Beware Gypsy Presbyteries

“Beware gypsy presbyteries!”

It has been fifty years since the warning was prophesied to the church in that city. It was one of the larger cities of the greater Pacific Northwest region, and the prophet declaring the word was known by the church of that city, and was respected. “Beware gypsy presbyteries!” he declared.

I’ve been thinking about that word, and I’m hearing God breathing on it for my region. In fact, I believe God is re-breathing that word to the entire Pacific Northwest. He’s probably saying it to more than just our region, but I have confidence that this is the season for the Northwest to hear it. Fifty years ago, the church didn’t hear, or they didn’t understand, and there was a price that was paid for their failure, but that’s not the story I’m telling here.

But before I tell the story, I need to be clear about the position that I tell it from. I am not opposed to traveling ministries; I am not opposed to prophetic ministries. In fact, I have good friends in both camps, and I serve ministries that are in both camps. What I am about to say is not a declaration that such ministries are in error. That would be an untrue accusation. In fact, the very prophecy we’re discussing here was delivered by a traveling prophetic minister.

Think with me about that simple sentence: Beware gypsy presbyteries:

· Beware: watch out. There’s danger here. Be careful here; don’t get caught in it.

· Gypsy: in the less-politically-correct times of a half century ago, a gypsy was “a member of a people with dark skin and hair who speak Romany and who traditionally live by seasonal work and fortunetelling.” They traveled from place to place, with no roots in the places they visited, and no accountability in those places.

· Presbyteries: Bill Hamon defines a prophetic presbytery: when two or more prophets and/or prophetic ministers lay hands on and prophesy over an individual, a body, or a region, to minister a prophetic word, to identify gifts and placement in the Body or in leadership, to impart gifts and callings, or for ordaining to an office of ministry.

It’s probably worth mentioning that this a metaphor: I am not suggesting that there are either individual prophets or groups of prophets wandering from town to town performing fortune telling under the guise of prophetic ministry just to make a living. I’m sure that does occasionally happen, but again: that’s not the primary warning here.

These days, we have a large number of traveling prophets, visiting town after town, prophesying. I would expect that, like the gypsies of old, they were tempted to declare what people wanted to hear in order to generate better offerings, but again, that’s not the primary warning here.

The warning is to guard against depending on prophetic words from traveling prophetic ministries who have no root, no stake in this region. There is good that can come from visiting prophetic ministries, even from ministries that we don’t well know; the warning is against depending on those.

And this is a warning to the church; I am confident that this is a warning to the church in my region; I suggest you ask the Holy Spirit if it’s a warning to the church in your region as well. Fundamentally, this is a warning that the primary prophetic voice in our region must not be from traveling ministries. Our primary prophetic voice needs to come from the prophetic people of our own region.

Thirty years ago, there were a relatively large number of traveling evangelists. They’d come into town, hold a week or two worth of meetings, collect that many offerings, and move on to the next town. A few people came to Christ, more folks renewed forgotten vows, and some of the saints were encouraged. Sometimes.

But it was not an uncommon occurrence that the evangelist would say some things that confused some of the sheep. In my community, the departure of an evangelist would leave uncertain saints worrying about “Can a Christian really have a demon?” or “Can I really lose my salvation?” “Am I really in danger of hell after all these years?”

Pastors would talk with respect about some of the evangelists; others, they said, would “Blow in, blow up, and blow out!” and the pastors would be left to clean up the messes, soothe their worried sheep and answer their difficult and sometimes unnecessary questions.

In our generation, we have more prophets than evangelists blowing into town, declaring a prophetic sermon, prophesying with varying degrees of accuracy over several people in the audience, collecting the requisite number of offerings, and blowing on to the next town. Again, the pastors are left to clean up the messes, soothe their worried sheep and answer their difficult and sometimes unnecessary questions. These days, the questions include, “The prophet said this would happen; why isn’t it happening?” and “Why won’t the pastor recognize me in the role the prophet said I am called to?”

In other words, there are a number of pastoral problems with the church depending on traveling prophetic ministers. In order to deal with the pastoral questions, there is a temptation to reject the traveling prophetic ministry; I’m not sure that’s the right solution.

But there are also significant apostolic problems when the church depends heavily on traveling prophetic ministers, particularly when she depends on un-connected gypsy presbyteries. Some examples:

· If we don’t stand up and take responsibility for hearing what God has to say for our region, then why should we expect people who have no investment in the region to labor to hear God’s heart for our region?

· Prophetic words often don’t come to pass by themselves; we need to labor with them: fighting for the promises, fighting with the promises. Prophets who blow into town, declare a word (even a good word) and then are gone to the next town cannot labor to birth the word that’s been declared.

· If we depend on guest speakers for our prophetic declarations, then what happens when we need to hear from God and there is no guest speaker in town this weekend?

· When a church, a region, depends on others to bring the word of the Lord for them, then they have no motivation, no reason to raise up their own prophetic community. The church is justly famous for teaching on the gift of encouragement, the gift of giving and others; recently, the church has begun teaching on the gift of prophecy and how to hear God’s voice, but how often has either a congregation or the church of a region taught the people of their own region about how to walk in the difficult office of a prophet?

· If there are no prophets raised up and recognized in the region, then how will the church of the region recognize and stand up to the agenda of darkness and declare, “You shall not pass!” As a result, the region stands with weakened defenses.

If we are to be a healthy people, we need to develop a measure of strength in all of the gifts in our region. We will do well to welcome traveling prophetic ministries, but we need to develop lasting relationships with them; fortunately, in this generation, it’s very possible to build lasting, distant relationships.

I believe the Spirit of God is calling for maturity in the prophetic (in all of the gifts, really). It’s time to raise up mature prophetic communities in our region, communities that have the maturity to declare the word of God to our region, both to the church and to the “secular” community, communities that are self-replicating, raising up their replacements, communities that can discern and judge the declarations of the gypsy presbyteries.

From Northwest Prophetic.

Moving From Denominationalism To Apostleship

Kris Valloton discusses the necessary shift in the church from a focus on denominations to focus that is more apostolic.

Pythos - Part 3

This is the third and final part of Kim Clement's article on the spirit of pythos. I hope that you’ve received enough teaching to know how to identify it in your own life and grab a hold of this suffocating spirit that has endeavored to infiltrate the nations, the church and the people of God. Be encouraged today that God is breaking this force through our unity and prayers.

What is prophecy? Prophecy makes you aware of what you can do and it makes you aware of who you are. It gives you information that you don’t have about yourself. You may wonder if you’re even going to get to your destiny and this is a struggle that we all have during our journey. If you are receiving information from the future, which is what prophecy is, you can never go astray. The fact is that God will always be ahead of you and so to walk in the Spirit is vital. If you have not taken my course on Destiny at the School of the Prophet, I encourage you to do so. I specifically deal with “walking in the Spirit” in order for you to remain in perfect alignment with God while on your journey here on Earth.

2 Peter 1:16-17 “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eye witnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to him from the excellent glory.”

What Peter is saying is that Jesus Christ received honor and glory, not when he was born, even though that happened; not when he died, although that happened too; but Peter tells us that Jesus received honor and glory when God the Father spoke to Him and the voice of God came from the excellent glory. Let me explain what that means. Amongst other ideas, the word glory means a higher state of existence, which is the future. A higher state of existence is not in your past; it’s in your future. The voice that came from Christ was from the higher or excellent glory, which was the future saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” So His honor and glory came when the Father said to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration in the presence of the three disciples, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear him.” And this is what Peter says in verse 18, “…and we heard the voice which came from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.”

1 Peter 1:19 “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place.”

Peter mentions the word coming to Jesus, and that when Jesus received the word from the Father, that’s when He received God’s stamp of approval - honor and glory. Did Jesus need the word? Absolutely. You need affirmation. You need affirmation from God and from your friends and family, etc. Why? To remain steadfast! Your adversary will lie to you to get you double minded, which causes instability.

It’s very, very important to understand that whatever prophetic word you have inside of you is in fact the light that shines in the dark place. In order for your light to shine to help other human beings, it necessitates shining in darkness. When the enemy attacks you, and your time of darkness comes, you will be aware of the light of your purpose and destiny. It will shine brightly!

Let me finish telling you the story about Michael Babin and his recent experience. It’s fascinating! Back when I was ministering in Detroit, MI on a monthly basis for years, Michael would often come to support me, and my mission in that region. During that time I gave him three prophetic words. One of those words was that he would meet Michael Jordan, because Michael’s a basketball player himself. When I was in France this past January, I went shopping for my scarves, which I use for mantles, and I bought a scarf specifically for Bishop Babin. I wondered why I was prompted to acquire one for him specifically. I heard the Spirit say to me, “At the right time it will be needed by Michael and you will cast it on him.” So I bought a scarf that was black, and it had little shimmering silver in it that I knew he would like. The weekend that I was in Nashville, before he had his heart attack and before he went into the coma, I sent him a text saying, “Don’t forget that you still have to meet Michael Jordan.” It wasn’t but just a few days later that he suffered from three heart attacks and actually died. When he came back to life and consciousness, one of the first things he said was, “I’ve been in Detroit this whole time.” People laughed about it, but he didn’t - he cried. Suddenly the Spirit of the Lord said to me, “He was going back to the prophetic word and that prophetic word was becoming a light in his dark place.” You see, because the word was given to him in Detroit. God, by the Spirit, carried him there so he could receive from that altar. When I gave him those words in Detroit, he would give offerings and sow into those promises and God never forgot that. He was carried there by the Spirit of God and when everybody was gathered around his deathbed, Michael Babin went to receive his promise - a light shining in a dark place. Isn’t that so beautiful?

Secondly, one of the biggest things that happened when Michael was at his worst and everyone was doubting his recovery, and the doctors were saying he wasn’t going to come out of it, God whispered to me, “Remember the mantle.” I suddenly remembered and realized I still had to give him the mantle, which I had purchased for him back in January. A few days later I walked into his hospital room and I took the mantle and wrapped it around him and said, “I knew you wouldn’t die because the Lord said I had to wrap this around you.” This is such a beautiful thing for me and I want you to understand it because the prophetic word truly becomes a light in a dark place.

With this understanding of what prophecy is, you have to understand that the opposite of a prophetic voice is divination. Divination feeds your desires and wants. Prophecy is about God’s desire and your needs, not your greed. So divination really is an opposite of the divine. It will literally feed you what you want, not what you need. There is a difference.

Matthew 4:1–11 “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry.”

That’s when the tempter came, when he was hungry and when he was in need. When the tempter came, he said, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” Jesus wanted bread. Satan knew it and tried to get him to abuse his gift and lure him into a display of power at the wrong time for the wrong reason. What you want and what you need could be two different things.

Leviticus 19: 26 & 31 says, “You shall not eat anything with the blood nor shall you practice divination or soothsaying.”

A soothsayer, or as I call them, a “some-sayer,” is someone who says what everyone wants to hear. When Jesus asked his disciples what the word on the street was about him, their answers were, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” No one seemed to have a true word from God. Jesus proceeds to ask them, “Who do you say that I am?” He wanted to see what their understanding of Him was. No one had a revelation from God about Jesus, with the exception of Simon Peter who steps forward and says, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.” Right there, a prophecy! Peter affirms what the Father has said. That’s all you need; you don’t want anything else.

Leviticus 19:31 “Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits. Do not seek after them to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.”

Leviticus 20:2 “Again you shall say to the children of Israel, whoever of the children of Israel or the strangers who dwell in Israel, who gives any of his descendents to Molech will surely be put to death and the people of the land shall stone him with stones.”

The ancient Phoenician worship of Molech, which involves child sacrifice, sexual deviations, which is incest, etc., and the consultation of mediums, as well as any sort of foreign religious practice, would break the bond of the holiness between God and His people and that is why the severe command that such a violator be put to death. To me, the sign that a spirit of pythos or divination is present and operative is because of these practices that are almost epidemic in proportions right now.

1. The sacrifice of children; In this day and age the killing would not be done on an altar but children have been sacrificed, kidnapped, raped, killed and aborted.
2. Secondly, we have sexual deviations, again affecting children, which is incest.
3. Thirdly, we have the consultation of mediums. Psychics are everywhere. They are a billion dollar concern. They are on Larry King Live regularly and many other major media avenue.
4. Finally, the tolerance of foreign religions above the tolerance and acceptance of America’s foundational religion: Christianity.

These are all signs that pythos has found its place and settled in very comfortably, and our prayers, proclamations and prophetic declarations should be focused on recognizing this force and resisting it steadfastly. How? By doing what the Apostle Paul did – expelling it from a higher platform than any secular news media has – the true Church.

Daniel was able to deal with monstrous demonic strongholds, from a bedroom in prayer with fasting, WHILE IN EXILE. Angels came to Daniel and on their way to his house they destroyed the spiritual prince of Persia. This was the result of ONE MAN’S prophetic prayer.

Let’s join together and bind the stronghold that has risked the chance of not being recognized, and slipped into our nation’s capital. We refuse to be exhausted, out of breath and losing momentum and declare, “Arise O God and let your enemies be scattered as we praise, pray and prophesy,” The Lord God of Israel is the Lord God of America and we shall walk upright and declare His name unashamedly. God is going to strike this spirit down, and bring righteousness back to our country. I declare to you today that the spirit of pythos is going to be broken and you and I are going to do it together. We pray and release this nation from it. GO!

The original message can be found on Kim's website here:

http://www.kimclement.com/newsletters/KCMN09_10NL3.pdf