Two recent prophecies making the rounds through the church show why it is ever so important to test the spirits...

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Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. -- 1John 4: 1 (ESV)

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Prophecy is supposed to something revered within the church. It is to be treasured when someone says thus sayeth the Lord. It is to be respected. God says in His Word to not treat prophecies with contempt. What we should treat with contempt are false prophecies. People who claim to bring a word that is from God but it really is not. It is from the depths of their wickedly deceitful hearts. Those we should treat with utter contempt. That someone would either be so brazen as to fake a word from God or so sloppy to not care if what they are saying even lines up with Scripture. You see we already have the final revealed will of the Lord in the Bible. He did not forget anything beloved. Thus anything uttered today that is in opposition to His Word must be immediately dismissed as false. In the Old Testament days that person would be stoned to death for daring to speak presumptively for the Lord. Today we merely mark them as false and never bother listening to another word they might say. If it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God how much more so must it be to lie on His behalf? Does not His majesty terrify you? Sadly it does not today for there is an entire army working for the devil prophesying lies and things God never said. I am not here to judge their motives. Maybe they are well intended. It matters not because to God it matters not. If we prophesy according to the revealed will then we are constantly pointing people to Jesus for He is His Word. If we are playing divination games, trying to comfort or encourage people, or selling sorcery and clairvoyance then we are scattering people away from Him. Let us pause for a second and examine two recent false prophecies making their rounds through Charismania and see what actually sayeth the Lord.

The first link above is to a 20 minute prophecy offered by Pastor Kent Christmas. Haven't heard of him? Neither did I until this video apparently went viral and was then offered up on Charisma News. I get the appeal of the prophecy. It is filled with fire and brimstone and some very good points about not being lukewarm and needing to repent. Remember beloved that not everything preached or prophesied is false even within a false teaching or prophecy. The devil mixes just enough truth to keep you blind to the error. Rat poison is only 1% poison but the 1% still kills you. So the bulk of this false prophetic word from Pastor Christmas is that 2018 is the year that God is apparently going to take control back from man. Odd, since I was not aware of any moment that God was not fully in control to begin with but apparently God is very angry and He has had enough of lukewarm Christians. By the way, that may be true but when you comb through the rest of this prophecy you see tell-tale signs that this could not be a word from the Lord. I will only highlight a few:

1. The harvest is ready! According to Pastor Christmas the harvest is ready and God has enough workers. It is unclear if pastor is aware that he is essentially saying Jesus is coming back in 2018. Since we know the Bible says no man knows the hour, we can dismiss this as patently false.

2. Millions will come into this country and my church! Pastor Christmas seems to present a God that is confused. At first He is terribly angry with His church for being so backslidden and yet it will draw millions of people into it this year? That the American church, which is the most apostate on the planet, will lead the way? This is starting to smell like an NAR/dominionist prophecy.

3. 2018 will be a year of death! I am coming against you NFL! Huh? Here is where the prophecy starts jumping the rails and becomes an obvious work of his flesh. God apparently was not on the NFL players' side during the latest political kerfuffle. C'mon. Stop the insanity. God could care less about our political persuasions, idol worshipping nationalism, and most importantly how we dare to conflate Him with either. Now Pastor Christmas has tipped his hand. He was obviously upset with the NFL players refusing to stand for the National Anthem to protest police brutality so he stuck it into his prophecy and is now pretending God is upset about it. What sheer and utter nonsense.

4. I have heard your prayers and will bring glory, revival and restoration in 2018! Apparently the Lord must now be speaking to those who did not side with the NFL players. This is the often heard prophecy from within NAR circles about a revival the Bible simply does not promise. It also neglects the apostasy the Bible does promise and of which these false prophecies are a part of.

5. Moving companies will not have enough trucks to handle the amount the righteous are going to move from home to home! Here is the obligatory carnal materialism thrown in. God may be angry and killing NFL players but you? You're not going to be able to find enough trucks to move the loot God is going to give you! Ugh.

6. I am going to take businesses and transfer their ownership to those have struggled but have tithed! Not content with killing your favorite quarterback, God will actually take businesses from people and give them to you! As a reward for following an outdated portion of the law that no one has to adhere to anymore! According to Galatians, if you tithe you yoke yourself back to the law and sever yourself from Christ. Yet this prophecy would have us believe that God will reward people for it. Garbage. If he had just said that God will reward those who have supported the Gospel with a cheerful heart -- I can believe that is from the Lord because it reflects Scripture. What this reveals is that Pastor Christmas teaches and believes in tithing and thus it crept into his false prophecy because he is angry that not enough people tithe.

7. As you have honored the flag, so you have honored me! Really? Once again his idol worshipping of this country comes screaming through his false prophecy. God could absolutely care less about our flag beloved. He certainly is not going to believe that honoring it meant honoring Him. This prophecy has been nothing but a laundry list of the things that irk Pastor Kent Christmas and ironically, many of the things he finds irksome have absolutely nothing to do with Christianity. This false prophecy was both brazen and sloppy.

The second link is to a prophecy from Bill Yount, also from Charisma News, your one stop shopping source for everything false in Christianity. Apparently, Mr. Yount believes God showed him angels swinging a mighty pendulum away from the position of sin it had swung into when he suddenly heard the Father say:

"It's time to call forth the noble, the wealthy and the renowned of the earth."

And if that does not tip you off that we are going to head into wacky-prophecy land, then you have not been paying attention. Let us reason together as we wade through this wannabe prophecy and what the Lord actually sayeth.

"I then saw the Spirit of Integrity begin to descend upon dignitaries, celebrities and the very elite!" In the Spirit, I sensed the Lord saying. "There is a certain caliber of society that has been overlooked and given up hope for by many of My people, who have even stopped praying for them. But again it will be proven that it is by My Spirit, and My Spirit is being poured out upon all flesh." -- Bill Yount

Ah yes, the spirit of integrity from the Book of 2Prevarications. Seriously, where is Yount going with this? That the church has ignored rich people? Seriously? Since when? By the way -- why do they get the spirit of integrity? Do we need material wealth to have integrity? Then there is the butchering of the Joel prophecy:

"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. -- Joel 2: 28-29 (ESV)

All flesh is clarified within the context. Male and female. Young and old. Socio-economic status is not addressed. So Yount has laid the premise however for this false prophecy. The poor poor rich people who have been neglected by the church will be returning:

"The 'Elite' Come to the House of God. I saw very influential people being drawn by God's Spirit into His Kingdom. I saw dignitaries, celebrities and the very "elite" being drawn into the house of the Lord. I saw some of them coming to church in armored cars with security guards around them ... but they were coming! I saw, at times, helicopters landing in church parking lots, bringing in dignitaries from high positions of government. Some were walking through the front doors of churches with body guards because of their honor and prestige. The high and mighty were coming into Father's house now as well as the lowly." -- Bill Yount

This would be downright comical if it were not so insulting. Apparently Mr. Yount is unaware of the Scriptures that speak about how the elite will be laid low. What makes these people elite to Mr. Yount anyway? Because they are celebrities? Because they have bodyguards? Helicopters landing in church parking lots? The high and mighty were now coming to church? Oh and those lowly people too. Pathetic.

"Integrity was gripping their hearts to hunger and honor the king who, they were realizing, had given them power, wealth and high positions in the land. I saw one very prominent person, whose name was a household name known throughout the nations, put a check in the offering plate in one service that was large enough to meet the church budget for the next five years. The tithe from this one check went out from this church to support all their missionaries a full year." -- Bill Yount

We are starting to see the pet issues for Mr. Yount as we did for Pastor Christmas and tithing is again at the top of the list. Beloved, there is no such thing anymore as tithing. It was part of the law that Jesus nailed to the cross. Galatians 5 actually teaches us that tithing will yoke us back to the law and sever us from Christ. This is not a prophecy. It is a dream that Bill Yount must have. That rich people would come in and drop millions in the offering.

"These dignitaries and wealthy ones, who had been filled with God's integrity and glory, could rarely stay in one church long, because of the publicity, and because they were making some religious people uncomfortable." -- Bill Yount

Argghh" stop the insanity Bill Yount! There is no way God said this! The term religious people is a made up foil used by people who wish to step outside the bounds of Scripture. God established the term religion in His holy Word. People who insist on biblical accuracy are branded as such or with a "spirit of religion." Whatever. So according to this prophecy the rich people couldn't stay long because of the publicity? Wouldn't we want the publicity if the Gospel was being preached? Wouldn't we want these "dignitaries" to then represent Christ to the throngs of paparazzi following them to church?

"As a result, the Holy Spirit would lead them to different churches, to visit and receive counsel and wisdom from many different styles of worship and revelation of teaching from more than just one minister, thereby receiving the whole counsel of God. Cross-pollination was vital for them, as they would visit different churches to receive various revelations to help lead a nation. In the meantime, many churches were being blessed, experiencing the presence of integrity brought by these elite visitors from a caliber of society where integrity is rarely found. This presence was a result of the dignitary's service to the Lord in the midst of the absence of integrity." -- Bill Yount

Wait a minute. So God is saying his church did not have a spirit of integrity so He sent these celebrities and rich people into the church with the presence of the spirit of integrity and this spirit was made manifest through some service provided by the rich people in the area that usually has no integrity, the church? Is God not God? Why not just send the spirit of integrity? Why send it through these people at all? How were they able to even receive this spirit of integrity lest they be saved and since they did not hear the Gospel -- how did they get saved? How exactly did they receive counsel from various styles of worship? That makes no sense. Why do you need more than one minister to impart the entire counsel of the Lord? Do you see how confused you get when you try to make it up outside the safe confines of Scripture?

'I heard the King of kings say, "When you begin to see the kings of the earth and high government officials and the upper class being drawn into My house, honor these kings and their high positions and know that the time is soon when the King of kings and Lord of lords will soon appear in all of His glory in His house. Get used to honoring those in high places and those who are gifted with talent that astounds the world. Continue to pray, believing for their souls.

"I didn't say 'not any;' I said 'not many!' "I have said that 'not many mighty and not many noble are called... I didn't say "not any" I said "not many!"' I have said. 'It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven," but I didn't say it was impossible for Him to enter. The pendulum is beginning to swing. It will touch now, not only the poor and lowly, but also the rich, the famous and those in high places. I hear God say, "All arise... the kings, queens, princes and rulers of nations are coming in on this next move."'-- Bill Yount

Does Bill Yount own a Bible? Get used to honoring people based upon earthly talents and carnal accomplishments? Seriously? The Bible says He uses the foolish to confound the wise. It says the first will be last in the kingdom of God. I do not pretend to know what affinity Bill Yount holds for rich, powerful, and exalted people of this earth but I do know their prestige, notoriety, and money mean nothing to Almighty God. The point Bill Yount must be uncomfortable with is that the pendulum does not discriminate the way he does. It has already touched the rich and the poor alike. It's just that the poor do not have much to hold onto in this world so they come into the kingdom more easily than the rich who think they have made it all themselves. That is why it will be hard for the rich to enter heaven. They do not think they need to. The Gospel does not discriminate Mr. Yount. It does not see people in terms of caste, class, or wealth. Even if you do.

That leaves us with our key verse today. A reminder from the Apostle John that we must test the spirits, yes even the spirit of integrity, whatever that is supposed to be. We are required to test them because many will not be from God but will be from the false prophets that have gone out into the world, such as Kent Christmas and Bill Yount. As the church we need to stop chasing a word from man and start chasing the final revealed will of the Lord. Whenever someone utters thus sayeth the Lord we must hold up the mirror of Scripture to that prophecy to test the spirit it is from and dismiss out of hand and hold in contempt those that would presumptively speak for the Lord when He has not spoken.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- January 17, 2018

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.