The Day of Reckoning for the Prophetic Movement Has Come, Part 2

Note: This is the second of a two-part series. For part one, click here.

Last week in the first part of this article, I listed several reasons why repentance and introspection are needed in the charismatic/prophetic church today.

Here are several more:

— Repentance for equating themselves with the Old Testament prophets as in 2 Chronicles 20:20. Since God spoke verbatim through the Old Testament prophets, belief in prophetic words was equal to belief in God’s word (2 Chron. 20:20). However, this is no longer the case in the New Testament (Heb. 1:1-2). It is a hermeneutical mistake to quote 2 Chronicles 20:20 for present-day prophecies. In the New Testament, we only prophesy in part and are required to test prophecies before we believe and act upon them (1 Cor. 13:9, 1 Thess. 5:19-21).

— Repentance for using the gift of prophecy to influence the national election. The primary use for prophecy is to glorify God by edifying the church (1 Cor. 14:2-4). I have found that very few prophetic voices are consistently accurate when they go beyond personal prophecies and give prophecies for a nation. They are usually prophesying beyond their level of authority and faith (Rom. 12:7). Also, prophecies have to align with the Lordship of Christ according to 1 Corinthians 12:3. Even in the Old Testament, prophecies of nations were spoken through the lens of their relation to the plan and purpose of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:11). Since Jesus is inheriting all nations, I believe prophetic words from Him are still needed regarding their alignment with His Lordship (1 Pet. 2:8-9). However, these words should not be rife with mere political motivations.

— Repentance for falling into mass prophetic delusion through groupthink. Similar to instances when the majority of the Old Testament prophets prophesied what they believed was good for their nation (instead of the true word of the Lord), many of today’s prophets have fed off one another and fell into a corporate spirit of deception (1 Kings 22).

— Repentance for engaging in Q Anon predictions as a presupposition for prophetic words. It is almost hard for me to believe, but several mature prophetic leaders informed me that many in their camp are being influenced by Q posts. Q Anon is cryptic and originated in the dark web. It is anonymous and is often wrong. Hence, it violates many of the basic principles of the word of God. Scripture admonishes us to know those who labor among us, have nothing to do with anything done in darkness and judge all words given (1 Thess. 5:12, Eph. 5:11, 1 Corin. 14:29). How can we judge an anonymous source?

Furthermore, the Bible blames the human dilemma on sin, while Q Anon blames all societal evil on a secret cabal of Democrats supposedly involved with human trafficking (Rom. 3:23).

The Significant Consequences

Unfortunately, many of the erroneous prophetic words have influenced millions of naive, sincere Christians, who longed to see the candidate of their choice get elected so that he could “save the republic.” There most likely will be some dire consequences for them unless they have strong pastoral guidance (woe to those who are not in a mature Gospel-centered church!).

Some possible consequences are detailed below.

— Masses of rank and file naive Christians being disillusioned with the charismatic gifts. It would not surprise me that one significant backlash from these misleading prophecies is that tens of thousands of Christians will leave the charismatic movement (especially churches that strongly espoused the prophetic) and turn instead to cessationist Christian expressions of the church.

Even worse, many may even become disillusioned with Christianity itself if their faith was intrinsically integrated with the prophetic. Hence, when these false prophetic words are deconstructed after Jan. 20, there will be a deconstructing of these leaders’ shallow grasp of the gospel.

— Movements built upon the prophetic will be shaken to their core. Some charismatic networks and movements have bought into the prophetic excess mentioned in this article. Those networks will likely have seismic aftershocks that may even threaten their very existence soon if they do not honestly repent and make immediate changes.

— Young prophetic leaders separating from some of their older prophetic mentors/peers. My experience has been that younger evangelicals generally eschew extreme political connections to Christianity. That being said, many young leaders in the prophetic movement may distance themselves from both their movement and their mentors. They will not want to be connected to those who made false national prophecies and those who aligned themselves with conspiracy theory-laden, far-right activists.

— The secular world lumping all evangelicals/charismatics together. As is always the case, the world will also attempt to excoriate all Christians (especially white conservative evangelicals) because a minority of them went along with Q Anon prophetic type activism.

— The world questioning the validity of all our historical beliefs. The world will likely be inclined to question the validity of all of the beliefs of those who confidently prophesied things that did not come to pass. Unfortunately, this includes the historic belief in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ; he is our only hope and is Himself the gospel.

May mature apostolic and prophetic voices arise today. May they eschew unbiblical practices. May they guide the charismatic church into a glorious future that will see the advancement of His kingdom. {eoa}

Dr. Joseph Mattera is an internationally known author, consultant and theologian whose mission is to influence leaders who influence culture. He is the founding pastor of Resurrection Church and leads several organizations, including The U.S. Coalition of Apostolic Leaders and Christ Covenant Coalition. Dr. Mattera is the author of 12 bestselling books, including his latest The Jesus Principles, and is renown for applying Scripture to contemporary culture. To order his books or to join the many thousands who subscribe to his newsletter go to josephmattera.org.