God’s False(?) Prophets Wrap-Up: The dilemma of seeds and weeds
It’s been nearly two and a half months since I’ve last posted on the topic of God’s False(?) Prophets, where I indicated I would have one last concluding post. This might be it (unless…the former President Trump DOES become reinstated as president – maybe in August 2021 – some are saying, and that might make for an interesting follow-up post).
This post will cover two items – a brief update, and my
final thoughts as represented by the title, the dilemma of seeds and
weeds. First the update.
What have God’s false(?) prophets been up to recently?
The majority of God’s false(?) prophets are still as
confident (on the surface) as ever that the former President Trump won the 2020
presidential election, and that there’s going to be some sort of big reveal of
election fraud, culminating in Mr. Trump’s reinstatement as president. The manner in which they talk about it is a
bit different now – less overt, and more of couched language that loyal
followers understand. There’s still
plenty of talk about God’s special covenant with America, and that America will
be saved. Exhortations of waiting
patiently for God’s timing to expose the evil, and something big is coming,
abound.
I’ve discovered quite a few less popular YouTube prophets
and aspiring Christian social media personalities who routinely encourage their
several thousand followers to be faithful to the truth (that President Trump is
the chosen one of God to accomplish God’s plans for the United States), and to
be patient in the waiting. Two of my
newer favorites are Wanda Alger and Seeking the Glory of God, with Tiffany Root & Kirk VandeGuchte. They appear to be kind and
gentle-spirited – people who love God and love people, yet have a specific
focus on routine prophetic words and dreams involving God’s interest in the
political affairs of the United States. There
are other less popular self-proclaimed prophets, like Pastor Liberty Turnipseed
of Spirit Move Ministry and Minister Timothy Dixon who I can’t muster the cognitive stamina and attention to listen to very much.
I still try, as sometimes they have some fascinatingly outrageous things to say. Perhaps unsurprisingly, these nationalistic
political prophets also appear to be unified in their opposition to COVID-19
vaccination (despite President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed vaccine initiative).
All of this nationalistic political prophesying has prompted
a reaction among Christians who oppose this activity, judging it to be unchristian,
and not aligned with Biblical truth about prophecy. Among the YouTube channels most active in opposition
include:
Fighting for the Faith channel
Tedthoughts (which I find pretty interesting given that Ted is an Assemblies of God educated, former pastor, missionary, and professor)
I expect this dynamic of YouTube prophets profiting from
their activity, and their opponents doing the same, will continue – it is
win-win for everyone involved.
The final update, is that recently, a group of charismatic
leaders, concerned about the recent uptick and content of prophetic activity,
have drafted and issued new prophetic standards. These standards appear to have a mixed
reception among the self-proclaimed prophets.
Here is a separate post I’ve written about the new prophetic standards
(placeholder – post not yet written - coming soon!).
The dilemma of seeds and weeds
Clearly, this episode of political prophetic activity has
intrigued me, and while I’ve attempted to stay in the middle, without issuing
judgment (which is the reason for the question mark after the word false in “God’s
false(?) prophets”), what I’ve observed has bothered me greatly. To make it clear, I don’t accept this a true
prophetic activity, despite the sincerity of some of these prophets. Go ahead and sample what Wanda Alger and
Tiffany Root share – they are just regular, kind-hearted and humble
people. On the flipside, we see more
popular and flamboyant personalities like Lance Wallnau, Sid Roth, Hank
Kunneman, Paula White and Kenneth Copeland.
It’s much more tempting to view these individuals as having personal
financial agendas behind their prophetic activities. The questions which keep arising in my head
involve core Christianity – what we know about God through the Bible, what we
know about our role as given to us by Jesus, and described in the Bible. I don’t see what these prophets are declaring
as aligned with overarching truths about God and Jesus and the Christian body
(church) as described in the written word of God. Nor does it align with the spiritually
imparted knowledge and understanding I have received, which also aligns with
the written word of God. So how does one
respond and react to this “disturbance in the force”, so to speak?
While I don’t have a definitive answer, I find two
sequential parables of Jesus helpful.
Perhaps the fact that they are sequentially arranged in the Gospel of
Matthew, chapter 13, is intentional and meaningful. The two parables are the Parable of the Sower
and the Parable of the Weeds (Tares).
It was only very recently that I noticed a detail in the Parable of the Weeds which had not caught my attention previously. It’s interesting how that happens – one can read, and re-read, and re-read Bible passages and see new things each time. Matthew 13:26 states
When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
This indicates very specific timing of the
appearance of weeds. The weeds appeared
when the wheat plants formed heads.
Photo credit: me (taken in Alwar, India)
Wheat plants form heads when they are maturing, and are well
established in the field. These are not
seedlings (new people in the Kingdom of God); these represent people of the
Kingdom bearing good fruit (we might infer fruit of the spirit). God’s servants seem concerned about the
weeds, but God is not. God will sort it
out at the harvest, and God seems confident that this well-established and
maturing crop will not be impacted by the weeds. This is an important message to us, and
perhaps even has application to this scenario with the modern false(?)
prophets. While I remain cautious and
reluctant to assert these prophets are weeds in the field, if they are weeds,
then maybe they should be of no concern to His servants and field workers. God will sort it out at the harvest. Seems straightforward enough, right?
But then we have the Parable of the Sower delivered by Jesus
immediately prior (at least as recorded by Matthew). Here’s my concern and the
subsequent dilemma. The Parable of the
Sower is clearly about Christian evangelism and new believers. Events of the past year have very clearly
resulted in many individuals turning to God, and this is clearly seen in the
comments of Christian YouTube channels of all sorts. There are a great many of new and returning
believers. The Parable of the Sower describes
seed (the gospel message) landing in one of four places, and three of these
places do not lead to a healthy vigorously growing and fruitful plant. A lack of understanding, a failure to be
connected to the root (Jesus), and worries of life all lead to a weak, or even
dead plant.
Anyone who has ever gardened knows that it is critically
important to control weeds after seed planting and before the seedlings have
been well-established and are growing well.
If weeds come up with the seeds, and are unattended to, they will most
assuredly overwhelm the crop plants – choke them out so to speak. So is it a concern to the servants of God –
the laborers in the field, if we see emerging seedling plants (new Christians),
who appear to be rooted to daily “prophecies” rather than becoming established
in the word of God? If you take time to
read comments posted to many of these YouTube prophecies, you will see people
expressing tremendous thankfulness and gratitude, declaring their dependency on
these prophetic messages, day-by-day. Is
that what a Christian should be dependent on?
Is that what Christians should build their foundation on, or be rooted
in?
Moreover, so many of these prophetic words, while declaring
the intent to be encouraging, are actually presented in a way to maintain fear,
anxiety and worry. The predominant
narrative is that powers of evil have won this battle – that despite God’s plan
for the former President Trump to win the 2020 election, it was stolen. For the moment, it appears as if evil has
prevailed, and it’s critically important to “stand in the gap” as the “remnant”
faithful to pray into reality the victory of President Trump, so that God’s
plan can be accomplished in America. To
me, this sounds very much like what Jesus described what the seeds which fell
among thorns meant, in Matthew 13:22
The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.
Good article, thank you
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