There is one body and one Spirit"just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call" one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. - Ephesians 4:4-6 (ESV)
Let us start today with a very simple theological concept. There is ONE God. We all believe this even those wrapped up in the apostate church where they just worship one false god. Since we believe in the Trinity, that means there is one Holy Spirit. There are not different Holy Spirits for each person. There are not different Holy Spirits for each teacher, preacher or wannabe prophet. The same Holy Spirit that leads me into all truth in New York is the same Holy Spirit that is drawing someone to Christ in Bangladesh. It is the same comforter in the Middle East comforting a man who is facing beheading for refusing to deny Christ. The same Holy Spirit that drew me to the glorious salvation of Jesus Christ is the same Holy Spirit that drew the 18th century American revolutionary as well as the fourth century serf. This is clearly communicated by God in the key verses above. There is ONE spirit. That Spirit is not schizophrenic. That Spirit does not have multiple personality disorder. It is because of these simple truths that we can be assured that every time we start a new year God will expose the gaggle of false Charismatic prophets we see throughout the year.
I want to be clear. God may have a different message for a congregation in Pittsburgh then for one in Peoria. The letters Paul sent had different themes because the church at Corinth was dealing with rampant sin while the church in Galatia was being overrun by the Judaizers. The truths the Spirit reveals however, are the same because they come from God's word, but the context is obviously different. That is not what we are dealing with every January from the false prophet brigade. They pretend that God is speaking to them with messages for the entire body of Christ. If that were true, then two truths would need to be present. First the messages would have to be consistent and secondly, they would need to be easily applied across the entire world of believers, not just the American church. So, one of my favorite New Years pastimes is to peruse Charisma news a few days into the new year and see just how crazy these false prophets are saying the Holy Spirit is this year. So, buckle up and let us reason together beloved.
The first false prophet up and these are in no discernable order, is Dutch Sheets. According to Sheets 2024 will be the year of the dragon, the bear and the lion, which symbolize Russia, China, and Iran. This appears to be an NAR political statement not so cleverly disguised as a prophecy. Sheets claims that because we are weak under Biden, these three countries will seize the moment in 2024. Sheets claims God is telling him that 2024 will be the greatest year of frustration for the devil and he seems to point to recent elections in other countries where lunatic far right candidate won as being somehow a positive development. We must understand however that Sheets serves a political master, not God. If this so-called prophecy were true, then we would see a consistent message.
Next up is false demon slaying prophet, Mike Signorelli. Oddly enough, Signorelli does not mention geopolitics. Instead, he claims the spirit is telling him that 2024 will be a "birthing season." Now I hope not because God did not wire men for birthing, but Mike appears to be making nonsensical spiritual metaphors. He says that in 2023, false prophets could look as though they were real prophets but now the spirit is going to make a difference with real prophets in 2024 who are accurate and contrite before the Lord. Huh? If you claim God is speaking to you, shouldn't you always be accurate? Does God stutter? Adding to the confusion the demonic spirit is speaking through Signorelli it appears that 2024 is also a pivot, a reversal, a turnaround, a flip and a time for kingdom education. Well, that's a packed year but what happened to the dragon, the bear and the lion thingy?
That brings us to Mario Murillo, rabid dominionist. Yet despite his extreme NAR tendencies, he prophesies nothing about bears and lions and dragons. Instead, he claims the spirit showed him that 2024 is the year for Christians to stand strong, ironically in the face of false prophets. You see Mario loves to point out silly false prophets like Kat Kerr to deflect from his own false prophet credentials. In traditional NAR fashion, Murillo warns that in 2024 the "left" will behave like a wounded animal because of all the brave Christians like himself fighting them. In dominionist doublespeak, the "left" are the enemy. Not the devil, the left. Mario has essentially preached that even if Christians vote for democrats, they are hell-bound and unredeemable and the false god he worships assures him that 2024 will bring more of the same culture wars where the church can continue to wound the very people who need the gospel. Strange though that the Holy Spirit did not speak to him about giving birth or 2024 being the year that Iran, China and Russia all take advantage of a weakened America. I mean, if there is but one spirit, why all the different and disparate messages?
Another favorite dominionist false prophet is Samuel Rodriguez. He claims the spirit is about to do a new thing in 2024, which is a surprising old, repetitive claim. This includes "fresh oil, holy fire, and a new wind." Well, sign me up! I have needed a fresh wind for some time now. There is just no cross-ventilation in my apartment. Seriously, it appears the false spirit that Rodriguez worships is the spirit of brevity because these generic buzzwords contain no substance behind them and of course do not mention birthing bears or standing strong with dragons, odd.
