The Office of Prophet and Contemporary Times

There has been much written about the office and function of prophet in the past three decades. In this article I will be writing regarding my own experience in understanding what the Bible says about the prophetic ministry, and I will attempt to connect this to today’s world.

First of all, by prophet I am not referring to a person who exercises the gift of prophecy as taught in 1 Corinthians 14:2-4 (consisting of general exhortations, comfort and rebuke, which everyone in the church is encouraged to do; read 1 Corinthians 14:39). I am also not referring to a person preaching a sermon to a congregation. I am speaking about a person who, through much prayer, travail, and meditation in the scriptures, regularly stands in the council and heavenly assembly of God (with the angels and other messengers of God’s court) to hear what the Spirit is saying, so that the mind and heart of God can be communicated to the church and nation. Examples of a prophet standing in the council and/or court of the living God to hear His word are found in Isaiah 6:1-9; Ezekiel 1-3,10; Jeremiah 15:19; extraordinary examples of this can be found in the New Testament with the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:1-12 and the Apostle John in Revelation 1:9-20 and 4:1-2.

Jeremiah 23:16-22 shows that the main distinction between false and true prophets is that false prophets speak without being in the council of the Lord and, hence, utter words without ever being sent by God.

David Chilton says the following about prophets in his book The Days of Vengeance:

“The prophets not only observed the deliberations of the heavenly Council (cf. 1 Kings 22:19-22); they actually participated in them. Indeed, the Lord did nothing without consulting His prophets (Amos 3:7). This is why the characteristic activity of the Biblical prophet is intercession and mediation (cf. Gen. 18:16-33; 20:7, the first occurrence of the word prophet in Scripture). As members of the Council the prophets have freedom of speech with God, and are able to argue with Him, often persuading Him to change His mind (cf. Ex. 32:7-14; Amos 7:1-6). They are His friends, and so He speaks openly with them (Gen. 18:17; Ex. 33:11; 2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; John 15:15). As images of fully redeemed Man, the prophets shared in God's glory, exercising dominion over the nations (cf. Jer. 1:10; 28:8), having been transfigured ethically (cf. Isa. 6:5-8) and physically (cf. Ex. 34:29). They thus resembled the angels of heaven, and so it is not surprising that the term angel (Heb. mal'ak, Greek angelos) is used to describe the Biblical prophet (cf. 2 Chron. 36:15-16; Hag. 1:13; Mai. 3:1; Matt. 11:10; 24:31; Luke 7:24; 9:52)” (page 82).

So how do those standing in the office of prophet function in today’s world?

First of all, prophets are people who regularly engage in deep intercession and travail for the purposes of God to be fulfilled on the earth. Whenever a person is in true Spirit-led travail of soul, they are literally standing in the council of God—participating and pleading with God to have His way on the earth. A person who has no such deep experience with God will probably only be able to move in the simple gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:2-4) and not function in the office of prophet for the nation or church.

Second of all, true prophets take what they hear from God in the heavenly courts and pray or pronounce the will of God by faith, so that His will is done and His kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven (Luke 11:2). When it is spoken in prayer, they are pronouncing divinely inspired orders from God that are then transmitted from the throne room to the angelic beings (both good and bad) who serve as the spiritual archetypes that influence the earth realm (read Matthew 18:18-19; Ephesians 3:10).

Third, prophets can also be preachers who don’t only come with prepared sermons based on human wisdom of words but speak a specific word to the church and/or people that they heard from God in the heavenly courts. This kind of preaching transforms individuals and congregations because the force and authority of the Holy Spirit is behind it, and is manifest as a rhema word (Hebrews 4:11-13).

Fourth, prophets have a deep thirst to be in the presence of God and meditate on the word of God so they can actually engage God in the scriptures while God burns His searing hot truth and light into their being! This in turn enables the prophet to understand how to apply the word of God to the people or situation he or she is confronting, counseling or speaking into.

Fifth, prophets have an understanding of the times in which they live (1 Chron. 12:32). Through both natural knowledge (from reading newspapers, books, and interaction with high-level societal leaders) and spiritual knowledge (when in prayer or fellowship with God) they are able to take the natural knowledge they have assimilated and present it with clarity, divine accuracy and power! Thus prophets not only read the Bible but also keep up with current events so they can apply the word to contemporary situations.

Sixth, prophets always have a window open to God in their souls, resulting in them regularly moving in words of knowledge, words of wisdom, discerning of spirits and prophecy, even when they are not engaged or totally focused in an act of prayer or in a church service or setting. Thus they are always in fellowship with the person and presence of God and are able to hear what He is saying at a moment’s notice, even in the midst of their mundane, daily activities.

A close friend of mine serves as an extraordinary example of this. Once while he was walking in an airport terminal, he felt an impression to give a word of guidance to a total stranger, who was at that moment praying in his heart for divine guidance. The result of this prophetic word was confirmation for Pastor Jonathan Cahn to write the New York Times bestselling book The Harbinger. 

I have often operated in this gift, but many times the person I am speaking to doesn’t know it because my words come in the context of a regular conversation, yet with significant results. (I can give many examples of this but do not have space in this article.)

An examination in the gospels shows that Jesus regularly moved in words of knowledge as part of His evangelistic and prophetic ministry, to confirm His word to those He was speaking to (read John 4; Mark 2:8-10; 3:1-7).

Seventh, prophets do not have to be pastors or preachers, but can be marketplace leaders who function with a high degree of intimacy with God and use it in a profound way to engage culture and affect change in the lives of those they are working with. For example, read the prophet Daniel chapters 2, 4, 5 and the account of Joseph in Genesis chapters 40 and 41. These are two men who had secular jobs but utilized their prophetic callings to transform nations and empires!

Also, my prophetic friend mentioned in the previous point is not a full-time preacher but an accountant!

Eighth, prophets walk in the royal favor of God. Somehow they are usually at the right place and the right time! Thus, God is always providentially opening up doors for them or guiding them, even when they are not aware of it!

Ninth, prophets are able to divinely interpret the redemptive reasons for the suffering, pain, and seasons of life that people experience. They are able to give profound words of advice that can transform a life, answer a prayer, bring clarity to an enigma, or help a person discover their purpose, just with a short conversation, prayer or prophetic word. Whole books of the Bible like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Amos illustrate the power of prophets who are able to interpret the times and the seasons for the people and nation they live among.

Tenth, prophets are called to represent God to a people or nation and bring a covenant lawsuit to them (Micah 3:8). The word witness was originally a legal term regarding a person that was an aide to a person bringing a lawsuit, even to the point of being part of the legal process that involved execution! Thus, prophets who stand in the heavenly council as witnesses of the Lord not only hear God’s will regarding a people or nation but can actually be part of the process that brings judgment to that person or people group.

Biblical examples of this include Elijah in 1 Kings 17:1, when the prophet declared to King Ahab that Israel would have a drought until his word released rain; Peter in Acts 5, when he pronounced judgment upon Ananias and Sapphira for lying; Paul in Acts 13, when he blinded Elymas the sorcerer for obstructing the gospel; and John in Revelation 1:3, when he bore witness to the words of Christ that resulted in bringing judgment on false Israel and the pagan systems of the world that Israel was in cahoots with.

Finally, most importantly, prophets have learned that those who are friends with politicians and wealthy people are a dime a dozen. But those who are intimate with God are very few on the earth! The most important function for a true prophet is to be a friend of God who knows God and speaks to Him face-to-face as a man speaks to his friend (Deuteronomy 34:10; John 15:15).

By Joseph Mattera

Graham Cooke shares his passionate views about the purpose and role of New Testament prophets.

When you talk to Graham Cooke, you can sense he’s been hanging out with God. He’s at the same time down-to-earth and full of spiritual wisdom on everything from prayer to spiritual warfare to prophecy to intimacy with God. Cooke is well known for his prophetic training programs and has a passion to build prototype churches that can reach our postmodern society. God also uses him to help transition churches into higher levels of vision and ministry.

Cooke is a building prophet. A British native, he is part of the pastoral ministry leadership team at The Mission in Vacaville, Calif. Cooke’s ministry, the Future Training Institute, sends resources to the poor around the world, and his books and interactive journals, including “Approaching the Heart of Prophecy,” “Developing Your Prophetic Gifting” and “Permission Granted,” are helping to equip thousands of believers for the work of the ministry.

The Voice magazine caught up with Cooke to talk about the state of the prophetic ministry today.

The Voice: What should we be doing as prophets in this time?

GRAHAM COOKE: Well, first of all there is a biblical link between apostles and prophets laying foundation in the church. The role of a New Testament prophet primarily is not to prophesy. It’s to teach people how to hear the voice of God themselves because Jesus said “My sheep know My voice.” We actually need millions of Christians released to hear the voice of God for themselves. 

New Testament prophets therefore are essentially prophets of confirmation. They bring new words and so forth, but their role is to teach people how to hear the voice of God, to teach people how to live, find, discover, and live in the will of God and create a church as a prophetic community. In the process of all of that prophets teach people how to handle the different levels of prophecy, like edification, exhortation, comfort, words of revelation, words of warning and so on. Prophets should model how people should prophesy; they model who Jesus is. So we produce this prophetic community that really understands about grace, mercy and reconciliation.

THE VOICE: I’m seeing a lot of curses and judgment being pronounced in prophetic circles. What’s your view on that?

GRAHAM COOKE: John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets. Jesus was the first of the New Testament. But John had to come and bow the knee, which is the Old Testament model bowing the knee to the New Testament model. So think of it this way: Do you think Jesus was punished enough for sin? Do you think the Father judged Jesus thoroughly? Did He spend every last ounce of anger and wrath on Christ on the cross?

THE VOICE: Absolutely.

GRAHAM COOKE: So then there’s no judgment left, no anger left, no punishment left. God is fully satisfied. Between Calvary, which was judgment on Christ, and the Judgment Day when all the books will be opened, there is no place for judgment in this world. What does judgment look like? We’re not judging humanity. We do sit in judgment on authority over the demonic. We cast out devils. But when it comes to a sin sick world, we are ambassadors of reconciliation. We’re saying a price has been paid. You cannot say on the one hand the price has been paid and be reconciled to God and then be judging people for their sin on the other hand. If all the judgment has been put on Christ, there is no judgment for us to enter into. It’s the goodness and kindness of God that brings people to repentance. We’re ambassadors of reconciliation and we have to move in the grace and mercy of Christ. When we look at a person who’s in sin we are assessing them not about their sin, we are assessing them in terms of Father. We are asking how much grace and mercy do we need to show to this person in order for them to be reconciled?

THE VOICE: That’s beautiful.

GRAHAM COOKE: As the Church we are stepping into the gap with Jesus and we are praying for mercy, not judgment. We want God to rain down mercy so the love that covers a multitude of sin can come into the community and people can see what God is really like and fall in love with Him. That’s our job and I think that’s a huge part of prophetic ministry in the earth. What if the biggest problem in America is the lack of goodness? The Bible says we overcome evil with good. What if the biggest problem in America right now is that the Church does not understand the true Gospel message? And it doesn’t understand the true nature of God. So she is not positioned to pull down favor from heaven because we’re in this other mindset, which is God is wrathful. And He’s not. He vented all of His anger on Jesus.

THE VOICE: I’ve had people tell me I’m a fool for saying similar things. Do you get backlash for this stance?

GRAHAM COOKE: Yes, it’s a good fight though. The fight is to move away from the whole religious mindset and to see ourselves as the beloved of God, that we have favor and God wants to push His favor through the Church to a hurting world. That’s the fight we’re in and that’s what we’re contending for in the prophetic.

THE VOICE: Do you see a time coming when prophets are going to relate to the Lord differently?

GRAHAM COOKE: Yeah...I do know a handful of prophetic people like myself who have been living this stuff for a long time now, but what I see right now is that the tide is turning. There are more and more prophetic people coming under this kind of influence and we’re actually cutting the ground away from the cowboy prophets who are just out there doing all the usual doom and gloom stuff. I’m still waiting for a bunch of prophets to apologize for the Y2K nonsense. Those guys they were so visible and made so much money and then suddenly its like they are denying they had that revelation.

The numbers are starting to grow and there is a measure of accountability coming to the prophetic ministry. We need to get our act together and really look at whom and how are we disciplining and mentoring people. That’s the reason really why I’m rewriting “Developing Your Prophetic Gifting.” Whether or not I get killed, this is what I’m teaching. This is what I believe. This is what I want to be known for.

THE VOICE: That religious spirit is a murderous spirit.

GRAHAM COOKE: Have you ever seen that film “The Apostle”? It came out years ago and some guy was the star of it. He actually grew up in Pentecostal religion. In order to study for the role he attended loads of Pentecostal churches throughout the country. He brilliantly acted and did an astonishing job, but I hated the premise of the movie because it was just all the usual religious nonsense. The deceptions. I remember sitting in the cinema and hating it so much I wanted to climb on the screen and punch his lights out. I was so annoyed. In fact, I got up to leave and the Lord said to me, “Sit down. I want you to see this and I want you to come back tomorrow night and the following night because I want you to know. I want you to see your enemy. I want you to see the religious spirit because that’s what I’ve raised you up to fight.”

Then I went back and took notes. I want to fight this thing so badly, I can taste it. I don’t want to fight it the way that it fights. I want to fight it by living in the opposite spirit. I don’t want to judge it because there’s no judgment. I want to say that there is a more excellent way and this is it. I want to move in the opposite spirit instead because you overcome evil with good.

THE VOICE: Your words are so refreshing. Why don’t we see more watchmen prophets, more prophets to the nations who are really standing in the gap and making up a hedge?

GRAHAM COOKE: I meet a lot of new people on the prophetic scene and I honestly believe that most of them won’t last the distance because they have no eternal rest, they have no place of inner peace or rest. Some of the guys who have been my mentors over the years, the first things they taught me were not about the prophetic. They taught me how to live with God. They taught me how to live from the inside out. One of them taught me that if you want longevity in the ministry you have to spend 80 percent of your anointing on God, in intimacy, in worship, in waiting on Him and in meditation.

Now this is my 33rd year in the ministry and I spend four months of my year in meditation. I look at some of these people coming through and some of them are incredibly busy and they’re marked for ministry, but in the end I’m more about doing than being. I think that there’s no patience in them, all their prophetic stuff is about quick, quick, quick. I think, too, that there is a huge difference between blessing prophets and building prophets. Right now we have way too many blessing prophets and not enough building ones. All the blessing prophets, unless they have adequate training and mentoring, always root their prophetic ability in the Old Testament and not the New. So that’s something we need to correct. I’ll still say I’m excited, Jennifer; it’s a fight, it’s a good fight and it’s one that we’re going to win.

THE VOICE: What would you say to young or unknown prophets to encourage them?

GRAHAM COOKE: Find your tribe. Go through the Scriptures, go through the New Testament, ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you about what New Testament prophesy is and then look for people who have that kind of message, who may be ahead of you. Go join yourself there and build a relationship with those people who will want to set you free. Go and find your tribe and then go to a place where you can be celebrated and you can grow and develop. Don’t stay in a place where you’re merely tolerated and not really wanted. I do believe that the Lord is digging out prophetic wells in various regions around the country. Go join yourself to fathers in the prophetic who can develop you into real sonship.

From The Voice.

Persistent Prophetic Warfare

Comment: This is not your typical prophetic word. This is a prophet clarifying the prophetic work to which many of us here in the northwest are called. Understand the warfare that you are a part of, take appropriate action, and do not let anything stop you.

Persistent Prophetic Warfare

From my experience there are two “branches” of Persistent Prophetic Warfare. There is what the Persistent Prophet continually does to wage war against the forces of darkness. And, there is what the forces of darkness continually do to wage war against the Persistent Prophet.

Of course, this is also generally true for ANY Child Of God. All born-again believers WILL have to wage war against the forces of darkness – it is written – and WILL suffer backlash and setbacks from that effort – which is also written. There is NO escape. It is our collective reality – and God has made this struggle plain in His Word. From God’s point of view, we are clearly to expect – by faith –  that there will be victories, and we are also clearly warned that there will be struggle.

It was the same for Jesus Himself. 

But I am writing about that particular subset of the overall battle called “Persistent Prophetic Warfare.” And more importantly, about the enemy’s objective and the tactics meant to bring Persistent Prophetic Warriors down.

The scriptural references that apply are legion, I know you know them, so I will be limited in using them and write more from my heart. 

Let’s assume that if you are on my email “to” list [where this article was first published],  that I consider that you already know you have a Prophetic Call of some kind – whether it is the primary Call on your life – a complimentary or secondary Call – or you have intimate knowledge about or experience with those that do have a Prophetic Call. Let’s also assume that as “experienced” prophets we have already exhibited decades of proven experience – and have had ongoing struggle as we have “walked out our faith.”

We have been Persistent Prophetic Warriors.

The enemy is not stupid. When satan sees that you are being obedient and affective – especially long term – he will do whatever he needs to do to “take you out.” He will also be persistent. He will continue to attack your day job, those to whom you report to – like bosses or supervisors, your finances, family, friends, your prophetic “vision”, your health, etc. ...even your effort to continue on with life itself. Misunderstanding, rejection, weakness, shame, embarrassment, disappointment, doubt, fear, and sickness may be your “familiar reality.” You may even be called in front of legal authorities multiple times and find yourself having to repeatedly defend yourself for things you may or may not have actually done. Your family, friends, Christian friends, and co-workers may question you and turn away from you many times.

At points you may loose your prophetic vision too – as these things repeatedly rise up to overwhelm you – and not just in ones and twos – but multiple avenues of warfare coming against you over and over – and over long periods of time.

Effective Prophets sometimes fight on with few friends understanding what they are doing. Effective Prophets may feel the sting of isolation and wonder why they have so many victories, so little recognition, and so much struggle and discouragement. Prophets will know the Juniper Tree. 

And, if Satan can’t destroy you, he will try to distract you.

He will try to separate you from your First Love – and divert you away from your Calling and mission.

He will try to keep you focused on material things: your money, house, cars, clothes, tools, other worldly possessions, and the struggle to get and maintain them. He will try to make work and your ministry overwhelm you: with diverted time, an appeal to selfishly excel, and constant dissatisfactions with procedures, policies, bosses and co-workers. He will try and disappoint you with your family and friends. At times they will be indifferent toward you, neglect you, and – as in my case – outright reject you. He will try and bring fear into your life through the personal, national and international issues we are all facing. He will attack your health, ability to rest, cause you to be dissatisfied with your own level of fitness – and anything or everything else about you. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Satan will use whatever he can to separate you from the Love of Jesus, the Voice and Power of the Holy Spirit, the Absolute Care of our Heavenly Father, and the CALL He Himself has placed on your life. 

You will have Battle Fatigue. 

You will have battle fatigue. Not much fun, huh?

Hardened combat soldiers – those who continue to wage effective war on the battlefield against the enemy – ARE going to be the enemy’s target.   

Experienced Prophet warriors – those who continue to wage effective war against the forces of darkness and win – ARE going to be satan’s target. 

Both are going to face exhaustion. Both are a great threat to the enemy – and the enemy is going to direct his resources toward the greatest threat. 

There is that element of combat experience where the soldier and Prophet get to the point that life and death, victory and defeat don’t matter.

Continue the Fight.

What matters is continuing the fight. Because continuing the fight is right. 

So, be careful to face up to the fact that you are in this thing – Persistent Prophetic Warfare – for the long haul – and that in a certain sense (understand this with godly wisdom) “you” don’t matter.

What matters is far greater than ourselves or any earthly kingdom. What matters is Jesus and the Kingdomof God – and that in the heat of battle you continue to recognize the enemy, continue keep your weapons aimed at him, and continue pulling the trigger.

If victory comes, which it most surely will, there will come a time when your Reward is made known.

Jesus Himself will not forget you – either in the fight or afterward.

The Holy Spirit will continue to empower you and be your Advocate – both in the fight and afterward.

And, our Father will both dry your tears – and bring ultimate judgment.

As it is written: “God is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” 

He Himself said that He would “neither leave us nor forsake us.”

Be persistent. 

Keep pulling the trigger.

Unlike combat soldiers, Prophetic Warriors have an unlimited supply of weapons and ammunition – and our Leadership does not fail.

Regards, Scott

Scott Wiley Arnold

Missouri USA

September 18, 2009

Via Northwest Prophetic

Firefighters: the Connection Between an Apostolic/Prophetic Warfare Team and Intercessors.

I heard an excellent illustration recently, of the relationship between warriors and intercessors that a friend Bruce Turnbull shared with me. He was a firefighter in the navy and they had a drill where a room was filled with JP5 fuel and set on flames. The firefighters worked in two different teams consisting of 4 men each. They stood in two rows as close together as possible. They were staggered kind of like a honeycomb or bricks in a wall. The hose and applicator are held only by the front man in each team.

The job of the #1 hose team was, as soon as they opened the door to sweep back and forth from one side to the other, pushing the flames back from off of the fuel. A person from #2 team stood right behind the #1 team front person and had an applicator that sprayed a mist of water, that basically created a "wall" of water to keep them cool and protected. If the front person wasn't diligent and didn't go all the way to one of the sides, the fire would get through the space and set the fuel behind them on flames again and engulf them both.

If the person from team #2 didn't keep the front person protected with spray, then the insurmountable heat from the fire would be too much for him to stand. Because of the great heat he would lose control of his mind and cause him to be unable to do his job correctly. The reason there are 4 men in a team is because they require more than one man on a hose because the power of the hose is too much for one man to handle. If the front man tires then the second man takes over and #1 goes to the back.

In this illustration, the front team are the front line soldiers and the team in the back are the intercessors and together they form a combined warfare team. The clearest scriptural example of this is in the Old Testament, where Moses, Aaron and Hur are the intercessors on the mountain and Joshua and his men are the front line soldiers down in the valley. Together they formed a combined warfare team and both were vitally important. We discover from this passage that when Moses lowered His arms the warriors would begin to lose and when he raised his arms they began to win. So the key to the victory was in the intercession, but on the other hand, if there are no soldiers down in the valley, there is no battle.

How does this apply to the church today? The intercession part of this equation is already happening in many churches. How many churches do you know, that don’t already have an intercession group? On the other hand, how many churches do you know that has a front line soldier's warfare team? Many have equated intercession to be like a destroyer bombing the shore before the marines go in and hit the beach. In most churches then, we have the shore being bombed over and over, but no one is going in to take the beach. The church, therefore, is in a desperate need for front line soldiers to be raised up

As in the example of Moses and Joshua, the teams can be both men or both women or a mixture. We see that both men and women are involved in the intercession teams that are already in place, however in many cases there is a much greater number of women. Perhaps, the “front-line soldiers” team is the ministry for many of the men who presently haven’t found a place to plug into in the church.

Bruce also shared with me a revelation that God had given him, that men were created to be warriors and when they don’t have a foe outside to fight, then they begin to fight their own families and their aggressiveness is focused inward. This seems to be confirmed in the scriptures, for instance Numbers 1:2&3 - "Take a census of all the congregation … every male, head by head from twenty years old and upward, whoever {is able to} go out to war in Israel, you and Aaron shall number them by their armies”. This indicates that all men who were 20 years old and over, were expected to be soldiers and were numbered by their armies

Doesn't there need to be “call to arms,” to mobilize men into front line spiritual warfare? Think about it: wouldn’t this be the logical progression as the next step after the Promise Keepers movement. This movement helped men to get things straightened away at home, to be the kind of fathers and husbands that God had called them to be. Now that things at home are in better shape, shouldn’t the focus be for them to rise up as warriors and to battle the enemies of their family and church and community.

May I suggest the formation of front-line warfare teams in each church, with the purpose of seeking the Lord as to His strategy for their church and region.

If An Apostle Gives Space To Prophets To “Operate,” Is That Indicative Of Ranking?

"Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord." Ephesians 2:20-21 NLT

I have always wondered why people see rank in the Body of Christ? When I interpret dreams (which I seldom do) I know that vehicles, boats, airplanes in a dream are usually indicators of ministry or ministries. Can even be a church.

That's why when a friend made the statement about space, I heard the Lord speak in terms of Ministry and vehicles.

Do apostles give space to Prophets to "Operate"?

Prophets reveal to Apostles where that Space IS. A church will tip if the foundations are one sided. See the passage above.

Consider the ministry an Apostle is head of as an automobile, a modern automobile.

The Apostle steers the car, starts it, shuts it off, people see the driver, he's visible. It's his car. Yet, he drives blind without the Prophet.

The Prophet keeps the headlights on, the turn signals working, the GPS connected, the windshield clean, the rear view mirrors properly adjusted, the speedometer accurate, the gas gauge showing how long before a pause is needed and if something is wrong in the engine blinks a trouble light saying so.

The apostle may keep driving without any of those things in his "Space" operating, but he will soon go off course, run out of gas and likely crash. I don't consider it a giving, but a responsibility to be what God called me to be, a Holy Ghost Safety equipment complex for the Apostolic car.

In the old days, there were no headlights on cars, or they were very dim. No tail lights. No turn signals (I owned a car with no turn signals). No GPS. You knew by putting a stick in the tank how far you could go till you needed more gas, many cars had no mirrors, no engine trouble light. Cars didn't go far or fast and there were a lot more accidents. The Prophetic metaphorically speaking has given Apostles the ability to find the space they need.

I have knows some reckless driving Apostles. They should be arrested. Most crash before.

If as a Prophet I give a wrong reading or am reflecting an improper image in the mirror or don't keep the windshield clean, I'm not doing my job and need to be replaced or repaired.

Even the GPS in my car sometimes wants to take me down a road in areas I am unfamiliar with. It has a route that will get me there more directly and more safely. IF I am driving, sometimes I will over ride it's direction. IF I know the route clearly, I am OK. IF it's new to me...and I guess. I end up in a dead end. It's happened more times than I will admit.

I know a lot of Apostles who know how to drive but think they have a built in GPS. They think all the other things the Prophetic brings are window dressing. They are like the game some kids play, they turn the lights off and drive fast in the dark to prove how instinctive they are.

Eventually if they keep up that pattern, the world has a name for them...Casualties.

Look at the disasters in big ministries over the last few years. I keep asking the question, who was his Prophet? Why weren't they doing their job. How did it not come that the warning light blinked radically and insistently?

Apostles NEED Prophets, the don't make space for them. If they ignore or disregard, they are flying blind headed for a fall.

From the blog of a guy that calls himself "Prophet Gene."

Eckhardt on Apostles and Prophets

John Eckhardt is one of the clearest apostolic voices in America today. Here he's teaching on a subject near and dear to this blog: how apostles and prophets work together, and how to raise up a prophetic community within your church.

The Prophetic Savant

by Chip Brogden

originally published here

sa-vant’ (n.): 1. a mentally defective person who exhibits exceptional skill or brilliance in some limited field; 2. a person who is highly knowledgeable about one subject but knows little about anything else.

“…the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad…” (Hosea 9:7).

“What then is genius? Could it be that a genius is a man haunted by the speaking Voice [of God], laboring and striving like one possessed to achieve ends which he only vaguely understands?”
A. W. Tozer

(*The use of the male pronoun in this writing is for convenience only. We mean no partiality to our brothers, and no disrespect to our sisters.)

The prophetic savant is a person afflicted with a heavenly autism, making him nearly incapable of normal relations with those around him. Accused of being aloof, cold, and distant, he is apt to hide himself from people, withdrawing into a world of his own. He never seems to be all “there”. Even if he forces himself to come down to Earth for a moment, those around him may have the sense that there is an unspoken dialogue going on somewhere inside of him, a secret communion carried on beneath the surface that never allows him to be fully “in the moment”.

How do we explain this? As a prophetic savant he sees, hears, and relates to the world differently than the rest of the population. They have not seen what he has seen; they have not heard what he has heard. And so he finds very little camaraderie, very little sympathy or understanding, no one with whom he can open his heart and share his soul, because he no longer speaks the same language, and they no longer speak his. Of course, he may have surface-level exchanges with anyone: he is approachable, not haughty, or high-minded. He may even be personable and likeable. Yet there is something so other-worldly in his demeanor that he is more often frightening than friendly, in spite of his best efforts. He is a spiritual autistic, and no matter how hard you try to know him, he is generally unknowable, and to a certain degree, he resists all attempts to know him.

If a prophet is anything, he is extra-terrestrial – above the Earth. He walks the Earth with others, but he is not of the Earth. He is from beyond; he is from above. If we trace his history we will find that he may or may not have had a normal childhood. He may or may not have come through extraordinary experiences. But at some point in his life, either as a child, or as a young adult, or as an old man, something from another realm broke through the thin membrane between Heaven and Earth and took hold of him. It may have been a burning bush, or a Voice crying out to him from beyond the veil, or a Heavenly Vision which brought him briefly into contact with something and Someone that he could not completely fathom.

However it happened, for one moment at least, the clouds parted and the veil was rent, and he saw something that is unseeable; he heard something that is unhearable; Heaven itself was opened up to him, and he saw into another world. The thing he saw and heard now burdens him like a mantle that has been draped over his shoulders. He feels its weight, for it is with him day and night, whether he is eating or drinking, working or resting. It is the impression that everything around him is a lie, and what he has seen and heard is the Truth, and this Truth is not static, but it is living, growing, and increasing within him from the day it comes to him in the form of a seed.

For a long time he struggles to find words and vocabulary to express the inexpressible. He cannot explain why he feels the need to try and express it, but for some inexplicable reason something drives him to open his mouth, or take up his pen, and make it known. Whatever it is, it will not permit him to savor it or keep it to himself, and it seems intent on coming to the surface and interrupting the normal course of his life. This process can be frustrating and painful, so much so that he may give up several times, content to simply walk in what he has seen and heard and leave it at that.

But try as he might, he cannot run away from what he has seen and heard, and he cannot deny the compulsion to bring it forth. On the one hand he cries out for a “normal” life, while on the other hand he knows he cannot deny what has been revealed to him. When he does achieve some modest success in articulating something of Heaven he is pleased for a time, but soon grows impatient with it, and eventually is dissatisfied with it altogether, because it cannot do justice to what he has seen and heard. And so the process begins again, the continual search for words to more perfectly express what he is trying to communicate (and a subtle fear in the back of his mind that he may never be able to adequately express it), which leads him to invent words which may have never before existed, or to look for Spirit-inspired words in some unknown tongue that can be translated into something others can understand.

The prophets of old correctly called it the “burden of the Lord”, for it is like a woman who must live the rest of her life being in perpetual labor, delivering the same child over and over again. What relief there is only comes in discharging the burden, but that is not to say it ever really leaves: it merely allows the prophet time to catch his breath until the next contraction doubles him over again. The burden is with him the rest of his life, and he never fully discharges it.

Even when he tries to be disobedient to the Heavenly Vision and flees from the presence of the Lord he is pursued and hunted down like some kind of a wild animal who has gotten loose, knowing it is only a matter of time before he is captured again. The Voice never leaves him, the Vision never lets him go. When he refuses to speak then the fire which is already kindled only burns hotter, until he ends up doing what he has resisted doing all along, just to relieve himself of the unbearable tension and inward pressure. He cannot extinguish or quench the fire no matter what he does, he can only be obedient and find temporary relief, until the next word comes, and then off he goes. He may beg God to send someone else, and may protest his inability to speak, or to write. But he is already ruined for anything else, and even when he denies the Lord Who called him and returns to his former occupation, it is all dull and lifeless, and he meets with nothing but frustration and failure. There is no way to escape it. He knows he is called to something Higher, even when he is clinging with everything he has to something Lower.

Like a wild horse, he resists the dealings of the Lord and must be broken before he will obey. Eventually he learns not to resist the Lord, but to cooperate with Him. He becomes pliable and bendable in order to survive. His very life now is bound up with what he has seen and heard. He cannot be disobedient to the Heavenly Vision, and if it means he dies, then he dies. If it means a renunciation of everything he once believed, then he renounces it – reluctantly at first, then cheerfully. If it means suffering the loss of all things, then he lets them go.

Over time the one who has seen and heard becomes the very essence of what he has seen and heard. The Man becomes the Message. He bears the Testimony in himself, and becomes one with it. He needs no preparation to speak; indeed, preparation does nothing to help the message he brings, and it often gets in the way. His whole life is the preparation, and since he is the Message, it is with him constantly. He can no more separate himself from the Message than he can separate his head from his body. If there is an “On/Off” switch then it was long ago turned on and then disabled so that it can never be turned off again. After many seasons of God’s dealings he finally perceives that this is what the Lord has sought for all along, not just to GIVE him a Message, but to MAKE him a Message; to gain for Himself a Messenger and capture him completely, embossing the Message into his very being.

And so he goes about his daily business, constantly haunted by that Voice, torn between the menial task at hand which calls for his physical and mental exertion, and the Higher Calling which seeks his undivided attention. He knows he should do all things, great and small, as “unto the Lord”. But he also knows that Heaven and Earth are locked in mortal combat over him while he stands there in the middle, torn between the two, desiring to depart the Earth altogether and be with Christ, but knowing that it is more profitable for his brethren if he remains. Heaven calls him to rise up, but Earth tells him to keep his feet firmly planted. His heart is constantly breaking and longing to go, to ascend, to rise up, to stop seeing through a dark glass, and see face to face, without the distraction of the natural, the fleshly, the temporal, because he knows the Earth is not his home. Yet he struggles with the fact that Earth is where he must live and work. This accounts for why he may sometimes seem difficult to be around.

As a savant he possesses insight and skill which others do not possess. But it is a gift, not anything of himself, nothing of which he could boast of. If you were to ask him if he considers this to be a blessing, he would probably say it is more like a curse, because it sets him apart from others even when he tries his best to be hidden and to blend in. He cannot read the Scriptures as others do, for after only a few verses the Heavens are opened up to him again and he is lost in its depths. A single passage may keep him occupied for months as Heaven unfolds it to him, and he cannot tear himself away from it.

His preaching is affected, because he cannot decide in advance what he will say, and even when he would like to bring forth something new and exciting, he usually ends up saying the same thing, like, “Repent!” He often does not say what he wants to say, and does not say it in the way he would like to say it. If he wants to be serious, he finds himself laughing. And when he wishes to be friendly, he finds himself screaming at the top of his voice to a startled congregation of people, who wonder how this fellow was ever allowed access to their inner sanctum in the first place. When he leaves a place he almost never sees the result of his labor, and only eternity can reveal the true significance of what was said. For now, it is all hidden, and he has to live with the fact that his fruitfulness will never be measured in terms that human beings, including himself, can see and appreciate.

He cannot go through the motions of religion like most mortals. It is a dead, shallow thing to him because it cannot compare to the reality of what he has already experienced. He finds it difficult to listen to another person preach when he knows they have not yet ascended to the heights nor plumbed the depths that he has already navigated. And when he tries to lead them into these heights and depths himself he is often misunderstood or rejected altogether. So either he attends the meeting and suffers in silence, or stays home and suffers in solitude; but either way, he suffers.

His seeing is affected by a sort of “spiritual dyslexia”. While others view things from a one or two dimensional viewpoint, he sees them through several dimensions at once – forward, backward, reverse, upside-down, right-side up: life and death, light and dark, Spirit and flesh, Heavenly and Earthly – which often puts him at odds with his more pragmatic and doctrinally-correct brethren. He is so at one with what he has seen that he speaks of it as having already happened, because he has, in essence, already experienced it and lived it. It is the Prophetic Tense, which calls those things that be not as though they were. In his world, the world of the Spirit, they exist already. We call it “prediction” because we cannot yet see it with our natural eyes, but he simply stands outside of Time and views Past and Future as one unbroken and continuous Present.

His hearing is affected so that he is increasingly sensitive to his surroundings, even though it seems as if he is not paying attention. He is listening, but he is listening inwardly. He no longer trusts his natural ears, because the Heavenly Voice and the inner witness are more reliable. Thus, he is able to hear God speaking, while the rest of the crowd says, “It thundered!” or “It was an angel!” He is also able to hear when God is not speaking, and does not get carried away with the multitudes who claim to speak, see, and hear things from God when they have not heard or seen anything from Heaven. He cannot bear to listen to them.

His concentration is affected in such a way as to make him appear obstinate and unyielding to others. The truth is that he is actually quite flexible and pliable before the Lord, but before man he is as solid and impenetrable as a rock. No amount of persuasion or argument from man will move him – but the slightest touch from the Lord will bring him to his knees. Having discovered the One Thing that is needed, he will tenaciously and ruthlessly shun the “many things” which crowd in to seek his attention, for he sees everything else as a distraction. Indeed, he is quite willing to sacrifice the good in favor of the holy. And when the Lord has him focused on a particular thing he is as a beam of light fastened upon a singular point until everything melts before it.

Even his praying is affected, for he can no longer pray as he wills and for what he wants. He seemingly has no will of his own. Instead the Heavenly Voice bids him to pray with a Heavenly perspective, and all too often the Heavenly perspective is at odds with the Earthly perspective. So when his brothers and sisters pray for blessing and increase, he finds himself praying for destruction and decrease; and when they are resisting and praying against something, he finds himself asking God to perform the very thing the rest of the world is against.

To the rest of the world, the autistic savant is a bit of a retarded genius, an unfortunate mixture of idiocy and brilliance, caught up in a world of its own. The prophetic savant bears a similar stigma. But if you engage him at all, you soon discover that he sees all of this as absolutely normal; the way it is supposed to be. He no longer wishes for a normal life, because the life he has now IS normal: he has lost his own life in exchange for a new life. He lives in the Heavenlies while he walks on the Earth. He does not think of himself as special, as anything other than a regular person, but often wonders aloud why others cannot see what he has seen when it is all so self-evident and plain. To him, maybe; but the rest of us are blinded by the Light he exudes without knowing it.

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.

Apostles and Prophets - A Story of Friendship

I’ve become friends with one of the most amazing men in the world. This letter is a tribute to him.

As I look around and see people adrift in their spiritual life, I’m fortunate to have found something that has kept my spiritual life more or less on track. I’d like to share with you the secret to this blessing.

A man I know who pastors a church I once attended resigned this week. Many church leaders have been in this spot. Eagerly taking the assignment, years later they’re floundering and frustrated in the adventure they once loved.

Some of us enter the church full of hope. But after suffering through painful experiences – we find ourselves looking at the church through eyes of pain and regret. What went wrong?

Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus saying that the church was founded on the apostles and prophets, with Christ being the cornerstone.

I never gave much thought to this verse until recently. Today, I understand the necessity of living by this truth.

I have friends who are reluctant to trust any kind of church leaders. Having been burned by them in the past – they see leaders as people out to control others. The men I know who shun leaders call themselves free men. They have only the Lord as their authority; they answer to no man. What becomes of them? They go off on adventures they can’t share with others. They learn secrets so deep no one else could possibly understand them. They’re free from criticism and free from the authority that would try to make them ‘normal believers.’ Blown in whatever direction the spiritual winds blow, they are boats tossed on the sea, rudderless and directionless. I feel for these adventurers who drift and spin and never seem to settle down to the business of life in the church. Were it not for a friend who came alongside me, I would have become one of these men.

I met this friend a few years ago, when I was in a season of major adjustment in every part of my life. I felt an instant ‘attraction’ to this guy that I couldn’t explain. I spent time sending him e-mails, asking a lot of questions. He patiently answered what he could and referred me to resources to do my own investigating on the rest. He didn’t spoon - feed me anything. He never treated me as someone less spiritual or less knowledgeable. He seemed to believe I was a peer – on equal ground in most respects, even though I didn’t see it that way.

A few months into our friendship, he pointed me to an article he wrote about ministry flowing through relationships. The article profoundly changed my life. I began to realize that success in ministry must be established through healthy relationships. One day it dawned on me why so many people don’t trust church leaders. Church pastors are assigned their positions. The people who attend a church have no voice in who becomes their leader. There’s no requirement to develop friendship or trust before a pastor is allowed to speak to you about your life. Its no wonder so many people reject the counsel of church leaders, when it comes from a complete stranger. No wonder so many pastors leave their congregations.

As our friendship grew, we occasionally met face to face, but it was rare because we’re both busy. We began to send text messages when we needed prayer. God gave me some dreams in which I was doing ministry with him. Then I began to have visions about him. In the visions, I saw God equipping him for battle before he knew there was a battle coming. In some visions, I saw his eyes fixed on the king he served. When I told him about the visions – it gave him great joy to know that God saw him this way.

My friend has been a constant source of humor, insight, revelation, encouragement, instruction, prayer support and so many other things I desperately need. I don’t know what I’d do without him.

My friend has free reign to discuss with me any part of my life. That’s a choice I made freely. He doesn’t have the final say. But he has freedom to discuss things. I know that I need someone to be accountable to – not because I’m a rascal, but because I’m human. I have good days and bad days. I run into teaching and experiences that are ‘questionable’ at times. He has the same issues I have. We keep each other on track and moving in the right direction.

Christ is the cornerstone; everything in the church is to be in alignment with him. The church rests on a foundation provided by apostles and prophets. An apostle without a prophet is adrift on the sea. A prophet without an apostle is a loose cannon that will eventually hurt those around him. In tandem, they keep each other in proper alignment. Together they carry the train we call the church.

I am blessed to have such a friend. I'd like to encourage everyone who reads this to find a kindred spirit who can come along side you as this man has to me.