The growth of a prophet, accountability & prophetic infallibility

Are prophetic people ’born’ or ‘made’? Do prophetic people ‘grow’ or do they just start out prophesying at a ‘perfect’ level, coming out as if from nowhere?

It is my understanding that there is a differance between those called to the office of a prophet and those in the church that will operate in the gift of prophecy from time to time, as the Holy Spirit wills. One needs to understand this to correct the misunderstandings about prophetic infallibility that can be made by the church when they confuse a prophet (with a small ‘p’) - that is someone who operates in the gift of prophecy sometimes along perhaps with other giftings and ministries - with a Prophet (with a capital ‘P’) – someone who walks in the office of a Prophet always.

While all in the church may seek the gift of prophecy and other revelatory gifts to ‘prophesy’ as prophets with a small ‘p’, and it is by man’s will that this gift can manifest - in the sense that man may actively seek to prophesy by faith  (although the Holy Spirit still assigns the gifts as He wills) - all cannot operate in the prophetic office as a ‘Prophet’ (with a capital ‘p’), regardless of their levels of desire, faith, expectation or anything else as a Prophet is only born of God.

True Prophets in the prophetic office are ’born’, in that it is by God’s election and calling and anointing only that they can be what they are. By ‘anointing’ I mean in the true Biblical sense (a calling from God with the resultant spiritual impartation/prophetic ‘mantle’ then given) not the neo-pentecostal sense of a spiritual impartation or a mantle given without the divine calling coming first. Prophets cannot be ‘made’ by man or man’s will, or by passing the ‘anointing’ or ‘prophetic mantle’ along from man to man, although Prophets can be recognised by man and sent out by man once they are ordained by God. No man can manipulate this to work differantly. (Man of course can ‘make’ false Prophets in his own strength).

Those prophets who operate occasionally in the true gifts of the spirit may sometimes make mistakes and get it wrong. If error does occur, it does not necessarily mean that the prophetic spiritual ‘gift’  is false or the individual who errs is a ‘false prophet’. It most likely means that the individual does not know how to hear and discern the voice of the Lord from the voice of the flesh (or Satan) yet, or he or she is possibly not mature enough to properly understand a word or vision and to interpret it (and no proper teaching and discipling is given within the church as to how to, as few know how to properly ‘pastor’ the prophetic well), and perhaps also the revelation is not properly weighed and tested by the body for its correct interpretation. True prophetic people are not always given opportunity to teach the true from the false to the body so consequently the church does not reach prophetic maturity and immature prophets are not brought on to maturity. The individual perhaps adds fleshly presumption and assumption to the ‘pure’ prophetic word by adding their own thoughts/interpretation to it and what was once pure can thus become ‘off’ and completely miss the mark. People might also alter the pure word through fear, lack of faith, to show off, felt peer pressure to sanitise it, change it to fit doctrine, or any number of other factors…… These are just some reasons why true prophets with a small ‘p’ may get it wrong from time to time. (There are those, of course, that do not operate in the true gifting at all, and never do – they operate in the deceptive satanic counterfeit or in the flesh. This, although an extremely important topic, we will put that aside for the sake of this discussion as we are discussing here why the true gifting and ministry can become ‘off’.)

All prophets with a small ‘p’ need to be accountible when they are wrong – always and without exception, no matter their age, maturity or immaturity, sensitivity or ability/inability to take criticism. A lot of prophetic people are very sensitive by nature – hypersensitive even – (perhaps it is because of this inherent sensitivity that they are more prone to hear and see things). However, if these ‘prophets’ cannot accept correction, whatever the reason, in my view they should keep quiet and not publically prophesy. It is neither loving nor helpful for the church to ignore error or stay silent to protect anyone’s feelings. One of the first lessons in the prophetic must be that constructive criticism is vital for a prophet’s development, and it is essential for a prophetic person to toughen up (in a positive way) to criticism (negative or positive), otherwise they will end up wounded and bitter rejects on the fringe of a church. Every true Prophet I have ever met - and I have not many – is riddled with bullet holes – shot by the church - because there is so much rejection in this game if one speaks up for the truth. One needs to toughen up while staying humble and open to God, something that requires the Lord’s wisdom.

Prophetic people must be taught when and why the error might have happened (ideally learning from other prophets), so that they may learn from their mistakes so as not to repeat them again in the future. A loving correction is like oil upon the head. The pastoring of the prophetic ones in the body must be ‘ruthless’ in correcting all error, however small, in order to sharpen those in their midst and prevent confusion, heresy or factions developing. As well as being corrected for errors, they should ideally also be encouraged as to how to get greater revelation and clarity by being taught from those more mature in the prophetic gift or ministry. The prophets (with a small p) who get it wrong should not, in my opinion, be labelled as ’false prophets’ unless they make a habit of being way off the mark and/or they do not make themselves accountable to the body for their errors, and/or they do not grow.

The Prophet walking in the true prophetic office has a far greater responsibility than the prophetic body, and should be nigh on ’infallible’. By the time the Prophet takes ‘office’, he should have learned the ropes, made most, if not all of his mistakes and learned from them. It is NOT acceptable for a Prophet in office to be wrong, and he should be absolutely accountable if he does make an error, and this needs to be even more scrupilous.

I do not accept the current new wave teaching from Rick Joyner et al that a Prophet in Office under the New Covenant is right only 50-60% of the time, and this is perfectly OK and still makes them a true Prophet. This is making excuses to tolerate the false. There is nothing Biblical to support the Prophet’s obligation to be correct is altered after the coming of Jesus, or that somehow they can be any less accurate and it is OK. If anything, I feel that a Prophet under the New Covenant should be even more accurate because of the indwelling of the Spirit, the unveiling of God’s glory, and the nearness of God compared to the Old Testament. Jesus himself said about false prophets: ’by their fruit you will know them’.  I frequently hear this quoted out of context, twisted to mean someone is a true or false prophet depending whether they are good or holy, meaning is their much  fruit of the Spirit evident in their lives? This is not, however, what Jesus actually meant in this context. By their fruit – the produce from their ‘job’. Does what they say come to pass or not? Jesus’ test for false prophets seems the exact same as the Old Testament test - do they speak the truth or not? Does what they say come to pass? This is how the disciples should recognise the true from false. This is how the church should recognise the true from false.  Notice that Jesus did not say his Prophets could be 50% right and 50% wrong and to make excuses for them. Nothing has altered in terms of responsibility between the two covenants for the Prophetic Office. The answer is clear cut from Jesus. His disciples in these Last Days must not listen to the lies that claim anything otherwise. These people will have a hidden agenda because they are false prophets and want to lead you astray!

If we use Christ’s plumbline against the new breed of prophets, people like Bob Jones or Kim Clement, the Bible indicates very clearly they are false prophets because they get it wrong – and frequently. (Not even counting their aberrant theology into the equation – what they specifically predict does not come to pass). It is not just once they are wrong (once could possibly be understood and forgiven, perhaps even twice) BUT frequently, and with zero repentance.  I would say it is generous to say ‘three strikes and you are out of office’ (even though I do not think it acceptable to be wrong even once when in office. If you get it wrong then you need to go back to the drawing board and consider you cannot hear as well as you thought you could and should not be in ministry).  And worse still, rather than hold up their hand to say, ‘yep I misunderstood, I got it wrong’, they cover up their errors with lies and excuses and deceit and do not make themselves accountable to the body.

If a Prophet in Office is wrong, it is perfectly right to call them a ‘false prophet’, as this is most likely what they are. I do not accept the current teaching purported by today’s prophetic teachers who say that a false prophet is one who follows false gods, not a Christian Prophet who makes a mistake and gets it wrong. I have even heard it taught at a prophetic conference by an international  prophetic ministry, linked to the former Toronto Airport Vineyard, that those who love Jesus cannot be false prophets. They claim that it is the god, or the source of the spirit that a prophet prophesies by that makes a prophet true or false. They then activated the whole conference room to prophesy to each other and said, It’s ok, you cannot get it wrong as you are Christians and so cannot be false prophets! This is not the truth, it is not Biblical, and it leads to much error and delusion.

If a Prophet in office is wrong 50% of the time, something is seriously wrong with their hearing, their discernment or with their god and they should not be given room to speak. They should at the very least keep silent until they are a lot more accurate and/or stop calling themselves a Prophet. It is not acceptable for the church to give such men and women a platform.

Note what beng ‘wrong’ is about though, as God can change his mind or avert judgment. Words can be conditional, and God responds to repentance and humility. There are frequent examples in the Old Testament – eg the prophet Isaiah who went to King Hezekiah and said you are about to die, and Hezekiah wept and God relented and gave him another 15 years. Likewise the evil King Ahab tore his clothes and humbled himself before God, and his judgment was consequently deferred. Nineveh repented and was not destroyed. However this did not make Jonah a false prophet. Therefore when judging the true from the false, the above factors must be taken into account.

While Prophets are born they should also grow. True Prophets and prophets can and do mature as all Christians should. Samuel was taught by Eli how to listen to God’s voice. Likewise, there was a ’school’ of the prophets in the OT, where I believe flint sharpened flint.

We ‘prophesy according to faith’, and should, if walking right, grow in faith and spiritual stature and favour, with increased faith and knowledge of God and his ways over the years. With increased spiritual growth and personal maturity, so does, or should, the prophetic increase. Likewise our spiritual ears and eyes begin to understand better what we see and hear from experience and the benefit of hindsight re our past revelations, and we become more attuned for the future. We understand better how God talks to us, and the recurring sumbology as we grow, and we also discern what is and what is not God’s voice.

Prophets DO therefore grow. Note this is NOT to do with their accuracy once in ministry – I do not agree with the neo-prophets saying it is OK to be half right once in ministry – BUT it is a growth with increased vision, clarity, scope and revelation and even authority. So a true prophet once in ministry will be accurate but over time will grow.