By Thomas Williamson
3131 S. Archer Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60608
There are many religious movements nowadays that claim
to be receiving new revelations from God, in addition to those
found in the Bible. One basic problem with such new revelations
is that there is no way to be sure that all of them are really
from God. This is freely admitted by the religious leaders who
propagate the new revelations.
The Mormon religion is based almost entirely on new revelations
as found in the Book of Mormon and other documents from the early
19th Century. Early Mormons were faced with the dilemma of realizing
that not all of those new revelations were of God - and their
founder Joseph Smith honestly confessed that not all his revelations
were from God.
MORMON FOUNDER ADMITS, SOME OF HIS PROPHECIES WERE OF THE DEVIL.
David Whitmer, one of the 3 witnesses to the Book of Mormon, told
this story of a new revelation or prophecy from God which turned
out to be false:
"Brother Hyrum [Smith] said it had been suggested to him
that some of the brethren might go to Toronto, Canada, and sell
the copyright of the Book of Mormon for considerable money: and
he persuaded Joseph [Smith] to inquire of the Lord about it. Joseph
concluded to do so. He had not yet given up the stone. Joseph
looked into the hat in which he placed the stone, and received
a revelation that some of the brethren should go to Toronto, Canada,
and that they would sell the copyright of the Book of Mormon.
"Hiram Page and Oliver Cowdery went to Toronto on this mission,
but they failed entirely to sell the copyright, returning without
any money. Joseph was at my father's house when they returned.
I was there also, and am an eyewitness to these facts. . . . Well,
we were all in great trouble, and we asked Joseph how it was that
he had received a revelation from the Lord for some brethren to
go to Toronto and sell the copyright, and the brethren had utterly
failed in their undertaking.
"Joseph did not know how it was, so he enquired of the Lord
about it, and behold the following revelation came through the
stone: Some revelations are of God: some revelations are
of man: and some revelations are of the devil.' So we see that
the revelation to go to Toronto and sell the copyright was not
of God, but was of the devil or the heart of man."
This is the foundational dilemma of all modern prophets who claim
to be receiving new revelations. No one can, with any degree of
certainty, sort out the messages as to whether they come from
God, man or the devil.
EVERYTHING'S UP TO DATE IN KANSAS CITY. This uncertainty about
new revelations had not yet been solved by the time of the Kansas
City Prophets, a group of charismatic preachers who in the 1980's
became famous for their revelations and words of wisdom. David
Pytches investigated this phenomenon in a very sympathetic manner
in his 1991 book "Some Said it Thundered - A Personal Encounter
With the Kansas City Prophets," and wrestled mightily with
the whole question of how to tell which prophecies were true and
which were not. Pytches interviewed the Prophets and discussed
that issue:
"We asked tactfully if any of them was ever wrong.
"They all agreed that they occasionally had been proved
wrong. Sometimes their revelation was right but their interpretation
or application was wrong. According to Mike Bickle, who confirmed
that they certainly could be wrong, the problem seemed to be that
they were right too often to be ignored. There was little problem
over the revelations - the difficulties were more likely to be
over the interpretations.
"In the Old Testament they would have been put to death
for giving false prophecy (Deut 18:20); but Mike pointed to the
grace of God who had instructed simply, through New Testament
revelation, that their visions and prophecies should be weighed
by others (1 Cor. 14:29).
"No one should act on one prophecy alone. If it comes independently
as a confirmation of something that God had already been speaking
about in other ways, it certainly would be an encouragement to
proceed in that direction. . . . But if the revelation is something
completely new and out of the blue, it is important to wait, watch,
and pray for further confirmation.
"We asked them how they felt about getting things wrong.
They all agreed that it could be humiliating. Nowadays they have
learned to offer their visions with some clear disclaimers to
any idea of infallibility just in case anyone should want to assume
a prophet could never err. But they still felt confused and sometimes
rejected if they got it wrong. . . .
"The problem lies in discerning who is a prophet and who
is not, as well as which prophecies are true and which are false.
Years ago Derek Prince told me the only way to determine if futuristic
prophecy was true or false was to wait and see if it came to pass.
That's wisdom."
SOLUTION TO FALSE PROPHECY - MEND IT, DON'T END IT. "Prophet"
Mike Bickle admitted, "And so, though we want to grow in
prophecy, we don't believe everything that's said. We've been
given 10,000 prophecies, and I believe there's only a small number
that I've really cherished in my heart as from the Lord. So do
we get mad at the people that gave the other ones? No. We just
let them go - just set them on the shelf and just let their .
. . let them go on down the river . . . because there's showy
people, because there's proud men and women. We don't throw out
the gift; we ask God to perfect it."
"Prophet" Bob Jones (not to be confused with the founders
of Bob Jones University in South Carolina) commented, "Boy,
there's a lot of people that don't like the thought that prophets
are only 2/3 right on. They want to make us Old Testament prophets,
and we should prophesy, literally in groups, or literally prophesy
to the leadership until 3 or 4 of us bring the same word. Yes,
because New Testament prophets can absolutely miss."
LOOKING AT THE BRIGHT SIDE OF FALSE PROPHECY. Rick Joyner, an
enthusiastic supporter of the Kansas City Prophets, said in his
Morning Star Prophetic Newsletter, "Bob [Jones] was told
that the general level of prophetic revelation in the church was
about 65% accurate at this time. Some are only about 10% accurate,
a very few of the most mature prophets are approaching 85% to
95% accuracy. Prophecy is increasing in purity, but there is still
a long way to go for those who walk in this ministry. This is
actually grace for the church now, because 100% accuracy in this
ministry will bring a level of accountability to the church which
she is too immature to bear at this time; it would result in too
many Ananias and Sapphiras.' That so many the [sic] prophetic
ministries are still missing so much is also meant to work humility
and wisdom so that they will be able to handle the authority and
power coming in the near future."
The Kansas City Prophets, with an accuracy rate as low as 10%,
sounded forth an extremely uncertain sound of the trumpet. They
stirred up opposition from their erstwhile supporters in the charismatic
community, when they sent "prophets" to the other charismatic
churches, to "prophesy" that the other churches were
to either be disbanded or else come under the authority of the
Kansas City Prophets.
Charismatic pastor Ernie Gruen realized that the Kansas City
Prophets were not of God, and challenged Mike Bickle directly.
"Over a year ago, Pastor Gruen approached Mike regarding
his concern over reports of bizarre prophecies and damage done
to families by personal prophecies from Bob Jones that did not
come to pass.
"Reporting on their conversation, Ernie noted the following:
So when I asked Mike about him [Bob], he said, "Only
60% of his prophecies come true and he is a problem to me. I had
to sit him down, and I don't let him prophesy." Yet you pick
up Charisma Magazine and it says that, "his track record
has earned him a place of honor at Grace Ministries (Kansas City
Fellowship)."
"Why is it that privately they say he is a problem
and that most of his prophecies don't come true, and yet publicly,
for hype's sake, he is portrayed to the nation as a reliable prophet?'"
NAKED AMBITION. "Prophet" Bob Jones turned out to be
unreliable in other ways. The Apologetics Index web site reported
on "Jones, Bob. One of the Kansas City Prophets. Seen by
some as the most controversial of the Kansas City Prophets. Was
removed from the Vineyard Anaheim because of sexual improprieties,
which consisted of encouraging women to undress in his office
so they could stand naked before the Lord' in order to receive
a word.' Still active today, with the abundant support of
Rick Joyner, Jones is a major proponent of Latter Rain and Manifest
Sons theology."
Paul Cain was regarded as the founding father of the Kansas City
Prophets movement, but he was repudiated publicly by Rick Joyner,
Jack Deere and Mike Bickle for immorality:
"In February 2004, we were made aware that Paul [Cain] had
become an alcoholic. In April 2004, we became aware that Paul
is a practicing homosexual. When confronted with the evidence
of these sinful practices, Paul admitted to them and agreed to
a process of restoration which the 3 of us would oversee. However,
because Paul has continued to drink and pursue immoral practices,
and after having exhausted the first 2 steps of the Matthew 18:15-17
process, we now have a responsibility to bring this before the
church. . . .
"We also want to apologize to the body of Christ for our
part in promoting and elevating Paul's stature in the church while
having these significant strongholds in his life. The signs that
these problems existed were abundant, and we had an obvious lack
of discernment and failed to see them until this year. We have
received a considerable education through this situation, the
principles of which we will share in due time with the hope that
others will not have to make our same mistakes."
Of course, not all modern-day prophets who purvey new revelations
have become drunks or homosexuals or devoted themselves to ogling
naked ladies. Have any of them solved the knotty problem of how
to discern between true revelations and false ones?
Apparently not: Richard Foster, in his book "Celebration
of Discipline," which promotes mysticism and new revelations,
admits, "The fact that God speaks to us does not guarantee
that we rightly understand the message. We often mix our word
with God's word."
The problem of how to tell which new revelations are from God,
and which are not, has never been solved by the Mormons, Charismatics,
Mystics or any other group. The best way to handle the problem
is to reject all new revelations, and to rely only on the Bible,
which is God's complete and all-sufficient revelation of His will
for mankind.
"Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither
shall ye diminish ought from it." - Deuteronomy 4:2.
"Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou
be found a liar." - Proverbs 30:6.
"If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto
him the plagues that are written in this book." - Revelation
22:18.