Contemporary Prophetic Ministry: Proper Use and Abuse

Is God still speaking through prophetic voices today? Hey friends, this is Michael Brown and we've got a special teaching broadcast today. This is one of those shows where we dig into the word and respond to some questions you've posted online, but I will not be taking calls. Now, I want to timestamp this for you. This is airing live on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

It is a travel day for me after finishing teaching in Texas. So the show is being prerecorded on one week earlier on Monday. So that is Monday, November 16th.

Now why do I say that? Because between Monday, November 16th and Tuesday, November 24th, there may be some major changes in the outcome of the elections. It may be absolutely sealed that Joe Biden is a legitimate winner. Things may be in the process of being overturned, that Trump is a legitimate winner. A chorus of prophets across the nation and even other nations have been saying consistently that Donald Trump would be reelected in 2020.

Will they be vindicated or will they be humiliated? These are questions that by the time this airs, there may be answers to. But everything I'm teaching today about prophets and prophetic ministry remains the same. Everything that I'm teaching today remains just as true regardless of how things shift. In other words, by God's grace, because this is a scripture-based broadcast, it will age well.

I'm not making predictions. I'm simply looking at scriptural principles. Now what I want to do is this. I want to lay out the purpose of prophetic ministry today, why I'm convinced by scripture it continues in our day, and then go through purposes of prophetic ministry potential abuses. For those who think, well, I'm just getting on this now, Dr. Brown, come on, you should have been hitting on this before.

Oh, I've hit on this for years. I've taught on prophetic ministry for many, many years, going back to the mid-1980s, and then opening up the books of the prophets and adult Sunday school classes, going back to the late 70s, before that, early 80s, just opening up the scriptures and what the scriptures say about prophets and then specifically New Testament prophetic ministry and how it's different than old. And then in my book Playing with Holy Fire, I have a chapter on mercenary prophets and a chapter on unaccountable prophets. So trust me, these are issues that I have dealt with as a leader in the charismatic church and as someone who loves the word and loves the Spirit. But let me lay out first why I believe from scripture that prophetic ministry continues until this day and then talk through some of the issues that have come up with prophetic ministry in 2020. I know of no major prophetic voices that were clearly prophesying COVID before it came. All right, I've heard of people that journaled it or they had a dream previously, but in terms of major prophetic voices, no one that I know prophesied that it was coming. And then there were others that said it would dissipate by mid-April around Passover season.

That clearly didn't happen. I mean, there are concerns about Thanksgiving, there are concerns about Christmas gatherings and things like that. Some of it could be overreaction, but much of it is legit. We've lost a couple of friends, one of the 60s, one of the 70s, to COVID.

We've had another in his 40s was an ICU. So we're not taking this lightly. It doesn't mean all the lockdowns and all that or all the masks and everything is this. I don't know.

I follow the rules wherever I am. It's that simple. But there were no major prophets warning about COVID coming, and then there were certainly some major prophetic voices that got things wrong about COVID dissipating. And now there's the potential of all these prophetic voices being wrong about Trump. What if they're right? Does that mean we just believe what they say in the future? So we're going to sort all this out, alright?

I think you'll find it helpful. Let's go to Acts, the second chapter. Acts the second chapter, when the Holy Spirit has been poured out, alright, and the 120 are speaking in new languages, Peter gets up and he says this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel. Many quotes from Joel 2.17, but he adds in the words in the last days.

Joel said after this, alright, Peter adds in the words in the last days. He adds those words in to say the time that we're living in is the time of this great final outpouring, and obviously it spans through the church age until Jesus returns. In the last days, which we live in today, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even in my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days and they will prophesy.

In what days? The last days. And this is the era in which we live. We are living in the last days in which sons, daughters can prophesy.

In other words, it will be ubiquitous, it won't just be on a handful of people, a little here, a little there. Alright, now, let's take a look in 1 Corinthians chapter 14. In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul is dealing with the outworking of the various gifts and manifestations of the Spirit, the charismata, the empowerments of the Spirit. And he mentions there's tongues, there's healing, there's miracles, but there's also prophecy. And he explains the use of prophecy.

There's no way a word says it's going to stop. And he says this in verse 3, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging, and comfort. So the one who speaks in a tongue is speaking between them and God, they're building up their own spirits, they're being edified, they're speaking mysteries in the Spirit, which is wonderful. That's why Paul says later in the chapter, I speak in tongues more than all of you. But in terms of public ministry, he said, no, no, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging, and comfort. In other words, the general role of prophetic words in the New Testament, because anyone can potentially prophesy, is to strengthen, encourage, comfort God's people.

Alright? So, if we go down in the chapter, we'll see this. That Paul says in verse 20, let's get it right in front of us, in verse 23, if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues and inquires when believers come in, will they not say that you're out of your mind? But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they're convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare.

So, they'll fall down and worship God, explaining God is really among you. So, prophetic ministry does not just encourage, build up, that's the general rule. But also, as the Word is speaking truth, the Holy Spirit is revealing things through prophetic ministry. And it's not just preaching, it's not just preaching, teaching the Word, it's these inspired words.

It's not adding to the Bible, not giving foundational doctrine or foundational truth about who Jesus is, alright? It's simply laying out what the Holy Spirit is saying to us now. It could be a directive thing with a job or a difficult situation or maybe you're mourning and hurting and the Holy Spirit has a word of comfort through someone that doesn't even know you.

But also, the Holy Spirit can reveal sin in the lives of non-believers or others and gives them a revelation of the reality of God because of which they fall on their faces and worship it. Now, let's look at the end of 1 Corinthians chapter 14. The end of 1 Corinthians 14, Paul says this, this is how he ends the chapter. All the way down, verse 37, he says this, If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge what I am writing to as the Lord's command. But if anyone ignores this, they themselves will be ignored. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy. Do not forbid speaking in tongues, but everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.

Now, here's the deal. He didn't write anything after that telling us to not do that. He never said, don't be eager to prophesy at a certain point.

And when you say, yeah, but when the perfect comes, this will end. When Jesus returns and we see him face to face, then there will be no more need for prophecy or for learning, he says knowledge will cease at that point. In other words, we won't need to be, you know, trying to figure out what the Bible's saying about certain things because we'll see him face to face at that point. Now, one more passage I want to look at, Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians, the fourth chapter, Paul begins dealing there with the ascension gifts, that Jesus, when he ascended to heaven, gave gifts to men.

And if we go down to verse 9, what does he ascended mean, except that he also descended to the lower earthly regions, he who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens in order to fill the whole universe. So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers to equip his people for works of service that the body of Christ may be built up and to all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attending to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching or by the cunning and craftiness of people and their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head that is Christ, the Messiah.

From him the whole body joined and held together by every supporting ligament grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work. Now here's the question. These are here, apostles, not just the twelve, others in the New Testament are called apostles like Barnabas and others, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, to equip his people for works of service that the body of Messiah may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Messiah. So, as we step back and think about that passage, ask yourself, have we reached that point yet? Have we reached that point of maturity and unity and not being tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine?

The answer is no. That's why I take the Bible for what it says. The prophecy will continue until Jesus returns, that during the last days the Holy Spirit will be poured out and prophecy will be ubiquitous. First Thessalonians 5 tells us, don't despise prophecies, test everything, hold fast to that which is good. It also says don't put out the Spirit's fire. Don't put out the Spirit's fire, don't despise prophecies, on the other hand, test everything, hold fast to the good. First Corinthians 14 says two or three prophets speak the other's way carefully. We're not in the Old Testament now, where a prophet could say to Israel, you must leave this region and all go here because an earthquake is coming and if you were a God-fearing person, you believed the prophet, they were a proven person and you don't move. We're not in that situation today. Prophets don't have that role, they don't have that authority.

Because we each have a relationship with God, we're each indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we each have the Scriptures, we should each have discernment. So if someone came in here, someone that was proven with an excellent track record for many years, and they said, you've got to get out of this building. I'm telling you, the Lord warned me, there's going to be an attack on this building. You've got to get out of this building.

And we've got 20 workers in this building, all right? And we all know the Lord, and if this person had never been wrong in all the years I've known them, then I would expect that at that moment, among us, there'd be a witness in our own spirits that this is a real warning, and we'd run. But if none of us had a witness to it, if all of us felt clearly everything's fine here, then we're not to just believe what a prophet says. That's not how it functions in the New Testament. And yet, prophetic ministry continues. You see, Hebrews 1 says, in the past, God spoke to the prophets, now through his Son.

Well, hang on. Hebrews 1 was written during a time of a lot of prophetic activity in the New Testament. In other words, it wasn't negating that the Holy Spirit is still speaking through prophets, rather the final revelation came through the Son, and all prophecy is going to point to him. Revelation 19, 10, in the end, not every specific prophecy, but in the end, the goal of prophecy, the essence of the prophetic spirit, is the testimony of Jesus.

In the end, prophets are jealous for the glory of God and are going to turn our hearts to the one true God and the one true Lord. All right. I'm going to unpack this more and answer some of your social media questions. Stay right here. It's The Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Hey, friend, thanks for joining us today on The Line of Fire.

Michael Brown, delighted to be with you. If I said, hey, friend, instead of, hey, friends, yeah, that was for you individually. Okay. In all seriousness, dear friends, it is great to be with you. You know, having done live daily radio for 12 years and then preached thousands of times and obviously, you know, you slip up in a word, you say something wrongly, and the thing that's funny is I'll listen to something, I may happen to catch something or someone's asked me a question, I'm going back to an old show or an old message or I just happen to hear it play, I almost invariably remember, oh, oh, this is right, I slipped up here or I got that wrong there, but you could put together a nice little video of the bloopers. All right.

Yeah, it just inspires some hyper critic to do that. Well, you have a great time doing that. All right. I'm not taking calls today, but an important announcement. Do you get my emails? We send out, oh, about three a week. Do you get my emails?

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Also if we get shut down on social media, if we lose our platforms because of the controversial stance we take, at least we can stay in touch with you, all right? All right, so a few points, and then we're going to go to some of your questions about prophetic ministry today. I want to reiterate that the New Testament church is not led by prophets.

Prophets are part of five-fold ministry. In some of our circles, the only thing we know is pastor, that's it, pastor is everything and everybody. Well, shepherds play a very important role, and every leader should have some level of a shepherd's heart, but pastors are not anointed to do the work of evangelists the way evangelists can do it. We should all do the work of evangelists and leadership and reach out, but they're anointed evangelists. And there are some pastors who are more gifted teachers than others, so they should all be apt to teach. Some have strong prophetic insight, but not the way prophets would. Some have city-wide pioneering vision, but not the way apostolic people would. In fact, if you have large city-wide pioneering vision, you may have apostolic calling. We need to appreciate the different aspects of the ministries that God has put in the body. It's not just one person does everything, and everything hinges on them.

We'll be imbalanced, whichever it is. If all the leaders were just evangelists, we'd have no discipleship and teaching. If everyone was just a teacher, we'd have no evangelism. If everyone was just a prophet, we wouldn't have shepherding.

So each aspect of the ministry is important. But in the New Testament, I want to say this again, prophets do not lead the church. Therefore, if there were prophetic voices that were considered leading voices in your congregation, or in your city, or in your denomination, and they all felt the Holy Spirit was saying the same thing, then it would be for the other leaders, the other co-leaders, the other team leaders, to say, amen. We believe this is what the Holy Spirit's saying. The New Testament is not led by prophets, it is not their role.

And if you want to have that role, if you say, no, God's giving me actual words, and these words carry divine authority, alright, then you're missing, you get stoned to death. In other words, if you want to function like an Old Testament prophet, then you're going to have to take the test of an Old Testament prophet. So 2 Chronicles 20, that we've heard a lot this year, 20, 20, believe the prophets and you're prosperous. That is not a generalization, nor is that for prophets to tell everyone, believe the prophets, alright, rather, that is King Jehoshaphat, after the prophets had spoken a word of encouragement, he then as the king said, alright, trust God, believe the prophets will succeed.

They said, go for it, we're going to go for it. It was the king who then told the people to go for it, not the prophets themselves. You can see the danger of prophets saying, trust us, we're prophets. You can see that danger, right, because they're claiming uniquely to hear from God. And again, I believe in prophetic ministry today, and I've heard the voice of the Spirit giving me prophetic words for people, and I've received supernatural words, and I know some of my friends flow in ways that, you know, if you saw the stories or in the meetings, you'd be in tears, worshiping the Lord and blown away by his goodness. So I'm not diminishing prophetic ministry, I'm saying things are out of place, out of line, the way they're coming forward, the way they're being processed, and there needs to be some major correction within the charismatic church. You say, I'd just rather not have it.

Why? The Holy Spirit's working, why not have it? And there are many glorious Jesus exalting testimonies, why not have it? And why deny what scripture says should be the norm for our day? Paul says, be eager to prophesy, why walk away from it? Because of abuses, that's why he also says, don't despise it. I'd rather have the gifts in operation, and then you correct abuses, than not in operation at all. I think it was brother Andrew who said that it's easier to cool down a fanatic than to warm up a corpse. In the words of Ecclesiastes, you know, a living dog is better than a dead lion, right?

So you can make application accordingly. What about Numbers 13? In Numbers 13, Joshua and Caleb come back with the other 10 spies, so the 12 spies, and the 10 spies give a negative report, they went in to spy on the land of Canaan, and they said, we can't take the land, there are giants there, we can't take the land. And then the two said, we can take the land.

We can take the land. Some people believe the 10, not the two said they died in the wilderness. Some are saying today that we have to believe the prophets or we're going to die in the wilderness, spiritually speaking. We have to believe the prophets and not listen to the media and the 10 and the others, you know, believe the two, rather than the 10. Believe the one saying, we can take the land, or in this case, believe the one saying Trump's going to be re-elected and contend for that, rather than believe all the negative reports and it's over and the media's crown, Biden is next, or announced Biden is present, etc.

Against the misapplication of the text. God did not tell Joshua and Caleb, as prophets, tell the people you will take the land in this generation. Rather, God had given promises to Israel, they could take the land if they believed, and Joshua and Caleb said, we believe the word of the Lord. They weren't even speaking there as prophets as much as saying, we believe God, it can happen.

Okay? God did not tell them, your generation will take the land, but if you don't believe hard enough it won't happen. That's not what happened. He said, you can take the land, and they said, yes, we can, we can. And the others didn't believe it, so they died in the wilderness and the next generation had to do it. It's a misapplication, there's no direct application to today, other than if God's given you a promise, hold to it. God's given you a promise, hold to it. If the Holy Spirit spoke to my own heart, Trump will be re-elected and it seemed everything was against it, then I'd be crying out, what about your promise? What about your promise?

He didn't speak that to me. On the other hand, I don't know that that was not what God spoke. So what I have earnestly done is urge everyone, contend for the will of God. And when you're listening to this on Tuesday the 24th, as I'm recording it some days earlier, if you're listening to this on Tuesday the 24th, some of what I'm saying about the election may be moot, all right? But what I want you to hear is this, I'm not encouraging unbelief, I'm not encouraging presumption, I'm encouraging faith in God.

What do I know? God is all-powerful, God has a plan, God hates corruption, fraud, deception. He hates it when people believe lies, so if Trump is lying about fraud and millions of people are believing that, God hates that.

Or if there's been fraud perpetrated against the president and an election stolen, God hates that. So I can pray, God, bring about your will. Bring about your will for the president of the United States. Bring about your will for 2021.

Expose corruption, expose fraud, expose deceit. And I encourage others to pray the same, I'm not cultivating unbelief, cultivating faith in God. Okay, another thing, another thing. God is not the author of confusion. What does that mean? Well, it doesn't mean that there won't be confusion as a result of the Holy Spirit ministering, by which I mean that when the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts 2, there were some who said, this is God, we hear the praises of God in our own language, and others said, you're drunk. It was prophesied over Jesus by Simeon in Luke 2, 34 and 35, when he was just a baby, that he was appointed for the falling and rising of many in Israel, and said the thoughts of many hearts would be revealed. So when Jesus comes on the scene, the thoughts of hearts are revealed.

When the Holy Spirit is poured out, like in revival, the thoughts of hearts are revealed. But God is not the author of confusion, meaning he won't speak through brother A and say, the Lord says it will rain tomorrow, buy umbrellas, and then speak through sister B, saying the Lord said there will be no rain for the next 30 days, sell your umbrellas. He's not going to do that. He's not going to speak two contradictory words through two different people. So when you have this situation now, where a large number of prophetic voices, and I've probed any major national prophetic voices that you're aware of that prophesied a Biden victory, the answer is no. Everyone you know prophesied a Trump victory, yes. Well, either this is going to happen, or there's been mass deception, there's been mass giving over to a partisan political spirit, or something. It's not just a bunch of guys guessed wrong, okay, because it's too unanimous.

And that's what we have to sort out. 1 Kings 22, all the false prophets were given a false word, and there was only one true prophet who heard the real word of the Lord, and of course it was a negative word. All the prophets like, go, conquer, you can do this, you can do this, they were yes men to the king. But they were false prophets and received a false word, which today they're people that I know, God-fearing, love Jesus, people of the word, people who live wholly consecrated lives, take very seriously being in ministry, that have all said that Trump would be re-elected. If he is, that proves they really heard from the Lord, but it doesn't mean that the way things have come about is the right thing, necessarily, alright?

Or they're all wrong, in which case, man, there's going to be massive need for accountability within the charismatic party. Alright, we'll be right back with your questions. It's The Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into The Line of Fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Thanks for joining us, friends, on The Line of Fire, Michael Brown, delighted to be with you, not taking your calls. This is a travel day for me after teaching in Texas before Thanksgiving, so we're not coming your way live, but this is a teaching broadcast getting into prophetic ministry for today. Let me say that if the Holy Spirit shows us things to come, there's always a reason for it.

I have a whole article that I wrote about that a few days back, a little over a week ago. I explained that the essence of prophetic ministry is ultimately the testimony of Jesus, Revelation 19-10, and that God is jealous for his glory, so prophetic ministry will take us away from looking at man and worshiping man and get us to looking at God and worshiping God. And, of course, it will expose sin and call us to repentance, but when the Holy Spirit gives future information, as happens often in the New Testament, there's always a reason for it. In other words, prophets are not glorified fortune tellers. Hey, who's going to win the Super Bowl? Hey, who's going to win the election?

Hey, what's going to happen at the stock market? That's not the way the Holy Spirit works. So in Acts 11, prophets prophesy a coming famine, so the believers take up a collection to help the poor saints in Jerusalem. In Acts 20 and 21, there are constant prophecies to Paul about the dangers that await him in Jerusalem, so he'll be prepared to know, okay, you do this, you're never coming back. And then other things, in Luke 22, when Jesus gives a prophetic word to Peter that he's going to be sifted by Satan, and he's going to fail, but when his heart is turned back, encourage the brothers.

All right, so you hit rock bottom, remember you had that word, and Jesus already knew you were going to mess up, but he's saying, come on, let's get back up on the other side of this. So if there's future information given, there is a reason for it. Sometimes it's to confirm something in your heart, you know, it's to confirm a calling in your life and what you're going to be stepping into at a certain point.

But the levels of specific words I've seen and heard over people over the years have just been staggering. So I know the Holy Spirit speaks in this way, but I don't believe that prophets are modern day glorified fortune tellers, and that we just sit around and ask, what do you see coming in the future? The only reason to know that is because something important is tied in with that knowledge. He doesn't confirm something, would help us prepare, help us make decisions, would glorify God in a certain way.

All right, let me go to some of your questions posted on Twitter, starting with Kevin. If the gift of prophecy does exist, and an authentic prophecy which reveals the future is true in our contemporary times, what would be the suitable example to portray this? Well, you know, I'd look at the prophecies about Trump being elected president even before he primaried in 2015. I would look at people who were speaking of his presidency several years before that, and then comparing it to Cyrus, a figure in the Old Testament who didn't know God, who was an idol worshiping Persian king, but God raised up to do good to the Jewish people in Jerusalem. So God's saying, I'm calling you even though you don't know me, Isaiah 45.

That would be an example of something that seemed completely outlandish, but God used that to get our attention to say, hey, hey, there's something to this, there's something to this. Now, here's the deal. Could it be that some of those same prophets who received revelation the first time have now been presumptuous the second time? Oh, it's going to happen the same way the second time? Or is that an insult to their integrity, and sure enough, it'll happen.

You say, well, what if it happens that Trump's reelected, but it's 2024? If that's the case, then perfect illustration of why prophets don't lead the church, because prophetic language is not always like newspapers. In fact, it's normally not. It only has to be interpreted, it has to be understood, just read the prophetic books of the Bible.

All right? How about the book of Revelation in the New Testament, right? So the point is that sometimes timing is off, and that's why things have to be submitted for others to judge as well. Rachel, who is responsible to call out those in the prophetic movement who are not accurate, who have glaring character issues, or who do not submit their words to their prophets for judgment before broadcasting to the world via social media? That's the problem, Rachel, that we don't have like a, how can I say this the right way? Okay. We don't have a hierarchical system, or at the least, a recognized leadership government for charismatics across the board.

Now, let's throw this out. If you're in the Catholic Church, you have a certain hierarchical system, which I reject scripture. In other words, I don't believe that you have the pope and the cardinals and the bishops and the priests and then the laity, I don't see that at all. We have one body, we're all brothers and sisters, we're all equals in the Messiah, but God does raise up different leaders for different purposes. So I'm not looking for a hierarchical structure, but rather, we don't have a denomination that covers everybody. Now outside of that, if you're Catholic, if you're Greek or Russian Orthodox, you have your denominations, but otherwise, I mean, there are different groups of Baptists and there are different groups of Pentecostals and there are different groups of Episcopalians and Presbyterians, so you have all these different denominations, but with our movement, we have a ton of independent churches. I don't mean independent being arrogant, I mean not part of denominations. A ton of independent churches, a ton of independent ministries, and what has to happen because of that is that respected fathers, respected elders, have to come together and call for accountability.

That's what has to happen. Those who are recognized and widely respected in the body, and again, it may be certain groups here, certain groups here, you may have groups that are divided along ethnic or racial lines because that's where they travel more and speak more so they recognize leaders there. Ideally, you'd have a coalition, a multi-ethnic, multi-racial coalition, America, a world-wide be amazing, but just America of respected leaders, fathers, who can then bring some level of accountability. Now it's not a matter of stoning people, it's not a matter of crucifying someone for one mistake, but if there's a pattern of error, and then certainly, glaring character deficiencies or something serious, not something minor that happens and you just got, you're interacting with someone and you realize, you know, I'm a little too friendly and I won't do that anymore and you get that right before God and man, and that's, I'm not talking about adultery, I'm talking about persistent things that are going on over a period of years that are not repented of, whatever the cases are, those people should be removed from ministry.

What if you don't have the power to remove them, it's only their own boards? What you can do is publicly blacklist. I mean, that's what we did with the situation with the charismatic minister last year, that there was a public blacklisting, or early this year actually is when it happened, early 2020, there was public blacklisting. So to the extent the leaders involved were respected, then to that extent, it hurt that person's credibility. But we have to do this in local church level, city-wide level, national level, and whichever way the elections go, I believe it's critically important that we move in that direction. Thomas, is modern prophecy too focused on self-promotion, making one look important to attract followers, then bringing the Word of God? Thomas, honestly, that can be the case with any minister or ministry. I could ask the same about pastors, you know, growing their social media base, getting more people to follow them so their new book will be a bigger hit, evangelistic ministry, teaching ministry.

I mean, you could raise that question about any type of ministry, it's a temptation. The temptation to be popular more than the calling to be obedient. The temptation to make money rather than serve others. Those are fleshly temptations that the Word warns against from beginning to end, you know, the way of Balaam being known as the way of greed for profits.

But again, that can happen to anyone. It can happen to someone called into Christian business that you're supposed to be in the business world to be a witness to other business people and to raise money for missions, instead you end up just getting rich, and carnal, and not witnessing and not giving the money where it's supposed to go. So there are always those temptations, and I would not say that the majority of people that I know doing prophetic ministry would fall in that category, but I'm sure some would, just like others would who are not prophets today.

And I do want to make an important point. If someone claims to prophesy for the Lord, claims to be speaking words from the Lord, and they are proven to be false, in other words, they are Christians, they are believers, they are disciples, but they are in error in their prophecies. I don't call them false prophets. I know many do, but I don't because in the Old Testament, false prophets were deceivers that led the people away from Yahweh. In the New Testament, Matthew 13, Jesus warns against false prophets and says they're wolves in sheep's clothing. Just like in 2 Corinthians 11, verses 13 to 15, Paul warns against false apostles and says that they're servants of Satan, and 2 Peter 2, 1, Peter warns against false teachers and says they're bringing in damnable heresies. So in Matthew 7, beginning in verse 13, Jesus warns against false prophets, says they're wolves in sheep's clothing.

So I wouldn't call them false prophets, but I would say they're prophesying falsely and they should not be regarded as prophets. Andres, this is obviously a different, a different subject, are there any of your books in Spanish? Yeah, there are. A number. A number.

You should write to us at our website, info.askdrbrown.org, and we can tell you which ones are in Spanish. Jared, what do you think of Pastor Dana's dreams? So Pastor Dana Coverton, or Coverstone, sorry if you get the exact last name, I watched some of the videos, not all in full, I don't doubt that he's sharing the truth from his own experience. In other words, when he says that he had visions about COVID and other things, that he shared it with his elders and others, I have no reason to doubt him, I take him at his word.

One reason being, even the whole way the video is recorded, when he's putting out it, I think the last thing in his mind was that this was going to go viral and get hundreds of thousands of views. But he had warnings about September, warnings about November, you know, basically warnings, brace yourself for what's coming. My response was, I live braced.

I live braced. And those could well be. Do I expect increase in persecution? Yeah.

Do I expect increase in shaking? Yes. Do I expect increasing outpouring of spirit? Yes.

So I live braced. So we shall see. I didn't have reason to doubt him, but didn't change my lifestyle or attitude at all because I live braced. Tim, should contemporary prophets be held accountable, if so, how? So this ties in, of course, with the question that we're addressing. Yes, they should be held accountable in the local church when their words are tested. And if their words do not come to pass, if their words mislead, if their words are inaccurate in terms of factual information, then the other leaders need to sit that person down.

And if it's believed there is some gift there or some calling there, then they have to find out why this person is in error, in the flesh, making mistakes. If it's clear that this person is not called prophetically, they should be told just zip it. And if the person continues, they should be marked as divisive. This continues after not heeding the words of leaders. And such a person could really do damage, draw people after themselves. Now it could be they're prophesying truth and exposing sin and people don't want to hear it, in which case they may get rejected and hate it and persecuted on some level, but then their words will ultimately be vindicated.

But there has to be accountability. Which means, before I believe prophecy number two, you've got to explain to me why prophecy number one didn't happen. It's the Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural and spiritual revolution.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. I want to open up a very important principle about prophetic ministry and then go back to your questions. One of my friends years ago was in a church where suddenly there were some amazingly accurate, detailed prophetic words. I mean someone calling him the night after he had a very vivid and intense dream and talking about the dream he had the night before. And I mean, what?

The guy brings it up to him. Yeah, you had this dream last night and you dreamt this and this and here's the significance of it. I mean, crazy stuff like that. I remember in one situation that a prophet said thus and such is going to happen and this will be the confirmation.

And it was some unannounced astronomical phenomenon, you know, a comic, you know, whatever, unannounced and sure enough it happened at that time. Now, he's a pastor. I know the man personally, I know the stories. He's a pastor.

What's he to do with this? He's not getting people's dreams to tell them what they're like, like Daniel did, right? You know, in Daniel the second chapter and, you know, someone would call him with a, you know, the Lord gave me your phone number and told me to call and tell you this, like, what?

Real things, real things. And they were very important. They were major decisions he had to make or difficult choices and these were confirmations from the Lord.

But how do you argue with that? He's the pastor. He has authority in his local church and yet these wild, prophetic things are happening. When I say wild, I mean supernatural and he's not hearing the voice of the Lord like that.

So what happens? Well, he realized, hang on, they may have the revelation but they may not have the interpretation and they certainly don't have the application. That's where he and other leaders came in. Okay, you feel the Lord showed you this, therefore what? Was it mean and what are we to do with it? And that's what he said, you need me as much as I need you.

This is a joint effort. And many times we put our own interpretation on something. We make an assumption and then it becomes presumptuous. Look, I've shared this before but I'm sure many of you never heard this from me. This is because you can't hear every word I say over the years.

So for some, you're hearing it again. But there was a streak, I didn't ask for it, it was a strange thing. But in years before ultrasounds or anything like that, when you had to wait until you gave birth to find out if it was a boy or a girl and people would say, yeah, the way you're carrying, I can tell it's a girl. No, see, I know it's a boy and you'd say, well, it's a boy or a girl and you'd have both names picked, you know. I had a streak for a couple of years where I'd be praying for someone, you know, maybe a woman's pregnant, had health issues or something or she'd miscarry the number of times, was afraid she was going to miscarry again and I'd have a word and you're going to have a boy or you're going to have a girl. No, you say it's 50-50, right?

But I'm talking about 100% accurate over the course of a couple of years. I remember one time with some good friends, pastor and his wife, very spiritually minded, godly people, knew the Lord, know the Lord, and they had a girl, wife was pregnant with baby number two, we were in the car and Nancy and I were in the car with them. I remember they're in the front seats, we're in the back seats and they're talking, yeah, you know, and we're having a boy this time and, you know, we decorated the room already, blue, and we know it's a boy and other intercessors in the church, they said, yeah, it's a boy.

And I got really disturbed, I said, I'm sorry, but you're having a good girl. And they said, I don't know, Mike, we know it's a boy and these are godly, solid people. I don't know how they got it wrong, maybe they just all wanted a boy, they had a girl and they wanted a boy, whatever, okay, we're human beings, we make these mistakes.

But I knew it, no, it's a girl and sure enough it was, it was. She married a woman with children of her own now, that's many years ago. Okay, so what's the point? This went on for a while. Initially the Lord initiated it. Initially it was in conjunction with the word I was giving to someone, you know, having a series of miscarriages and now she was pregnant again and afraid she was miscarrying. It was a public word, I spoke over, you're not going to miscarry, you're going to carry the full term and you're having, whatever, a boy or a girl, I forget what it was. Sure enough it happened. I remember for months thinking, oh God, oh boy, is she going to make it to the end, I said she's going to make it to the end, you know, just why did I say it? But it was a word of encouragement for them. And then it ended up being what I said it was. Nancy said to me, you really need to just keep your mouth shut unless God tells you. In other words, it became my habit that whenever I was, you know, at a meeting somewhere, chatting with a couple and there's the wife's pregnant, I said, by the way, you're having a boy, by the way, you're having a girl, it became like my thing.

And it was like that for a couple of years. And then I got wrong. What? Presumption. Presumption.

Presumption. God didn't tell me to do it. I didn't say, thus saith the Lord, I just say, hey, you're having it, you're having it, you know, I got to get track record with this. Nancy had been warning me, if God didn't tell you to say it, then you shouldn't be saying it. It's just like, hey, I got the, you know, I've got this gift of discernment about babies or whatever you want to call it. I got presumptuous. This is decades ago, I'm just telling you what happened.

It can happen with any of us. Or we start making assumptions, assumptions, presumption are deadly in prophetic ministry. All right, back to some of your questions. Stephen, should we use the Didache as a tool to distinguish between true and false prophets? So this is, was known as the teaching of the 12 apostles, it doesn't originally go back to them, but it is an early church document. Yes and no.

Yes in terms of some of the guidelines. You know, if someone claims to be speaking in the Spirit and says, give me money, you know, the Lord told me that you were to give me money. The Lord told me that you were to write out a check for this amount, then you reject them.

You reject them. That's not bona fide, that's not the Holy Spirit, you reject them. On the other hand, there were aspects of itinerant ministry then that were different than today, so I would not do that in a across the board way in every case, but general principles that are laid out there, yes, I believe can be very helpful in finding the difference between truth and error. And notice that's an early church document, there were still traveling apostles and traveling teachers. Susan, Dr. Brown, do you personally know or know of anyone who has 100% accuracy in their predictions or words of knowledge?

Thank you. No, I don't. I've never tracked, you know, each person that claims to be prophetic. Again, New Testament is everything has to be tested, but I do know some that have operated in a very high level of accuracy, have been very trustworthy, that what they've said, you know, one of my close friends is close with prophetic leaders and he told me this one guy for years and years and years has been 100% accurate in things he's told him personally. Anything else, again, has to be tested by others and we have joint discernment in that regard. Keep performing, where's that sneaky squid spirit hiding? You know, I just clicked on your bio, an unworthy servant, it's kind of an unworthy question, but hey, here's the deal, here's the deal.

If some folks want to find fault and attack, they'll do that. You want to know what I believe, read the books, right, listen to the messages, find out what I believe. Don't go down some rabbit trail or rabbit hole, whatever it is, of some hyper critic who then turns it into merchandising for their own ministry.

Be more worthy than that. Tila, is this contemporary prophetic issue the church is facing more of an American phenomenon or do other countries have issues with the same type of prophetic behavior? The other countries do and there's some real abuses, like countries like Nigeria, you get some real mercenary profits and you have to pay them certain amounts of money to get prophecies and I've been told some have really gotten rich through it, so you have some real abuses.

My book Playing with Holy Fire has been put out in an inexpensive English edition in Nigeria for the very purpose to deal with some of the error and problems. But wherever you have prophetic ministry, you're going to have problems. Wherever the Holy Spirit's working, you're going to have problems because of human beings, because of abuses. Where you have churches, you're going to have problems. Where you have Christians, you're going to have problems. So I don't justify it, I don't minimize it, we must address these issues, there must be much more prophetic accountability and we must weed out those that are false and hold those that are true to a higher standard.

Or else say, okay, we understand not to take everything you're saying with any literality and you're saying what you believe the Lord may be saying and we'll process it accordingly, you know, then don't ask for that level of following and authority. Reese, have there been any prophets since the biblical prophets, actual prophets examples? If so, okay, I don't know the second part of that, but yeah, again, again, for sure, for sure, there have been New Testament prophets and they continue to this day.

There's no question about it. The Bible is clear to me that these things continue until Jesus returns. But they don't have the function of Old Testament prophets, they don't speak with the authority of Old Testament prophets, they were just part of leadership teams and part of ministry within the body and their words like everything else must be tested and then for the good of the church with interpretation and application be given to work out. Prophets don't lead the body in the New Testament as I've said repeatedly. So friends, God's going to use all the questions in confusion right now, if it turns out the prophets were right and Trump is seemingly miraculously re-elected by the time you're listening November 24th, maybe that's the case, that doesn't mean that you just listen to the prophets, it means we have to still sift through the right way things should be processed. And if in fact a massive number of prophets all said the same thing and all got it wrong all the more, there doesn't need to be accountability.

But don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. First decide based on scripture, based on scripture, if you believe prophetic ministry is for today. If so, what's the difference between that and the Canada scripture? The Word of God, which is the Word which tests everything, which stands a completely different plane than what the Holy Spirit may be showing or guiding today in other ways, personal, practical matters and things like that. And then, what's the purpose of prophetic ministry today and how do we hold it accountable and work it out for the good of the body? These are questions we'll continue to explore here on the Line of Fire.