about the Greek word hubris: "Its

root is the violent overstepping of the mark, the insolence of triumph,

and the pride of life that tramples under foot the unwritten laws of God

and men. Hubris is the closest Greek equivalent for "sin". Its most

characteristic application was to the insatiable thirst for power which

drives a man or a nation headlong, as though possessed by a demon, on

the path of unbridled self-assertion. This blinding passion, outraging

alike personal liberty and public law, lures the victim in a frenzy of

self-confidence towards destruction."

The basic evil of hubris is that when it enters into a man's heart, that

man forgets that he is a creature and that God is the Creator. Hubris is

the sin whereby a man forgets his humanity and makes himself equal with

God. Hubris is that insolent arrogance which forgets the essential

creatureliness of the condition of being a man. Hubris and hype walk

hand in hand in these our modern societies.

The forthteller makes a man able to stand with his two feet on the

ground facing life. The forthteller brings proper perspective. The

forthteller calls the people of God back to the Covenant. He brings them

back the sobriety. Christians do not take sides with worldrulers, Eph 6:

12. Forthtellers gather Christian soldiers to fight against the

Babylonian confusion.

Vanity prophets present and represent corrupted optimism. Their message

is always one of God's mercy even if the nation exposes and displays

utter depravity. They always find something good about the nation,

bringing it forth as a solemn sacrifice, as a peace offering to silence

the anger of God. Theirs is a message of peace and prosperity amidst

depravity and spiritual blindness.

Gnostic prophecy produces empty speculations, 1 Tim 1: 3-7. It is

intellectually snobbish - dare to test it and the whip of slander will

do its dance on your reputation. The union of the recognised issues a

ban and you will be left out in the cold - count it as a true blessing.

Prophets were never meant to form an upper class, out of reach, never

listening. It is, by the way a signature of the antichristian nature, I

Joh 4: 6 - not willing to listen. The idea of a prophetic, intellectual

aristocracy is falsehood.

The young Timothy was called to a tough task, left behind to instruct

and command the vanity prophets of Ephesus not to teach strange

doctrine. The Spirit explicitly declares that in later times there will

be a falling away, an apostasy led by spiritistically inclined vanity

prophets who pay attention to doctrines of demons, 1 Tim 4: 1. The young

men of today who have been found faithful - 2 Tim 2: 2 - will by the

grace and help of the Paracletos find courage and wisdom to speak up,

paraggellein, and to act as forthtellers.

It is the young men who are called to the task of forthtelling in the

end time. Jeremiah was a young man with eyes full of tears. It is the

young men daring to live uncorrupted lives who will be able to confront

the mind of a heretic. It is the young men who will move in with

bravery, speaking up on issues on truth versus falsehood.

The young men who have not accepted the mind and nature of a heretic,

who have said a firm "no" to the desire for novelty will bring the final

uncorrupted testimony of the Living God into the Babylonian society. The

forthteller carries a rod of discipline and a staff of comfort. The

forthtellers do not use swords, they read the Book. They are extremely

careful as to symbols and idioms, never allowing Jezebel to put her mark

of compromise on their belongings and work. They know what God plans to

do and are able to mobilise the people to co-operation. A people lead by

forthtellers never sit idly watching, allowing Christianity to

entertain. Forthtellers stand on holy ground together with a people

longing for holiness.

The Seer - from Aspects of the Prophetic Office

Long ago, prophets were called seers, 1 Sam 9:9. The prophetic dimension

is by no means ruled by laws of evolution and change, by laws of

coincidence and impermanence. The prophetic office include the activity

of a seer. The change of title by no means indicate any change of

function or objectives. Rather, the linking of the two titles builds a

bridge between different aspects of the office and broadens the

definition. It constitutes continuation and duration.

A prophet is a seer, which implies that the basic nature of his

commission is characterised by observation and watchfulness. There is no

element of the spiritistic in the Hebrew concept. There is no element of

fortune-telling implied. Shamanistic connotations may not be added.

Shamanistic methods and techniques belong to another, entirely different

kingdom. Trance states and altered states of consciousness belong to the

realm of magic and is a sign of the flesh in charge and in operation.

The practices of the diviner is, and has to be, sharply renounced and

rebuked by a true seer. Prediction for the sake of establishing a track

record, for the sake of seeming to be able to know and to have been

divinely commissioned, is no valid evidence of the prophetic.

Predictions does not substantiate claims of representing Heaven.

The Seer represents the prophetic dimension by means of his ability to

observe, by his inclination towards watchfulness. He is the watchman,

the protector. He walks the narrow paths of the border areas of the

Kingdom, drawing strength for this isolated work of defence from the

vivid visions and experiences of the heartlands of God's domains. The

prophet's home is a Mizpah, a watchtower, a place for proper judgment

and discernment, 1 Sam 7:6.

The watchfulness itself becomes a prophetic sign and a prophetic force.

It does so in an ever increasing measure as we are moving closer and

closer to the final stages of our age. "Be of sound judgment and sober

spirit for the purpose of prayer", 1 Pet 4:7. Sober praying is indeed

prophetic intercession. Sound judgment is indeed a sign of the prophetic

dimension. Sober discernment is the cutting edge of the Church of the

end times. The time of no absolutes challenged by the Absolute. The

terrible time of total alienation countered by the revelation of

Fatherhood. God is the absolute protector. The time of moral and

emotional subjectivism confronted by sober intercession. Indeed a

stimulating prospect.

The basic attitude and fundamental approach of a seer is expressed in

his eagerness to watch and listen, to wait and observe. He is made able

to cope with silence. He is made able to keep silent. He is made able to

listen and obey. The prophetic dimension brings obedience, Rom 16:26.

The seer is a man of the Cornerstone, of proper mental and moral

alignment. He is made ready to demand obedience and correction. He waits

for proper timing.

Out of necessity the presence and the quality of a prophetically

disposed people will develop in our time, the time of apostasy. The

general moral condition in our day forces true christians to react with

tears and intercession. The moral enablement, the sanctifying work of

the Holy Spirit is the dynamics of the prophetic dimension. The

particular condition in the Church defined by the horrifying word

"Apostasy" cannot but generate an extraordinary pain among the watchmen,

driving them to the heart of the Father. Out of necessity the false and

the true will grow alongside each other. Only the seer will avoid mixing

the two. Only the watchful will succeed and live. Only the sensible and

the sober are able to move in the prophetic dimension.

The seer has learnt to live the Book, the seer has learnt to pray

Heaven. He is a man of correspondence and agreement. Things seen must be

prayed into existence. "As in heaven, so on earth". The things defined

in Heaven as rule and standards must be applied on earth. The seer is a

man of definitions. Like Ezekiel, any seer is compelled to watchfulness

and analysis by the Father's urging words: "Do you see, are you able to

identify, look what they do", Ez 8:6-15.

The seer gather experience, not like any of those with ears itching, not

like those who never care to draw conclusions and never learn. Prophets

are old men, experienced men, men who have taken time and opportunity to

unveil and unmask the glittery and sensual moves and modes of the world

without and within the Church. The seer has learnt to stay silent until

the proper work of defining and labelling is finished. Prophets wait

until they have received a word from the Lord, and they keep on waiting

for proper timing. Prophets are men who have seen Heaven, have learnt to

pray Heaven, have begun to live Heaven. Such men will be able to speak

on behalf of Heaven.

The ministry, the office of a prophet takes learning, it takes the toil

of gathering experience, but it does not necessarily require the gift of

prophecy. The seer is marked by intellectual capacity and maturity.

Spiritual gifting does neither guarantee truth nor constitute maturity.

The spiritually gifted Church in Corinth was led to accept individuals

as equally gifted, who allowed themselves the strange and dubious luxury

of cursing Jesus Christ, 1 Cor 12:3

The prophetic office is given to the Church for the sake spiritual

maturity as well as intellectual and moral integrity, 1 Cor 14:28.

Dividing the two elements - the spiritual and the intellectual/moral -

is in it self a sure sign of the operation of the forces of apostasy.

The operation of the gifts of the Spirit and christian character

produced by the Holy Spirit is but the two sides of one coin. The

glorious grace shown by God through the operation of the gifts leads to

full and total submission to the law of the grain of wheat, Joh 12:24.

Watchmen are men able to give answers as Heaven answers. "Watchman, how

far gone is the night?", Isaiah 21:11. What time is it, what kind of

time is it? Watchmen serves their time and their church by understanding

and defining the mentality of contemporary phenomenons. The prophet is a

man of foundations, able to analyse the results of a common trend in

society by looking at its roots. He is skilled in the art of deduction,

interpretation and discernment. He, himself becomes a force against the

mentality of the time and he offers understanding of how to avoid the

influence of its atmosphere. This imminent force of separation and

purity is the prophetic dimension.

Seers are men of revelation. Seers are men of enlightenment. Seers are

men of intellectual maturity. The Father speaks to hearts for the sake

of increased knowledge, The Father reveals himself to the inner man for

the sake of mobilisation of discernment and for proper decisionmaking.

The seer sees as the Father sees and corrects and instructs accordingly.

The prophetic dimension is marked by submission and obedience. The

prophetic climate produces obedience. Where there is no vision, the

people are unrestrained, Prov 29:18. Where there is no seer, there is no

discipline. Where the people are unruly, where the people hail

subjectivism and the sensational, the cursing of Jesus Christ is not far

off. Where the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of prophecy is not welcome there

is no respect for the word of God, for order and heavenly protocol.

The seer is made able to read the spiritual climate. He is made able to

identify the prevalent motivational force. His role is to see through

masks and veils of pretension, to expose man's folly and evil, for the

sake of seeing the poor and needy through. The watchman is set over

men's hearts to discern motivation, and to pray for and to call forth

correction. The seer is set over men's hearts to call them to heavenly

living.

The prophet is a seer. The basic nature of his commission is observation

and watchfulness. He is prone to contemplation and skilled in the art of

deduction. He is certainly not a passive nature. As the time draws to

its end by increasing its malicious efforts, his words, definitions and

prophetic statements develop in exactitude and veracity. As the society

draws close to its final cursing of Christ, the seer turns even more

definitely away from fantasy and the fantastic and sensational. He will

focus all his energy and capability to bring the people back to the

Lord, back to the Book, back to Holiness and back to prayer.

The Deliverer

Salvation is wholly of God. He alone is the author and perfecter of our

faith, Hebr 12:1-2. God is certainly our redeemer, and he will return to

Zion to deliver his people, Isa 59:20. Indeed, there is no other name

given unto man, through which he will be able to obtain relief. No other

method is valid in securing forgiveness and the deliverance from sin

than the method of divine substitution, Lev 17:11. No sacrifice will

satisfy the demands of God almighty than the one given once and for all

at the Cross, Heb 9.

Yet, salvation is a matter of careful examination and inquiry. Salvation

is substantial. Salvation is meant to bring tangible results. Redemption

and deliverance set up sharp and clear borderlines. So does the process

of sanctification. Salvation is to be practically applied and worked

out, Phil 2:12. Examination and inquiry. Within what limits can I expect

God to operate? What does He want to accomplish? How does He do it? How

am I to be involved? Salvation is to be prayed for, while probing and

searching the rich and long texts of prescriptions and promises.

A prophet is recognised by his pursuit for truth. A prophet's eye might

see through you but only to try to see you through. He is occupied with

probing and testing for the sake of relevant expressions of the

salvation so costly to our Lord. 1 Pet 1:10-11. Timely expressions.

Christ painted before our eyes by the use of proper colours, royalty and

redemption, a praying priest.

Christian faith is basically a matter of worship and revelation.

Christianity is all a matter of registering and applying what is pursued

during long hours of listening. Christianity is the religion of probing,

measuring and weighing. A Christian has to learn to read, read the 1189

chapters of revelation and instruction. He has to align himself properly

to all that is possible to take in from all of those texts. How blessed

are those who observe His testimonies, who seek Him with all their

heart, Ps 119:2.

The prophetic dimension is the realm of listening, of careful

examination. Revelation demand two things: The searching , inquiring

mind of man and the revealing Spirit of God. Revelation leaves no room

for man's passivity and complacency.

What kind of salvation is it that the true prophets so eagerly pursue?

Salvation is wholly of God; why try to understand and lay hold of the

process of deliverance? Why spend time and energy on categorising the

sources and mechanisms of bondage and slavery and the way to freedom.

Instruction, preaching the Word of God, brings deliverance. Lack of

insight brings devastation, Hos 4:6. A prophet's task is to bring

deliverance, Hos 12:13. They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My

people superficially, saying, "Peace, peace,' but there is no peace. Jer

8:11. Revivalism is but an illusion. The folly of fantasy is bondage and

slavery.

Instruction, a relevant call to repentance is bitter medicine to the

deceived as well as to the deceiver. So this I say, and affirm together

with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk,

in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding,

excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them,

because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous,

have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind

of impurity with greediness. Ephesians 4:17-19.

Salvation offers a delivered thought life. Salvation re-establishes the

will to and the ability to think, to understand and to examine. Anyone

telling you not to think is a false prophet. Anyone telling you to obey

without questions or to just let go emotionally is inviting you to live

under delusion. Revelation, the prophetic dimension, brings instruction

and ability to take proper measure.

Any betrayal, any falsification of true religion has its root in man's

distorted view of the Cross. Thinking and relating rightly as to the

fact of the Cross brings deliverance. Downplaying its importance,

treating it derogatory, redefining its role is the point of beginning of

any man's folly. A friend was lost when he stated that he had been at

the Cross once and never had to return to it anymore. The open rebellion

was a fact. The following quote brings optimised rebellion into light:

"If the death of Jesus on the Cross paid for man's sin, then every man

could die for himself", E. W. Kenyon. Lack of insight brings

devastation. Prophets give themselves to careful examination and inquiry

to be able to describe the process and mechanisms of salvation.

For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He

may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. 2 Chron 16:9.

A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression

in Jacob, declares the LORD. Isa 59:20. When he comes, he does so to

present a practical plan and program to bring his people out of bondage.

God states in a most practical and definite way the reasons for

captivity. In the same manner he sets forth his program for deliverance.

Love is unconditional, but holiness is not optional. Deliverance is

brought about according to appropriate patterns related to the specific

settings and conditions of the captives. God has his Cyrus. He secures

the foundation of worship by igniting men's heats with fiery desire to

build the temple according to the set plan.

Spiritual bondage and deliverance requires definition. Each and every

illness reacts only to its own cure and remedy. Holiness is not

optional. The way to holiness is not optional. The way to holiness is

set as to course and events, carefully planned for each and every

individual according to his character and final goal. Deliverance aims

at moral action. It profits us to quote C. G. Finney: "Here is one grand

mistake of the Church. They suppose that revivals consist mostly in a

state of excited emotion rather than in conformity of the human will to

the will of God. Hence when the reasons for the excitement have ceased

and the public mind begins to grow more calm, they begin immediately to

say that the revival is on the decline, when in fact with much less

excited emotion there may be vastly more real religion in the

community." - The promise of the Spirit.

Prophecy autentifies God's presence. It defines and brings identity to

the listener, the receiver, in relation to God and his goals. Prophecy

provides a framework within which God intends to bring deliverance. It

sets standards and goals. Prophecy is relevant, not dreamy. God speaks

to his children by name. He does not work in an impersonal way, emitting

waves and flows to accomplish some unspecified results in an body

without definition. A Church is a Church, geographically and socially

defined. Each Church need to be treated locally and according to its

specific needs and flaws. The seven Churches - Rev 2-3 - received each a

personal letter from the Lord, no duplicates, no copy machines.

Prophecy, its aims and results can and must be seized and measured. The

expected repentance and the result of repentance is utterly sharp in its

contours.

The spiritistic prophecy machine sounds like God - benevolent clichés,

theologically tolerable - but is pumping out generalities as if God is

graciously looking at his nice children but having nothing in particular

to say. "Everything is fine and it is going to get better and I am OK

and you are OK." Prophecy brings definition, intending integrity and

holiness. Prophecy brings definition and judgment but is not judgmental.

Mind you, pearls is not to be cast before swine - how to discern and to

identify swine if you are not to judge. Prophecy comes in power, but not

as a dreamy flow lifting you up into rosy bliss.

The prophet's mouth is not the law and truth, but the law and truth has

to be found in a prophet's mouth. Prophets must make sure that their

words really belong to the Lord, 1 Pet 4:11. Prophets cannot demand

obedience based on blind faith. Prophets are not the law, they have no

right to re-define law, or tht truth as revealed in the Bible. Our faith

is based on truth. Truth is our deliverer, Joh 8:32. Obedience related

to truth purifies souls and prepares for sincere love for brethren, 1

Pet 1:22. Revelation, true prophecy allows you to gird your mind for

action, 1 Pet 1:13. Holiness is not harsh. A prophet brings you back to

the Book.

True prophecy has learnt to understand the necessity of living and

applying the Cross. True prophecy has learnt to explain and to enforce

the law of sacrifice as revealed in the pouring out unto death of the

first Seed-grain, Jesus Christ. The prophet, the deliverer takes you

back to the only possible freedom that leads to a blessed life - the

freedom of obedience - Ps 119:2. From where does the blessing come which

is flowing like rivers over a disobedient people? Judgment begins at the

house of the Lord, 1 Pet 4:17.

The product of proper prophecy is the dividing of the spiritual and the

soulish, Heb 4:12, for the sake of true worship, Joh 4:23. Prophecy

brings division. Prophecy does not generate excitement, it prepares

minds to become girded. It never exaggerates, it never stirs for the

sake of arousal, rather it brings peace and order. Prophecy brings

revelation rather than revival. Prophecy without moral consequence leads

to death. Revival without moral consequence says "I am rich" thus

revealing its true nature, which is utter poverty. A revival which leads

a person to love the Lord in a greater measure but allows her to

continue without change, living according to her traditional values and

standards is but deception.

Deliverance brings you face to face with a thorough re-evaluation, most

certainly in relation to the position God has been allowed to have in

your life. He will break away from the pattern established which rules

in favour with the old nature. The Cross killed Christ, and it is going

to kill any sinner. It dethrones you and installs the Lord on the throne

of your heart. This is the core of the prophetic dimension.

Prophets bring the people back to reality, back to order. Their message

calls the people to build the Temple and to forsake their own comfort.

Words focusing on personal affluence distracts and confuses the aim of

the people of the Lord. The law of sacrifice cannot be compromised. The

altar has to be restored. Elijah confronts the prophets of Baal, and

their message of prosperity. Haggai rebukes the minds set on building

mansions on earth. Esra restores the dignity of a nation by forcefully

preaching moral law. Man brought back to God is man brought back to

servanthood. Poor nations are those who have a Church where God is

treated as a waiter. Deliverance brings order. Deliverance is the

beginning of God's holiness made to be seen among his people.

Compare the quality of the presence of God of the revivals of the olden

times to the glamour and frivolity in the so called revivals of today.

Shame. Mature prophets bring maturity. Mature prophets speak the heart

of the Lord. The prophetic messages of today speak the heart of man -

"More, Lord". People of the Lord, come to your senses! Does the gold

dust pay the bills? What does the poor nations of the earth need? Will

they become satisfied by prophetesses wearing masks of modern cosmetics,

flashing in the heavy spotlight, pretending to shine as if Heaven were

present? Pay the bills of the poor! What a lovely sound from teeth with

heavenly gold fillings chewing the best of the best kitchens while the

majority of the world is starving. God's glory? By no means!. Spiritual

support of prophets of deception misleading a people who happily give

their consent. Samuel, the prophet, considered it to be sin not praying

for deliverance of the people, 1 Sam 12:23. And we certainly need some

delivereance.

The false prophet is eager to declare that you have the right to

"Prophecy your own future". Faith is looked upon as a tool to be used to

accomplish you own salvation, all according to your own taste. Prophetic

ability is considered to be words of your own mouth and fantasy

producing your prosperous future and your daily well-being. Praying for

daily bread is obsolete. Christian faith has nothing to do with the

spiritistic Mind over Matter techniques taught by mediums who mutter and

mumble, Isa 8:19, or pop-preachers proposing pacifying mind is the way

of an overcomer. Faith is a relation. Faith is not creative power

released by an overheated imagination. Prophetic words are not law in

your mouth for circumstances to obey and become regulated by. God alone

is creator.

Prophets are to bring messages of deliverance and they do so first of

all by addressing the folly of fantasy. Prophets bring deliverance by

bringing the people back to obedience. Divination, faith techniques and

prosperity pursuit is all but deception and spiritistic delusion - Jer

14:14. Like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all

your behaviour; because it is written, YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.

1 Pet 1:15-16.

Prophets call for purity of mind and of soul. Prophets speak truth which

can be seized and acted upon. Since you have in obedience to the truth

purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love

one another from the heart, 1 Pet 1:22. Salvation is optimised as to aim

and goal. Salvation aims at the deliverance from the folly of fantasy,

the vanity and self worship, unto obedience and true worship in spirit

and truth. Holiness is never optional.

Overcoming equals obedience and ability to continue in obedience.

Overcoming aims at overriding any obstacle of inherent and inherited

disobedience. The overcomer prepares himself for perfect worship in

spirit and truth.

The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to

us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Cor 1:18. The Cross is

power unto salvation. Prophetic proclamation of the Cross is power unto

deliverance. The Cross is the key to the door in the narrow gate leading

to life in and fellowship with Jesus Christ. The Cross is the beginning

of deliverance. The Cross can safely be preached, because it cannot be

compromised. The Cross can safely be preached because it will cause its

own specific results. It kills the one daring to manipulate it and it

restores the one daring to die through it. The Cross is the lifestyle of

a Christian. It represents the continual re-capturing of the possibility

to live a sanctified life. The Church is born crucified, it lives

crucified. It surely dies when turning away from the Cross.

The Cross allows you to become more and more fully delivered to obey

moral law. The modern cross releases you from the obligation to die to

the world, to sin and to flesh. The old Cross, the real Cross kills and

does away with the sinner, The death of Jesus Christ brings life, which

is ability to live holy. To live is to have the capacity to handle any

given situation in accordance to moral law. Reducing or eliminating the

Cross opens for any and all of the principalities and powers which were

meant to stay disarmed, Col 2:15.

Prophets call to overcoming on the ground of the Cross. Prophets who

have given themselves to careful examination and inquiry of the

mechanisms and procedure of salvation define overcoming as a work

involving all your mind, all you heart, all you strength and all you

soul to establish obedience to moral law through the presence of the

Holy Spirit unto sanctification. God writes law, writes the covenant on

man's heart and mind, Heb 8:10. Overcoming is a work unto worship in

spirit and truth. Prophetic deliverance brings truth. Prophetic words

are meant to establish solid foundation for change, for sanctification

according to moral law. The process of salvation is reduced to nought

through the neglect of the Cross. The Cross is indeed in it self the

mechanism of deliverance. The prophet who has not given himself to the

examination and inquiry as to the procedures of salvation and

sanctification has no prophetic message to bring forth to the people of

God.