The word of the Lord came to me:"Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who are prophesying, and say to those who prophesy from their own hearts: 'Hear the word of the Lord!' -- Ezekiel 13: 1-2 (ESV)
For the uninitiated, Ryan LeStrange is one of the false prophets arising in these last days to distract people away from God and onto the carnal visions of their wickedly deceptive hearts. These false prophets and teachers form a cabal of sorts. Loosely affiliated so as to always have plausible deniability, they exist to prop each other up and further the interests of the cabal. Those interests are in making a mockery of God by making merchandise of His sheep. Let us start today by remembering what actual prophecy is. Actual prophecy is stating thus sayeth the Lord. Not what you might interpret. Not what your opinion is. It is to claim direct revelation from God to yourself that you are then are relaying to His people. This is why prophecy is serious business beloved. So serious that to get one prophecy wrong is to bring final judgment upon the false prophet, who would then be stoned to death as per Old Testament law. Thankfully for the false prophets of today, they no longer operate in a theocracy so they are afforded a little more temporal protection. I say temporal because they will still answer for every false word uttered and every sheep that was led astray because of it. The false prophets today pretend that if you are right 65% of the time, then you are a pretty good prophet. It is not surprising that people who apparently do not understand the Bible would pay it no mind. While the punishment may be different today, the Old Testament standard still applies to right and wrong. God did not remove it nor change it anywhere in His Word. To be wrong just once means you have spoken presumptuously. It means you have LIED about what God has or has not said! I can barely think of a more chilling thing to be found guilty of.
LeStrange runs with the gaggle of false prophets from Charisma News. They are of course loosely affiliated with the Kansas City Prophets such as Rick Joyner, Chuck Pierce, Mike Bickle, Kim Clement (deceased), General Cindy Jacobs and many many more. This is the evangelical organized crime family. They spend their days trying to figure out how to best scratch the itching ears of the false church. To tell them just what they want to hear and then pass the offering plate, hallelujah. There is nothing new under the sun though beloved. This pattern of falseness has been going on forever. We see throughout the Old Testament and new that false prophets were a constant problem for the people of God. One such time was during the ministry of Ezekiel as we see in our key verses today. These two simple verses cut to the heart of a false prophet. We can glean three lessons quickly from these two verses before we get into the actual false prophecy offered by Mr. LeStrange.
The first lesson is that prestige and notoriety are irrelevant. Notice that the Lord refers to these people as the "prophets of Israel!" That is what they fancied themselves. That is what they likely called themselves. We see the same dynamic played out today where the false prophets all refer to themselves as actual prophets to the church today. They form official sounding organizational names like "General's International" and "The Prophetic Council of Elders." What you call yourself is irrelevant to God. What I have found through years of discernment ministries is that someone who goes out of their way to call themselves a prophet or apostle is neither. The second lesson here is that they do not speak for God at all. They are in fact prophesying from their own hearts. Realize beloved that this could also mean that they are perfectly well intended. They may be honestly deceived themselves. Remember the Bible refers to our hearts as being wickedly deceptive above anything else. That is powerful. There is nothing more deceitful than the human heart. The Bible also teaches us that the devil and his demons masquerade as angels of light. When we take these two facts together, we can assume that many false prophets who are deceived themselves may be hearing voices all right -- but it is not God they are hearing. Rather they are prophesying from the depths of their wickedly deceptive hearts and are being led astray themselves by masquerading demons. I always like to use the example of Kim-Walker Smith who tells this supernatural story about being visited by Jesus while awake. She tells of being whisked away to the throne room of God where she claims to have met the Father face to face. Here, the Father rips out a piece of his own heart to mold a miniature version of Kim to dance and sing for Him; to which He claps maniacally. Yet what does the Bible teach us?
But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live." And the Lord said, "Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen." -- Exodus 33: 2-23 (ESV)
Mind you Kim Walker-Smith is the lead worship leader for Jesus Culture, one of the most popular false worship outlets in the world. They tour internationally, spreading their false doctrines and worship, mostly to youth. She tells this demonic story as a personal testimony to young impressionable youth all the time yet the Bible assures us that this could not have happened. If it had, she would be dead for no one could see the Father and live! Since I will take her at her word about the vision, we must conclude that she was visited by demons masquerading as angels of light and she could not tell the difference because she is not grounded in the Word of God.
Lastly from the key verses we learn that false prophets do not hear the Word of the Lord. Now this may seem logical but it serves as a stark reminder to us when God essentially says, "Oh yeah, now you will really hear the Word of the Lord!" What is that word beloved? It is demonstrably less seeker-friendly than the false prophecies uttered:
Therefore thus says the Lord God: "Because you have uttered falsehood and seen lying visions, therefore behold, I am against you, declares the Lord God. My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations. They shall not be in the council of my people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord God.Precisely because they have misled my people, saying, 'Peace,' when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash,say to those who smear it with whitewash that it shall fall! There will be a deluge of rain, and you, O great hailstones, will fall, and a stormy wind break out.And when the wall falls, will it not be said to you, 'Where is the coating with which you smeared it?' Therefore thus says the Lord God: I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath, and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to make a full end. And I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord. Thus will I spend my wrath upon the wall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewash, and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who smeared it,the prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her, when there was no peace, declares the Lord God. -- Ezekiel 13: 8-16 (ESV)
This is only part of the response God has for those who prophesy falsely in His name. How do we rebuke those who prophesy falsely? By declaring what God actually says beloved. His final revealed will is always available for us in the Bible. He did not "forget something" that He is now secretly revealing to Ryan LeStrange. So what is Mr. LeStrange claiming god showed him this time?
"I was awakened with visions of houses, lands, inheritances, businesses, and expansion in my spirit. There is economic increase and influence in the atmosphere of glory for God's people. I am declaring favor, dominion, and increase. This is your season to grow, to get bigger, to move beyond. The glory brings multiplication. The glory brings gold. The glory breaks the back of debt. Step out of limited and into unlimited. Step out of the realm of your knowledge, qualifications & ability and step into heaven's ability." -- Ryan LeStrange
Where do we start? First of all the vision is unbiblical. Remember that God has to give these charlatans the actual Word of the Lord since they are prophesying out of their deceptively wicked hearts. We will assume that he actually had this vision, although I am unsure how one has a vision of "inheritances" or "expansion." Where however does the Bible say that the glory of God brings multiplication, gold and debt cancellation? That's right -- nowhere. Where does Ryan think he has obtained the authority to declare anything? There are some tell-tale false prophecy signs within this opening that we ought to be very wary of whenever someone contends to speak for the Lord. First of all, this "prophecy" is what Pastor Chris Rosebrough likes to refer to as a "spiritual onesie." One size fits all. Notice that we have to accept that everyone who happens to read this prophecy fits into the declaration. Everyone will have multiplication, gold and debt cancellation. Everyone will have favor, dominion and increase. This is what we call spiritually absurd. The second tell-tale sign is that it is designed to scratch itching ears. It is overtly positive and materially prosperous. Houses, lands, inheritances, and expansion. Hallelujah -- pass the offering plate. Thirdly there is usually something so spiritually vague that it leaves the biblically minded lost but those chasing their best life now going ooh and ahh. That something is usually happening in the atmosphere as we see here. Usually it is a "shift" or a "suddenly"; completely unbiblical terms to used to support an unbiblical false prophecy. Fourth, there is usually an "out" for the false prophet. A trap door he can escape down if someone ever calls him on the fact that this did not occur for them. This usually takes the form of something YOU must do in order to bring the prophecy to fruition, which is and of itself absurd. It is either a prophecy from God or it is not, regardless of what I may or may not do. But not according to Ryan LeStrange who says I must step out of the limited if I wish to walk in the unlimited. So think about this prophecy and stand back for a moment. Some people who read this will experience something positive in their lives. They may gain an inheritance or see some expansion. They may see an increase in land, favor, and dominion. They will immediately attribute that to Ryan LeStrange's false prophecy and claim how good God is. Those who see no such increase or actually see a decrease are forced to wrestle with their own "lack of faith" as the harbinger of their assigned lot in life. They must not have stepped out of their limited thinking! Pure evil. Lastly, these snake oil salesmen will usually require an abandonment of the mind (biblical truth) and an embracing of something beyond that cannot be quantified. Here we see this when Ryan says we must step out of the realm of knowledge, qualifications and abilities and into heaven's ability. Well, heaven can do anything right! Therefore I can do anything! But in order to get there I have to abandon reason? Why? Because reason and the Bible will show you the truth and the truth is that Ryan LeStrange is a wolf devouring the sheep of the Lord. Ryan then recounts the story of the floating axe head from the ministry of Elisha:
Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "See, the place where we dwell under your charge is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan and each of us get there a log, and let us make a place for us to dwell there." And he answered, "Go." Then one of them said, "Be pleased to go with your servants." And he answered, "I will go." So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into the water, and he cried out, "Alas, my master! It was borrowed." Then the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. And he said, "Take it up." So he reached out his hand and took it. -- 2Kings 6: 1-7 (ESV)
This is a fine set of scriptures designed to illustrate the supernatural nature of Elisha's ministry. The number of prophets under him was growing and they sought to expand where they were housed. Initially he just gave them permission but they asked further that he accompany them. The lesson there is to always insist that the Word of the Lord is with you! When one man loses a borrowed axe head he cries out to Elisha who causes the axe head to rise and float so it can be easily recovered. One can point to this story as emphasizing how God cares about the smallest detail in our lives. It can refer to the need to acknowledge the need for God in every area of our life as the Prophet would not have been there to recover the axe head had they not additionally asked that he accompany them. You can even say this story reinforces the value of hard work and be ok. Let's see what Ryan LeStrange thinks God is saying:
"The sons of the prophets realized that God had placed something bigger in them, bigger than their present surroundings. We must have prophetic wisdom and insight to stretch ourselves and move further"They had to begin cutting. Growth demands some work. They had to get the ax and sweat a little. They had to invest in their expansion. The harsh reality is that prophetic words often require human partnership." -- Ryan LeStrange
Says no biblical text anywhere. Beloved, what was prophecy again? A direct word of the Lord for His people. The Bible does not teach that God needs human partnership for His Word to come to pass. Other than to repent of course. This summary is ridiculous. These scriptures are from an historical narrative. They are telling the story of something that actually happened. It is not an allegory. It is not a word picture. It is not a parable. So the sons of the prophets simply realized they needed more room. Not that "God had placed something bigger in them." That is silly and runs contrary to the overall point of the humility they displayed. They did not see themselves as having something bigger in them. What utter nonsense. We spoke about this passage reinforcing work but LeStrange takes it into the monetary realm. "Investing" in their expansion sounds an awful lot like code speak for sowing money into the false church. LeStrange would continue:
"In order to advance, you must be willing to chop down what is standing in your way and build. Don't let resistance stop you. Don't let critics destroy you. Hit the block button, quit listening and start building." -- Ryan LeStrange