To the Last Drop

How do you feel when you hear a minister has committed suicide? How do you feel when you hear of a minister lost in alcoholism? How do you feel when you hear of a minister battling depression? How do you feel when you hear that a minister’s marriage has collapsed?

Do you ever wonder how it happened? Does it worry you? Do you lose peace and sleep?

Does it become a prayer burden?

I have written about hibernating ministers. You can read that on the blog.

But today I want us to look at the exhausted ministers. I want to look at the completely used up ministers. I want us to look at the ministers who gave to the last drop.

Look at Elijah.

But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. (1Kings 19:4)

Do you wonder why he is praying to die when he was actually running away from being killed?

And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. (1Kings 19:14)

The prophet was exhausted, completely finished.

It was not fear that made him run away.

Facing the king and his eight fifty prophets was a more daunting task. It was laced with more danger.

We can comfortably say that Elijah was too exhausted to think or see straight.

Can you imagine the kind of host he had defeated in the spiritual realm in that confrontation at Carmel? Can you imagine the kind of warfare he was involved in when he was God’s Idler in Zarephath? (you can read ‘God’s Idler’ on the blog)

That had a very heavy bearing on how he felt at that time.

The truth of the matter is that he had given until he had nothing else to give.

That is why the first thing God gave him was food and sleep, even before He could deal with what was troubling him.

How are you as a minister?

How close are you to where Elijah was at this time?

Where do you go when you reach that point? Is there a brother you can confide in and share your fears with?

Are you that brother? Do you open your heart to all these exhausted ministers who have nowhere else to run to? Will you help them in those battles?

I know I have been a shoulder for a few of those ministers over the years though it is probably a bigger battle for the brothers helping the exhausted to hold their fort.

But it is always worth it.

 

Giving Niceness 3

For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue. (Luke 7:5)

I want us to look at another aspect of giving that God approves.

And it is the giving that does not attract anything to ourselves since we stand to gain nothing from it. It is a giving that could open us to insults from the ones we gave to or towards.

This centurion is famous in the scriptures for one major reason; he understood authority. To the point that Jesus said He had not seen such faith in Israel.

But behind that was a faith-guided lifestyle.

How does someone build a synagogue he is prohibited from entering? How does someone build something he would defile by entering; a building he would be stoned had he attempted to enter?

Yet he built it anyway.

How does someone seek the healing services from someone he is disqualified from hosting for someone who treats him as an infidel?

Isn’t it interesting that his servant was a Jew that he ‘knew’ qualified for that healing? I am sure he could not have ‘risked’ looking for healing for his person or family if we are to go according to his reasoning.

For me, that is exceptional giving.

The other person who gave in such a way was the Samaritan we call good.

He invested his time, care and resources for a person who would have easily spat on his face. A person who may have wished that he had died rather than having his life saved by a Samaritan.

It is possible he ordered the innkeeper not to reveal his identity because what he was pursuing was healing for a person he had found in need.

Yet they gave. And God commended them for so doing.

Do we ever give in such a way? Will we give like that?

Simply because that attracts God’s approval and of course blessing.

But it is more exciting giving for the cameras and rewards and ‘revenge’.

But those have their rewards here and nothing from God who knows the heart from where all giving originates.

Though the rewards for worldly and selfish led giving are many times immediate, the substance of the rewards for God led giving are eternal because they start at the heart.

That is what I want us to pursue.

Giving Niceness 2

Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain. (Proverbs 25:14)

I want us to look at one or two things about our giving in view of my last post.

The primary one is giving for show. It is showing the extent of my generosity.

It is giving that is not prompted by a heart full of love.

Do you know what that is like?

It is like cheating in an exam.

Everybody will applaud you for an excellent job and excellent study habits.

But the One who matters, the One who determines everything beyond success, knows you as a thief, a cheat, plain and simple.

Incidentally, in these digital times, one great concern for the educational systems is graduates whose success was outsourced, many times from the so-called third world countries.

I know people who never went to college who earn their keep by doing assignments and even projects for university students in the west, even PhD students.

And that student will boast of the honours degree they get that way.

Incidentally, the higher the pass one’s customers get, the higher the rating he will get and the higher the pay he will receive from future students.

The workforce is even more worried as these cheaters will come to the job market, not just what in the past was called half-baked, but ones who barely entered the kitchen, leave alone the oven where the baking is done.

That is how God looks at our giving when we do it for beholders. It is how it is when we give for the cameras.

You see, God looks at the heart. He looks at the motive.

There is giving that is detestable to God. There is a giving that offends God.

And it is not because it is not generous.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. (1Corinthians 13:3)

That is God’s standard, love.

Any other reason is not acceptable to God.

I understand that some supporters must see their giving to continue supporting. I understand some donors insist on those pictures to continue giving.

And there is nothing inherently wrong with pictures.

But God looks at the heart. God looks at where those pictures are coming from or going at the heart level.

God will approve one picture and judge another one for the same reason, He sees beyond the simple giving that we will see.

That is why you will see Jesus’ teaching about giving in a completely different way than we may expect.

Like giving dinners to people who have no capacity to reciprocate. And loving enemies.

And of course in Matthew 6 when He is talking about the whole aspect of public versus private religion.

A Biblical example is in order though it might not be so exactly to the point.

Remember Saul getting delighted when David fell in love with his daughter? Yet at that time the same David was his enemy, the same man he had denied his other daughter that he had promised to the person who killed Goliath.

Why did he lower the requirements to ensure that David had to comply?

And Saul said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. (1Samuel 18:21a)

That was not a giving prompted by love. It was not a positive giving.

It was a giving whose driving force was extermination.

Or the time David was giving Uriah a leave from war.

Those were gifts, abominable ones in God’s eyes though very generous to any beholder.

One reason I am a minister is to help connect God’s people to God’s standard in all things.

You see, I have been able to minister for almost 40 years because God’s people have consistently given towards the ministry God has called me to.

In short, for the most part, you can say that I live off the giving of God’s people.

To me, it would be a disaster if your giving is not acknowledged by the God I am ministering to.

It would be better for you that I starve from lack of your giving that giving me support that does not go according to God’s revelation through His word. And I am sure I will never starve because God always has people He raises for the support of His ministers.

Incidentally, He could still use you to give in a way that is not a blessing to you. And I will have no idea. Or do you not remember that it was the Midianite soldier who prophesied for Gideon to confirm God’s order?

It would sadden me so much for any of my supporters to be used in such a way.

That is why I am writing this to help you examine your giving to ensure that it is not only generous or even sacrificial, but also that it meets God’s threshold.

You see, very few ministers care whether the people supporting them will through that support access spiritual dividends. They just care that they are supported.

Many do not care to teach their people the kind of giving that is acceptable to God, provided it reaches their desk. Money is just money, becomes their mantra.

But I would rather starve than enjoy the support of someone whose support is not recognised in heaven, some that is even detestable in God’s eyes.

Ananias gave sacrificially, and died. And that is not the kind of support I want.

That is why I tell people expressing interest in supporting me to pray about it so that they can get heavens go ahead concerning it.

And I know that directly limits the kind of support I can access because many flee when I refuse to give figures and burdens and promptings. Because then they would be opening their purses for God’s exclusive use, a very scary prospect.

I want the people giving towards my ministry to grow through that giving. I love to see people who give towards the ministry God has called me to get better clarity about their resources, not just the support they are giving me.

That is why I do not mind when a key supporter is redirected elsewhere as they prayed since they stopped supporting me under God’s direction, many times because there are many in ministry who are not as visible as I am who also need support.

God is at liberty to redirect support just as He is at liberty to redirect His minister.

He is at liberty to shift my support base as He is at liberty shift my ministry base.

He is the boss, not only of the ministry He has called me, but also of the people He calls (mark the word called) to support me as I minister to Him.

Provided my supporter is growing in their relationship with God, I will be content whether it is me they are supporting or somebody else.

Just as obedience is what God uses to judge my ministry, it is obedience to His prompting that He will use to judge the people He has entrusted with supporting ministry and ministers.

I am never the gauge God will use to judge a giver. It is obedience to His leading that He will use.

And I am writing this at the point I really need support as I am going through a very tough stretch.

But you do not have to give me to be obedient to God. It might actually be the opposite.

But the non negotiable is that you MUST listen and do what God tells you to do.

God does not only tell His servants to give. He tells them where and how to give.

That is the only giving that pleases God.

 

Giving Niceness

And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. (Mark 12: 42 – 44)

Yesterday, I took a father and his disabled daughter for assistance to get a wheelchair and met with this challenge I am sharing here.

I me two friends who were cheerfully helping these throngs with disability access the assistance they had come for.

But that is not where it stops.

(And you will allow me to leave out their names because as you know about me, I never want to interfere with their reward in heaven by giving you an opportunity to applaud them)

Another reason, though not as powerful, is that I have not told them I am sharing this since I know they will not want to be feted in such a way or forum.

One was called from a place far from the city to participate in the exercise, and I am almost sure he was not being paid. He was invited because he had access to persons with disability through his involvement with them over the years.

I have seen him serving in church for years with a disability that is so obvious and limiting yet doesn’t seem disturbed with those common falls his condition occasions. He will get up and continue serving as if nothing had happened.

The second, apart from having a disability, is also facing huge health challenges.

Yet, there they were, serving with a cheerfulness that was infectious.

It is a giving that can only be coming from the heart.

It is a giving that goes beyond giving things or service but a giving of self.

Many people only give what they have. But these were giving who they were.

Like the poor widow, they were giving all their living.

Treat this short message as a challenge

How do you give? What do you give?

And it encompasses all, from offerings to charity to supporting ministry.

This because to God, the only giving that gets His applause is the one originating from a sold-out heart that sacrifices who they are through what and how they give.

My prayer is that our giving will meet God’s threshold.

Essential non-Essentials

I want us to look at our lives and ministry.

This because we can be so swallowed by the externals that we forget the basics of our ministry.

And I have made that apparently conflicting title intentionally.

As I am gradually getting into fitting on the Biblical elder role, I many times have to deal with handling many a question and resolve many a dilemma.

Interestingly, probably the most recurrent has to do with a call to ministry.

The surprising thing is that even before many would come up with the clarity of the call, they will be thinking and sourcing for the equipment they will require for the ministry they are not very clear about at that point.

Allow me to give an example

Someone is sensing a call to start a church.

He will come asking for prayer for clarity. Then with the same breath will ask for prayer and assistance to procure musical instruments and a sound system.

Yet it might be in a place without electricity.

But even worse, since it will be a new church, there are essentially no people to play those instruments or crowds to need that public address.

Why does a need for equipment come before the clarity of the call?

That is where my title comes from.

What will happen when you get the equipment before clarifying the call? Suppose God shows you a different ministry?

You will be compelled to pursue that call on your own. That call must be there whatever else God says.

You see, you cannot disappoint the people who gave towards the procurement of that equipment.

Isn’t that what is called putting the cart before the horse?

Allow me to give an oblique example from the scriptures

In Jeremiah 42 we have some people coming to the prophet for clarity concerning the direction they were to take due to the crisis they were in.

The prophet prayed and of course received guidance from on high. He simply gave the message as he had received it.

In chapter 43, we have the ones who had sought that clarity accusing Jeremiah of corruption because the prophecy did not go the way they had anticipated.

You wonder why they had asked for prayer in the first place.

The truth is that they had already decided on what they would do and needed God’s rubber stamp to feel spiritual.

It is like the people who will approach an oracle concerning leaving employment for ministry because they already know that they would be retrenched or sacked instead of asking what they would need to do because they will soon be out of a job.

Or the couple who are seeking to know God’s will concerning marriage when they are already living together or have already set up everything for their wedding.

What do you want God to say or do?

God’s will is primary. It should be the highest pursuit of our lives and experience.

We do not seek His will with a plan B in our minds. It is His will or nothing.

Probably you sense that God is issuing one order or the other to you.

Wouldn’t the best thing to establish without doubt whether that is what He is ordering you first before laying the groundwork for something you are not sure off.

Or do you think that the same God who issued the order is unable to help you in that groundwork? 

Prophetic Watch 2

We will briefly look at one or two aspects common with the false prophets that you will not see with God’s prophets. These are the characteristics that will give them away for the most part since like I explained in the last post their counterfeiting of the prophetic is almost perfect.

And we will look at a few times they are talked about in scripture.

False prophets love company. It is not very easy to find a false prophet lacking company, be it the slaves or contemporaries. That is unless they are starting. They thrive in crowds.

Remember that even after Elijah killed 850 prophets at Carmel Ahab had four hundred others when Jehoshaphat came calling? Remember that even his son had his prophets?

Yet in those times only one prophet of God was called to counter their unified prophecies.

True prophets will not seek security in numbers since they have the security of the One sending them.

The other thing you will notice is that wicked rulers surround themselves with those prophets. Incidentally, the more wicked, the more the prophets.

And they both feed off each other. The ruler on the gullibility of the masses following the false prophets and the false prophets on the goodies they can access from that relationship.

False prophets will put a good word about the ruler to shield him from any uprising and the ruler pays in kind by opening his palace for their access.

Or do you not remember that all those prophets I have mentioned were being facilitated by the kings they were prophesying to? Remember that even in Egypt their lands were not confiscated because they were being fed by the king as opposed to the populace?

Another thing you will notice is that they are many times agreed on their prophecies. It is like they are reading from the same script, which in actual fact they are doing at the spiritual level.

Look at most sermons. They are in most ways similar and pass essentially the same message, the message of hope, good things are on the way even for someone coming from a whorehouse, gambling or drink den.

They have no place for rebuking sin or teaching holiness. They have no place for teaching obedience. There is no place for abandoning the world for the cause of Christ. There is no place for sacrificing and leaving everything to follow Christ.

The cross features nowhere in their prophecies except as a decoration, probably a tattoo, without caring to know that tattoos are sin in scripture.

They do not speak to the heart of man that is desperately wicked since you must feel good to fund their excesses just as those surrounding wicked rulers do.

I will repeat what I have said many times.

Probably the finest representation of the false prophet is the motivational peddler.

They will never preach holiness, repentance or self examination in the Biblical context.

And they flock together.

That is how to know the false prophet.

He lives for the moment. He exists to make people feel good.

How do you know that you are following a false prophet?

If you go to church to feel good instead of getting challenged; If you go to a fellowship to have the time of your life; If you go to church to hide from the challenges of life; it is very possible that you are following a false prophet.

Allow me to close by saying something I have said severally. And it is that the danger of the false prophet is not in just misleading the masses. It is actually in leading them to the worship of a counterfeit christ.

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. (Matthew 24:24)

These followers are not therefore worshiping wrong; they are not just misled into worshiping Christ in error.

They are being guided in worshipping the wrong christ, or the counterfeit christ.

And that counterfeit even has signs that have been counterfeited from the actual Christ. He has rewards for those who are following him, whether wittingly or in error.

This means that when they are praying and you join them or say Amen, you are actually saying yes to the antichrist.

I have explained elsewhere that the name antichrist does not directly mean opposed to Christ as it appears. It simply means opposing the cause of Christ, the spirit of Christ, the character of Christ, the work of Christ, the salvation of Christ.

And he does that most effectively by creating a persona so close to the original that like we see in that verse it will take God’s hand to stop the elect from being deceived.

That is how bad it is.

And that is why I am writing about the prophetic watch.

We must be not only extremely alert to avoid falling under the clutches of the false prophet, we must be so attuned to God so that the slightest deviation from scripture or the Biblical standard will drive us to the closet to ascertain whether it is a simple error or the worship of a false christ.

This because revelation does not come in one swell swoop. It normally arrives in doses as someone is growing in the knowledge of the divine.

Very simple and black and white issues to a mature disciple might pose herculean dilemmas to a new believer or someone who has not grown as much.

Something that is a plain sin or rebellion to one may be a weakness to another according to the level of their maturity.

And I am writing this as a disciple maker who has seen growth over the years I have been in Christ’s service.

To the growing believer (disciple), you will be gentle as a parent as you guide them through the scriptures for the purposes of their growth and transformation.

To the other we are ordered to flee and touch no unclean thing. We are ordered not to greet or even wish them a safe journey since doing so is tantamount to participating in their wrong. We are told to deliver them to the devil they serve.

There is no middle ground when dealing with a false prophet.

In Revelation we see a church being rebuked for going soft on a false prophet (Jezebel). Another was commended for rejecting a peddler of a false doctrine.

We are supposed to come down very hard on the false prophet because he really is advocating for the worship of a counterfeit christ, what in the Old Testament is called idolatry.

Prophetic Watch

And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. (John 1:21)

And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. (Matthew 16:14)

I want us to look at spiritual expectations in our day by trying to understand how it was in the New Testament days.

During Jesus’ time, the time was ripe with expectation of God’s fulfilment of prophecy.

You remember that when the wise men appeared to Herod’s court and asked about the birth of a king, nobody went back to look for books for an answer.

They spurted their expectation. They more or less said something like this.

Look no farther. If the king of the Jews is born, he will certainly be in Bethlehem.

To use a heavy word, the air was pregnant with the expectation of the completion of prophecy.

This means that the scribes and Pharisees, who were consistently involved in the study and observation of the word of God knew that the time was right.

It was as in Daniel’s time when he knew through his intake of the scriptures that the time had come for the Jews to return to their land and so started actualising the same through prayer and repentance.

God’s people were only looking for the pointers as the time was ripe for the fulfilment.

You may also realise that the other side is very strategic during such times to flood the world with counterfeits if they are unable to block the actualisation, so to speak.

You remember them trying to kill Moses and Jesus?

What promises were there? I know someone is asking.

The first has to do with Moses’ prophecy. That is why there was talk of the prophet, or that prophet.

The second had to do with Elijah, prophesied by Malachi among others.

The other had to do with David’s promise. You remember Jesus being called the son of David?

This was probably the pinnacle of their expectation since David was both king and prophet.

That is why there was talk of the Christ, the anointed One.

They didn’t expect that all those prophecies would merge into one person.

But they were all united in one thing; the fulfilment of those prophecies had come and so they were only looking for the manifestation.

The people who were so focused on the promise killed the person of the same to actualise it.

Let me get us to our times.

Do we have such an expectation? Is there any scriptural basis for the same? What then are we looking out for?

These being the end times, we would be deceived when we think to look out for a genuine prophet.

From Matthew 24 to Revelation to Daniel, we are only asked to look out for the false prophet.

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. they went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. (1John 2: 18, 19)

That is our watchword.

You remember that even Christ warned us against false prophets?

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. (Matthew 7:15)

I will highlight a few facts about them from these verses.

First is that most, if not all, of them started with us.

They were probably genuine ministers at the beginning who were corrupted along the way by the enticements of the world. They were the seed planted on the rock or among thistles.

This means that for the most part they will look just like us. They look genuine yet the only genuineness in them is their error and probably, depravity.

I talked about that in the post ‘Of Aerials and Ears’ some time ago when I was expositing Matthew 7: 21 – 23.

They may have a very glowing past that completely overshadows their present. But be not deceived.

Allow me to go back to our initial verses before I continue.

Why were the Jews asking whether John the Baptist was Elijah or the prophet? Why were they saying that Jesus was Elijah, the prophet or John the Baptist?

They were simply displaying the characteristics the former possessed.

Moses and Elijah were uncompromisingly unflinching when confronting sin, the same with John the Baptist who died because he did the same against a reigning king.

They spoke God’s truth to power as we like to say, without fear or favor.

They could not be compromised; however high the stakes were taken.

As was said about Elisha, the spirit of Elijah was operating in them.

The second point I want to make about the false prophets is that they are unlike the former prophets in their relationship with sin and sinners. They are different from them in their relationship with power. In fact, they love dining with power.

Yet the past prophets’ link with power happened when they were given a message to the king or when the king came seeking direction from them.

False prophets enjoy their proximity to power to the point that I have heard churches buying their big shots cars commensurate with those invitations (called cars with a testimony, simply meaning class).

How can a prophet rebuke the king he loves dining with?

The third point I will state is that their prophecies are actually responses and analyses of situations.

They are commentators on what is happening instead of issuers of heavenly dispatches.

I am sure someone is wondering what I mean.

A prophet sent by God speaks to situations long before they are even formulated. A prophet addresses the heart of the problem instead of the symptoms of the same.

Remember Elisha sharing what a king was planning long before it happened? Remember Elijah meeting Ahab when he was on the way to Naboth’s garden? Remember him intercepting messengers who were going to a heathen prophet?

God’s prophet is not a commentator or analyst, however in-depth or accurate the analysis may be.

This is because a prophet deals with the hearts of men and not their actions

A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. (Matthew 12:35)

It is therefore foolish to call someone a prophet just because he has some very accurate analysis of situations. It is folly to call someone a prophet because they share some inside information as prophecy. And it is unwise to call someone a prophet just because they can foresee anything through observation and analysis.

But it is clearest when we see with a prophet dealing with sin.

God’s prophet offends blatantly. He is not scared of being in the wrong books of whoever, especially when issues dealing with sin and holiness are being addressed.

God’s prophet is not ashamed to stand alone.

Moses stood alone against the might of Egypt. He stood alone against the whole house of Israel when they turned against God. Elijah was on his own when confronting Ahab and his son, kings of Israel. He was alone when confronting Israel and the combined might of the spiritual formation Jezebel had raised. John the Baptist was alone for much of his ministry. He was alone when confronting the hypocrisy of his nation. And he of course used no proxies when confronting Herod.

And they are not the only prophets. A study of the prophets in the Bible will make this very clear.

Jeremiah suffered alone. One of his names was ‘the lonely prophet’. And do you think Isaiah had friends when he walked naked for three years? Elisha himself, though he was held in high regard by kings of Israel and Syria was also a loner.

But let me give you time to do your own study on the same.

We can almost put it as a rule of the thumb that a popular prophet is a false one.

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. (James 4:4)

That is what I am addressing here by showing us the signs of a true prophet.

Even looking at the end times to get a clearer picture, you will see the final prophets, who are not even called prophets but witnesses, are alone, the two of them against the whole world and its systems.

It therefore means that in these end times we really do not have a prophet on God’s side.

This of course does not mean that the prophetic calling and gifting are absent.

It just means that the prominence of that office has shifted, and that because of the proliferation and perfection of the imitation of the gift and the gullibility of the people.

And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. (Mark 13: 20, 22)

I hope you understand where I am coming from.

The imitation will be an almost perfect reproduction of the real that even the elect may be unable to notice the difference.

That is why Jesus warned us to avoid running or following those gifted charlatans, because they do not look like charlatans however hard you may look.

The prophetic is the most dangerous of the errors because it literally shapes lives. And a few illustrations are in order.

Remember the Shunamite being told by Elijah to leave everything and relocate for seven years? Just imagine if it had been a false prophecy.

Or the three thirsty kings who were ordered to dig trenches when they cried for water?

Suppose Jehoshaphat had obeyed a false prophet when he had the choir lead the army to war?

In Kenya we are dealing with a prophet who led hundreds to starve to death just the other day. And such things have been happening over the years all over the world where a prophet, under one pretext or the other, leads masses to their death.

I remember when we were sitting our A-levels and a prophet stopped his or her followers from sitting the exams because Jesus was about to come.

What am I saying?

The prophetic is such a delicate ministry as it impacts so much more than probably any other ministry. That because it shapes destinies of those under it drastically and irreversibly.

What is the solution? I know someone is asking.

Get to know God at the personal level. Interact effectively with His word. Allow Him to guide you through your intake of His word as opposed to external sources, even those that look like they come from Him, because they may actually be counterfeits.

And even if they are not, has God stopped speaking to you at the personal level so that you must look for those external voices and guidance?

If that is the case, you most likely are backslidden. Because He speaks to those who are obedient to Him. This is one of my most favourite verses.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (John 10:27)

You remember when God went silent on Saul the king?

Does it mean we stop listening to God’s ministers?

Of course not.

And I am writing this as an elder whose ministry involves guiding God’s people.

But I do not listen for them.

Once in a while God will give me a direct message for someone. But it is not an absolute message. They must listen for themselves since they are accountable to God for their obedience.

I am a guide and not the destination. God’s will is the destination.

Allow me to bring another element that has just come to mind.

It is the support of those prophets. It is the demands they make for your following their ministry. It is the loyalty they demand from their followers. It is the rewards they promise to their gullible followers. It is the kind of life they lead as opposed to the lives of their followers. It is the leash they have on their followers.

A true prophet is content to pass God’s message and give God’s guidance. And he will leave it at that.

The recipient of the message will decide on his own how to respond to that message and so will be ultimately accountable to God for that response, not the prophet.

God’s prophet never seeks recognition for his ministry. He is content to pass the message he was given to the best of his ability.

The only thing we see with many prophets is the presence of disciples, in the OT called schools of the prophets.

But these are not the slaves these modern charlatans create for the purposes of enlarging their domain, people’s whose only occupation is to parrot what their master or mistress is saying, unless I am the only one who notices such things.

And these disciples are not their personal property as we see with John whose two immediately left him when he identified Christ (John 1:37). And he was fine with that. John 3:30 summarises the focus of his ministry.

True prophets are willing for their disciples to outshine them since they have no shine of their own. They are only reflecting or radiating the shine from God who alone owns them.

I trust we are on the same page.

Incidentally you can interchange the name prophet with your spiritual leader; pastor, bishop, apostle, etc. Especially since most of them want to be treated as prophets anyway.