The following is an article from Charisma. My comments follow.
The ABCs of the Prophetic
James Goll
Charisma Channels – SpiritLed Living
You see, we must understand some basic things concerning the nature of the prophetic. Few, in fact very few, prophetic words are ever sovereign declarations that will come to pass without any conditions being met. Most prophetic words are invitations into a process of becoming. Often, the Lord is more interested in our becoming a word and not just getting, releasing or receiving a word.
The prophetic at its best is partial, progressive and conditional. That is not the fault of the prophetic person – it is the way it works biblically, historically and how it works today.
Let me run that by you one more time – the gift of prophecy is partial, progressive and conditional and the conditions are rarely revealed at that time. This is where personal responsibility takes over and each believer must search out the King’s heart for the keys to unlocking the revelation.
There is a big difference between the revelation and the manifestation! As I have said many times before, the gap between the revelation and the manifestation is called the “until clause.”
I sit here wondering if this is the best bible teaching we can expect from Charisma or the NAR prophets (NAR being New Apostolic Reformation or New Age – really!!). Not one scripture is offered to support his views.
Let’s begin from the top down. “Few, in fact very few, prophetic words are ever sovereign declarations that will come to pass without any conditions being met. “ Of the 109 prophecies concerning the first coming of Jesus – how many had preconditions? Did Jesus pre-arrange to be born in Bethlehem of a virgin? Did He engineer it to be born of the bloodline of David?
In fact, very few prophecies in the bible require action on the part of the recipients. A call to repentance is not a prophecy. The bible has a unique track record among sacred writings – it’s prophecies are fulfilled literally and precisely even to naming a person a hundred years before their birth (Darius Cyrus by Isaiah[44:28]).
“Most prophetic words are invitations into a process of becoming.” Uh, what? Since I have never been into New Age thinking or been into word games I might not be able to decipher that one. Let’s take a look at an actual biblical prophecy and see what it looks like:
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
This was literally fulfilled in the following verse:
21:1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 “Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
If you see an “invitation to becoming” anywhere in those verses – please let me know!
“The prophetic at its best is partial, progressive and conditional.” At its best…the prophetic is accurate, literal and easily understood. As we can see from the above example – it is plain and easily understood by the common man.
“That is not the fault of the prophetic person” – I beg to differ, but false prophecy is directly the responsibility of the false prophet (see Deuteronomy 13 and 18). If the sign, wonder or prophetic word really happens but it leads people away from God or if the prophetic word doesn’t happen – then the person is a false prophet.
Not only does a true prophet give verifiable words from God about future events, he also confronts the sin in others (David and Nathan). Based upon the scriptural evidence – those who stood on stage with Todd Bentley June 23, 2008 and prophesied falsely over him while failing to discern that he was in rampant sin – are false prophets.
Coffee Talk with Java 