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Apostle Colin Nyathi Senior Pastor and Founder Harvest House International Churches
{Part Two}:
1 Corinthians 14 vs 1 & 39 Vs 1, “Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.”
Vs 39, “Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.”
1 Corinthians 14 vs 3,
But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.
Ephesians 4 vs 11,
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers…
1 Corinthians 12 vs 28-29,
28, And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.
29, Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles?
The Gift of Prophecy
A. Definition.
• The word “prophecy” in Hebrew is naba, meaning “to flow, boil up or over, bubble or pour forth words, to gush.”
• In The New Testament, the words prophecy, prophesy, prophesied and prophets, are used 186 times and they mean the following:
• To speak.
• Say.
• Declare and,
• Make known.
B. Through whom can God speak?
• The simple answer is “anybody!”
• The young – Mary the mother of Jesus
Luke 1 vs 46-53.
• The old – Zecharias and Elizabeth
Luke 1 vs 5-7, 13, 18-19, 41-45.
Simeon & Anna
Luke 2 vs 34 – 39.
• The evil – Nebuchadnezer
Daniel 3 vs 28.
• The donkey – Numbers 22 vs 27 – 33
• God sometimes uses a channel because of its availability, not its holiness. Every prophecy must therefore be judged as to whether it lines up with the word of God or not.
• Every prophetic utterance must measure up to the word of God, if it contradicts the word of God, it must be rejected.
C. Understanding the Levels of the Prophetic
• There are four levels of the prophetic ministry
Simple Prophetic
• This is within the scope of 1 Corinthians 14 vs 3.
“But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.”
• It does not include correction, new direction or predictive elements. It merely comforts, exhorts and edifies and all Christians are entitled to this gift.
• One can stand before the assembly or church and read a Psalm that comforts, edifies and exhorts the congregants.
• Notice that in this category, there is no revelation and prediction whatsoever, if one should try to engage in prediction at this level, the results are disastrous, people are hurt and the name of Christ is brought into disrepute.
The Prophetic Gifting
• In this category believers regularly receive impressions, dreams or other types of revelation. These are usually symbolic being in the form of parables or riddles.
• This group receives more information than group (1) but lacks clarity in understanding what they receive.
• Most so called prophets in Zimbabwe are in group 1 and 2 and they have no ability to predict or reveal anything, however because of ignorance and the desire to be famous as those that stand in the prophetic office they then engage in revelation that comes from their heads and not the spirit of God and the results are a national disaster.
Prophetic Ministry
• These believers are those whose giftings have been recognised, nurtured and commissioned for regular ministry in the local church.
• Still in this category there is a strong symbolic element in what they receive, but it is possible to discern much of the interpretations and application of the revelation.
The Prophetic Office
Ephesians 4 vs 11,
“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers…”
• The ministry in this category is somewhat like the ministry of the Old Testament prophets. These often minister in genuine signs and wonders and not fake signs and wonders often witnessed in some Zimbabwean churches and elsewhere.
• These are known to speak with increased accuracy. Their words are to be taken seriously. Credibility has been established through a proven track record of accurate prophecies.
• Other Apostles, Evangelists, Pastors, Teachers and Prophets from different ministries and not members of their church only can attest to the fact that this individual is truly a category 4 prophet.
• Usually, these should have undergone years of training and mentoring by those who possess such giftings.
D. Zimbabwean “So Called Prophets”
• They visit West Africa for a week or two or for a month and they bring bottles of water and oil and automatically declare themselves prophets. No training at all has been received by these men no wonder why their prophecies are dangerous.
• They then buy a designer suit, hold a microphone, speak with an American accent… even if they have never been to America and they establish themselves a large following of Christian spiritual tourists who have itching ears.
• It takes 7 -9 years to train a specialist medical doctor, 4-5 years to train a lawyer and chartered accountant, 4 years to train a good Pastor, Evangelist and teacher, 10 years to establish someone as an Apostle and yet it takes going to West Africa for one week or a month to establish a Zimbabwean prophet.
• Genuine grace to grow a church does not come from West Africa, it comes from God above. If your power to be a “minister/ prophet” comes from a certain region in the continent and not from God above, you will need to constantly visit that place for enhancement of that type of power, if you don’t those who would have recently visited that place in your congregation will be perceived to have more power than you and hence your congregants who have been raised in that type of diet would leave the church to follow the recent arrival should they leave.
• No wonder most of the prophecies given by these men and women are pathetic to say the least.
• A few examples will help confirm what I am saying.
• A local “so called prophet” gave the following prophecy to a member of their church who happens to reside in one of the suburbs just beyond Trade Fair grounds and the “so called prophet” knew exactly where this particular member resided.
• The prophecy goes like this…
“When going to your home you use the road along Trade Fair grounds…” thus says the Lord.
• The reaction to this prophecy by the recipient was one of awe and breaking down in tears and the whole congregation clapped their hands in great joy after this “great” revelation (hogwash).
ii. One member of the congregation was told to bring their curriculum vitae to church by the so called prophet, of course the congregant obliged and in full view of the whole church the “so called Prophet” began to prophecy, ‘I sense by the spirit of God that you have your curriculum vitae in your bag…’ The congregant was wise enough to leave that church.
iii. Many congregants have been told by the “so called prophets” that their source of bad luck is their mothers, grandmothers and aunties and this has caused much division in families.
iv. One congregant was told by the “so called prophet” that they ate sadza the previous night. What a “revelation” supposedly from God. (Hogwash).
E. Five Basic Bible Safe Guards
• We maintain balance in our churches by following five safe guards.
• We must elevate the word of God above all gifts
• Get worried if your leader prophesies all the time, all services and the preaching of the word of God is ignored.
• We must believe Jesus above all personalities
• Today’s so called prophets are exalted and they in turn exalt themselves above Jesus.
• Congregants are not taught believers authority but are taught dependency upon the “man of God.”
They can’t cast out demons or lay hands on the sick on their own because the man of God has become a superstar and these functions become his only and the congregants come to watch him perform.
• We must elevate the use of wisdom and basic Bible principles as means of church problem solving above the word of a prophet
• Most Christians today are like zombies, they leave their thinking caps behind as they enter the doors of the church.
• We must practise the principle that “in the multitude of counsellors there is safety…” Proverbs 11 vs 4 and not allow a single prophecy or prophet to guide our lives.
Proverbs 11 vs 14,
“Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counsellors there is safety..”
• We need two or three witnesses, not two or three prophecies for confirmation.
• Every prophetic word uttered must be judged using the following tools
• Does it line up with the word of God
• What is the motive behind the giving of the prophetic word?
If the motive is money “run baby run,” the vampire prophet is about to suck your blood.”
• Is the vessel that released the word of proper standing, watch how they treat their wives
• Does the prophetic word uttered bring liberty or bondage (John 8 vs 36)
“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. “
• Most “so called prophets” are men of low self esteem, and therefore create a dependency syndrome in their followers.
• The impression given is that you can’t live without your man of God, you desperately need him. My question is how did you live before you met him?
• Does your “so called prophet” have a mentor, not the one far away, but here in Zimbabwe who is able to speak into his life
• From the many prophecies you have been given by the so called prophets, how many have come to pass?
E. Conclusion
• In our last week’s publication, prior to our national soccer team the ‘Warriors’ being eliminated at the semi-final stages by Libya we warned men of God against the dangers of predicting soccer results.
Our argument was that this practice brings confusion and division in the body of Christ because if one predicts favourable results for team A against team B, it would give an impression that God favours the supporters of one team at the expense of the other though in both camps (teams) God may have His loyal loving children that follow Him.
I urged ministers to stay away from issues that bring division in the body of Christ.
• We all know the results of trying to bring God into soccer outcomes, many are hurt and the body of Christ is then ridiculed. It turned out that the prediction of the Warriors winning 3-0 against Libya was false.
• In our humble opinion, Zimbabwe has very few proven prophets in category 4 as per this article. The few category 4 prophets (Ephesians 4 vs 11) I know have credibility and a proven track record and have taken years to develop their gift. Whenever they have the word of the Lord for a nation or of national importance, they submit it to other men of God who are mature for balance, input and correction.
• They don’t try to be superstars at the expense of the whole nation.
- To be continued next week.
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