Do not treat prophecies with contempt - 1Thessalonians 5: 20 (NIV)
As we noted earlier in the week there was a false prophet named David E. Taylor who made a video proclaiming the spirit had confirmed for him a prophecy that the Denver Broncos were going to win the Super Bowl. As prophecies go, this was a pretty safe bet. At best it is a 50-50 proposition. The conventional wisdom all had Peyton Manning winning the game for the Broncos. One of the things I love about God is He uses unconventional wisdom as man sees it to expose what is false. So the Broncos did not win the Super Bowl. In fact they were obliterated 43-8. It was as if God wanted to make a point about following false prophecies and people claiming to be "apostles."
Taylor however now faced a problem because he makes his living off of selling the notion that he is a prophet and a fake healer. So he was forced to apologize for his false prophecy regarding the Super Bowl. Let's take a look:
" Again for the record and sincerely to some of those who are having a hard time embracing my first statement, I humbly admit that I missed it and apologize to the entire Christian community and my precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for giving a word of prophecy about the Superbowl that did not come true. Obviously, I was wrong and the word I gave was inaccurate. "
Missed it? Is that how low we have set the bar now for prophecy? Beloved this is the end result of the false prophets movement we see in Kansas City, Bethel Church in California, and the new apostolic reformation. People like Rick Joyner, Mike Bickle, Bill Johnson, Cindy Jacobs and their ilk have all stated that prophets no longer need to be correct. We all know the Old Testament says that a false prophet must be put to death for one false prophecy but Joyner has said a 65% accuracy record is pretty good. Do we even understand what prophecy is? It is receiving a word from God! Is God wrong 35% of the time? Let's take it even further though. The Old Testament system needed a Prophet because there was no established Word of God to turn to. There was no mass reproduction of Scripture. Thus God would provide a Prophet so he can tell the people what the Lord sayeth. Today we have the Word of God and all the prophecy we need is contained within it. Is there still a gift of prophecy? Yes according to the Bible but that gift is to re-emphasize the Word of God - not predict who is going to win a meaningless football game. What we see today as prophecy is nothing more than spiritualism, divination and clairvoyance. Remember there are other spirits in this world. Not all psychics are fake. Many operate within the evil spirits and principalities that surround us. I have no doubt that this false prophet felt the outcome was confirmed for him but it was not the Spirit of God that was confirming. Back to the apology:
" What greatly disturbs me is that I shared this word trusting and believing with all my heart that I was hearing from the Lord. I am heartbroken because I understand fully well that the gift of prophecy is not something to toy around with or treat irresponsibly. "
Therein lies the problem. The Bible tells us that the heart is wickedly deceitful above all else, who can trust it? Apparently wannabe prophets can. We do this all the time as new age mysticism continues to infiltrate the modern church with such heresies as contemplative prayer. We seek the will of God until we think something "feels right" when we are supposed to measuring it up to the Word of God. This man actually states that he knows the gift of prophecy is not something to toy around with in explaining why his super bowl prophecy failed! You cannot make this stuff up. Taylor would continue:
" In moving forward I realize that God allowed it to happen. He knew I was going to mess up and He didn't stop me. God also knew that this experience of messing up was going to drive me into a season of learning wisdom and into deep prayer and consecration. I've been in ministry long enough to know that whenever I make a mistake I should run to the Lord's presence. Never run from Him. "
Yes! God did allow this to happen. He knew you were "messing up" and didn't stop you. But hear me well false prophet Taylor - that presence you are running toward is not the Lord. It is apparent that you are either a liar completely or you cannot discern the difference between demonic visitation and a move of the Holy Spirit. Going deeper into prayer without understanding what happened is not going to be productive, as we learn in the conclusion of his apology:
" I feel the right thing for me to do is make a another public apology, so I'm doing it. I repent for being wrong. As I prepare to go into a private time of prayer I am asking for your forgiveness and your prayers. Join me as I seek the face of The Lord. Thank you soo much. "
Repent for being wrong? As if the Broncos had won the game, he would have been correct in pretending God said they were going to? As we noted in the first devotional this week about this snake oil salesman, he has written a book claiming Jesus Christ will personally visit anyone who reads it within 3-4 months of their reading. He has claimed to have visited heaven multiple times and had Jesus take him to the third heaven where he met Father God face to face, despite Scripture saying that he would die if that were true. He further promises that if you read his latest book that Jesus will take you on a personal tour of heaven as well and let you meet the Father too!. Yet despite all of this ridiculous blasphemy, he thinks that he needs to repent because the Seattle Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos?
No. David E, Taylor needs to repent for being a false prophet. As the key verse today teaches - he has treated prophecy with contempt. He needs to repent for claiming falsely that he is an "apostle." He needs to repent for selling trips to the third heaven and lying about meeting God the Father face to face. He needs to repent for fake healing crusades and lifting up other known charlatans like Benny Hinn. God is trying to get his attention for sure and those that would follow him. He claimed that God told him that the Denver Broncos were going to win the Super Bowl and then they lost 43-8. God allowed him to make a fool of himself and now after his "apology" it appears he cannot even see why.
Rev. Anthony.
