Part 2 of 6: Pentecostalism … THE NEW PROPHETS

By David W. Cloud

Since its beginning at the turn of the century, the Pentecostal-charismatic movement has been the breeding ground for strange things–things such as unintelligible babblings, spirit slaying, and women preachers. Prophecy, too, has been a part of Pentecostalism. Words of prophecy, visions, and voices have played a key role in many of the most popular Pentecostal-charismatic ministries. Youth with a Mission was started, supposedly, because of a vision. The Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International was built, supposedly, upon a prophecy. Oral Roberts has built many of his ministries, such as the City of Faith, upon supposed visions. Prophecy is nothing new in Pentecostalism.

Yet the 1980s witnessed the rise of men and women who claim a prophetic ministry akin to that of the apostles and prophets of the Bible. This is new, at least in the breadth of their popularity and acceptance. These “prophets” aren’t satisfied only with giving a “word of prophecy” now and then; their detailed predictions, sweeping prophecies, and strange but dogmatic interpretations of Scriptures are given with an authority which only Bible prophets claimed. They speak with a plain “thus saith the Lord.” They use such phrases as “God told me,” “God spoke to me,” “God’s message for you is …”

They speak as oracles of God and claim that God is restoring the ministry of the apostles and prophets for a last-days revival, a revival into which we supposedly are entering, a revival which will purify the “church,” evangelize the world, and usher in the coming of Christ.

Peter Wagner of Fuller Seminary spoke of this phenomena during a message at Indianapolis ’90:

“In 1980, God began speaking to the churches about the resurgence of biblical prophecy. Now this is new; it’s only 10 years old, so a lot of us are not tuned into this yet … many of your churches also are now becoming involved in prophetic movement. And I’m talking about serious prophecy; I’m talking about Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Isaiah kind of prophecy, where God speaks to the churches. [italics added]…

“But what I am saying now here … is that all these signs, all that the Spirit is saying to the churches, are pointing to the great revival, the capital “R” revival, you know? … children [will] start praying on the level of adults, and I’ve heard reports of several places around this country, and around Argentina, where children are praying, children are prophesying, children are laying hands on the sick and they’re getting healed. This is still kind of rare, but this usually will happen. There’ll just be an outpouring of spiritual power over the next 10 or 15 years that I’ve been describing.”

Note that Wagner points to Isaiah and Ezekiel’s prophecy being restored in the churches. This is the new prophetic movement which is beginning to have an influence across the charismatic movement.

One group of these prophets are a part of the Kansas City Fellowship (KCF), which since its beginning in 1982 has grown to over 3,000 members in six congregations. This year the Kansas City Fellowship formally became a part of John Wimber’s Vineyard Ministries. Mike Bickle is the leader of the KCF and its associated Grace Ministries, and some of their prophets are Bob Jones (not the Bob Jones of Bob Jones University), John Paul Jackson, David Parker, Jim Goll, and Francis Frangipane.

Another key twentieth-century “prophet” is Paul Cain. Cain lives in Dallas, Texas, and was a co-worker with the late William Branham(O TIMOTHY, Volume 7, Issue 4, “William Branham: Prophet or Profiteer?” by A.H. Pohl.>, but he has worked hand in hand with the KCF since 1987, when he was received by them as a “father.” Kansas City prophet Bob Jones has stated that Cain is “the most anointed prophet that’s in the world today.” (Bob Jones, tape, Visions and Revelations, interview with Mike Bickle, Kansas City, MO: Grace Ministries, 1988).

A great many charismatic leaders have accepted the new prophets and have close fellowship with them. The influential Charisma magazine has endorsed “the prophets” with favorable articles. In September 1989, Charisma ran an article entitled “How is God Speaking Today?” and featured Paul Cain, Bob Jones, Rick Joyner, and Bill Hamon–all supposed prophets of God through whom God is speaking today. In January 1990, Charisma featured “Prophecy 1990: What is the Spirit Saying to the Churches?” This included statements by Paul Cain, Bob Jones, John Sanford, John Paul Jackson, Bill Hamon, and six others who have what Charisma called “recognized prophetic ministries.”

As mentioned earlier, John Wimber has put his arms around “the prophets” and has endorsed the new prophetic ministry. He has unreservedly endorsed Paul Cain, has merged the Kansas City Fellowship into his Vineyard Ministries, and has supplied much of the funding for the Shiloh project, a prophetic outreach of the Kansas City Fellowship’s Grace Ministries.

Illustrative of the increasingly visible role the prophets are playing in the mainstream charismatic movement, Paul Cain and Mike Bickle appeared at the large ecumenical-charismatic meeting, Indianapolis ’90, which also featured leaders as diverse as Larry Lea, Loren Cunningham of Youth with a Mission, Vinson Synan, Jane Hanson of Women’s Aglow, the Happy Hunters, John Wimber, Melody Green, Bob Mendelsohn, Carl Richardson, Ithiel Clemmons, Floyd McClung, Jack Hayford, Peter Wagner, the Gaithers, Bob Weiner, Charles Kraft, and Karl Strader.

It is clear that the new prophets have gained wide popularity and acceptance. What are we to think of this? In a nutshell, after close examination, we reject the new prophets on the same basis that we reject other claims of the charismatic movement: the claims are a deception. Consider that–

Their healers can’t heal.
Their tongues aren’t tongues.
Their doctrine isn’t scriptural.
Their binding of the devil doesn’t bind the devil.
Their slayings don’t slay.
Their Christian rock isn’t Christian.
Their prophets can’t prophesy accurately.

This is the sad truth about the charismatic movement.

WE OFFER SEVEN REASONS WHY WE MUST REJECT THE NEW PROPHETS:

Charismatic prophecies are not accurate

The Bible gives many tests of a prophet. One is in Deuteronomy chapter 18. Consider:

“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.” Deuteronomy 18:19-22

God instructs His people that if a prophet’s predictions do not come to pass, that prophet is not to be feared because his ministry is not of the Lord. God confirms the ministry of His prophets with fulfilled predictions.

The new charismatic prophets fail this Bible test terribly. In fact, they only claim to be 10% to 65% accurate! It’s true. This was mentioned in a message by Bob Jones, a “prophet” with the Kansas City Fellowship (and NOT the Bob Jones of Bob Jones University).

Bob was told that the general level of prophetic revelation in the church was about 65% accurate at this time. Some are only 10% accurate, a very few of the most mature prophets are approaching 85 to 95% accuracy. Prophecy is increasing in purity, but there is still a long way to go for those who walk in this ministry. (Rick Joyner, “The Unfolding of a Prophet,” Fulness Magazine (Fort Worth: Fulness House, Inc., Jan-Feb. 1990), p. 13, quoted in Latter-day Prophets, Albert J. Dager, p. 11)

These new prophets have many ways of explaining away the fact that they can’t prophecy accurately. Mike Bickle, in his message at Indianapolis ’90, separated revelation from interpretation and claimed that the errors in their prophetic ministries arose in the area of interpretation. Consider his strange, twisted reasoning:

[Those who think that the prophet who has a revelation must] clearly have the same anointing to get the interpretation–that was a dead wrong premise. The person that gets the revelation not necessarily at all gets the interpretation. And then the application of what to do with it, where to speak it, is a third entirely different issue under the topic of administration.

Bob Jones has made a powerful statement. He talks about being 60% wrong. He says there’s a lot of prophetic [sic]–talking about himself–that are 60% wrong. He’s talking about 60% wrong on his interpretation and his application. He’s not talking about 60% wrong on revelation. There’s been a lot going around, “Can prophets be 60% wrong?” Absolutely not. “Can prophets not fully interpret what they see?” Absolutely yes. That’s what team ministry is about; that’s what government is about; and that’s what divine order is all about, needing one another in the members of the body of Christ.

So we’ve been on a journey. The enemy has come to us and has said, “You’ve erred.” He wants us defensive. God the Father has said, “If you stay teachable, I’ll keep bringing you decade by decade into the unfolding purpose of God.” (Mike Bickle, “The Prophetic Ministry,” Indianapolis 1990, August 17, 1990)

Note that Bickle quotes Bob Jones approvingly about the great amount of error that is in the new prophetic ministries. But he excuses this error by claiming that the new prophets don’t have to be able to rightly interpret the revelations they receive from God. He claims it is the devil who accuses them of erring. Bickle is wrong. It is God in the Holy Scripture who accuses them of erring, and therefore of not being prophets of God. The holy prophets of old did not err in “revelation” or in “interpretation.” They simply did not err! The holy prophets of God of old were not fumbling and stumbling along as these new “prophets” are, supposedly learning and growing in the prophetic ministry. The holy prophets of old had the God-given ability to predict the future unerringly, unfailingly, perfectly. This mumbo-jumbo about there being a distinction between revelation and interpretation in the prophetic ministry is foolishness. Those who accept it are flying in the face of Deuteronomy 18.

In spite of their excuses and explanations, we know that the new prophets are not of God because their prophecies are often wrong.

Charismatic prophecies are contrary to Scripture

Not only are the new prophets unable to predict the future accurately, but their prophecies are contrary to Scripture. This is proof that they are not prophets of God. No prophet of God will contradict the Bible.

Yet these new prophets, for example, are all predicting a worldwide revival for the endtime. Where does Scripture predict this? Contrariwise, the Bible predicts worldwide apostasy. The Lord and His apostles foretold perilous times for the last hours. They foretold of horrible errors. In Matthew 24 the Lord Jesus Christ was asked about conditions just prior to His return. This is what He prophesied about the latter days:

“And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying I am Christ; and shall deceive many. … And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. … And there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” Matthew 24:3-5,11,24

Notice that the first thing Christ mentions about the last days is the great religious deception of the hour. He warns that there will be MANY false prophets and MANY will be deceived. Christ paints the picture of great worldwide deception, with multitudes of deceived people following miracle-working false prophets. This is a picture of the charismatic-ecumenical movement. The only signs and wonders mentioned by Bible prophecy for the last hours are deceiving signs and wonders! In light of this, it is amazing that John Wimber actually calls his healing campaigns “Signs and Wonders Conferences”!

Consider also 1 Timothy 4; 2 Timothy 3; 2 Peter 3; Jude; Revelation 13 and 17.

What do we see today? We see exactly what the Bible prophesies. We see apostasy throughout Christendom. The Roman Catholic Church claims to be Christian, but it is a system of gross error. The World Council of Churches represents roughly 500 million people in more than 300 denominations who profess to be Christians, yet great numbers of their leaders are modernists, denying the deity and virgin birth of Christ and the miracles of the Bible. Further, they fellowship with heathen religions and speak of Hindu and Buddhist “spirituality.” Sadly, the truth is that most Christian denominations today DO NOT follow the Word of God. And this is exactly what the Bible prophesies.

The new prophets are wrong. Their prophecies of a worldwide last days revival are wrong. They misapply Scriptures which foretell conditions which will follow Christ’s glorious return and falsely apply them to this hour.

Many other examples could be given of the way the new prophets speak contrary to the Bible. Paul Cain and others are prophesying that a “new breed” of Christians will rise up in these last days and will experience signs and wonders such as the world has never before witnessed. Supposedly, some of these new breed Christians will actually become immortalized while on earth! They will walk through walls and rays of healing light will come out of their hands. They will do every sort of miracle the world has ever seen. Bob Jones of the Kansas City Fellowship prophecies of this:

I went and I saw the Lord, and it was like He was looking at little yellow things–little round, yellow things like a spirit of God itself. And there were billions of them. And it was like Him and all the angels were looking through these and every once in a while they say, “Hey, here’s an end-time one; get it down here on the end. Here’s another good one.”

I said, “What are you doing?”

He said, “Oh, we’re collecting those who are foreknown and predestinated for the end-times, for you see, they’ll be the best of all the seed that’s ever been. And we’re looking through the seeds and this’ll be your grandkids. This will be the end generation that is foreknown and predestinated to inherit all things. And these will be like grandchildren to you–even those that you minister to won’t be this generation; their children will be.

“You are to write into their minds, as they write into the children’s minds. You’re to bring them to a place to allow My Spirit to rule in their life where they can begin to set the Church on the proper foundations, as they will. They’ll birth the Church, but their children will attain levels of the Holy Spirit that they will not.

“Although their parents will reign over them and be the leaders of the last-day church, their children will possess the Spirit without measure. For they are the best of all the generations that have ever been upon the face of the earth. And the best of all generations are those elected seeds that will glorify Christ in the last days.

“That’s the purpose so that Jesus in the last days has the seeds that will glorify Him above any generation that has ever been upon the face of the earth. They will move into things of the supernatural that no one has ever moved in before. Every miracle, sign and wonder that has ever been in the Bible, they’ll move in it consistently. They’ll move in the power that Christ did. Every sign and wonder that’s ever been will be many times in the last days. They themselves will be that generation that’s raised up to put death itself underneath their feet and to glorify Christ in every way.

“And the Church that is raising up in the government will be the head and the covering for them. So that that glorious Church might be revealed in the last days because the Lord Jesus is worthy to be lifted up by a Church that has reached the full maturity of the God-man!” (Bob Jones, tape, Visions and Revelations, 1988)

All of this is so obviously contrary to the Bible, yet this is the type of error which is coming out of the new prophetic movement.

Dozens of prophecies were given in New Orleans and Indianapolis, and a great many of them were openly contrary to Scripture. Consider one given during mass at New Orleans: “You have my real body; you have my real blood.” Now that’s a real zinger of a prophecy for you! Did this charismatic prophet have his ear tuned properly to heaven for that one? Did God tell him that the elements of the mass were the actual body and blood of Christ? Of course not.

The charismatic prophets often prophesy things contrary to the teachings of the Holy Scriptures.

Charismatic prophets interpret Scripture inaccurately

Not only are these new prophets unable to predict accurately, and not only do they give prophecies contrary to the Scripture, they cannot interpret the Bible properly. Their messages are not Bible studies in the sense of normal exegetical studies, but when they do refer to Scripture they invariably do injustice to it. They misapply Scripture and yank things out of context.

An example of this is in Paul Cain’s message at Indianapolis ’90. Cain is called a great prophet by Wimber and many other charismatic leaders. But he is a terrible Bible interpreter. Cain quoted Ephesians 5:27 and Revelation 19:7-8, and applied it to the church today, saying the church will become purified in this present time BEFORE the coming of Christ. Consider an excerpt from Cain’s message:

Eph. 5:27–“That he might present to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Rev. 19:7-8–“Let us be glad, rejoice, and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.”

… I believe that God is raising up a victorious church. We’re about to see the emergence of a victorious church that will be unequaled in power and unequaled in purity. So I want to submit to you today that these two passages do not refer to the church in heaven, they refer to the state of the church when the Lord Jesus Christ comes for her. And I want to be ready.

It is impossible to understand how a “prophet” could abuse Scripture like this. Both passages are clearly and plainly prophecies of what the church will be AFTER the coming of Christ, not BEFORE. This kind of mishandling of Scripture is par for the course, though, for these new prophets. When they do use Scripture, which isn’t often really, they misuse it. This tells us that they are not following the Spirit of God.

Charismatic prophets are not zealous for truth

The Bible gives us another standard by which to judge prophets in Jeremiah 23:

“But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.” Jeremiah 23:22

This is an enlightening verse. God says true prophets will be zealous for truth and zealous against sin and error. Yet the new prophets have no concern for the error of ecumenism. Paul Cain, Mike Bickle, John Wimber, Peter Wagner and others involved in the new prophetic ministry participated in Indianapolis ’90. Yet not one of them had a word of rebuke for the horrible apostasy present in the form of Romanism. They had no word of warning to turn the Romanists from the abominable mass, or from the Catholic priesthood, or from the worship of Mary. They did not rebuke the mixed multitude at Indianapolis for the false gospels which were in their midst. They did not correct the error of women preachers.

Jeremiah 23:22 tells us that these new prophets have not stood in the counsel of God because they don’t turn the people from their evil ecumenical ways.

Charismatic prophets are deceptive in their claims

Several times it has become evident that the new prophets are willing to exaggerate and lie about their prophecies in order to appear accurate.

In fact, Mike Bickle of the Kansas City Fellowship has admitted publicly that they have made exaggerations about prophecies which had been used to establish the legitimacy of the KCF. One such exaggeration was their claims for a prophecy by Bob Jones:
“In one of the prophecies, KCF’s Bob Jones had predicted a drought in the Kansas City area that would end on a particular day. The drought was reported as starting in June and ending in August of 1983, on the day Jones predicted. When public records were checked, it was discovered that the drought started later than reported. It did rain on the day Jones predicted that it would, then the drought continued.” (Charisma, September 1990), p. 42)
Another prophecy which was handled deceitfully was made by Paul Cain in regard to his visit to the Vineyard Ministries in California in 1989. He predicted an earthquake would occur the day after he left Anaheim. It did not happen that way, though. Wimber and others claimed that this prophecy came true. They claimed that the earthquake in Armenia occurred the day after Cain left, but it did not. It occurred while Cain was still in California. Albert Dager makes this important observation: “One wonders why lies are necessary to establish oneself as a purveryor of Truth.” (Albert Dager, Latter-day Prophets, Redmond: Media Spotlight, 1990, p. 7)
This kind of duplicity was not seen among the holy prophets of old. They did not have to lie about their prophecies because they never erred in the first place.

Charismatic prophets are involved with occultic practices

We are convinced the new prophets are actually involved in occultic practices. Some will find this a harsh charge, but we believe it is true.

Consider that their prophesying involves revealing personal things about individuals present in their meetings and in telling the future of these individuals. This is not Bible prophecy. It is soothsaying, fortune telling, divining. There is the rare example in Scripture whereby God showed a prophet the future of an individual, but this is rare and is not what the Bible emphasizes. Yet this IS emphasized in occultic soothsaying. Beware of this type of thing, brethren.

The new prophets are involved with many other phenomena which are occultic in nature. They speak of their flesh turning colors, supposedly indicating that God is doing something special. Bob Jones claims his hands turn blue and purple when God is answering prayer and is healing. This kind of thing is not a Bible phenomena, but is occultic. John Wimber prophesies that rays of light will emanate from the hands of prophets and healers in coming days. This is occultic. Paul Cain’s ministry has often been accompanied by claims of electrical power surges which blow out equipment. This is occultic.
Many of the very things the new prophets glory in are actually to their shame. They point to these manifestations as evidence that God is with them. In reality, it is proof that God is NOT with them. Beware.
There is frightful danger in replacing counsel from the Bible with directive prophecy

Those involved with the new prophets acknowledge that they lean upon prophecies for direction, for decisions about life and ministry. The Kansas City Fellowship is an example. It was established because of prophecies which supposedly gave them their purpose and plan. Christians have quit jobs, moved to other locations, changed ministries, built buildings, refused medical treatment, gotten married, gotten divorced, and done many such things because of prophecies they believed were from God. But great harm has come from this.

One danger arises from the fact that many of the prophecies are false, and people become discouraged and their faith is weakened because they realize that they trusted something which has proven to be a deception. But beyond this, there are other dangers which are equally great: People lose their confidence in the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures to guide their lives. They develop the idea, whether consciously or not, that God doesn’t guide them as clearly and personally as He guides a prophet. They gain an unhealthy dependency upon the prophetic ministry. Trusting the prophets to be God’s oracles, they tend to make decisions without consulting God and the Bible. They therefore make decisions contrary to the Bible.

Albert Dager, in Latter-day Prophets, makes this observation on the dangers of the new prophetic ministries:

A major problem with listening to alleged prophetic voices is that while listening to them we shut ourselves off from hearing the true word of the Lord spoken into our consciousness by the Holy Spirit; we allow the prophet to usurp our own standing before God by believing that the prophet has an entrance to the Throne of Grace that we do not have. Yet God’s Word promises us that we can all enter boldly (though humbly) before the Throne of Grace. If we allow anyone–’prophet,’ ‘apostle,’ or pastor to place himself between the Father and us, we undo God’s grace in our lives. We will have recognized a priesthood that was never ordained by God. This isn’t to say that we cannot or should not seek counsel from others; but counsel is not the same as directive prophecy.
Perhaps the greatest danger which is coming from the ministry of the new prophets is the tendency of many to build doctrine on their witness. I know that many will deny that they build doctrine on prophecies or upon anything except the Bible, but the fact remains that doctrine is being established upon prophecies, upon visions, even upon supposed discussions with demons.
An example of this extra-scriptural doctrine is in the area of spiritual warfare, which the charismatics are going into whole hog. This has been popularized by Frank Peretti’s novel, This Present Darkness.

Without question, spiritual warfare is an important part of the Christian life and ministry. Every Christian must war against sin, the world, and the devil, if he is to be victorious and fruitful for Christ. Yet the area of spiritual warfare into which the charismatic movement is being drawn goes far beyond that which Christians have been involved with through the centuries. For example, charismatics are holding spiritual warfare conferences and are claiming to be “taking authority” over entire cities and nations. Where does the Bible speak of this kind of thing? It is dispensational confusion. God has not told Christians to take authority over this lost, hellbound world. That’s not our job today. Jesus Christ will do that when He returns in power and glory to establish His kingdom on earth.

We can’t go into this in depth, but the point we want to make is that those who are leading the way in these new things are teaching for doctrine things the Bible says nothing about. And remember that this is only one example of the new doctrines which are sprouting up in the wilderness of confusion surrounding “the prophets.”

Peter Wager, in a message at Indianapolis ’90, referred to the new spiritual warfare and in so doing, spoke dogmatically of a great number of things which the Bible says nothing about. 

Consider the following quotes carefully:

But 1990, the year we’re in, is the beginning of the great era of spiritual warfare. I believe that all we’ve seen about spiritual warfare has been just kindergarten, and God now in the ’90s is going to take us up through the higher grades. We’re gonna see spiritual warfare on many different levels that we haven’t seen before. of spiritual warfare that needs to be done. And we don’t have the entire terminology yet, but one is sort of the ground level spiritual warfare. You know, casting out your average everyday sort of demon from people. [laughter] You know, like Jesus did. We’ve been doing that for quite awhile, and more of us are catching on to how to do it, you know. But that’s called the ground level.

Then there’s the middle level of spiritual warfare, where I believe that there are spirits that are especially equipped and skilled in operating through individuals–satanists, occult practitioners, shamans, witches, mediums, channelers–that whole New Age channel. I think there’s a level of spirits there.

And then there’s a higher level of spirits. (I’m not saying there’s only 3; there are probably 30 between each one.) But then there is a higher level of spirits that are territorial spirits. And they are assigned by the hierarchy of evil to dominate sometimes a geographical area like a country, or a state, or a city; sometimes a cultural group; sometimes a vocational group. One of my friends said that she has discerned a spirit over the wheat industry in the United States. You know, growing wheat?

How in the world does Wagner know these things? How can he speak so dogmatically? Some of it does come from the Bible. God does tell us in Scripture that there is demonic possession. The Scriptures also indicate that the powers of darkness are arranged in some sort of a hierarchy. Not a lot is said in Scripture about this, but there is a hint in passages such as Ephesians 6:18. But wait. Though the Bible has something to say about spiritual warfare, it does not go into such things as territorial spirits, spirits over the wheat industry, levels of spiritual warfare, and such. Yet note that Wagner speaks as dogmatically about things which cannot be proven from Scripture as that which can.

His source for such extra-biblical doctrine are prophecies and other strange charismatic experiences. Wagner has bought into the new prophet thing almost 100%, according to his own testimony at Indianapolis, and has a close relationship with some of the prophets. He testified of his close relationship with John Wimber, a man who has been caught hook, line, and sinker by the prophetic movement. Surely it is Wagner’s relationship with Wimber that has taught him much of the extra-biblical doctrine he now holds as dogma.

Wimber not only gets doctrine from the new prophets, but also from conversations with demons! It’s a fact. For example, Wimber believes some demons have bodies and some don’t, and those who don’t have bodies are second class demons, and because of their desire to be first class, they possess people. Where does he get that? Amazingly, he admits that he gets this from conversations with demons! That’s about as extra-biblical as you can get!

Brethren, this is a great, great danger. Don’t establish your Christian beliefs upon anything but the Bible. Cleave to the Scriptures! In this evil and confused hour, nothing can keep us on the straight and narrow path of truth except a thorough knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. If something can’t be demonstrated clearly from Scripture, God’s people are not bound to believe or follow it!

We don’t need new prophets; we need a greater love for the old Prophets! The Bible is absolutely sufficient. Cleave to it, and you’ll not be led astray, nor will you be adrift on the restless sea of charismatic confusion.

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Tim. 3:16-17

“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” 2 Pet. 1:19-21

TESTIMONY OF A FORMER CHARISMATIC PASTOR ABOUT PROPHECY

What did I feel as I heard the prophecies during these conferences? My own feelings are described by a man named Neil Babcox, a man who served as pastor of a Pentecostal church until leaving the movement. Consider the testimony of this man who once gave prophecies himself and who believed in these things:
Prophetic messages were quite common at our church. In fact, whenever we assembled to worship, spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy, were foremost in our minds. Even though we followed no prescribed liturgy, there was an unwritten order of worship that always included the opportunity for one to prophesy according to the proportion of his faith.
Our prophecies seldom if ever predicted the future. Instead they took the form of fervent exhortations or simple words of comfort. Generally they consisted of various biblical phrases and fragments pieced together like a patchwork quilt. Often they focused upon such themes as the imminent return of Christ or God’s forgiving love. Most of the time the prophecies were spoken in the first person as if God Himself were addressing us, but occasionally the phrase “thus saith the Lord” was used even as it was by the prophets of the Bible.

There was something distinctly romantic about the notion of prophesying. There you are standing in succession to the prophets of the Bible. Samuel and Elijah saw your day coming and were glad. True, your lips are unclean, but they have been touched by a live coal from off the altar. Like Isaiah, you have heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And you responded, “Here am I. Send me!”

Yes, it was all very romantic. But gradually, what had started as a romantic venture, an idealistic quest for spiritual gifts, was slowly, imperceptibly changing. Into what, I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that the excitement and romance of prophesying was turning into an uneasy sense that the prophecies I heard, including my own, were hardly worthy of the name. The idea that they were the words of the Living God was beginning to seem painfully ludicrous. Would the romance now become a comedy of errors, or a tragedy, perhaps? At any rate, one thing was certain: this burden of the prophets was becoming a crushing, onerous weight. And I couldn’t help wondering if the weight which I was carrying was not the burden of the Lord at all, but some foreign yoke of bondage.

In my case there were four simple words that played a decisive role in changing my heart: Thus saith the Lord. To me, these were the most unsettling words. And the more I comprehended their meaning, the more I understood what the prophets meant when they spoke them and what the Holy Spirit meant when He inspired them, the more unsettling they became.

“Thus saith the Lord.” What abuses I had seen of those words! what bitter fruit I had seen born by men and women speaking these words! I have seen people married on the basis of guidance received from personal prophecies only to be divorced a week later because of a terrible scandal. Many lives have been harmed by such prophetic guidance. What actions, what conduct, have been countenanced by a “thus saith the Lord.”

The moment of truth came when I heard a prophecy spoken at a charismatic church I was visiting. I was sitting in the church trying to worship God while dreading the approach of that obligatory moment of silence which signaled that a prophecy was about to be spoken. The silence came, and soon it was broken by a bold and commanding “Thus saith the Lord!”

Those words triggered an immediate reaction. Conviction, like water rising against a dam, began to fill my soul. “Listen my people.” …[the prophecy commenced] Until finally, the dam burst: “This is not my God,” I cried within my heart. “this is not my Lord!” (Neil Babcox, A Search for Charismatic Reality – One Man’s Pilgrimage, pp. 46-59)