I know many of you believe in the five-fold ministry—apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists and teachers. We are most familiar with pastors, teachers and even evangelists. It’s rarer to see apostles operating in their gifts and even rarer to see prophets operating as the New Testament describes.
I’ll leave the discussion of apostles until another day. I just finished reading The Tales of a Wandering Prophet, a book full of practical insight on the prophetic gift. I highly recommend it.
The book is so good we excerpted a chapter on principles for prophesying in the July issue of Charisma because it is such practical teaching for our readers on how to move in this spiritual gift. Click here to read it online.
The book is by Hubie Synn, and I had the privilege of publishing it. What follows is not so much of a book review as it my commentary on Hubie, the integrity I see in his life and how his gift has influenced me in a positive way!
I first heard about him in 2008 when David Tyree of the New York Giants made the famous catch holding the football to his helmet during Super Bowl XLII. It is said to be the most spectacular catch in NFL history.
A friend of of mine who knows David Tyree well told us before the game that a prophet had predicted David would make an amazing play that would influence the outcome of the game. That prophet was Hubie Synn! (At the time I’d never heard of Hubie, but I thought it was interesting that the prophecy was made and that Tyree had told my friend).
As I watched the game, I was curious to see if the prophecy would come to pass. There was an amazing play earlier in the game by Tyree. To me, that fulfilled what had been prophesied. Then, only minutes before the game ended, came the amazing history-making catch.
It was so amazing and the behind-the-scenes story was so incredible that we did a story in Charisma—especially because prophecy was involved. Later, we published Tyree’s book called More Than Just the Catch. Both Tyree and Hubie go into a lot more detail in their books that tell this story.
Later I got to know Hubie. He’s an accountant in New Jersey—hardly my idea of a prophet. He’s also very soft spoken, almost timid. And as I watched his life, I saw a humility that sadly is lacking in the lives of many in public Christian ministry.
I also saw a real accuracy in what he had to say. As an observer of the body of Christ, I see a lot of flakiness. Remember Y2K? I know prophets who predicted some pretty dire outcomes that never happened.
With Hubie it’s different. His accuracy is pretty amazing. Only this week I listened to a word he gave me a year ago about a situation in my company that was so accurate we often talk about it among our staff. A situation came up that was different than what I had remembered Hubie had said. As I listened, he had given a disclaimer that fit perfectly in the change of circumstances I was dealing with. Hubie’s word is not like the Word of God of course—it’s not infallible. But I had such confidence in the accuracy that I wanted to investigate and see if I could understand what he really said.
It was this accuracy and humility that caused me to urge Hubie to write his first book. It’s beginning to take off. After only a few weeks, it’s in its second printing. With appearances on the Jim Bakker Show and on Daystar, he’s made a huge impact. At Jim Bakker, he prayed for and prophesied over every person in the audience hours after the show ended!
As amazing as these stories are, the biggest one was about The Harbinger, the best-selling book by Jonathan Cahn, which has now sold more than 2 million copies.
I’ve told this story before and Hubie tells his version in the book. It’s worth telling again.
Hubie was on a late-night flight with a layover in North Carolina. He was tired, but he felt prompted to speak to a Jewish-looking fellow sitting nearby. He assumed the man was an Orthodox Jew by how he was dressed.
After he resisted, he finally struck up a conversation by asking “What’s the good word?” The man was Jonathan Cahn, who was waiting for the same flight and was using the time to pray and ask the Lord to speak to him about what to do with this book manuscript he had just written. He was literally asking the Lord to speak to him when Hubie interrupted his prayer.
Hubie’s version is worth reading in the book. Long story short, Hubie gave him a word that he would shake the nation and he was trying to decide exactly what to do! Needless to say, this got Cahn’s attention.
Later, Hubie said he knew me and asked if he could mention the book to me. He sent an email and told about meeting this man in an airport and asked if I were interested. His email was very sketchy. But because of my confidence in Hubie, I said I was interested based on his recommendation.
And as they say, the rest is history.
So you can understand why I urged him to write a book and wanted to publish it. I believe Hubie has something to say to the church. I believe he’s a role model for others. I respect the gift that God has given him. I hope his book helps his ministry become better known. And I hope it’s a blessing to many!
You can see it for yourself. You can buy it at most Christian bookstores (and shopping there is a blessing to those who are supplying Christian books as a ministry). Or you can get from Christian Book Distributors for $9.99. It’s also available as an e-book from Kindle or from other online booksellers such as amazon.com.
Walmart and Books A Million also have a lot of copies of the book. Wherever you can find it, buy it. The stories Hubie tells will encourage you that if God can use him and his family with all the problems they went through, He can use you with the gifts He’s given you!
And help me get the word out by sharing this commentary and encouraging your friends to do the same! I believe you’ll be blessed by Hubie’s book and you’ll have insight about how God intends the prophetic gift to be used.
Steve Strang is the founding editor and publisher of Charisma. Follow him on Twitter or Facebook stephenestrang.
Joyce Meyer 
Stephen Strang 
