Now comes the set up for the sales pitch. After challenging people to not be afraid, which is a play to our emotions, Wittenberg states that the whole body is built up through prophecy and he is right. Through correct prophecy. Not through the nonsense they espouse at IHOP and Charisma News. Here is a sampling from "prophecies" offered by Charisma recently:
"Pray for Milo to Break the Leviathan Spirit."
"Prophetic Dream Reveals 'Glory Torrent' Strategy to Combat Rising Witchcraft."
"Decoding the Apocalypse With End-Times prophecy."
"Hubie Synn Offers Clear Principles for Prophesying."
"Beware of the Sneaky Squid Spirit."
Ah yes, that deadly squid spirit. I do not recall the Scripture that warns of vexing calamari we must endure in these last days. Wittenberg here is setting up a false premise. Yes we must learn to hear from God. Yes God is always speaking to us if we are willing to listen. To bring up the various ways He has spoken in the Bible, primarily the Old Testament is to miss the point of the new covenant we live under. God has already revealed His will to us beloved in the Bible. If we want to hear from God, we need to read our Bible. While Wittenberg correctly emphasizes the Word of God he is also busy setting up this notion of being able to hear God. The small whisper or mighty roar for example. He comes from IHOP remember and they are deeply entrenched in Eastern Mysticism and things like "soaking" prayer. They believe in the emptying of oneself to hear from God but the Bible never says any such foolishness. The idea here being if you empty your mind to draw "closer to God" and repeat chants or mantras over and over again as "worship" then you invite His "presence." Then you just have to faithfully report it and voila! You're prophesying! Except you're not because these things do produce God talking but rather, the wickedness of our own deceitful hearts. This is how you get ridiculous prophecies involving spiritual squid. Now that he has paid lip service to the Word of God, Wittenberg flips to IHOP theology:
"The Bible is the only sure door to learning to hear God's voice. Scripture is meant to introduce us to a man, Jesus -- the One who loves us, guides us, and has promised to speak to us. Bible study, prayer, and hearing God's voice are all about "encountering the man hidden between the lines," says Kirk Bennett, a senior leader at IHOP. -- Adam Wittenberg
Wittenberg does an admirable job of trying to talk up the importance of Scripture but then he unravels what says. Scripture is not meant to merely introduce us to Jesus, who then in turn will speak to us. That is absurd. The Bible IS Jesus speaking to us! The Bible says that The Word is good for all things. Teaching, reproof, correction. Jesus is not "hidden between the lines" beloved. He is there for all to see if they are searching for Him and truly want to hear what He has to say. The shift pulled off here by Wittenberg was oh so subtle. In one sentence he moved the importance of hearing God's voice to the same level as prayer and reading the Word. Why would he do such a thing? Because this is the theology of the false signs and lying wonders network. They believe that practicing to hear God is equally important as a spiritual discipline as prayer and reading the Word. The truth is that prayer or reading the Word of God should result in hearing from God. The disciplines are reading the Word and prayer but hearing from Him is a result of being disciplined. But Wittenberg and IHOP want to make it all very mysterious and supernatural. Jesus is hidden somewhere between the lines and you have to seek out his voice. Nonsense. Jesus is always there for us in prayer and His revealed Word. But remember, Wittenberg works for the Marketing Department at IHOP:
"One way to grow in the prophetic is to learn from experienced believers. At Immerse, April 1-8 in Kansas City, leaders from IHOPKC will offer hands on training in the prophetic." -- Adam Wittenberg
With the faux biblical groundwork laid down and the sales pitch made, Wittenberg goes for the kill. For only $199, you too can learn to prophesy. To hear that voice of God you have been unable to hear. He claims topics will include prophecy within singing, preaching, and evangelism as well as common pitfalls when prophesying and how to avoid them. As we wrap up this IHOP blue plate special of heresy let us realize that even these topics reveal that they are dangerously ignorant about all things prophetic. The reference to prophecy in singing is one of their own creation called "prophetic worship." They train their worship leaders; as does Bethel, to do the "mind emptying-hear what your wicked heart is saying" routine in the middle of a worship song and whatever comes to mind they teach them it is from God. They are then instructed to sing it out and lead the congregation as well. I have seen this phenomenon live and it is disturbing to say the least if you have an ounce of discernment. The visiting worship leader at a church I was attending started weaving into some kind of trance in the middle of what was an alleged worship song. Suddenly she claimed God showed her a river and Jesus was in the river! For the next 15 minutes was a repeated mantra over and over of "jump in the river if you want a hug form Jesus." I kid you not. One of the elders was writhing on the ground shouting "I'm soaking wet!" The entire display was demonic. I would leave the church shortly after that display. There is nothing prophetic about it and nothing that is worshipful.
Prophetic preaching is equally unbiblical. There is a reason why these are separate gifts beloved. Now, if you want to teach about prophecies within the Bible that is fine but that is not what IHOP is selling here. They are talking about allowing the interjection of new revelation while preaching the revealed will of God. Think about that for a second. Has God forgotten something? Did He divinely inspire the entire canon of Scripture and then one day realize He forgot something He wanted to say but thank goodness He has Mike Bickle to convey it? Please. If you are watching a preacher who suddenly exclaims they are getting "fresh download"; that is not from God. Next up is prophetic evangelism and these are merely parlor tricks and clairvoyant games. If you want to see this in action watch the heretical Holy Ghost movies. Their evangelism technique is to find gullible and emotional people and pretend God is giving them a "word of knowledge about them prophetically. "God is showing me that you have some sort of ailment." Well gosh, who doesn't? "He is showing me to pray for your legs"or is it your upper body and what the huckster is looking for is a reaction from the person so he knows what area to "focus on." He then prays and using the power of suggestion the person usually claims they feel better. The charlatan then claims a prophetic healing that never took place. We see this in local churches all the time when itinerant "prophets" visit. I had a good friend go up for healing on a hip that needed replacement surgery. He was "healed" and even danced on stage. Two weeks later he still needed surgery. Beloved hear me well. I am not saying God cannot heal. He most certainly can but He is not going to do it through vessels that falsify that they hear from Him.
The last topical area reveals for sure that this entire venture is false. Pitfalls of prophesying? Are you hearing from God or not? In the Old Testament, the pitfall for prophesying is that if you were wrong you were stoned to death. In modern false prophet circles that is just an oopsie. Again, we must realize they are being taught to empty themselves and listen and the first thing that pops into their minds they are trained to accept as being God's still small voice but it is not. It is their own wickedly deceitful hearts. The folks who are considered the top prophets in these circles all agree that a 65% accuracy record is admirable. Are you kidding me? That means at least 35% of the time you are either lying purposefully or you cannot tell the difference between Satan and the Lord! Isn't 65% the bare minimum to pass academically? Isn't that a "D" student? This is not a game beloved. To claim to speak on behalf of God is bad enough but to pretend to have heard from Him directly is even worse. That is why you see these false prophets now casting new predictions with 50-50 chances or such absurd time frames that they assume it must come true eventually. Benny Hinn once prophesied in 1990 that Fidel Castro would die in the 1990s. He gave himself a ten year window and he still missed it by over 15 years. The year of Hurricane Katrina, Pat Robertson claimed God showed him that the following summer would be the worst in recorded history for hurricanes hitting the eastern seaboard of the United States. That summer zero hurricanes made landfall. God will not be mocked beloved. We as Christians need to stop feeding this beast. Stop chasing silly predictions and our carnal desires to have a "word spoken over our lives." We already have a Word spoken to us directly from God Himself. It is entirely true and accurate. It is entirely prophetic. It is entirely available to all.
