Here's a posting I promised -- The FiveFold Ministry (Part V)

Leadership Gift #4: Prophets

Prophet = one who prophesies
Prophecy = supernatural utterance; revelation of God's will; speaking for God

In this discussion, we'll split the ideas into three parts:
i) How the Prophet functions
ii) The Prophet's role in the Church

Let's start with i) How the Prophet functions

This question could be easily answered: the Prophet prophesies. But it's important to define what "prophecy" really means. The Bible has two definitions for the term "prophecy", depending on when (and who) used it. The first is a general definition which refers to any kind of supernatural utterance which is inspired by God (like in the Old Testament and in the first part of the New Testament), while the second is much more specific: referring to God speaking (in a known language) what he wants to say to the church (like in 1 Cor).

Let me explain what we mean by "supernatural utterance". In the Old Testament, the word "prophecy" is used in a variety of ways which almost seems to indicate that it's a very fluid term, used anytime to describe when someone has been filled with God's power and as such speaks s God empowers him to. This speech however is regarded as something utterly supernatural. So let me give you 3 examples for your consideration.

A) The call of Isaiah (Isa 6). In that episode, Isaiah had a supernatural vision of the Lord, seated on a throne with all his glory, and where the whole Temple was filled with smoke (Isa 6:1-5). The guy had a miraculous encounter with God which was to set the tone for the rest of his ministry and to give him the strength to deliver a terrible message to Israel and to be ignored/persecuted for it (Isa 6:9-10). What you get after this supernatural episode is pages upon pages (66 chapters, actually) of revelation of God's will throughout the prophet's life. So in this case, "prophecy" here started with a supernatural revelation of God, and then an ability to hear God and to express his thoughts in a known language.

B) The appointing of the 70 Elders in Israel. Another case was when God told Moses to appoint 70 elders to help him manage the people of Israel (Num 11:16-30). As part of their spiritual preparation, God promised to "take the Spirit that was upon Moses, and to put it on them". We'll come back to this, but the main point of this episode is that when the Spirit came upon the 70 elders, they all spontaneously prophesied. Now what was interesting was that there were 2 elders who were not present with Moses at the time this happened (i.e. there were 68 present with 2 AWOLs). Haha. For some reason, they probably overslept or were late and so did not join the rest. The Holy Spirit nonetheless came upon the 2 that were in the camp, and they prophesied. What is noteworthy is that this act of prophesying was quite a significant and unconventional activity. Firstly, the people (including Joshua) were amazed to see this spontaneously happen back at camp. Secondly, Joshua gets concerned that their act of prophesying would erode Moses' special position as God's spokesperson for the people. Now this shows that the term "prophesying" here is probably very different from Isaiah's case. It would be weird to see 70 people telling each other God's will for each other's lives--but it is even more unlikely that this can be a threat to Moses' position. After all, if you were there, if someone told you God's will for your life, you wouldn't know if it were true or not, and so most likely you would be cynical, wanting to wait-and-see-if-it-really-comes-true, rather than to immediately believe them and treat them with special honour. Whereas, in this case, when the 70 started prophesying, people could see that something really special was happening and thus began to esteem them differently (which would then explain why it was a potential threat to Moses' special spiritual position). So it is quite likely that this "prophesying" was a spiritual, supernatural activity, something quite wondrous, humanly impossible, and the people recognised it as something other-worldly and thus had the effect of elevating the "spiritual status" of these people to the onlookers.

(Also a note before we go on: two interesting things happen here as well. The 70 elders prophesied, but "never did so again". This is in contrast to Isaiah who prophesied all his life. Furthermore, Moses makes a very significant statement: "I wish all of Israel were prophets!". This statement is going to be very significant when we come to the New Testament.)

C) King Saul and his troops. This, by far, is the funniest example of prophecy I have ever seen. If you know the story of King Saul, you would know that he was a very disobedient King who was 'condemned' by God (both literally and in an army sense of being left on the shelf). Now King Saul was very jealous of David because he knew God was blessing David and he had the gut feeling that David was going to be the next King. But when he sent his soldiers to pursue David, just as David was going to be caught, the Spirit of God helped him to 'stall time' by filling all of them (1 Sam 19:18-24)! One reason why this is funny is because it's so SO ironic: this is one example where the Holy Spirit falls on someone, someone sinful for that matter, for no other reason than to protect someone else! (Take that, all those who put God in a box and say he can't do ridiculous stuff! :D) Another reason why this is so funny is because you can see their reaction when the Holy Spirit fills them: firstly, they are so overwhelmed that they cannot even continue their chase, and secondly (v24) in the midst of Saul's 'prophesying', he "tears off his clothes and lies naked all day and all night" in front of all the people. Haha. Not the kind of prophetic action I would recommend if I were you. Here we can see that God deliberately wanted to embarrass Saul for going against his will--but it also shows us how "prophesying" works. Saul starts blabbering things which are not mentioned, but this is also accompanied by a state of being controlled supernaturally by God. It is quite unlikely he would be going around saying "Thus saith the Lord"; it is more likely that he was blabbering things which would have sounded like nonsense to the people, except that people recognised that this "blabbering" was not normal, but caused supernaturally (by God). Here, as we can see, prophecy results from a supernatural encountering of God, yet in an utterly ridiculous fashion. Although it fulfils the purpose, it's not exactly for the good of the person involved (interesting huh!).

So "prophesying" can mean a lot of things in the OT. It ranges from the continuous, meaningful expression of God's will (like in Isaiah's case) to just supernatural blabbering (like in Saul's), and it is often accompanied by supernatural phenomena. It is possible for it to be beneficial or even an expression of judgment by God. And a person can be so under the control of the Spirit that he manifests in downright ridiculous ways. So the only common thread you can note between these examples (and more, in the OT) is the idea of supernaturally inspired utterance, and that the source of this supernatural utterance is in fact God himself.

Now, if you come with this understanding, you can then appreciate why Joel's prophecy is considered as fulfilled by the supernatural phenomena. Joel prophesied that "in the last days, I [God] will pour my Spirit upon all flesh, and they shall prophesy" (Joel 2:28-32). In that prophecy, there are 3 main points: 1. He describes all kinds of supernatural phenomena that accompanies prophecy; 2. That this phenomenon is not limited to a few, but to "all flesh", even to the "maidslaves and menslaves" (in our context, think toilet cleaners, construction workers--all the lower strata of society); 3. and that this will take place "until that great and terrible day of our Lord", where God (through Christ) comes back to judge the world. So all of God's people are potentially prophetic people. Once they are filled with the Spirit, this potential is utilised and released to bless the people. (Which fulfils Moses' wish/prophecy that "I wish all of God's people were prophets"!)

(Once again, can you see how every Christian is meant to be a 5-fold Christian? In the same way that all God's people evangelise, teach, and care for others, all of God's people are meant to hear his voice, discern his will, and experience Him supernaturally. And Joel's prophecy reinforces this sense that the prophetic is meant for every Christian, not just the Prophet.)

So this brings me very conveniently to what the Prophet does. The Prophet specialises in discerning the voice of God, spending time with God, hearing his Will, and releasing God's command when appropriate to the people. I would say that based on what God has done in the Bible, 90% of prophecy tends to be encouragement and commands as to moral behaviour, reinforcing the truth that already has been taught. 10% of it is foretelling about the future. The behaviour of the Old and New Testament prophets also suggests that this ministry is supposed to be heavily accompanied with signs and wonders that, in a way, demonstrate God's presence that flows with the individual.

And, like every other elder, the Prophet inspires others in their gift and raises others to flow in that same gifting they have.

Let me also take the chance to explain the Pauline passage in 1 Cor that puts tongues and prophecy as so-called oppositions to each other. It is easier to appreciate this passage when you understand that the Corinthian church, in their enthusiasm over spiritual ecstacy, elevated tongues as some kind of evidence of semi-divine existence. So you will notice that in the discussion of 1 Cor 12-14, the emphasis is always thrown from tongues to other gifts (ch 12); from tongues to love (ch 13); and finally from tongues to prophecy (ch 14). Here we would argue that Paul is using this term "prophecy" in a very very limited sense--definitely not the one the OT is using it for. The prophecy he mentions here is a congregational prophecy, a word of the Lord that is addressed to the church or to an individual, and taking place as the community gathers together. The rest of the New Testament however indicates that prophetic activity--with visions, personal prophecy, etc--can take place in any setting at any time (Peter in the roof, John in exile at Patmos: where he hardly would have a church to fulfil this idea of a "congregational gathering"!). So we would advise that it's better to understand "prophecy" the way the rest of the Bible indicates it--as "supernatural utterance inspired by God"--and see Paul's definition as part of that wider definition, than to try to use Paul's very specific instance and force fit other passages of the Bible to justify it.

Let me give a non-exhaustive list of the supernatural phenomena that accompanies the ministry of the Prophet:

1. Miracles, extraordinary phenomena that cannot be achieved by human means (e.g. Elijah and Elisha [1 & 2 Kings], Moses [Exodus-Deuteronomy]);
2. Dreams and visions (Joel 2; Stephen [Acts 7]); ability to hear God (Samuel in 1 Sam)
3. Healings (cf Elisha and Naaman [2 Kings 5])
4. Trances;
5. Foretelling of the future;
6. Knowing of other people's secrets (as revealed by God) so as to bring them to realise that the Gospel is true (1 Cor)
7. The ability to deliver God's command authoritatively (e.g. Samuel, John the Baptist, Agabus)
8. The ability to see into the spiritual realm (e.g. Elisha [2 Kings 6:16])

Let me also jump the gun and give some of the functions traditionally associated with the Prophet:
1. Worship ministry (this is since OT times: think of Asaph and Miriam);
2. Intercessory and Prayer Ministry (again, since OT times: think Moses, Jeremiah, Samuel);

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ii) The Prophet's role in the church

The Bible gives some indication about how the prophetic role is supposed to be played. This is one of those leadership giftings that is very useful and versatile, and yet with its versatility, has one of the greatest potentials for abuse (think of "with great power brings great responsibility", cf to the negative saying "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely").

Let me explain why we think this gift is very very crucial, and also a gift of tremendous responsibility.

Firstly, the leader who is a Prophet occupies a position of key leadership within the church (Eph 2:20). In Ephesians, Paul mentions how the Church of Jesus Christ is a holy temple for the Lord, with the hint that it is still "work-in-progress" (v21-22). What is interesting is that it is built with Jesus as the cornerstone (i.e. 1. the most important one, 2. the one responsible for aligning everything in the house), and how the apostles and prophets form the foundation of the house. So this leadership gift is in fact quite important and arguably one of the key leadership positions in any local church or church network.

Secondly, the prophets in the New Testament always saw themselves in continuum with the Old Testament prophets. The declaration of the gospel, for instance, was always "proclamation"--the authoritative style with which an Old Testament prophet would have declared God's will. Agabus reveals God's will using symbolic tools and with total correctness, in a way that is very similar to the Old Testament prophets (Acts 21:10-12). There are 2 criteria for judging a prophet: 1. Their representation of the truth (i.e. they must represent God's truth properly, and not mislead people or guide them into idolatry); and 2. Their prophecies MUST come true (or, according to OT law, they would have spoken presumptuously and must be stoned). This presents us with complications when we come to the NT prophet. So let's start simple, and draw the picture with more details as we go by.

So how do we see the function of a prophet in the church?

1. We think it's quite easy to see why they are part of the 'foundation' in terms of leading the church. Firstly, the Bible is prophetic and is a necessary part of the direction in any church (not to mention that it is administered by prophets of old). But secondly, since the main role of a Prophet is to spend time with God, to listen to His will, and to be the first to alert when a change of direction is needed or when there is a major problem underlying the surface, it makes sense that the Prophet contributes in terms of the direction, or as some in corporate terms would say--"vision and mission"--of the church. Because no one should presume to take the Church where he or she wants to go; good ideas are not enough. They must be God-endorsed ideas and direction, or they can be very fruitless and disappointing. So hearing the will of God accurately is quite fundamental in terms of the leadership of a church.

2. They help to confirm the promptings that God gives other leaders of the church. Later, when we come to the gift of an Apostle, we will appreciate this a lot more. One reason why this is so so important is because good leaders tend to move quickly and decisively, but this can also be their shortcoming when they presume that God wants things the same way they do. Besides, think of it also from a human perspective: how do we know if what the Apostle or Teacher says is absolutely right? Trusting them without question would put too much authority/power into their hands, which is actually inviting the enemy to put a snare on them and lead them into pride. Many a great man of God has fallen that way because they couldn't withstand the misleading "approval" of the world. So Prophets can play a very pivotal role here. If the Apostle or any other elder sets a direction that he/she thinks is right and pleasing before God, the Prophet can act as a "check" to ensure that God's leading is really that way. And if the 2 don't agree, then that means that more prayer and clarity is needed before proceeding. In fact this is even clearer when it is not ONE prophet making the decision, but a group of prophets who individually, and without consulting each other, come to the same conclusion about whether God is with or not with a project.

From this, you can see how subjective the whole ministry of a Prophet is and the potential for abuse is definitely there. For instance, if the most mature Prophet gives you a word from the Lord, and it's a decision that you have to make on the spot, how do you respond? Especially if you're not sure about your ability to hear from the Lord? Or what if a Prophet disagrees, just purely because it is not his style?

Let us give some guidelines before coming back to this question, which will help to provide some clarity as to how you utilise this gift.

Firstly, we believe that for anyone to be appointed as a Prophet, prophetic giftings are NOT enough. We would check the person's life against a list which would look something like this:

i) Spends a lot of time with God in his/her private capacity--something between 3-6 hours every day
ii) A range of prophetic phenomena
iii) Accurate rendering of God's word (not foolproof, but 80% accurate). That means that the prophecies were incisive and accurate, AND that the Scripture used to back them up must be in context (or at least, the Prophet must be trying his best to do so--because not all Prophets are good theologically/some may even be illiterate)
iv) Posturing--humility and giving ALL the glory to God. Any sense of pride and the elder will be SEVERELY counselled.
v) Principle of Mutual Submission--although it may grit his teeth, he must not attempt to go solo or to make unilateral decisions simply for the sake of "pleasing God". The rationale for this is that an elder must have the patience to let other (elders), who may not be as sharp as him, have the time to find out God's will for themselves (which is the right of a prophetic people). So he must bear with the lag time that other elders may take to decipher God's will. In any case, if he cannot even bear with this lag time, it will be worse when he deals with the sheep; the sheep are far more confused AND insensitive to God's voice. And some sheep even think that even though "God said so", it's still negotiable! So if the Prophet cannot wait for elders, there's no way he can deal with sheep. He will die young of a heart attack. :)

If your Prophets meet this criteria, the chances of abuse and misguidance will diminish quite a bit. And ultimately any decision must be made by at least 2 to 3 elders, and never unilaterally.

Probably something else I must add: prophets, like all the other elders, need time to grow. So there will be some times when they are making learning mistakes. Don't stone them, just gently let them know they got it wrong. Prophets, if you wish to grow in your gifting, remember to:

1. Exercise GREAT faith in hearing God and delivering his message; banish fear and doubt!
2. If you miss it, apologise. God will like your posturing and he will reward you with a sharper gifting. Don't try to explain it away/cover it up.
Sidenote: people, if a Prophet messes up and apologises, forgive him. Don't crucify a brother/sister who is trying to do you good.

Now that we've talked about this, what should you do when receiving a Prophetic message?
1. Check it against the Scriptures. If it's something morally consistent with the Scriptures, then it probably is something God would want you to do.
2. What if it's circumstantial (i.e. "in 2 months' time, God is going to give you a job"). Well, in the case I just mentioned, you don't have to do anything, so you can just wait and see. If it doesn't happen, God has not spoken through that person; if it happens, you can affirm that God has used that person to speak to you. On the other hand, you might get "go to your Doctor and get him to check that your cancer is gone" (which is something Jesus can do in our contemporary context btw). If so, then better do it.
3. Use common sense. "God has said that the 2 of you should get married". In cases like this where a bit more care is required ('cos marriage IS a very weighty thing), ask for confirmation from God. In fact, principle #3 is the principle to use whenever in doubt. Don't be scared to ask God (and don't be intimidated by the Prophet!). You are a prophetic people, and God likes to speak to you anyway, so if you ask him to confirm, he will. In fact, he can even confirm for you 4-6 times if you really really need it. What is very important: if you confirm it, you better obey! :) In terms of problems, some people have problems knowing if it was God, which is an ok problem, since it's part of growth; but far more people have problems obeying God when they know it is him. All I can say is, "Trust and obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey" (Lyrics of a hymn). Take it from the ancients, people. Learn how to trust, as counter-instinctive as it may be. If you don't trust, you'll end up walking in circles to the same path again. But trust him and you'll be in an adventure, an exciting one, and one that will end well because he will definitely be there for you.

Remember: if he hasn't let down so many people thus far, why should he ruin his reputation with you? :)

As a parting note, we would also suggest that Prophets start thinking out of the box in terms of how to use their prophetic giftings. Instead of just prophesying, for instance, my friend Chris has a great suggestion: why not be a facilitator of prophetic activity? You could take the mic, invite in the presence of the Spirit, and release the time for people to deliver messages. You could even ask God to speak to you first as to who he wants to prophecy; so much so that if someone tries to be presumptuous and speak when God has not spoke to him, you could command him to stop mimicking the work of God (which would shut down other would-be attention seekers, btw, and in the long run, this is a good thing). By doing this, indirectly you're practising some really good pedagogy: you're training others to be Prophets, and not just you. Instead, you as a Coach stand at the sidelines and "help the players to sharpen their game", so to speak.

To be continued with the last post on the Apostle!