Another trend one might see in the prophetic movement is the “God told me” phrase applied to any and every thing. It is a strange mix of trying to be seen as “prophetic” and a perception that simply stating something as a want or need on a human level is somehow unspiritual or unacceptable.
Instead of honestly saying “I’d like to have a bigger house” it had to be seen as being part of a larger and more spiritual work of God, like “God told me to have young people live with me, so He told be to buy a bigger house.” If that is what you want to do, why can’t we simply say “I see a need for this, and I think I’d really like to do that” and then approach it from that perspective. Pray about it and seek counsel from that simple perspective. No need to convince everyone of the validity of the idea by backing it up with “words” and “dreams” and “signs”
Another pitfall is discerning normal LIFE in the people around, but being in a race to “prophesy” it, or be sure and let everyone know “God told me….”
For instance a person once said “God told me so-and-so was going to get pregnant” (a favorite testing of prophetic ability in my CLB), while in truth the woman named was newly married and made it clear to everyone they were trying to have children, and very much wanted to have children soon. Assuming they are a healthy couple, no one needs to be told by God that there will be a baby in the near future.
Why did we feel the need to do that? We painted ourselves into a corner doing that. If we were wrong (because the majority of the time by far it was just us, not God saying anything) then God was somehow misinformed? Strangely enough it rarely ever came to that because there was such a storm of constant words that nobody really kept track of any of them.
There’s no need to play the God card. This is life, normal life on earth. Fleeting and passing and not our eternal home, but life on earth nonetheless. You will have wants, needs, goals, ideas, and aspirations. You will be much freer if you just look at it from a simple understanding that God made us with intelligence and gives us the desire to serve and LIVE this life. Indeed pray about it, ask wise Christians for input. Seek God. But don’t get backed into a corner by over spiritualizing and looking for signs for every decision. If you make a mistake, your God is not called into question.
I am sad to see this spilling over to the youngest among us. It seems to be in vogue now to “prophesy” about the gifts and talents of unborn babies. What kinds of pressures will they face with this kind of expectation placed on them before they breathe their first breath of air? I’m not saying a parent might not have hopes for a child, or might not see some propensities early in life, but to publicly declare what a baby will do in his/her life, or even what talents they will have seems to me to be a heavy load to put on a child.
Actually, I think if God really did tell me something about my child’s future, making it public would be the LAST thing I’d do. I wouldn’t want to get in the way. If God said it, He’ll do it whether anybody knows about it or not.
the untangling 
I agree. There is way too much of this Christian “soothsaying” going on. I noticed this over 30 yrs ago when Christians would race to the mike to “prophesy.” -Noel
Like the use of numbers. It was fashionable for people to get “signs” from the numbers on their digital clocks when they awoke in the morning. If the numbers were the same twice or more in a row; it was a sign. (How did God lead us before digital clocks?)
Or the transaction numbers on receipts, etc.
This is straight out numerology, not Biblical prophecy.
I agree, too many people fighting over the mike to prophesy. -Noel
Excellent post. Summed it all up quite nicely. You did leave out the over used statement, “The Lord showed me that……” ( Fill in the blank ). Who’s going to disagree with that?!!? OF COURSE, that statement skips along, hand in hand with “Touch not God’s anointed..” …sort of like tweaking the church’s nose, ya know? I mean WHO’s going to disagree with a teacher who is “sharing” “the spoken word of God…”
Gag, gag, gag…gag..
It was conveyed in many forms, God told me/the Lord showed me/I had a prophetic dream… but the problem is, as you said, all discussion is cut off, and consequently nothing is judged as per 1 Cor 14:29 and 1 Thess 5:20,21.
Another outcome is that the very concept of prophecy is reduced to silly, piddling ‘words’ far from the wisdom and import of Biblical prophecy.
I think sometimes it’s how one says it. God really could be revealing something to someone, and these references abuse something that very well could validity…so sad that all these deceptions have come to this.
Ballerina, in the charismaniac wave the problem is how often and how casually “God told me” is used……. or on the other end of the spectrum in a way which stops any questions/any discussion.
So true. I especially can relate to “the Word of knowledge” so-and-so is pregnant.
Yeah I was in the charismatic. I dunno if you remember me, I use to have a blog on here “The Black Sheep”, I also send you emails? I hardly comment on here (worspress) anymore and I changed my profile pic etc.