May 12, 1999
(Updated March 4, 2001)
(subject to change, as the Lord adds experience, new insight, knowledge and understanding)
The prophetic
anointing operates on 4 different realms, or, levels of anointing:
1. Spirit of Prophecy (Rev.19v10)
2. Gift of Prophecy (1 Cor.12-14)
3. The office of the Prophet (Eph.4v11)
4. Prophecy of Scripture (2 Pet.1v20-21)
1. The Spirit of Prophecy is a “mantel” (anointing) that descends during the time of worship (2 Kings 3v15). It can manifest through an individual, or, corporately. Almost all individual (spiritually regenerated) believers (after the resurrection of Jesus) can be affected by this anointing, and they can prophesy on exceptional basis, even though that may never happen again in their lives.
2. The Gift of Prophecy (or, manifestation of the Holy Spirit - 1 Cor.12-14) is a God given ability to listen and proclaim God’s present, living Word. The purpose is edification, exhortation and comfort. It is an imparted gift that remains resident in the believer and is almost invariably manifested only within the congregation (and mainly during the time of worship, praise, and corporate prayer). It became operational since Jesus rose from the dead –was not available during the Old Testament period–, as Joel had prophesied (Joel 2v28-29), and Peter confirmed (Acts 2v17-18). It is the result of the indwelling of the Hoy Spirit in all spiritually regenerated, and redeemed believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. –Note: most Pentecostals will not accept this theology, as just stated; the widely accepted theory is that the gift of prophecy comes only after the “Baptism in the Holy Spirit”, and is therefore not available to all spiritually regenerated believers in Jesus, but only those who are “Spirit-filled”.
3. The Office of the Prophet (Eph.4v11) is a governmental ministry. For the Office of the Prophet to function in a local church, there is a need to fulfill all the requirements of the New Testament type of “elder” in the Church; in the absence of all the functional elements a Prophet is still under his God given anointing, but he does not have the authority to exercise it in the Body of Christ over other people, because lack of accountability may lead to confusion. A large part of the ministry of the Prophet is to draw people closer to the Lord, through prophetic teaching, calling to repentance -as the Spirit reveals the sin in people’s lives-, prophetic worship, prophetic consultation, etc. I.e. the Prophet is given insight into the spirit realm and can identify hidden elements that need to be revealed, so that specific and targeted healing, teaching, consultation and -if need be- reproof can be administered.
It is
possible that the authority and influence of a Prophet extends beyond the
boundaries of his local church, but within the boundaries in which he is
welcome by the spiritual authority of the other places where he is invited to
exercise his authority. Not all Prophets are alike; there are several more
elements that determine and qualify better this ministry and the level at which
it operates; these elements relate to other peripheral giftings of a particular
individual, i.e. if more skewed towards teaching, or, evangelism, or,
intercessory prayer, or, administrative skills, or, shepherding, or, writing
skills, or, discerning of spirits, or, healing gifts, etc; also, there are
other differences among various prophetic people, e.g. seer-prophet, or,
prophetic anointing to reveal future events, as opposed to words of wisdom and
knowledge for today, and others.
4. Prophecy of Scripture (2 Pet.1v20-21). It has no errors, it is perfect, and (we assume) it is no longer in use today (at least not in the sense it was when the Word of God was being formed; but we need to be careful not to presume we understand all of God’s ways – unless we are God…). No Prophet has this level of anointing any more (statement within the context of the aforementioned warning), and all levels of prophecy are to be weighed carefully against the written scriptures, which are the ultimate authority by which all is/are judged/discerned.
The discernment of prophecy rests with the other Prophets, as defined by Paul’s words (1Cor.14 v29) and common logic -in the following sense: unless a person has the gift of discernment of spirits, how can he determine the nature of the source of a prophecy? A common error is when people try to determine the nature of the source by the nature of the utterance itself, if it is scriptural, or, not. But how can a scripturally sound prophecy uttered through a spirit of divination be discerned (Acts 16v16-18)? It takes a Prophet to examine a prophet.
Also, even when a prophet is established to be a genuine Prophet of God, how can he –even– himself determine the exact nature of the spirit, which gave him the utterance? That’s why even from the old times the Prophets used to go together in companies (1Sam.10v5, 2Kings 2v3, 4v38, 6v1, 2Chr.18v5), because each Prophet needs the discernment of his fellow Prophets to help him determine the nature of the spirit that speaks to him, and the confirmation of what he picks up in the spirit (genuine prophetic revelations tend to be confirmed by more than one Prophet).
Other Notes:
1) The person
of the Prophet is mostly to be judged in the following 3 key areas:
A. Personal character - this is the foundation of the prophetic ministry. A prophet always follows the way of love, demonstrates and is a living example of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5v22), and is humble and submitted to the God given authority of the local Body that he serves. The Prophet fulfills 6 essential characteristics:
He is a man of the Word, of prayer, fasting, humility,
integrity, and submits to authority
B. Fruit of the ministry - the people who receive from a Prophet can feel the touch of God on their lives, and witness the results and the blessings. The Prophet brings revival to individuals and local assemblies. If confusion, fear, and rejection result from a prophet’s ministry, then:
a) if consistently, then that prophet is either a false prophet, or in need of special advice and help, and expert ministry by a more experienced prophet.
b) if on isolated instances, then, it may be due to the other person’s character and unwillingness to receive edification, or the prophet did not follow successfully the way of love and humility.
c) prophets do not become mature, experienced and skillful overnight (same holds for Pastors, Teachers, even Apostles –it tool Paul over 17 years to grow fully into his anointing and be sent out to perform his God assigned task); during the time of “training” (by the Holy Spirit) and development, they may commit errors; they need to be exhorted to carry on in such instances, building on and learning from their mistakes. As for the person who may suffer temporarily because of a young prophet’s lack of skill and experience, he/she needs to remember that we ought to forgive one another, and walk humbly in love.
C. Fulfillment of their prophetic predictions - the prophets don’t necessarily predict the future. The prophetic voice speaks of the past, the present, or the future, on a need to basis (depends on what the Lord wants to do at the time with the believers to whom the prophet is ministering).
When
it comes to speaking of the past and the present, the prophet can be easily
identified by the accuracy of his revelations. However, when it comes to future
events, one needs to identify the time element, in order to be able to discern.
Some prophecy takes hours, days, or weeks but some takes many years to come to
life.
Also, in regard to the past, the prophet may reveal things unknown. In this case we can discern the validity again by the fruit of the revelation. God always reveals for a purpose, which is to bless His people. Prophetic revelations are not given for the sake of just knowledge, but for the purpose of helping people move forward and closer to the Lord. If revelations on the past do not aim at, and/or, do not result in, edification, healing, deliverance, etc., then they need to be rejected and the motives of the prophet questioned.
2) The environment is of critical relevance to the prophetic anointing. As Jesus could not do many “powers”/miracles in his hometown (Mark 6v5) because of people’s unbelief, the prophetic anointing is quenched where it is not accepted. It cannot be forced upon people, and it comes to full power only where it is accepted and sought after.
3) The prophetic anointing may well be confused with a spirit of divination, in the absence of experienced people of God. A holy, sinless life, in full submission to God’s Word, complete dedication and self denial are the only ways to walk safely in the prophetic realms without influence from spirits of divination. This is one more reason why the prophets need to remain humbly under experienced authority (esp. other more experienced Prophets), where the Holy Spirit can be effective and help through the gift of discernment of spirits.
4) The calling from God for a person to become a Prophet does not necessarily guarantee the outcome. The most effective weapons that the devil uses to quench the prophetic anointing are:
a) church leadership that was not placed from God, who silences the voice of the Spirit, since it is not welcome to reveal the hidden Truth (e.g. minister not called of God)
b) lack of Godly knowledge, discerned through Godly wisdom
c) the flesh: unwillingness, disobedience, ambitions, lust, pride, of the prophet
5) Misinterpretation of the Bible, false doctrines, personal interests and human traditions are used to shut down completely the door to the prophetic ministry (only in some areas of the Body of Christ – for, the devil will never be allowed to silence entirely the Spirit of the Lord).
The most common error in this regard is the man made “theorem”: “the gifts and ministries described in the Bible are no longer in effect today”. This is a man-made arbitrary conclusion that is not based on the scriptures; there is absolutely no scriptural support, nor any scriptural precedent to this widespread teaching, and even more than that, it nullifies the scriptures where the Lord said that He Himself placed the Prophets, alongside the Pastors, the Teachers, the Evangelists and the Apostles to build up His Body.
Even though the Church has no problem declaring a man to be a Pastor, a Teacher, or, an Evangelist, men have created theological doctrines that remove the Prophets (and the Apostles) from the present day Body of Christ (as if either God, or, the Body of Christ has changed at any point in the timeline since Jesus rose from the dead, or, as if the Word of God has lost its full validity and application); for if they accepted the divine authority of God’s anointed ones, far too many of the present leadership of the man-made church-like institutions would have to find other jobs, and entire church-like institutions might have to be totally abolished.
On a less dramatic level, most (literally) genuine church leaders would be called to humble themselves publicly and repent of unbelief, doubt, human wisdom, anger, pride, ambition, lust, fornication, greed, love for money, divisiveness, slander, bitterness, purposeful hindering of the Spirit of God, purposeful hiding of Biblical Truths, and numerous other evils.
(But…) God is watching, and monitoring (Rev.2&3)!
George E. Markakis
Relevant Emails,
with the above notes attached
Hello David,
I read carefully and prayerfully your last email comments,
and I can't say that I would disagree. In fact, you have made some strong
statements that need to be taken very seriously. E.g. "I've watched many
folks stray away from a rooted faith in the Word and become disillusioned by
following prophetic utterances." Indeed, I know of some people who
literally run after the prophetic utterances, and rely on them for their lives,
even if they are ambiguous and totally weird. I have seen some of that in
Africa especially, and I have also seen some of the effects in people's lives.
I have reflected much on this phenomenon, especially because I am one of those
people to whom the Lord does give prophetic utterances, and in fact quite
frequently and abundantly.
So, I have taught myself to be very reserved on the words
that come out of my mouth. Often I constrain myself, and I never speak out the
words I am given. Other times, I speak to people, (especially) when the
prophetic word is specifically for them, and I tell them that I would like to
share some thoughts - which I never present to be the word of God. In fact, I
stress to them that they should not take my thoughts seriously, but instead, my
thoughts should cause them to go to some serious prayer and "talk"
with the Lord about it. The reason I do so is because I have discovered that a
lot of people are not really interested in the (living) word of the Lord, but
what they are interested in is the "living direction for their lives from
the invisible, spiritual realm". In other words, they are seeking spirits
of divination, which they call "God". I am not talking about heathen
people. Most Christians would give an arm and a leg to be told something from
the spirit world. They hardly care if it is the Lord's voice, or some python
spirits - what they want in fact is to be given an alternative to walking in
faith! Instead of persevering in faith, they seek an easy way out... and that
attitude invokes the spirits of divination to speak.
It is "unfortunate" that the Lord some times may
allow even a Godly prophet to utter words that have their origin in a spirit of
divination; He does that as a punishment for the person who seeks alternatives
to obeying God and walking in faith. So, God allows that person to hear what
they want to hear. It is their own punishment, that God will grant them the
desires of their hearts (thus letting them fall deeper in their own sin), so
that they cause condemnation upon themselves (the scriptural principle is found
in Romans 1:24); I've been there, so, I know... Thank God I learned! It was
very hard lesson, and so difficult to understand it, but I had to, so that I
could understand some of the very strange phenomena that take place in the
Pentecostal churches, where established Prophets will occasionally give totally
wrong prophecies.
Having learned such principles, I am extremely careful in my
effort to discern the source of the "voice" which I pick up in the
spirit. And taking my time and prayer to discern, I have often discovered that
the "voice" was coming from spirits of divination. You see, many
people -even the prophets themselves- don't realize that the issue is not one
of a "false" prophet. The issue is: what is the spirit, which speaks
to the Prophet? The Prophet is not lying; he only speaks out what he picks up
from the spirit world. But the problem is: who is speaking to him? That's the
most difficult part!!!
When I discovered such strange principles, I asked the Lord:
how can I establish from the Word that this is indeed so? He eventually
"spoke" His answer through the following scriptures:
2Chr 18:19 (NIV) And the LORD said, `Who will entice Ahab
king of Israel into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?'
"One suggested this, and another that.
20 Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD and
said, `I will entice him.'
"`By what means?' the LORD asked.
21 "`I will go and be a lying spirit in the mouths of
all his prophets,' he said.
"`You will succeed in enticing him,' said the LORD. `Go
and do it.'
22 "So now the LORD has put a lying spirit in the
mouths of these prophets of yours. The LORD has decreed disaster for you."
23 Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah went up and slapped Micaiah
in the face. "Which way did the spirit from {[23] Or Spirit of}the LORD go
when he went from me to speak to you?" he asked.
24 Micaiah replied, "You will find out on the day you
go to hide in an inner room."
Also, I needed to understand how come the people of God
become fooled by spirits of divination. God's answer came through:
Acts 16:16 (NKJV) Now it happened, as we went to prayer,
that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who
brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling.
17 This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying,
"These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the
way of salvation."
18 And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly
annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus
Christ to come out of her." And he came out that very hour.
Here is what I understood through these scriptures: the girl
was not telling a lie, or, anything wrong. She was speaking out the truth. This
automatically sets the ground for belief that the Lord's Spirit is revealing a
Truth, and in fact one which helps people open up their hearts to receive
better the Gospel. People listening to her say: "These men are the
servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation."
would be more open to receiving the Truth of salvation - wouldn't they?
Paul himself was not sure what was the spirit that spoke.
So, he did not do anything for many days. But eventually, he became
"greatly annoyed"! That was what he was waiting for; he was waiting
for the Spirit of God to reveal to him what the source was. God's answer was
not "peace in the heart" (which tends to follow God's living word),
but was "greatly annoyed". By that, Paul knew the spirit source of
the girl's prophecy.
I regret to say that many of the prophecies uttered in some
churches where I have been are from spirits of divination! Some
"poor" Pastors are struggling to "discern" these
prophecies, and they end up accepting them because they are scripturally sound.
Such is the way that the lying spirits establish themselves; people become
familiar with them, and then at crucial times they cause havoc by misleading
words. When a person has uttered dozens of scripturally sound prophecies, it is
almost impossible to confront such person that he/she is mislead by spirits of
divination - believe me! I have also been there and it is horrible! Terrible
pain!
The problem starts when people in power exercise their
authority among men, which does not belong to them. The Bible is clear about
this, but the Body is misled. The Bible says:
1Cor 14:29 (YLT) And prophets--let two or three speak, and
let the others discern,
The scripture indicates that the discernment is to be done
by the prophets. It says: Prophets: (now, here follows what takes place among the,
and by the, prophets): let two or three speak... (what follows is still a
subject that concerns the prophets) and let the others discern - i.e. the
others among the prophets.
When Pastors assume arbitrarily for themselves the role of
discernment, they break the rules of the House, and eventually cause trouble in
the House of the Lord. Some Pastors think that they can "discern" the
living voice of the "spirit" by the written scriptures, not realizing
that this is exactly the rules by which the devil will play. He comes as angel
of LIGHT, thus he uses the "light" of the world, which is the Word of
God. His ministers (e.g. spirits of divination) come clothed in righteousness;
they will proclaim righteous and well-established "truths", before
they actually mislead people. They will even use the STANDARD of righteousness,
i.e. Jesus, to establish themselves, before they undermine the Truth with
subtle lies and falsified interpretations of the Truth.
God bless you, George
________________________________________________________________________________
Thursday, December 13, 2001
Dear Carol!
God bless you richly and increase you in all you ways!
What a difficult subject you are raising, and what a difficult task to help you from a distance... The prophetic can only really be dealt with in the spirit, and that would require personal contact and time in the spirit... (i.e. prayer).
By that I do not turn you down in any way! So, here is what I can do from a distance. Share as much as time allows me, and answer to specific questions, if you have any, and if I can answer to them.
However, what you really need is a group of prophets to join, and learn to live with them in the spirit. That would be the only way for major breakthrough, and it is also the Biblical way - prophets always used to go in groups! Ask the Lord, and He is able to help you in that area. He can find a group of prophets for you, or, use you to create one, if there is none yet available where you are located.
To answer right now to the following question: "How does one practice this gift without being judgmental? How does the practice of this gift look in your life? I find myself not wanting to be offensive, yet struggling with the desire to speak up to right the wrongs of thoughts expressed and actions that are so contrary to scripture and Godliness."
--What I can say is this: The full answer requires a BOOK! It also requires many many hours of praying together, until many secret things have been unraveled from their secret places and dealt with. The key thing with a prophet is the process of deliverance from all the hidden and unknown sins, which result from the carnal fleshly nature in which we were born. More mildly called, deliverance is really the transformation process, except that we are talking about a transformation that goes much deeper than with the average convert. A prophet needs to be REALLY CLEAN, so that the Lord can use his/her mouth properly.
Much of the troubles prophets go through come from the Lord's cleansing process... but they do not appear as such for a long time... they usually appear as unjust confrontations with people who need to be told the truth. Only in hindsight, if the prophet learns to submit to the Lord, can he/she understand what the Lord was trying to accomplish through the troubles and confrontations. Regrettably, the Church at large does not know how to deal with the prophets, because She is afraid of them. There is an element of spiritual warfare attached to that, but that is a very difficult topic to enter.
My suggestion for now needs to be seen in the light of general advice, and not specific word for you personally, since I do not know you. It is generally advisable for prophets to keep their mouth restrained from speaking out everything they want to share, until they learn how to share in such a way that the word can be received in the right "spirit".
In such cases, the correct heart attitude towards the Lord guarantees that the prophet will not be judged for insubordination to the Lord. I.e. when we want to share something with someone, we first share it with the Lord. Then, we say: if you want me to say it to them, please open up the door SUPERNATURALLY, so that it will be done ALMOST as if contrary to my will. Then I will know you want me to share it!
The Lord can do things like: that person could come to you and say: would you pray for me?!!! and things like that!
You will find that most times the Lord shows you things only so that you will pray for those people, over those issues. The prophet is first an INTERCESSOR, before he is an open mouth... Only the intercessor's heart can speak out the difficult words in the right heart attitude.
I have more to say, but let me restrain myself. Besides, you will be doing some more reading as you open up the attachments. I am attaching here one document, which I have written, and another one, which I received simultaneously with your email...
Bless you, and keep asking :-) In your service, George