A new article reveals how the church today simply does not understand prophecy within Charismania

::::::::

You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:"'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'" -- Matthew 15: 7-9 (ESV)

http://www.charismamag.com/spirit/prophecy/33293-the-distinct-roles-of-prophecy-and-the-word-of-god-in-the-church-today

As a discernment minister I love perusing Charisma News' website. Whenever heresy tends to slow down a bit I can always count on the crazy cast of characters ranging from Sneaky Squid Spirit Jennifer Leclaire to NAR gatekeeper Michael Brown. I know I can always rely on someone to write or say something so wildly unbiblical it deserves a discerning response. Today's winner is Eddie Hyatt. For the past few weeks we have highlighted Mr. Hyatt three times as he was trying to prop up sales of his book disagreeing with God about the roles women can have in the church. Thankfully the clip above is not about that topic but his sheer lack of biblical understanding returns nonetheless. Now the video in this link is an hour long but we are primarily concerned with about ten minutes worth of it. It occurs before the 20 minute mark and is a breathtaking tale of what happened at a church service when someone stood up to prophesy. The story and response from Eddie Hyatt is such a stark example of what is wrong with this wicked heart driven Pentecostalism we see today. Please listen to the story and let us reason together.

First Eddie Hyatt sets the stage. He tells of a church service where towards the end of it the entire congregation was left in a Charismatic stupor. Hyatt speaks about everyone feeling as if God had "drawn closer" to them and there was a "spirit of love and acceptance" and a "sense of God's closeness to us." Those of us who spent any time in Charismaniacal churches know what this scene looks like. Just check out any YouTube clip from a Bethel Church service if you want to see it. It is moderately controlled emotional chaos being sold as a move of the Holy Spirit. I remember once at my last church the worship leader went into a 15 minute mantra chant of "jump in the river if you want a hug form Jesus." I kid you not. Folks were jumping in this imaginary river the entire time. One elder was screaming "I'm soaked! I'm soaked!" This kind of hyper-emotional-spiritualism is not actually from God of course. It is from our wickedly deceitful hearts. It is part of the sloppy agape experiential Christianity that we see spreading like a cancer through churchianity today. Now I was not there the night that Hyatt is speaking about but it sure sounds like this scene we all know too well.

Then something funny happened. A woman stood up and declared a bold prophecy. She exclaimed what she believed God was speaking to her for the congregation. She said that God was saying that these people draw near to me with their lips but their hearts remain far away. That they needed to repent and He would hear their cries. Wow. Powerful. Not according to Eddie Hyatt however. Laughing in the video, Hyatt said the prophecy was harsh, legalistic and not from the Holy Spirit. This embodies one of the largest problems within experiential Christianity. Anything that disagrees with the way people feel is dismissed out of hand as not being in alignment with the Spirit. If so many people there were feeling all of this love and acceptance, how could this woman be speaking for God with a rebuke? The possibility that what they are "experiencing" may not actually be from God is never given any serious consideration. Thus anything that agrees is confirmation and anything that disagrees is "religion." I hope we see the problem with that as a foundational premise. It means that correction can never be offered. Now I was not there but it seems to me that her prophesy may have actually been true and from God. It certainly is appropriate if so and one can easily see the correlation. A congregation that plays church but ignores doctrinal truths is in need of a rebuke that says they must repent. It is in need of a correction that says they need to draw near with their hearts in not their lips. Hyatt however did not see it that way because it went against how everyone was feeling. Not only that but he felt he had to address it because he saw looks of confusion on the faces of those in the crowd. Perhaps Eddie was misconstruing looks of conviction with confusion or perhaps the people there had never heard a word of correction to consider before. Either way his summation of accusations was not accurate. This prophecy was not harsh. If it was then so was the ministry of Jesus and John the Baptist because it is the same message -- repent! In fact it is the central message of the entire Gospel of Jesus Christ. The message was hardly legalistic, a term many simply do not understand. Legalism is placing rules on top of salvation. It is standing on grace but saying one must comply with this or that from the law in order to be saved. That was not what this woman said, other than repent which is needed for the unsaved and saved alike. The last accusation is that this prophecy was not from the Holy Spirit. What Hyatt meant is that it was not in line with the spirit that was infecting the congregation that night. It was in disagreement with the touchy-feely Kumbaya spirit that the church was so enjoying.

So Eddie Hyatt rebuked the woman in front of the congregation. He said that while God uses this woman to bring prophecy, this one was not from God. You can ignore it, and go back to worshipping God. I hope we consider this for a moment too. What if it was from God Eddie? What of those looks of confusion were really looks of conviction? What if this congregation was ready to repent until you told them the prophecy was false and they could ignore it? The woman was understandably upset and went after service to ask him why he did that. Eddie now claims a "word of wisdom"; which is essentially claiming direct revelation from the Lord in pointing to two scriptures for her:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2Timothy 3: 16-17 (ESV)

On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. -- 1Corinthians 14: 3 (ESV)

Eddie uses the first Scriptures to try and say that it is the role of Scripture, not prophecy to reproof, correct, and train. See it says it right there! There is one little problem with that line of thinking. Go back and read the key Scriptures today and you will see that this woman prophesies Scripture! If the call on the church to repent is Scriptural from Chronicles and throughout the entire Bible! So we would all agree that all Scripture is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction and instruction. That is the entire point! There is a pretty good chance that God was trying to instruct you and that congregation and reprove them for playing Pentecostal Church but with hearts apart from Him. You however rebuked the Word of the Lord as being legalistic and then referred to a Scripture that proves you are wrong. Nicely done.

The real bible mangling however he reserved for the second Scripture here. This section of scripture is about explaining the differences between prophecy and tongues as gifts of the Holy Spirit. Hyatt tries to leverage it to explain the differences between prophecy and the word of God and therein lies his problem. Because Eddie Hyatt ascribes to the false signs and lying wonders delusion within the church today he does not understand that there is no difference between the Word of God and prophecy. Before people go getting twisted take some time and reason this out using the Bible. What was prophecy throughout the Old Testament used for? Without a written Bible for everyone, God spoke to His people through the prophets. They conveyed the Word of God. Today we have the canon of Scripture, which is the final revealed will of God. It is the Word of God, as was what the true prophets said. There is no difference because they both come from God. Prophecy today however has warped what God intended and what we are left with is emotional clairvoyance and psychic parlor tricks. Nonetheless, Eddie tries to teach the woman what he clearly does not understand. He makes two inaccurate points:

1. That it is not the role of prophecy to rebuke, correct, or reprove.

2. That the proper role of prophecy is to edify, exhort, and comfort -- or as Eddie put it -- to build up, stir up, and cheer up.

Now he bases the first statement on the Second Timothy verses, which we have already shown he does not understand. Is the argument Eddie Hyatt seriously making that all prophecy must be positive? It must always cheer people up? Do you think that Nineveh was cheered up by Jonah's prophecy? No! They ran and placed sackcloth and ashes on themselves! Here is the deeper teaching though. In the end was Nineveh edified because of this seemingly harsh prophecy? God relented from destroying them so I am going to say a resounding yes! The Word of God is not supposed to be always puppies and pancakes beloved. Sometimes He has a hard Word for us. Sometimes we need to repent. I would wager the vast amount of time prophecy was brought forth in the Bible it was done so to straighten out the people of God. To bring them back to God. To have them move away from their sin. The Eddie Hyatt's of the world think prophecy is something to confirm all of the ungodly and unbiblical behaviors they teach and endorse. The concept that they might be mistaken never enters their mind. This woman's prophecy must be wrong and not from God because it did not agree with them and tell them what they wanted to hear. I am reminded of two Scriptures here to highlight this delusion:

but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! -- Matthew 6: 23 (ESV)

But Jehoshaphat said, "Is there not here another prophet of the Lord of whom we may inquire?" And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil." And Jehoshaphat said, "Let not the king say so." -- 1Kings 22: 7-8 (ESV)

The fist Scripture is Jesus teaching us wisely that if we have convinced ourselves that our darkness is light, how deep is the darkness we are in! If you think that the spirit of closeness and acceptance is light when it really is counterfeit, you may not be willing to accept a corrective prophecy, even one taken directly from the Word of God itself. The second set is a great story where evil King Ahab was trying to convince King Jehoshaphat to go out to war against Ramoth-gilead. Jehoshaphat wanted a word from the Lord first so Ahab brought out his own prophets who always told him what he wanted to hear but Jehoshaphat was unconvinced. Notice how he refers to the real prophet, Micaiah. I hate him for he never prophesies good concerning me. Wow. If that does not describe how Eddie Hyatt approaches prophesy nothing does. Beloved the issue is not whether or not the prophecy is nice or not. It only matters if it is truly from God or not. Micaiah would prophesy Ahab's death if he went into this battle and Ahab ignored him. He would die exactly how Micaiah prophesied because his was the Word of the Lord.

Now we return to the second statement Hyatt makes, which he blames on the 1Corinthians verse. His disconnect though is in his separation of prophesy from the Word of God. As previously outlined they are in fact the same thing. As bizarre and wrong most false prophets are they still maintain that they are hearing from God. Eddie Hyatt and many today in churchianity confuse edification with agreement. If someone is sinning and we lean in to say they need to repent that is edifying beloved. Likewise it is not "encouraging" to allow someone we love to follow false teaching. That would be absurd. That we would love someone so not tell them they are driving off a cliff? If many in that congregation that night were actually not drawing closer to God and were instead relying upon their hearts, then that woman's prophecy was edifying and encouraging. The commentaries all agree, here is Matthew Henry:

Prophesying, that is, explaining Scripture, is compared with speaking with tongues. This drew attention, more than the plain interpretation of Scripture; it gratified pride more, but promoted the purposes of Christian charity less; it would not equally do good to the souls of men. What cannot be understood, never can edify. No advantage can be reaped from the most excellent discourses, if delivered in language such as the hearers cannot speak or understand. Every ability or possession is valuable in proportion to its usefulness. Even fervent, spiritual affection must be governed by the exercise of the understanding, else men will disgrace the truths they profess to promote. -- Matthew Henry Commentary

Prophesying is what? Explaining Scripture. As Henry explains the early church was just as enamored with themselves as the modern church. Tongues is a way to draw attention to yourself while prophesying, or explaining Scripture, does more for the souls of men even if it does less for our own personal gratification. Note the last line here from Matthew Henry because it beautifully summarizes what we are facing in the church today and that Eddie Hyatt is wrapped up in. fervent spiritual affection MUST be governed by the exercise of understanding (Biblical understanding) or else men will disgrace the truths they profess to promote. Wow.

Beloved, I was not there on the night in question but the story as conveyed leads me to believe that God tried to correct His people and their pastor told them to ignore Him. The ironies here are so thick as all of the Scripture he references disproves his point. He even references Thessalonians that explicitly says to not despise prophecy! Yet that is exactly what he did. Why? Because like Micaiah, the prophecy was not positive. Everyone was singing about their blessings and this lady had the temerity to come along and shout out the words of Jesus Christ Himself, quoting the prophet Isaiah. These words were directed at the religious leaders of His time who placed their religion over the commandments of God. What Eddie Hyatt does not see is that is exactly what he was doing that night by rebuking what very well may have been a legitimate prophecy simply because he did not like it. This speaks deeper however into the current culture today in the purpose driven NAR churches in this country. Disagree and you are blessedly subtracted and deemed a legalist. God is always love and roses and anything that sounds contrary is deemed harsh and not from God. It is dismissive of nearly the entire Bible. God was actually displeased with Israel for the majority of the Old Testament. Then His people rejected and crucified their God. Now He has the church and the church is routinely rejecting Him as well; in favor of their new god made in their own image. A god that never judges them. That always loves them but never enough to tell them when they are wrong. A god who affirms their bad decisions and turns His face from their sin. A god who wants them incredibly happy and rich. A god who just wants to draw close to them and make them feel all warm and fuzzy without all that legalism. You know, a god that does not exist.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- July 17, 2017

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.