Prophetic Words
The image of a naval battle at sea can be used to depict delivering the word of God in the form of a rebuke. A strong word of the Lord is like a cannon that can break a ship into pieces and sink it entirely! In the same way that a cannon can destroy a ship so also the word of the Lord delivered by an Apostle or Prophet can destroy self-deception and self-righteousness retained by unrepentant sinners. The Apostle or Prophet can then turn the “big-guns” upon them and say, “You are the guilty ones!” This happened when the Prophet Nathan was sent by the Lord to deliver a rebuke to King David. Once the sin of David was exposed then the Prophet declared, “You are the guilty one!” and it had explosive effect upon the king and effected a true confession and repentance of his sin.
2 Samuel 12:1-10 (NIV)
1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.
2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle,
3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!
6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.
8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.
9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
Nathan the prophet was sent by the Lord to deliver a powerful word of the Lord to King David. Rather than confronting him directly about his sin, Nathan first told a parable or a story of a rich man who took the only lamb away from a poor man to feed it to his guest rather than butchering any of his own sheep within the many flocks that he owned. The parable invoked David to pronounce judgment upon the rich man saying that he surely deserves to die because he had no pity on the poor man. Once David saw the injustice himself and uttered his own judgment then the Prophet Nathan replied “You are the Man!”
Often the Lord will cause an Apostle or Prophet to systematically expose a sin and then reveal to the unrepentant sinner the injustice which they cannot see for themselves. Once the sin is exposed then they can turn the “big-guns” upon them and say, “You are the guilty ones!” This has explosive effect and forces the unrepentant sinner to either acknowledge their sin and repent or else harden their hearts and continue on toward their own destruction. Once thing is for certain however that things will never be the same again after that message was delivered. They can no longer continue pretending that everything is OK because their self-deception and false sense of “self-righteousness” was shattered by the anointed words of the Lord carried to them by the Apostle or Prophet.
Jeremiah 23:28 (NIV)
28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the LORD.
The comparison of straw and grain illustrates the great contrast there is from the words of those who are impostors compared to the words uttered by real Apostles or Prophets. Those men called to the Fivefold Ministry office of Apostle or Prophet will carry words from God. Impostors who invent their own words and then falsely declare “Thus says the Lord!” are those whose words are as worthless as straw. The words of a real Apostle or Prophet however are valuable like grain which can be traded or used as cash and also provides food for people to eat. There is a night and day difference between the words of an impostor and the words of a real Apostle or Prophet and the difference can be compared to the value of straw compared to grain.
Grain is a valuable commodity that can be traded like cash for just about anything. It is necessary to make flour for food but straw is nearly no food value whatsoever. Straw (the stems of dry wheat) is typically used as livestock bedding to soak up animal waste in barns. There is little value in straw compared to grain such as wheat. Generally, the straw is thrown away like chaff and only the kernels of grain are kept and used.
In the same way, false “so-called” words of the Lord invented by impostors are as worthless as straw and provide no benefit for anyone. In fact, “false words” will accomplish the exact opposite of the “real words” from the Lord. Real words of the Lord (uttered by real Apostles or Prophets) will bring about repentance in the hearts of the people. In contrast the words of impostors will only edify and tell sinners that God loves them and thus cancel out all repentance. The end result of false words is that judgment will not be diverted and the unrepentant sinners will be therefore be destroyed by it. Thus, the words of the impostors are like straw and have no power to help anyone in the least manner. Their false words only confirm the unrepentant sinners in their sin and keep them from repenting until it is too late and they are destroyed by God’s judgment.
The words of a real Apostle or Prophet however will define and expose sin in a clear and concise manner. After systematically exposing their sin then the Apostles or Prophets will turn the “guns” upon them and say, “You are the guilty ones!” This has the dramatic effect of opening the eyes of the sinners to their own wickedness and then they will have only two choices from that point forward. They can acknowledge their sin and repent and turn from their evil ways or they can harden their hearts and go forward toward their own destruction.
Apostle/Teacher Using Big Guns!
In my own experience as an Apostle/Teacher, I have often defined certain types of sin and disorder in systematic manner by giving a message to a congregation that is prophetic in nature. Then after everything has been defined in clear manner, I will turn the “guns” upon them and declare, “And you are the guilty ones!” This has never failed to have explosive effect and the guilty parties are left speechless with nothing they can say after their sin was exposed so clearly so as to be undeniable. They cannot return to the same sin or continue with the same bad behavior anymore after that prophetic rebuke was delivered. They are forced to either harden their hearts and experience judgment or repent and turn from their evil ways. Judgment often follows after unrepentant sinners have received their last warning delivered by an Apostle. I have described this in more detail on the webpage “About Us” when I share about my own dual-calling of Apostle/Teacher and how this operates under the anointing of God.
See the link “About Us” for more details.
Powerful Effect of Prophetic Words
Jeremiah 23:28-32 (NIV)
28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the LORD.
29 “Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?
30 “Therefore,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me.
31 Yes,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, ‘The LORD declares.’
32 Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” declares the LORD. “They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least,” declares the LORD.
It should also be noted that God’s word is like a fire that consume chaff and straw and stubble and so God’s word will destroy the words of the false prophets who invent words of their own imaginations.
Also, the word of God can be compared to a hammer which can break rocks into pieces. In the same way a word of the Lord can break the hardness of heart of unrepentant sinners and cause them to acknowledge their sin and repent and turn to the Lord.
But God is against those false (impostor) prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, “The Lord declares” and then utter their own self-invented foolishness. They use the Name of the Lord in vain by justifying words of their own human origin and falsely saying they are coming from God. God is against those who utter false prophecy and they are headed toward and unspeakable judgment from God.
There are other false prophets who utter false dreams supposedly from the Lord. With their false dream interpretations, they lead the people astray using their own reckless lies invented from their own imaginations. But the Lord says that he has not sent them and has not appointed them as Prophets but instead these impostors have appointed themselves. They do not benefit the people who hear their false prophecies in the least because they do not expose any sin and they do not cause anyone to repent and thus they do not divert any of them from their coming destruction.
Systematic Prophetic Teaching Using Historical Accounts
Acts 7:51-54 (NIV)
51 “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!
52 Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him–
53 you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.”
54 When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.
Stephen (the first martyr of the church) gave a lengthy discourse in the seventh chapter of the book of Acts and he reviewed Jewish history beginning from Abraham to Moses and the patriarchs and spanned up to that present time. After showing historical evidence then Stephen turned the “big-guns” upon the crowd and said, “You are the guilty ones!” even calling them stiff-necked rebellious people who had uncircumcised hearts and ears who did not listen to the words delivered to them by the Lord. He showed how their forefathers were rebellious and hard-hearted to the Holy Spirit and these people (the offspring of hard-hearted men) were just the same way! Their hard-hearted forefathers had persecuted every prophet who spoke God’s word to them and these hard-hearted people (alive at the time of Stephen’s discourse) were guilty of betraying and murdering the righteous one sent to them by God! They as Jews had received the law of God which was put into effect by angels and yet they had not obeyed it!
These words of rebuke were delivered under a prophetic anointing by Stephen and they had the effect of stinging these men like barbed arrows in their hearts! The men were so enraged that they gnashed their teeth at Stephen in uncontrollable rage!
Acts 7:55-60 (NIV)
55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him,
58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
The men who heard Stephens anointed message were so enraged that they could not stand to hear another word! They covered their own ears and yelled at the top of their voices in order to drown out the words of Stephan which stung them to a rage like the stings of many hornets! They rushed upon him all at once and dragged him out of the city and stoned him to death!
This is an example of the effects of a real prophetic word delivered by God through a real Apostle or Prophet whose words struck the hearts of men like barbed arrows! Stephan had systematically gone through Jewish history until that present day and then revealed that they were just as hard-hearted and rebellious toward God as their forefathers had been. This exposed their sin in systematic manner and then Stephen declared, “You are the guilty ones!” This had explosive effect and most certainly they lived up to their own reputation as they stoned Stephen to death just as their own forefathers also killed those prophets who carried God’s word before them in past generations!
Example of Prophetic Teaching
Prophetic teaching given by an Apostle/Teacher will systematically expose sin in great detail and at the end it will point the “big-guns” at the guilty party and declare “You are the guilty ones!”
See the link “Fivefold Ministry Gifts” for more details.
One example of this type of teaching is that of “Last Man Standing” which would seem to be a lesson about principles of survival but in fact it also exposes the bad attitude produced by “gender-equality” false doctrines which place the woman as the head of the household and the children in second place then the family pets and the lowest rank of all (placed under them) is the man (who is treated like a rat who lives under the cupboard) but has no say in the running of the household. This is exactly opposite of God’s divine order which says that the man is the most important figure in the entire household and the wife and children are to be submissive to him. The man has been given the role of being the leader and provider and protector of the family and as such should be honored as the most important figure in the household (under Christ). What a great difference compared to the standard of the world and the carnal church which treats the man as if he is expendable and the least important person in the entire household (even less than the value of pets).
Systematic or Prophetic Lessons
It is this bad attitude or faulty worldly logic which is exposed in this teaching lesson called “Last Man Standing” and serves the purpose of being a rebuke to those who show indifference or distain toward their spiritual authority in the home. If this message is delivered by an Apostle to those who engage in disdaining spiritual authority in the home then he could turn the “big-guns” upon them and say, “And you are the guilty ones!”
See the link “Last Man Standing” for more details.
Another “prophetic” type of message is that of “Idols of the Heart” which exposes the hidden sin nature in those believers who love the world and dress like the world and for pretense sing songs of “devotion” to Christ. This message could be given to the congregations of any of the “entertainment-based” churches which offer Christian concerts while feigning devotion to Christ simply by singing lyrics of songs that sound “dedicated” to the Lord. This is the type prophetic message that could be delivered to carnal Christians in an “entertainment-based” church and at the conclusion of the message an Apostle could point the “big-guns” at the congregation and say, “And you are the guilty ones!”