Below is an excerpt of some correspondence with a follower of some counterfeit
ministers of righteousness, and the response we received when we pointed out that he was placing his
faith in a counterfeit--in a well without water....
He initially wrote:
...My wife and have been separated 14 months now and I received a notice 3 weeks ago that
she had filed for divorce.
I have heard so many voices in the last 14 months, and so
I decided I wanted to hear something from God. ...
He told me through a prophet that He was
going to restore my marriage....
The person, quoted above, asked for our opinion of a ministry that we happened
to be personally familiar with (having lived in the area as well as having first hand, on site, experience
with the ministry in question).
The following is an excerpt of our communications on the subject:
His first email asking for our input: I don't travel in ___ circles much, but I have went
there 3 times in the last year for a prophetic word on Friday night.
They told me that God was going to restore my marriage. I was stunned because I hadn't even told them anything
about my wife or anything.
Our response wasn't delicate.
We frankly told him that most of what got passed off as prophetic words, at that place
every Friday night, was nothing more than old fashioned psychic soothesaying.
The "prophet" he was referring to, was actually a "prophetic presbytery" that took place
every friday night.
The "prophets" there, recorded the "words from the Lord" and allowed the person receiving
the "prophecy" to take a cassette tape recording of it home for a "suggested donation" of only $5 (to defray the cost of the
.50 cent cassette tape).
We personally know of numbers of false prophecys coming out of there.
The following was his response to our admonition about that ministry (and another one we mentioned):
I did not contact you for argument, nor to help tear down other believers....(remember, he asked us
what we thought about this ministry-we were only honestly responding to his questions).
If I wasted time looking..., I would never be able to hear from God. And I want to hear from God.
I have enjoyed ___ alot, and I will continue to....I have always given much more than 5 dollars (for the
tape), and I always will...
What a shame this Christian has such a lack of discernment and likes it that way.
He considers the effort it takes to discern the real from the counterfeit a waste of time.
Please also notice
This is a hurting person
He lost his wife, and these "prophets" told him he would get her back.
No wonder he enjoys going there, and no wonder he doesn't mind paying even more than the "suggested
donation" for these "prophecies".
They are telling him what he desperately wants to hear.
**These presbytery "prophets" are trained never to say anything negative.
I have read their workshop instructions, and the trainees are warned to go back to God and ask
him for another word (!) if he gives them a harsh or negative word for someone the first time they ask.
This hurting brother based their authenticity on the fact that they knew about his failed marriage "without
his telling them."
Well, Satan certainly knows about it (he had a hand in it)--so why wouldn't his ministers know about it?
Someone telling us about past events in our lives ...is not proof that
it is the Spirit of the Lord speaking through them
We personally know numbers of people who never miss a Friday night soothesaying session at the ministry
in question.
And we also know, by the written Word of God, that it is a Spirit of Whoredom which drives
Christians to to run here and there seeking a "Word From the Lord."
Putting it bluntly
They want their fortunes told
But, as "good Christians" they know better than to go to "Madame Zelda-Palm Reader" for it, so Satan has
set up some very convincing counterfeits under the guise of "prophetic presbyteries"--right in our very own churches!
Yes, we at Hungry Hearts Ministries, believe all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for the
Church today, including the gift of prophecy, but these prophetic "presbyteries" are not of God.
They are not scriptural, and neither are the prophetic training sessions that are provided for
the purpose of "activating" the prophetic gift in Christians--they even have them for children.
**Parents, please do not let these people get hold of your children. It is not the Holy Spirit
that is being activated at these sessions!
We can find absolutely no difference in either the language or the technique used in these prophetic
gift activation workshops from those used in psychic gift activation workshops.
The parallels are easy to see with only a minimal amount of research.
**Satan is very effectively using the peace, love and unity line within the Body of Christ, today, in
order to keep Christians from either giving or receiving warnings about his counterfeit activities.
Paul bluntly addressed some of the same problems, in his day, when dealing with counterfeits
who appeared to be ministers of righteousness.
He said, "ye suffer fools... gladly"
Peter didn't mince any words either when he told the people these charletons (false prophets) were
"making merchandise" of them (wonder what their "suggested donation" amount was?).
Jeremiah couldn't get any more plain when he said, "the prophets prophesy falsely... and my people love
to have it so...."
(do you imagine that was because the false prophets were saying only what the people wanted to hear?)
I don't suppose Paul, Peter or Jeremiah would pass the peace, love and unity test that seems to be the barometer
the church uses today in order to determine authenticity.
According to some... neither would we.
But it's a funny thing--relating to false prophets--we can't seem to find that test anywhere in scripture.
We do find the test that says if absolutely anything they say fails to come to pass--stone
them--that's a far cry from what trainees today are told about learning to prophesy in a safe environment
where it's all right to make mistakes while we're young in the gift and still learning.
We also find the test that says to inspect the fruit of their ministry.
But absolutely nothing about the peace, love and unity test.
The final word we received from this deluded hurting Christian brother was this: I cannot listen to
christians tearing down other christians, I can't and I won't... I have always given much more
than 5 dollars (for the tape), and I always will....
As long as there are Christians willing to give much more for a "word from the Lord," there will
be those willing to have their "palms crossed..." to give them one.