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TALKING
ABOUT PROPHETS
1
TALKING ABOUT PROPHETS
CHAPTER
WHAT KIND OF A PICTURE DO WE HAVE OFF A PROPHET? I don’t know how things went with
you,
but always in the past, when someone said the word ‘prophet’ I saw in
my
mind a picture of an old man with a white beard, camelhair coat,
pointing
finger and a strong voice. I remember when prophet Teale first visited
our
church in Durban, I thought, this comes close to it. He had a
strong
voice, eyes like an eagle, which looked right through you, long
arms
and a pointing finger. The only thing missing was the camelhair coat
and
he did not look like he would be eating locusts. He was the first
prophet
I ever saw in those days, when the ministry of the prophet was not so
much
known yet. Actually something funny happened to me then. A sister
in
the Lord, whom I did not know personally at that time, came to me,
grabbed
my arm and pulled me into the prayer room. „You have to pray with me",
she
said. She was really agitated. „I had a fight with my sister in
law
this afternoon, I need to repent of something. I cannot go inside
before
I have repented!" Well that was the effect this prophet had on
her
and many others with her.
Well, you say, the picture you described was how the prophets in the Old Testament must have looked like. The New Testament Prophets are not like that, they only come to confirm what God has already told you and they come to encourage the Body of Christ. In the book of Revelation John tells us in chapter 19 and 22 about the angel who came to show him everything . When John fell on his knees to worship him, this messenger, because that is what he was, said to him: don’t do that, I am your fellow servant and one of your brothers the prophets, that have the testimony of Jesus and keep the sayings of this book (the Bible). And then he says, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. When Jesus was still walking on the earth He was the Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Teacher and Shepherd. The New Testament Prophet must be like Jesus . Did Jesus only encourage and confirm people? No, when necessary He also rebuked the people and brought correction and exposed religion. He knew what was in the hearts of people and He also told them at times what was going to happen to them in the future. In 1991 the Lord spoke to me from Ezekiel 37: 15-end/ Matt 13:41-43 and Jer 50,51. He said, I will bring My people out of captivity . I will purify them and then I will place and multiply them and they will be in unity and then My Presence will dwell in the midst of them and then (only then!) will the world know that I have sanctified My people, when My (tangible) Presence is in the midst of them. And when Gods people shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father there will be a great harvest that will be gathered in (Dan. 12:2,3). We live in those days now where God has begun to set His people free from the spirit of religion that has held them captive for so long and has robbed the word of God of its power. I believe that the angels spoken about in Matt. 13:41 are actually the prophets and apostles of this end time. The words they speak throw us into God’s purifying fire. Sometimes the Holy Spirit has hidden a message in the Word and in the Hebrew names of some people. Also with those that are a type of the end time prophets. One such prophet was Jonah, the son of Amittai who came from Gath-Hepher. Jonah means: dove, messenger of peace (with God) and restoration. He was the son of Amittai, which means: stable, true, trustworthy, faithful. That was what Jonah would be like when God was finished dealing with him). And Gath Hepher means: dug up from God’s winepress. We all know how God dealt with Jonah. From the belly of the fish he was ready to say, they that observe lying vanities (that hold on to idols in their life) forsake their own mercy (turn their back on God’s grace). Then the fish could spit him out onto dry land and he was ready to do what God had told him to do. The commission of the end time prophet is to bring peace and restoration. Therefore he himself has to go through the fire first. Haggai is another type of the end time prophet. Haggai means: to embrace, to protect, to raise up and train like a mother. This prophet brought the fear of God to the people . (Haggai 1:12) Then there is Zachariah. Zachariah means: God has not forgotten. He was sent with the prophet Haggai to encourage the people to build the temple and to prepare them for the Glory of God. Another interesting type is Elihu, one of Job’s friends, the one amongst a thousand who was able to shew Job how to repent and get reconciled to God. Elihu means: belonging to God. He was chosen and blessed by God, in spite of where he came from. He was a Buzzite. Buzzite means: useless, despised, without reputation. The end time prophets will be men and women with no reputation, despised and in the eyes of people quite useless. But Elihu was from the family of Ram. Ram means: cause to rise up, promote, keep. God will promote His end time prophets. I was blessed the other day by an article from a prophetess named: Nita Johnson. She had a vision and she saw a mountain. The mountain became transparent, so she could look inside. I quote: „Resting in the very belly of this mountain was a flaming sardius stone. The flames were the colors of the seven spirits of God……all these colors were represented in the flames of fire that danced from and all around this beautiful and huge sardius stone…..I asked the Lord what it represented. He replied that this stone bore special and high prophetic giftings never seen on earth before and is reserved for these last days." Seven high prophetic giftings! I think I know what she is talking about, because the Lord showed me from His word about seven different prophetic giftings. Many people did not understand what I was talking about, but I realise now, that these giftings are for the end time. Together with John Painter I tried to write an article about those giftings. Since we wrote this article the Lord has given me more detail on each of these giftings, so I will try and write about them again in this article and share what more the Lord has showed me about them. The article on my website, about the Gatekeeper, the Prophetic Intercessor was the first one that was more in detail . The article about Finance and the Kingdom of God, is actually about the Prophetic Judge and the Spirit of Wisdom. In the making are the other five, the Psalmist, the Encourager, the Exhorter, The Seer and the Counselor. I will come back to those later on in this series of articles John Paul Jackson wrote in his last newsletter May 2002: „Time is drawing near when God will release an unprecedented wave of His Holy Spirit….Just prior to this new wave of the Spirit, the Lord will change our understanding of all the gifts, especially those of the apostle and prophet. Simultaneously God will release a fresh wind of worship to musicians and vocalists………" John Paul is writing about the Prophetic Psalmist, one of those seven giftings.The very things he writes about and what will be released then is what I prophesied over Kim Clements in the seventies. I told him that the time would come when as he played and sang the Presence of God would come into the meeting and people would be healed and delivered without him even touching them. Kim is a Prophetic Psalmist. That time is NOW! |
