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-- © GodSpeak International 2009 --
-- Do not republish without written permission from <copyright@godspeak.net> --

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND CONTRIBUTING RESOURCES
Authors: Jane Fitz-Gibbon <jane@icmi.org> http://www.icmi.org
Michael Gerner <mgerner@aol.com>
Teresa Seputis ts@godspeak.net http://www.godspeak.net
Editors: Al Vesper, Teresa Seputis

Judging Prophecy; 2nd Edition

Lesson 11

By Teresa Seputis

A Case Study
Judging The "Controversial" Corporate Word
Judging The Message

You might remember the controversial corporate word in August of 2000, the one that caused us to write the first edition of this teaching series. Well, the suspense is over and we are finally ready to take a look at it. We will do so in this lesson and in the next one.

Background

But before we look at the word itself, I want to share a bit about how the prophetic-school email list is run, and what our philosophy is on the words we permit to the list.

The prophetic-school list is a "training ground" and we do not prejudge words before sending them out, except running them through the filters of our list charter. (In short, we ask: does it contradict Scripture? Or is it harsh or judgmental or condemning?) We expect the people on the list to judge the words for themselves.

The scriptural mandate for judging prophecy is found in 1 Cor 14:29. Let's look at it in two translations:

1 Cor 14:29 (NIV)
Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.

1 Cor 14:29 (NKJV)
Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.

We see that we are to weigh carefully (or evaluate) prophetic words and judge them to determine whether or not they are really a word from God.

Our Approach To Judging This Word

We have already had several lessons giving us criteria and tests that we can use to judge a word. In this lesson, I am only going to apply three of those tests: 1. Is it Scriptural? 2. Does the Holy Spirit Bare Witness (Or Give A Check Against It)? 3. What Do We Know About The Person Giving The Word?

In addition to evaluating the message of the word (e.g., is it a God originated message), there are some delivery issues we have to consider. Often a God-word can be inadvertently mis-delivered so that it obscures the message or looses it's intended impact. These types of delivery mistakes are more likely to happen to beginners, but even very seasoned prophets can occasionally make a delivery mistake. Here are a few of the most common delivery mistakes:

  1. Did the person giving the word communicate it in a manner where the meaning/message is clearly and easily understood?

  2. Did they deliver the word to the correct audience?

  3. Did they add their own interpretation or insights to the word?

We will look at the message of the word in this lesson and look at the delivery in the next.

The Word In Question

Here is the word that has caused concern for some members of the list...

Mind Me More

I cannot over emphasize that you must test and double test every belief and teaching against the Truth of My Word. The Deceiver is on loose reigns and he is creating havoc upon the spirits of all who do not know the Truth. He is conquering with false miracles, visions and teachings that are very close to the Truth; he might even try to use some of you for his evil purposes. Even some well known writers and teachers are his targets because he knows that once a teacher is accepted, all his teachings are also accepted - even that one thought that the Deceiver has slipped in.

Come My Beloved Ones, come sit and reason with Me. Bring all the teachings you hear, hear of and read about to Me and let's discuss it. Bring that book you are reading into My Presence and I will show you any error. I am not just Lord and King, but I am also Wisdom. Those who fully abide in Me, will not be fooled by the enemy's devices. Here in My Presence you are one with Me, our minds are entwined; My mind becomes your mind and by My Spirit I will hi-light the Deceiver's traps. Prayerfully look for Me and My Truth in what you hear and read. If, by My Spirit, you do not find Me or My Truth there, then I am not there and what you hear and read does not come from Me but from the Deceiver.

Discard that which is not from Me and lovingly and by My Spirit, warn your brethren about the trap.

Put your mind and your focus on Me, lift your eyes and look into Mine. I am the Light and the Giver of light. Yes, mind the Deceiver, but mind Me more!

Wisdom

Judging The Message of the Word

The message of this word is that we need to judge what we read and hear, rather than simply accepting anything because it comes from a source we have considered credible. The admonishment is to bring everything (new doctrine/teachings) to God and ask Him to speak to us about it. The promise is that God will show us clearly, when we ask Him, what is of Him and what is an enemy deception. The word encourages us to be aware of the enemy's deception, but to put our focus more on God and His truth than on the enemy's strategies and deceptions.

So, let's evaluate the message of this word.

IS IT SCRIPTURAL?

Matt 24:11 says that "Many False prophets will rise up and deceive many." In fact, we have a lot more scriptural precedence warning us to judge teachings/doctrines instead of blindly believing anything. Here are two of those passages:

Matt 24:24-27
24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand. 26 "Therefore if they say to you, "Look, He is in the desert!' do not go out; or "Look, He is in the inner rooms!' do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

1 John 4:1
Love for God and One Another. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

We also have scriptural precedence about the Holy Spirit teaching us of God's truth and giving us discernment/wisdom when we ask Him. Here are a few of these...

John 14:25-26
25 "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

John 16:7-15
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 12 "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

IS THERE A CONFIRMATION OR CHECK FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT?

The next criteria I want to apply to the message is the confirmation (or check) of the Holy Spirit. Now, I did not get either on this message, so I took it as not applying to me and did not pay a lot of attention to it (until I started getting multiple emails from people troubled by this word). There were some who got a confirmation in their spirit about this word. One felt it was a confirmation of what God been speaking to him about sounding the alarm regarding some questionable doctrine that was beginning to penetrate his church. God had been quickening it to his heart that he must gently but firmly raise up and share how this was not right and how it was not biblical. So the Holy Spirit appears to have quickened this message to this person.

People also contacted me about concerns (or alarms) they had gotten when reading this word. One based the alarm on his assumption that the word was telling us to submit to the devil, which he found doctrinally in error and unscriptural. (It turns out that was not what the author of this word intended to communicate, but if that was the intent of the message, then this alarm would have been very genuine. In this case, the check was not based on an inner witness of the Holy Spirit, but on judging the word as he understood it against Scripture.)

Another person had alarms as well, though she was not good at vocalizing them, and she felt some confusion in the situation. She shared how she has been struggling with fear of deception and how she felt this word was unhealthy because it encouraged (or increased) her fear of deception. Again, it is not clear whether this was "her own issues" raising up, or a check from the Holy Spirit, but certainly a check was there that made her judge and evaluate this word. The third person was a pastor who I know personally and consider to be very keen in the spirit. He said that the word did not "set right" with him, and "this one just didn't feel right" and that his "warning flags were really waving." He interpreted the word as giving too much credit to the enemy and having "fear wrapped around them as well." In his case, the Holy Spirit seemed to be giving him a check in his spirit regarding this word.

As it turns out, several people from his church are on the prophetic- school list, and have also read this word. God is doing something very specific in their church, moving them from a place of spiritual warfare to releasing blessings on their community and flowing in revival and renewal. Their focus needs to be on trusting God and what He is doing rather than concentrating on the enemy and what he is doing.

My take on this is that the Lord was indeed giving him a check in the spirit because this message was not targeted for his church. In fact, it sort of moves them the other direction than God is moving them, even though it is a very valid message for some other churches. I believe that this is why the Holy Spirit gave him a check in his spirit on this word--because it is not a word that was appropriate to what God is doing in his particular church.

This word is interesting to me because the Holy Spirit appears to have confirmed it to some people, but He appears to have given checks to others. And in my own case, I got neither.

WHAT IS THE CHARACTER OF THE OHE GIVING THE WORD?

The final criteria I want to look at is the character of the person who delivered it. I don't want to use her name in this teaching because I don't want to embarrass her publicly. But this word came from someone who has given many other words to this list. Her previous words had anointing on them, and ministered to a lot of people. Many of the people on this list consider her very credible in the prophetic and have a great deal of respect for her.

That is part of why this word was problematic to some people: because they had a great deal of respect for her and her words, but they found the content of this word to be troublesome to them. If the word had come from someone who they did not consider credible, they would have simply disregarded it. But since it came from someone who they respect in the prophetic, it caused them to grapple with it and struggle over it as they judged it rather than simply discarding it. If the "troublesome" word had come from someone who had known character flaws or who was a know flake, it would not have caused people any alarm, they would have been inclined to reject it outright.

The character of a prophet (or of a believer giving a prophetic word) is an important hint, but it is not the main criteria for accepting or rejecting a word. For instance, the Bible calls Balaam a false prophet in Jude 1:11, 2 Peter 2:15 and Rev 2:14. And yet God spoke true words through him in prophesying God's blessings over the nation of Israel. For that matter, Balaam's donkey was not known for it's character or wisdom, but God spoke prophetically through the donkey (and through an accompanying angel) to Balaam in Numbers 22:23-33.

On the other hand, some very credible prophets occasionally make mistakes...they are usually accurate but are because they are human, they are not infallible. We see a new testament example of this in Acts 15. Some of the church leaders from Jerusalem felt that newly converted gentiles must observe the Jewish law and also to be circumcised. This was such a strong dispute that it had to go before the Jerusalem council (the apostles and elders) to be settled. These Jews believed they had heard from God but they were in error and had to be corrected.

Likewise, even those who are seasoned in the prophetic can occasionally make a mistake, particularly in areas where they have strong personal feelings or theologies.

But at the same time, Jesus says that a tree is known by it's fruit (Matt 12:33). Thus, we tend to give the benefit of the doubt in favor of those with known good character/fruit. Likewise, we tend to be more cautious with those of questionable character and fruit.

In this case, I personally would give the author of this word the benefit of the doubt, and assume that the message was from God. I believe the problems that some have experienced regarding this word are not due to the message of the word, but due to the delivery.

We will look at that in our next lesson.


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-- Do not republish without written permission from <copyright@godspeak.net> --

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