People keep posting alleged prophetic words and videos, and quoting the professed “prophets”.  I’m going to reference a couple that stood out to me, then I’m going to tell you what I think is a real prophetic word for the hour we’re in.

1 Thess 5:19-20 tells us:  “Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances.”

And oh wow, how that likes to be used when someone has questions about a word or mouthpiece with the label “prophetic”.  The context of Paul’s thought, however, continues:  “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.”

Absolutely do not despise prophetic utterings, BUT….  BUT…. Examine everything carefully! 

We are to examine such utterances.  Other versions say “prove” or “test” them carefully.  Look at what Jamieson, Fauccet & Brown instruct with this passage:

You ought indeed not to “quench the Spirit” nor “despise prophesyings;” ‘but,’ at the same time, do not take “all” as genuine which professes to be so; ‘prove (test) them all.’ Means of testing existed in the Church: some had the “discerning of spirits” (1 Cor 12:10; 14:29; 1 John 4:1). Another test, which we also have, is to try the professed revelation whether it accord with Scripture, as the noble Bereans did (Isa 8:20; Acts 17:11; Gal 1:8-9). This negatives Rome’s assumption of infallibly laying down the law: the laity have the right of private judgment, and are bound to exercise it in testing every human teaching by Scripture. Locke, ‘Those who are for laying aside reason in matters of revelation resemble one who should put out his eyes to use a telescope.’

(from Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

And see how Barnes’ elucidates the passage:

We have a right for private judgment – and a better word there would be “personal”, as opposed to just accepting what a corporate body or council would lead us to believe.

That said, when I read some recent words by Julie Green, (alleged and professed prophet), and I examined them against the Word of God, I had trouble in my spirit accepting them as the rhema word of God.

First I had trouble with the phrase, “They took it, and you will see them give it all back.”  I’m assuming the “they” is the “evil system”, but who is that in particular?  Banks?  Politicians and legislators?  What did they “take” in relation to the housing market?  And what will they “give back”?    Anyone carefully observing the economy and the housing bubble we’re in can probably accurately predict a market crash – and they have been doing so for months if not years now.  But what has been taken and is going to be returned by whom? 

I could kind of shrug this one off a bit as general speech instead of specific, but then I really struggled with the next part:  “You will financially know a life free from debt and lack.”  Who will?  All of God’s children?  It’s prefaced with “My children”.  So is this a promise for every child of God regardless of their decisions in their life?  If they’ve become a slave to the lender (Proverbs 22:7), is this an emancipation then just because they’re indebted?  What if they chose to buy an expensive house, car, wardrobe, vacation and voluntarily indebted him/herself to a credit master?  Is that now whisked away and absolved?  What if some of God’s children are ruled by greed and they are in debt because of greed?  Is that just swept away too?  What if some of God’s children are in lack because of addictions that have whittled away their income pockets?  Are they suddenly no longer going to be in lack but recompensed from the consequences of their own actions?

How does this work?  What will this look like?  There were no qualifiers on this statement.  It reads like a carte blanche sweeping “reset” for anyone that’s a child of God.  Is that Biblical in the real world in real time?  Why did Christ tell us the poor we would always have with us if he meant there to no longer be lack or debt for His people?  Are the poor not God’s children?

And this third part practically undid me!  All of a sudden EVERY sickness of the body will be vanquished!  When??  When is this magic corporate healing supposed to happen??  And don’t we already have that in the victory of the Cross and the Resurrection?  Isn’t that why we’re instructed as Christ’s disciples to “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the leper”???  If God’s just going to wave His hand or whisper a word to do this miraculous corporate healing of every sickness and every need for medication, why have we been praying and laying hands and petitioning Heaven in obedience to Christ’s instructions?  Why do we have to wait?  I’ve laid hands and prayed for many people who have been healed (including myself).  It sure would be easier if I didn’t have to do that anymore.

This word does not pass an examination of the Word of God or the character of God in His Word.  I am responsible for examining it! 

One more:

So if I’m understanding this “prophecy” correctly, there will only be mass deaths of unbelievers?  Because it says God is protecting His children from these mass deaths and separating His children from the rest of the world.  It looks like here only the “enemies of God” will suffer in these mass deaths.  And what are these mass deaths from?  It sounds here like it’s a judgment from God that will cause them.  This utterance was from December.  We’re seven months later now…

And then we’re told if you took the covid vaccine and are concerned about the side effects, God’s going to render them harmless for you.  When?  Does that mean no believers have died from the vaccine or complications of its vaccine since this word was uttered?  Wow.  What about the believers who have already died from it?  Will they be resurrected?  Or is it just from date the utterance was made in December?  What Biblical precedence do we have for this?  Why has God overlooked the GMO food poisoning, the water and air poisoning, the pharmaceutical poisoning, and even the prior vaccine poisoning (see the increase in autism, autoimmune disorders, etc.) and we’ve suffered the consequences of these evils but THIS time…NOW….with this covid vaccine, we don’t have to suffer the consequences of our actions?  Is this consistent to the Word of God?  The character of God?  The history of God’s children?

I’m admonished to test or examine or prove the utterances alleged to be prophetic.  These don’t pass the test for me.

I’m not saying to throw the baby out with the bath water.  Just test the words.  Reject what doesn’t pass examination and receive what the Spirit gives.  God’s speaking through His children and not just those with national platforms.  He’s speaking through the common man and woman both in the church and out of the church.  He’s speaking through and to the young as well as the old. 

It’s important we learn how to hear the Voice of God ourselves and not become dependent on other people for hearing from God.  We don’t need to chase after the prophets.  We do need to seek God and be open to every way He wants to speak to us, including through others.

And it’s important we sharpen our discernment and not blindly accept everything said from every mouthpiece that claims to be “prophetic”.

Let’s try to learn from one more example in Scripture.  Go to 1 Kings 13 and read about the prophet from Judah who got a clear word about judgment coming to Jeroboam for his idol worship and a righteous king, Josiah, will be raised up to tear down the corruption of Jeroboam and the priests’ idolatry.  When the King attempted to seize the prophet for the declaration against him and his people, the king’s had withered.  King Jeroboam begged the prophet to pray for his hand, which the prophet did and it was restored.  At his healing, the King asked the prophet to come eat with him and we learn a very important detail:  the prophet was given specific instruction on how to give the prophetic word, and how to leave.  He was not to eat or drink anything, and he was to return home a different way than he came. 

Then an interesting thing happened.  An old prophet in the area heard about this event and intercepted the prophet and implored him to come home and eat and drink with him.  The prophet reiterated his instructions from God, then look what the old prophet replied,

1 Kings 13:18-19

“I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.'” But  he lied to him.  So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water.”

So the prophet ate and drank with the old prophet and as he was finishing the (real) word of God came through the old prophet and he decreed the prophet’s destruction for disobeying God’s command by eating and drinking.  The prophet departed and was killed by a lion on the road.

Now think about this for a minute.  The word of the nameless prophet from Judah was a genuine word from God that was accompanied with signs and wonders.  The old prophet who deceived the new prophet outright lied.  We’re not told if the Spirit led the old prophet to test the prophet from Judah, or if he did it of his own accord.  We only know it happened.  A prophet lied.  After that a genuine prophetic utterance came to the same prophet that just lied and deceived. 

We can learn so much from this.  You can get truth and lies from a mouthpiece of God.  You can get flesh and spirit from a mouthpiece of God.  We have got to learn how to hold fast to that which God has shown us, and to test the prophetic utterances that we not be deceived.

I’ll address what I think is a real prophetic word for this hour in the next post.