Follow-up to "Beware the Prophets"

Dear reader

I hope that you are well and that, wherever you are, your life is an unending blessing.

I feel the need to qualify the reason for my previous entry regarding false prophets.  I have, as mentioned in previous posts, signed up to lead my own connect group, which is basically a cell group for church.  Each connect group leader falls under a main leader, also running their own group, which report directly to the pastor in charge of the connect groups.  The week before the connect groups began, as well as last weekend, my connect group main leader prophesied over me and the other connect group leaders under them.


Growing up in a conservative church one is rarely exposed to prophets, people that talk in tongues, and all sorts of other Gifts of the Spirit that are forceful or strong in their manifestation.  Most conservative churches either try to avoid both the subject and the people who manifest these gifts, or they try to minimize the impact these gifts have inside their ministries.  Having since left my conservative church and being exposed to other churches, most of whom are charismatic or of charismatic origin, I've had to come into contact with the spiritual gifts on many occasions, not all of them pleasant.

I have also been pleasantly surprised to find that I also possess some of the Gifts of the Spirit, but I don't flaunt it nor shove it down peoples' throats. I have had to deal with quite a few people, though,  who don't seem to understand the damage that they cause to other believers when they manifest their gifts in unwise ways.  From people who prophecy, to speakers in tongues, I've seen both the good and bad the use of these gifts have done. And frankly, I'm tired of people who have these gifts that don't seem to care how they use their gifts, and use them in some of the worst ways possible.

The prophesying over me last weekend has kind of brought all of this to the surface again.  I'll be honest: whenever someone prophesy over me I get anxious and skeptical.  My first instinct is to challenge the prophecy, although, wisely,  have never followed through with it in the heat of the moment.   My connect group main leader is not a bad person.  I'm also not sure how I quite feel about the prophecy they spoke over me, and some parts of it are a bit disconcerting, but I don't believe they prophesied over me with the intention to do me harm or to flaunt their gift. That said, I'm also not sure if the prophecy is true, and in that lies my quandary.

Having been prophesied over, and sometimes getting false prophecies, and sometimes getting true ones, I have devised my own system that I believe is the best way to deal with prophecies that are spoken over you:

• Write it down immediately, and preferably in the exact same words used by the person doing the prophesying.  This has allowed me to revisit the prophecy over the course of time and also allowed me to contemplate the message given
• If anything in the prophecy is not clear, feel free to ask questions to the one prophesying.  If they got the prophecy from God they should also have a good answer, but in the event that they don't at least you tried to clarify.
• Refer to Scripture: does it clash with any scripture.  If so, discard the prophecy and avoid the person, or if not possible, tell them to keep quiet the next time they want to prophesy over you, preferably in a harsh tone if they don't "get it".
• If it doesn't clash with scripture, and there are measurable aspects to the prophecy (usually there are), abide your time and watch.  Does any part of the prophecy come true? If not it was probably false.  Discard the rest of the prophecy.
• If you can't measure anything of the prophecy due to it being vague, don't discard it immediately, but tread with caution: palm-readers and fortune-tellers are also vague in their fortunetelling and they rely on this vagueness to garner a false sense of truth and reliability.  Don't fall for it.  Contemplate and weigh both the prophecy and any possible event that might allude to the prophecy being true or false
• Finally, always pray and seek guidance from Christ and believers that are trustworthy.  This is the best way to determine the validity of a prophecy

I hope the above system helps you in identifying false prophecies.  Always remember: reading your bible daily with contemplation and discussion with Christ is the only way to both grow and protect yourself from the Enemy's lies.  The above system only works if you are doing this diligently with the right mind and heart.

I surely hope to find the answers to what was prophesied over me soon. It remains a worry to me, this uncertainty, and I'm not one that deals well with uncertainty. May you, dear reader, find your answers sooner than you hoped for.

Until next time.