She offers no biblical texts to support her assertions but let me start here by saying this statement is completely true for His revealed will. We are the voice of God in this world but our declaration is the Gospel. It is the Word of God that we are to declare - His revealed, preceptive will. That however is not what Barbara Wentroble is advocating and teaching here. She is saying God has given us authority to speak for His decretive will and that is simply untrue.
For the second part of the problem let us return to her premise question; " How can a declaration of the will of God for a specific situation command a spiritual breakthrough? The second problem is just as arrogant as the first. The notion that we can command anything of God. Even if she were correctly declaring His revealed Word it would be the Word, not the declaration, that holds the power for Spiritual breakthrough. Our words do not contain the power - only His Words do! Yet even in that case, God remains sovereign. Let us now see how this article misuses what little Scripture references it contained:
"Paul indicates that God is going to make known His wisdom through the church. According to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, the word known comes from the Greek verb gnoridzo. It means "to certify, to declare, make known, give to understand, to come to know, discover." To "make known" means that God is going to use the church to make declarations to the demonic rulers and authorities."
It is a logical fallacy to list all the possible definitions for a word and then cherry pick the one you think best represents your case. The issue is what Paul meant when he used the word. It is quite clear that he did not mean the definition of "declare." How can we be sure? Every translation offered either is known or made known as the translation. None of them indicate the word declare. Additionally, there is no corresponding Scriptures confirming the practice of declaring as Wentroble presents it here. Yet look at what she tries to do here. She drops the name of her concordance to give the appearance she has done her homework on this, plucks the one definition that is clearly not applicable and then somehow uses it to state affirmatively that this means God is going to use the church to make declarations to the demonic rulers and authorities? Seriously? This is not only bad hermeneutics, it appears to be blatantly deceptive. Here is the full context of this Ephesians verse:
This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power.To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages inGod who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. - Ephesians 3: 6-13
What is the great mystery beloved? That through the Gospel even the Gentiles can be saved. His eternal purpose is realized through Christ Jesus our Lord. This is what is supposed to be "made known." Even if you allow the usage of declare, this is what is supposed to be declared. Not that now we can declare to evil authorities that our wayward daughter is coming home. Not that we can declare to the real estate demons that our house will now be sold in Jesus name. The absurdity however is not over yet. Wentroble then takes us down a rabbit hole of loosely connected things she has strung together to make her point that we can declare as God can. Here are those points in order:
Making declarations is the same as making prophetic proclamations.
The Hebrew word for proclaim, qara, means "to call out to, call forth, cry unto, invite or preach.
Another Greek word for proclaim that Zodhiates defines is kerusso, a much stronger word. It means "to be a herald."
A herald was a public crier who was a speaker of divine truth.
In Greek literature, the public crier was the attendant of a prince--but not just an ordinary attendant. Raised above the status of other servants, the crier was given respect and status similar to a friend.
As believers, we serve the Prince of Peace. Yet Jesus said, "'No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My father I have made known to you'" (John 15:15). In this, Prince Jesus has raised us to a status like that of the town crier--we are His friends.
What? This strain of illogic begins with a fallacious statement. Nowhere in the Bible does it say or suggest that when we declare something we are making a prophetic proclamation. Yet from this place of fallacy Wentroble makes these equally ridiculous connections. That because there is a stronger definition of proclaim, kerusso, we are now actually heralds. The next leap is that heralds are actually public criers so therefore we are public criers. Then she has to delve into Greek literature to connect heralds to not just being servants but rather friends of a prince. Dashing quickly back to the Bible, Wentroble now reminds us that Jesus is the Prince of Peace and because He said I have called you friends we are now raised to the status of a town crier? How many mistakes were made in this string of illogic? The opening presumption is wrong. Declarations are not prophetic proclamations. Once again word faith heresy. The usage of the word proclaim did not originate in any text and is therefore irrelevant to this discussion. Despite that, she chooses a different definition of proclaim so she can reach the word she wanted, herald. She then interchanges herald with public crier. Leaving the Bible, she wanders into Greek literature to bring the word "Prince" into the conversation and voila! Through untold degrees of separation and lunacy she thinks she has made the point that we are supposed to be town criers. Wow.
Here is the truly sad news for Ms. Wentroble. Even if we allowed this morass of logic leaps and unbiblical sourcing, she is still left with the unavoidable fact that we are still talking about the revealed will of God. Even if we are to consider ourselves "town criers", Strong's Concordance says that kerusso is the preaching of the Gospel as "the authoritative binding word of God." It in no way validates this notion that we can prophetically declare things that are not as if they were. It does not validate speaking to a house and declaring it will be sold. It does not mean that we can speak through the spirit world and reach someone who is wayward and convince them to come home. We do not get to skip God nor pretend He is still not sovereign. The key verse from Proverbs today reminds us of His sovereignty. We can have all of the plans and poor logic we want. We can think that simply declaring something makes it a prophetic proclamation. All that reveals is a poor understanding or prayer and a poorer understanding of prophecy. The purpose of the Lord is all that will stand.
Reverend Anthony Wade - October 12, 2014
