There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call-- Ephesians 4:4 (ESV)
One glance around the charismatic landscape and we can understand why so many people prefer to be cessationist. It is easier to deal with the gifts of the Holy Spirit by claiming they ceased at the end of Apostolic Age. Easier but not correct. It just does not pass the common sense test. We believe that God is omniscient and sees all time. So God knew that the canon of Scripture, which would be used for thousands of years after, would not be decided upon until 300 years after Christ walked the earth. The Apostle Paul, who has no idea his letters would end up being Scripture at the time of the writing, wrote the bulk of them less than 40 years before the passing of John (which ended the Apostolic Age). In these letters Paul goes into minute detail about the order of church service including how the gifts should be expressed and regulated. No more than two-three tongue speakers per service. There must always be an interpreter or be silent. It is borderline silly to believe that God, who is divinely inspiring Paul exactly what to write, would include such detail for what amounts to 40 years. This is especially true in light of the fact the bible would not be agreed upon for another two hundred plus years. That just makes very little sense.
While the cessationists are wrong about the gifts ceasing, they are right about the abuses they decry within Charismania. False signs and lying wonders are everywhere with glory clouds, gem stones, gold dust and angel feathers appearing for no other reason than to make a fool of God. Mandatory healing is abused by charlatans like Todd White who travel to the most obscure corners of the most obscure countries to perform the growing leg trick instead of just walking into his local emergency room. Benny Hinn waving his jacket and a hundred people collapse. In Toronto they barked like dogs claiming the Holy Spirit made them do it. In Brownsville they lost all control of the muscle movement in their bodies and blamed the Holy Spirit. In Lakeland they anointed a man a prophet who punched and kicked people to deliver "healing" and said the Holy Spirit led him to do it. Shawn Bolz doing "words of knowledge" by using his smart phone. As bad as all of these abuses are perhaps there is no greater abused gift than prophecy.
I really do not want us to gloss over this today beloved. Prophecy is man claiming to speak on behalf of God. It is man claiming direct revelation from God to impart to His People what He wants them to know. In the days of the Old Testament, prophecy was easier to deal with. God used prophets because there was no Bible for everyone to rely upon. Yes you had the Torah but there were no printing presses. There was a simple way God gave to His people to evaluate a prophet. If what he says comes to pass then the word is true and from God. If not, stone the false prophet to death! That is how serious we ought to take pretending to speak for God. While the death sentence has changed over the millennia, the standard has not. A true prophet is correct and a false prophet is wrong. Modern day prophecy has been hijacked however and turned into a billion dollar fortune telling industry. Itinerant "prophets" travel the world bringing false messages and prophecies to the body of Christ. They corrupt the body by making prophecy about you instead of about God. Beloved, the Lord has already provided us with His final revealed will. It is called the Bible. He does not stutter. He did not forget to tell you something so he is now sending Jennifer Leclaire to tell you. If you want a prophetic word -- open your Bible. If you want to hear it audibly, read it out loud. Prophecy must always reflect back to the Word of God. Realize that a prophet today is claiming what they are saying is on the same level as Scripture. It is God-breathed. While we no longer stone them to death we are to mark them as false and disregard them after one false prophecy. How many times will we allow someone to tell us thus sayeth the Lord who actually never heard from God? This always has been and should remain very serious business.
So this brings us to the charismatic cesspool known as Charisma News. Charisma is part NAR dominionist propaganda and part breeding ground for false prophecy after false prophecy. Charisma routinely makes an utter mockery of prophecy and thus God. The key verse reminds us that there is only one spirit of God beloved. He does not get confused. He is not schizophrenic. Yet let us consider over just the past two days, all of the "prophecies" offered up by Charisma News as having been divinely imparted.
1. May 13, 2018 - Bill Yount and Andy Sanders - Prophetic Word: God Is Releasing Healing Oil and Power to Bear Your Burdens. This dual authored prophecy starts with supernatural Clydesdale horses, angelic Clydesdales is how Yount describes them working in power for you! He sums up this relatively absurd prophecy by saying:
"I hear the Lord saying, "I'm taking over from here. Get on the Clydesdale."
Not to be outdone by angelic horsies, Sanders claims a waking vision of oil being poured out all over the body of Christ and glistening like diamonds. The oil was filled with healing antidotes and nutrients! I kid you not, that is what he claims. But wait! There's more! This oil will also teach us how to walk in "constant breakthroughs", be healed constantly of all disease, and supernaturally shift financial burdens off of the body of Christ! So combined, this prophecy is that angel horses will somehow combine with healing, breakthrough, debt relief oil to provide power and stuff for the body of Christ. Ok.
