Electrofier

I just came to a realization I don’t think I’ve fully got before. It’s about the combination of prosperity preaching with prophetic culture that has become a mainstay in the charismatic movement. Hang with me for a moment as I unpack it. I think this is important. In the Charismatic movement prophecy was combined with prosperity preaching with such low standards for testing that if it was positive it was approved. This resulted in an environment where a false sense of prophetic empowerment in a local church (due to higher quantity of prophecy which was too easy to fake) caused certain churches to stand out and others to look on and say, “What an amazing move of the Spirit! I wish we had what they have!” You can’t overstate the impact this had around the world. Certain churches became “the place to be” if you wanted to experience what God was doing. Then the trainings began. These special churches would offer prophetic training and experiences so your hungry church could learn to copy the patterns and culture that caused such “power” to be present in that local church. But you would quickly learn that this training required you to lose almost all regulations on prophecy, at least the ones that Scripture commanded, except for the one requirement that prophecy was only to be presented as a positive, encouraging message (this is prosperity preaching reigning inside of the prophetic culture). Instead of seriously and publicly testing words you were to welcome all words. Even if they were false they were at least encouraging. Did you give a false word? Well, if it was positive you should pat yourself on the back. I believe in real prophecy. That’s why I want to caution against following the shiny happy pathway to a watered down, compromised, man-centered, and too easy to fake prophecy. After a while there is so much fakery that the real thing seems intrusive and limiting to the movement. I’m not opposed to trying to encourage people in prophecy or in instructing people on how to do it in Christ honoring ways (Paul does both of those things in 1 Corinthians). Nor should we assume ANY church which looks like it’s the center of a move of God is actually fake. No. Please don’t take that as my meaning. I’m saying we need truth or our prophecy and our preaching is so much leaven. To be clear, it’s the combination of prosperity with prophetic fakery that I am highlighting here. I should make a video on it. It was this passage of Scripture that got me thinking about this today. “I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” — Ephesians 1:16-23 Seeing this passage as a description of what prophecy does really blows away most of the prophetic stuff I’ve seen publicly coming out of the big-name charismatic ministries that put stuff online. The same ones I’ve exposed for abuses.