God is concerned about His work in the earth through the vessels of His choosing. People who eventually fall or are disgraced will have been repeatedly warned by God. Initially, in their conscience and through the dealing of the Spirit. When that is ignored, ones close to them raise questions. When that is ignored, the prophetic voices are raised. Entreaties are made, God's overtures of mercy are poured out and space is given for repentance. If it comes to a ministry collapse or the moral fall of an individual we can rest assured that our faithful Father has exhausted all other means to bring redress and is left with exposure as His last resort. This is still an expression of His desire to heal the individual and preserve them unto Himself. If we do not keep these things first and foremost in our thinking, we run the risk of somehow accusing God, in an indirect manner, of wrongdoing.
Second, it is He and He alone who is 'able to keep us from falling'. While we must seek and cooperate with Him for this benefit to us, it is His power to keep that secures us at all times and in all things. The word tells us the He will make grace abound to us, so that we may resist temptation. We are promised everything necessary for righteous living through the promises given us in Christ Jesus. All of these realities were available for the individual in question as well. It is not God's fault when vessels fail. It wasn't because He didn't warn us in advance. It isn't because He can't be trusted to keep us all. It is simply a manifestation of the exact same disease that has us asking these questions in the first place. "Let a man not think more highly of himself than he ought."
Third, Prophets are not omniscient. Only God Himself has this capacity. As prophets and prophetic people, we are responsible for what God says to us, not what He doesn't. Paul admonishes the New Testament Body to evaluate the word of prophecy given, not the prophesier. It is really not our job to know everything about everything. It is our privilege to be shown whatever God feels is pertinent to promote His agenda in the earth. If we had known, would it be safe to assume that the individual would've 'listened' to us, when they have been rejecting His attempts to bring repentance?
There is still so great a misunderstanding about the prophetic, about our responsibilities to one another, and even about what God is saying presently. The solution lies not within our being more vigilant, nor within our abilities [or even our 'giftings'] but rather in keeping our eyes fixed on Him who is able.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
A word about Watchmen (Prophets) and Omniscience
I got this from Prophet Robert Newell.... I think it's pretty good and helps in understanding the WHY of it all:
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1 comment:
Gene
This post and yours on Prophets not Seeing are a cop out. You let the prophets off the hook and suggest that God was giving the big guys time to repent. Robert Newall assures us that God is looking after the big guys. That is nice, but what about all the little guys that were harmed by Ted, Todd and your unnamed Bod. They have been imparting sin (and perhaps evil spirits) to hundreds and thousands of ordinary people who trusted them and were vulnerable because they submitted to their ministry. Something is seriously wrong in the church, and the prophets should be exposing it.
The root problem is one-man leadership. Those who get to the top are often insecure, so they surround themselves with sycophants and Yes Men. Anyone that might challenge their authority is kept at a distance. I am interested that you were never alone with your Bod. I guess that he wanted to keep you from being close enough to see the truth.
The other side of the problem is the platform or pedestal prophet (I am not suggesting that you are one). The senior pastor that does not have his own pet prophet, brings one in from outside and puts him on a pedestal. From that platform the prophet can give encouragement to the people and challenge those that need sorting out, but the senior pastor always stands behind the prophet, safe from his words.
The pedestal prophet has authority because the senior pastor testifies to his credibility. In return for this authentication, the platform prophet must submit to the authority of the pastor/manager and honour him. The prophet is kept on the pedestal where his ministry can be controlled. The platform prophet must go along with this charade, or they will be kept in silence.
The truth is that a prophet is not needed to expose the problems of a Ted, Todd or Other Bod. In my experience the people who are close to the leader, usually know what is going on. The problem is that they are too loyal to challenge a person that they look up to.
The real problem is that God has provided a way to protect leaders and people, but the church consistently refuses to adopt it. These incidents will only stop when we go back to Balanced Ministry, with churches led by a team of pastors, prophets and evangelists working together in submission to each other. As long as we perpetuate the myth that one guy must be top dog, these embarrassing incidents will continue to shame the church and hurt innocent Christians. God cannot protect his people from evil, while the leaders of his church refuse to adopt the Spiritual Protection he has provided. This is the problem that prophets should be exposing.
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