There is much controversy taking place in the Prophetic Ministry and many are confused about the role and function of a prophet in the Body of Christ. The office of a Prophet still exists and is still relevant today. God wants prophets, but the role and accountability in the Old Testament is different from the New Testament.
In the Old Testament, the Prophets were only accountable to God, but in the New Testament, the Prophet is accountable to the Leadership of the Church. The Leadership or Management Team of the Church consists of the Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, Teachers (if the Word). The Old Testament Prophet, carried doctrinal and ecclesiastical authority.
The maturing of a Prophet is not an overnight thing. They have to be tested in many areas. For example, the Word Test, the Patience Test, the Wilderness Test, the Time Test, the Pride and Submission Tests! After God used Elijah the Prophet to give word to the king, he still had to go by the Brook Cherith, for further processing! He had to undergo scarcity and be fed by the ravens! How many prophets would want to do that today.
There are five (5) Ascension Gifts Jesus gave to build the local Church according to Ephesians 4: 11. It means that the prophet alone cannot build the local church. Likewise, prophecy alone does not build the church. A sound church must have proper doctrine, must be led by the Holy Spirit and the Word and must engage in Fasting and Prayer. In the same way, the Prophet needs the 9oother Ascension gifts for his (her) development. He needs the Apostle to put order and structure in his life. He needs the Teacher to instruct him in proper doctrine/truth and he needs the Pastor to nurture him into maturity.
A Prophet of God ought to be a spokesman for God! They must have the DNA and the image of God, as well as the Fruit of the Spirit. Their message must be in line with God’s Word.
Prophets must not give a word to draw people unto themselves, they must function to direct people to God and Jesus must be center of their message! (Isaiah 51: 16). The prophet to communicate God’s mind and will in the earth! A prophet must speak what Word God puts in his mouth. He should speak all that God commands him to speak! (Deuteronomy 18: 18) He should not speak his personal word, but God’s word.
A prophet’s number one criteria is not to foretell the future, but to bring correction to church and to the nation and the proclamation of moral truth. Foretelling future accurately does not prove that they are true prophets. Jesus outlined in Matthew 7 that by their fruit you shall know them. (Galatians 5)
The enemy is shifting the focus from Truth and the Fruit to Foretelling the future, hence, one can call himself a prophet while he lives any lifestyle he chooses – which is contrary to God’s Word!
A true prophet functions with order and in submission. A true prophet has no problem with either of those requirements; neither are fame and money his sole focus.
Souls, restoration and the ministry of reconciliation must be his main areas of focus. Encouragement, Exhortation, Intercession and the Building of the local Church must be his main activities.
Prostitution of the Anointing
There are many within the Body of Christ, because of their Laziness to seek God, are creating an atmosphere for the prostitution of the anointing. As a result, many prophets are now falling away because of the demands placed on them. Likewise, many churches are going through great financial problems because of a lack of faith. So they have opened a door, and are now creating a monster called Prostitution.
Every prophet’s message, maturity and morality are some of the keys we must use to help us discern them. Likewise, they must have the DNA of Jesus in them; and those within the Office of a Prophet must not fall to the temptation and become a Psychic to God’s people particularly when they have no intention to read God’s Word.
Many of the Pastors need to repent and stop promoting this behavior as it brings reproach to Christ’s Church and to Him. Some of them are guiltier than those in the office of the Prophet.
Because of the great reproach upon the Prophetic Ministry, many are now migrating to the office of the Apostle. But before they consider doing so, or taking on a false grace, they better study about the life of an Apostle. It is a life of suffering! The have to become last so that others can be first! I Corinthians 4: 9 says:
“For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.”
(Read also I Corinthians 9)