Being Wary Of Prophetic Words Spoken Over You

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I have just finished reading a book by an experienced prophet who at one time was seriously afflicted in his back and required two surgeries to try and correct it. He went to the Lord and the Lord told him that he was being attacked by Satan through divination. He replied saying that he had never been involved in divination or the occult in any way. The Lord told him that it was not anything he had done or said, but it was because of prophetic words said over him at a particular conference where he was ministering. A group if self-appointed prophets came to him and gave him words consisting in that he would go to Cairo and speak to shekhs and leaders and do other mighty things and own two houses and be very wealthy. It did not strike a chord with him at the time so he put it on the back shelf to see how it would work out. The Lord revealed to him that these words were not from Him and they were words coming only from the natural hearts and minds. In this way he was defiled by that divination. It corrupted the temple of his body and that is why he suffered in the way he did. Once he renounced those false words, the pain left.

This is being a real wake up call for me. I have to go back to the Lord and ask Him whether I am hearing from Him or not when I give a word of prophecy to someone. What the author is saying that it is not the content of the prophecy that is important because these prophecies were very positive ones- that any of us would love to receive. But it is the state of the person's heart and spirit and their motivation for giving the word of prophecy. Sometimes we need the gift of discernment of spirits to divide truth from falsehood. It is easy to spot negative, judgmental prophecies that reveal sin in people and nations, and that predict disasters. God does not advertise what Satan is doing in the world. God shows what He is doing - giving people a hope and a future in Him. But Satan comes along with counterfeits to make trainwrecks of the lives of innocent, unwary souls who are not clued up about the nature of the prophetic.

Also, I have been made aware of the habit of people asking for words of prophecy from people whom they know have that gift. This is the best way of receiving a divination word. It is because the requester either doesn't realise that he or she can get a word from God directly, or that he or she is too lazy to spend the time in prayer and waiting on God to get into the state where they can hear and listen to God's voice. For that reason it would be wise of me in future to turn down requests for personal words, because I don't want to give false words that replace God's voice to that person directly. I found that I stopped giving words of prophecy in this forum a number of years ago, because people were treating me like their own personal horoscope. I am very concerned that some of the words I gave did not actually come from God for that reason. So I am deciding to pray it safe. I'm going to keep my prophetic mouth shut unless I know for sure that God has spoken to me about that person.

And I am going to ask the Lord to make me a lot more sensitive to His voice when it comes to people giving words over me. I don't want to receive a divination attack from someone who is just spouting their own words instead of the words resulting from the voice of God to them. Not everyone who says, "Thus says the Lord," is actually speaking from the Lord.

 

[Biblicist]

I have just finished reading a book by an experienced prophet who at one time was seriously afflicted in his back and required two surgeries to try and correct it. He went to the Lord and the Lord told him that he was being attacked by Satan through divination. He replied saying that he had never been involved in divination or the occult in any way. The Lord told him that it was not anything he had done or said, but it was because of prophetic words said over him at a particular conference where he was ministering. A group if self-appointed prophets came to him and gave him words consisting in that he would go to Cairo and speak to shekhs and leaders and do other mighty things and own two houses and be very wealthy. It did not strike a chord with him at the time so he put it on the back shelf to see how it would work out. The Lord revealed to him that these words were not from Him and they were words coming only from the natural hearts and minds. In this way he was defiled by that divination. It corrupted the temple of his body and that is why he suffered in the way he did. Once he renounced those false words, the pain left.

This is being a real wake up call for me. I have to go back to the Lord and ask Him whether I am hearing from Him or not when I give a word of prophecy to someone. What the author is saying that it is not the content of the prophecy that is important because these prophecies were very positive ones- that any of us would love to receive. But it is the state of the person's heart and spirit and their motivation for giving the word of prophecy. Sometimes we need the gift of discernment of spirits to divide truth from falsehood. It is easy to spot negative, judgmental prophecies that reveal sin in people and nations, and that predict disasters. God does not advertise what Satan is doing in the world. God shows what He is doing - giving people a hope and a future in Him. But Satan comes along with counterfeits to make trainwrecks of the lives of innocent, unwary souls who are not clued up about the nature of the prophetic.

Also, I have been made aware of the habit of people asking for words of prophecy from people whom they know have that gift. This is the best way of receiving a divination word. It is because the requester either doesn't realise that he or she can get a word from God directly, or that he or she is too lazy to spend the time in prayer and waiting on God to get into the state where they can hear and listen to God's voice. For that reason it would be wise of me in future to turn down requests for personal words, because I don't want to give false words that replace God's voice to that person directly. I found that I stopped giving words of prophecy in this forum a number of years ago, because people were treating me like their own personal horoscope. I am very concerned that some of the words I gave did not actually come from God for that reason. So I am deciding to pray it safe. I'm going to keep my prophetic mouth shut unless I know for sure that God has spoken to me about that person.

And I am going to ask the Lord to make me a lot more sensitive to His voice when it comes to people giving words over me. I don't want to receive a divination attack from someone who is just spouting their own words instead of the words resulting from the voice of God to them. Not everyone who says, "Thus says the Lord," is actually speaking from the Lord.

This is something that I have pondered over since my beginnings in Pentecost. Even though words can certainly have some spiritual force at times, I still wonder if it is possible for anyone to essentially place a curse over me when I have not accepted the words or where I have placed them on hold as the author of the book that you referred to did. On the flip side, if we have left certain sin or sins in our lives to remain unchecked, could it be possible that some specific types of curses could have an effect on us??

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

This is something that I have pondered over since my beginnings in Pentecost. Even though words can certainly have some spiritual force at times, I still wonder if it is possible for anyone to essentially place a curse over me when I have not accepted the words or where I have placed them on hold as the author of the book that you referred to did. On the flip side, if we have left certain sin or sins in our lives to remain unchecked, could it be possible that some specific types of curses could have an effect on us??

This is quite possible. What we all need to do is to seek God to reveal what might be the cause of why we have certain problems and issues that keep bugging us. Often we put something down to a besetting sin which comes back to haunt us time and again. It may be possible that we might have received a divination word at some time that has put a bondage in us. Once the Holy Spirit has revealed the cause, then victory may very well come.

In connection with that, we need to be wary of personal criticisms that are levelled at us through this forum. We have no idea what is going on in the hearts of those who respond or react to what we post here. A personal criticism or accusation may very well be a divination curse, because the accusation has come from that person's own mind and not from the Holy Spirit. The Scripture speaks about the power of the tongue to bring a blessing or a curse. I wonder how many good and innocent people have been blighted in their spiritual lives by the curses of those who have given accusations, words revealing sin, and criticism spoken into their lives?

 

[SkyWriting]

I have just finished reading a book by an experienced prophet who at one time was seriously afflicted in his back and required two surgeries to try and correct it. He went to the Lord and the Lord told him that he was being attacked by Satan through divination. He replied saying that he had never been involved in divination or the occult in any way. The Lord told him that it was not anything he had done or said, but it was because of prophetic words said over him at a particular conference where he was ministering. A group if self-appointed prophets came to him and gave him words consisting in that he would go to Cairo and speak to shekhs and leaders and do other mighty things and own two houses and be very wealthy. It did not strike a chord with him at the time so he put it on the back shelf to see how it would work out. The Lord revealed to him that these words were not from Him and they were words coming only from the natural hearts and minds. In this way he was defiled by that divination. It corrupted the temple of his body and that is why he suffered in the way he did. Once he renounced those false words, the pain left.

This is being a real wake up call for me. I have to go back to the Lord and ask Him whether I am hearing from Him or not when I give a word of prophecy to someone. What the author is saying that it is not the content of the prophecy that is important because these prophecies were very positive ones- that any of us would love to receive. But it is the state of the person's heart and spirit and their motivation for giving the word of prophecy. Sometimes we need the gift of discernment of spirits to divide truth from falsehood. It is easy to spot negative, judgmental prophecies that reveal sin in people and nations, and that predict disasters. God does not advertise what Satan is doing in the world. God shows what He is doing - giving people a hope and a future in Him. But Satan comes along with counterfeits to make trainwrecks of the lives of innocent, unwary souls who are not clued up about the nature of the prophetic.

Also, I have been made aware of the habit of people asking for words of prophecy from people whom they know have that gift. This is the best way of receiving a divination word. It is because the requester either doesn't realise that he or she can get a word from God directly, or that he or she is too lazy to spend the time in prayer and waiting on God to get into the state where they can hear and listen to God's voice. For that reason it would be wise of me in future to turn down requests for personal words, because I don't want to give false words that replace God's voice to that person directly. I found that I stopped giving words of prophecy in this forum a number of years ago, because people were treating me like their own personal horoscope. I am very concerned that some of the words I gave did not actually come from God for that reason. So I am deciding to pray it safe. I'm going to keep my prophetic mouth shut unless I know for sure that God has spoken to me about that person.

And I am going to ask the Lord to make me a lot more sensitive to His voice when it comes to people giving words over me. I don't want to receive a divination attack from someone who is just spouting their own words instead of the words resulting from the voice of God to them. Not everyone who says, "Thus says the Lord," is actually speaking from the Lord.

Yes, I reject all current prophets as well.
Good advice.

 

[Biblicist]

Yes, I reject all current prophets as well.
Good advice.

Who on this forum has suggested that we 'reject all current prophets', who would say such a strange thing?

 

[Emli]

I agree with you fully. And I think I've accidentally spoken a few words like this in the past, because I'm naturally positive, but I don't know if I ever said they came from God, unless they actually were (I also make sure to ask again and again, until I feel Him smiling and saying "yes, it's me!" ). I do believe it can work like a curse anyway though, if a person believes in it, then satan can grab on to whatever it is, whether hope or despair, especially if it's attached to pride.

Just a story from the negative side of it:
I was actually cursed by a member on these forums a while back. This member, that I had never spoken to, but that I thought was one of the good ones, suddenly started questioning me in a private PM, and this was while I was going through lots of hardship, having been abused and had my heart broken, and was dealing with demonic oppression, and I was relying on the Lord fully. This member gained spiritual authority over me by manipulation and domination, told me that nothing I thought was of God was of God, and then said these words: "you have been spiritually starved". I felt something dark coming over me at that point, and I started doubting everything, and my faith was deeply damaged for weeks, and I lost sight of God, pushing me further down that hole I was in. I actually became spiritually starved when that fiery dart entered my heart...
God has since then let me understand that this person has a Jezebel spirit, pushing people away from the True God, and He has gotten me through it, but I didn't think to renounce their words until just now. So thank you. I felt something lifting from me.

We need to be very careful with what words we accept as truth, and I also believe, in what way we allow them to enter our hearts. We need to test every spirit, and even if it's from the Lord, know that we don't know fully what they mean, and keep asking Him to reveal it to us. Otherwise, we'll hold on to a distortion of the truth He wanted us to receive.

Godbless! Great post.

 

[SkyWriting]

Who on this forum has suggested that we 'reject all current prophets', who would say such a strange thing?

So you can tell the good from the bad? According to your story, even the most experienced people cannot and are in danger. Its not what was said, it's the lesson to learn from your story.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Yes, I reject all current prophets as well.
Good advice.

Prophecy is well down on the list for reliability for guidance because it can so easily be corrupted by the prophet's own ambition and desire to be seen and heard. It sometimes takes the gift of discernment of spirits to sort out the genuine from the false. If you get a word from anyone and you have even the slightest doubt about it, it is best to reject it immediately. Don't even put it on the back shelf to see what happens. If it is false, you could be opening yourself to a divination attack. When God speaks to you either directly or through the prophetic, you will be absolutely sure it is from God because it will confirm what He has already told you through His Word, reliable mentors, circumstances, and your own settled peace about it. If any of these fail the test, then reject the word.

 

[Biblicist]

This is quite possible. What we all need to do is to seek God to reveal what might be the cause of why we have certain problems and issues that keep bugging us. Often we put something down to a besetting sin which comes back to haunt us time and again. It may be possible that we might have received a divination word at some time that has put a bondage in us. Once the Holy Spirit has revealed the cause, then victory may very well come.

In connection with that, we need to be wary of personal criticisms that are levelled at us through this forum. We have no idea what is going on in the hearts of those who respond or react to what we post here. A personal criticism or accusation may very well be a divination curse, because the accusation has come from that person's own mind and not from the Holy Spirit. The Scripture speaks about the power of the tongue to bring a blessing or a curse. I wonder how many good and innocent people have been blighted in their spiritual lives by the curses of those who have given accusations, words revealing sin, and criticism spoken into their lives?

Up until maybe a decade back my wife and I noticed a lot of instances where individuals had painstakingly weaved thin audio tape through the grass along various roadsides and obviously this was being done by Satanists or at least individuals who had a grudge against anyone where they recorded curses on the tape. I suppose a good reason for seeing so few instances of this type of thing in recent years has been with the demise of audio cassettes and of course it is not so easy to thread a CD or in IPod through grass.

Before I get to my point, I did have some satisfaction on one occasion where we noticed one person doing this not far from where we lived. So being the nice guy that I am I did not interfere with all his hard and painstaking work, well, not at least until he finished and walked around the corner when I moved my car over to the spot and quickly wound it all up and drove away even quicker and later throwing the thing into a bin.

But what I do wonder about is if such a curse tape could have an effect even on a Christian who has some unconfessed serious sin at work in their lives who happens to drive by.

 

[Emli]

Prophecy is well down on the list for reliability for guidance because it can so easily be corrupted by the prophet's own ambition and desire to be seen and heard. It sometimes takes the gift of discernment of spirits to sort out the genuine from the false. If you get a word from anyone and you have even the slightest doubt about it, it is best to reject it immediately. Don't even put it on the back shelf to see what happens. If it is false, you could be opening yourself to a divination attack. When God speaks to you either directly or through the prophetic, you will be absolutely sure it is from God because it will confirm what He has already told you through His Word, reliable mentors, circumstances, and your own settled peace about it. If any of these fail the test, then reject the word.

How would you define a divination attack? I've never heard the term before.

 

[Biblicist]

So you can tell the good from the bad? According to your story, even the most experienced people cannot and are in danger. Its not what was said, it's the lesson to learn from your story.

Yes and why shouldn't I be able to? The same goes for any teaching that I might sit under as well, there will be times that I will either quickly accept or reject what I hear and there will be those times that I might have to go home and spend a bit of time studying up on a point or two that had been given. And when all study and reason fails me, I can always go to the Lord in prayer for help over a given question, as we all can.

For that matter, I can either accept, reject or put on hold anything that I hear, read or observe.

 

[SkyWriting]

Yes and why shouldn't I be able to? The same goes for any teaching that I might sit under as well, there will be times that I will either quickly accept or reject what I hear and there will be those times that I might have to go home and spend a bit of time studying up on a point or two that had been given. And when all study and reason fails me, I can always go to the Lord in prayer for help over a given question, as we all can.

For that matter, I can either accept, reject or put on hold anything that I hear, read or observe.

According to your story, experienced people allowing prophesy
to be told over them is dangerous stuff. I reject any such stuff.
You should do what is right for you, always.

 

[Biblicist]

According to your story, experienced people allowing prophesy
to be told over them is dangerous stuff. I reject any such stuff.

As a lot of teaching that comes from various church platforms is also "dangerous stuff" does this mean that you also reject any teaching that comes across at church?

Edit: Do you also reject any counsel that comes from senior leaders of your church as this can also be "dangerous stuff" at times, where does it all stop.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

How would you define a divination attack? I've never heard the term before.

The scriptural definition of divination is when a person says they are speaking the word of God when in fact they are speaking just from their own thoughts. Horoscopes are a form of divination as are palm-reading and fortune telling. All these purport to be giving a supernatural word of guidance or about a person's future when the word comes just from the practitioner's own mind. Modern psychics are diviners in the same sense. This means that when a person gives a prophetic word over another person and it is not God speaking, then that is divination. Because there is power for blessing or cursing through the use of the tongue, a false word if accepted can open the unwary receiver to a satanic attack in their spirit or physical body. This can result in a medical condition, disease, disability, or besetting sin that the person cannot get victory over. Once the word is detected and rejected and the spirit behind it is bound, the person is set free from the consequences of it.

 

[Emli]

The scriptural definition of divination is when a person says they are speaking the word of God when in fact they are speaking just from their own thoughts. Horoscopes are a form of divination as are palm-reading and fortune telling. All these purport to be giving a supernatural word of guidance or about a person's future when the word comes just from the practitioner's own mind. Modern psychics are diviners in the same sense. This means that when a person gives a prophetic word over another person and it is not God speaking, then that is divination. Because there is power for blessing or cursing through the use of the tongue, a false word if accepted can open the unwary receiver to a satanic attack in their spirit or physical body. This can result in a medical condition, disease, disability, or besetting sin that the person cannot get victory over. Once the word is detected and rejected and the spirit behind it is bound, the person is set free from the consequences of it.

Thank you. This was enlightening. I knew about divination from an occult viewpoint (used to be tangled in all that), but I didn't know the exact Biblical definition. It's important to understand it from God's eyes, and not our own.
Do you know a lot about spiritual warfare?

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Thank you. This was enlightening. I knew about divination from an occult viewpoint (used to be tangled in all that), but I didn't know the exact Biblical definition. It's important to understand it from God's eyes, and not our own.
Do you know a lot about spiritual warfare?

I've done a lot of research on it and have come to a few conclusions.

 

[Emli]

I've done a lot of research on it and have come to a few conclusions.

Cool! I'm learning about it, because I have to. I'm always under attack, because of my past (very dark), but God is working hard to help me, and I need to put on my armor. Do you have any good resources you can recommend?

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Cool! I'm learning about it, because I have to. I'm always under attack, because of my past (very dark), but God is working hard to help me, and I need to put on my armor. Do you have any good resources you can recommend?

Yep. Neil Anderson The Bondage Breaker, and Discipleship Counselling; and Dr Ed Murphy, The Handbook of Spiritual Warfare. These are the best books I know to give a good foundation and sound teaching. I went to my favourite Christian second hand bookshop and bought up every book I could on spiritual warfare and learned heaps. Of course you get the good, bad and ugly, but it is good to have good balanced research, and then you can see what works and what doesn't. What I have learned is that we don't have to yell at the demons. It is like a preacher's sermon. In the margin in one section he wrote, "Shout for all you're worth, argument very weak!" If we have to yell at demons we show a lack of authority and confidence. Also, when demons fight us, it means that there is garbage in the person's life that has invited the demons in and in a sense because they were invited in, they think they have a right to be there. So Neil Anderson takes the person through a series of steps to get rid of the garbage, like unforgiveness, unconfessed sin, traumatic experiences, occult involvement, etc. When the person has gone through and renounced all the garbage, they have often experienced total and immediate freedom. Often after the garbage has been removed and the demon has nothing more to feed on, when told to get out, the demon has said, "Okay, there's nothing here for me any longer so I'd better go then." There is no screaming or yelling, no vomiting or spitting. Just a great sense of release from the bondage in the person.

When a demon manifests, I think it is Dr Murphy who tells the demon to be silent and get into the background while he counsels the person to get rid of the garbage. Once the garbage is removed, he tells the demon to come to the fore again and then tells it to go. It usually goes without any further bother. Often when you see demons screaming and yelling while people are trying to cast it out in public, it is the demon who likes the display and that is the reason it does it. Both Neil and Dr Murphy teach that it is best to conduct deliverance in a private counselling environment with just one or two assistants, rather than in the public area. There are some deliverance ministries who love to be seen and heard exercising their supposed power to cast out demons. I think that this is just smoke and mirrors conducted by those who are more concerned about advertising themselves than for a genuine love for the person in bondage. Demons love that sort of thing and they put on a great display. They can pretend to be cast out, and then because the garbage is still there in the person's life, they enter right back in after all the hype dies down.

I hope this is helpful. You can google Neil Anderson's Bondage Breaker and download it as a PDF file. It makes very informative reading.

 

[Waggles]

A group if self-appointed prophets came to him and gave him words consisting in that he would go to Cairo and speak to shekhs and leaders and do other mighty things and own two houses and be very wealthy.

I am flabbergasted at this OP.
Prophesy should not be conducted outside the decency and order of a proper disciplined Pentecostal
worship meeting.
The gift of prophesy is one of the three Spiritual voice gifts for use within the Church at meetings -
when ye all come together!
Read 1 Corinthians 14: to clarify the exact guidelines for the proper use of prophesy within a
Pentecostal church service.
diversities of tongues, followed by interpretation, followed by prophesy.

Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.
1 Corinthians 14:29

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I am flabbergasted at this OP.
Prophesy should not be conducted outside the decency and order of a proper disciplined Pentecostal
worship meeting.
The gift of prophesy is one of the three Spiritual voice gifts for use within the Church at meetings -
when ye all come together!
Read 1 Corinthians 14: to clarify the exact guidelines for the proper use of prophesy within a
Pentecostal church service.
diversities of tongues, followed by interpretation, followed by prophesy.

Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.
1 Corinthians 14:29

I agree. And it totally fits into Paul's teaching about prophecy in 1 Corinthians 14. I am sometimes involved in prophetic workshops where there is good, sound teaching in the use of prophecy. One requirement in our workshops when people are encouraged to use their gift is that every prophecy has to be recorded for accountability purposes. Usually a prophecy spoken out in a church services is forgotten by the singing of the next hymn. But when a prophecy is recorded, then it can be replayed later and evaluated. We have the prophecies of the Old and New Testaments because they were recorded in writing. If they had just been spoken, we wouldn't have been able to read them in our Bible.

An indication of falsehood in prophecy is that the person does not want their prophecy to be recorded and evaluated. They want their prophecies accepted at face value and are offended when the pastor says that the word should not be accepted until evaluated by the senior management of the church. If the word is deemed genuine, then it can be replayed to those who felt it was a word for them, and even a copy of it can be given for future reference. When a person requests a word, we don't just give one word to them. We get our team together and make a tape of up to ten prophecies for the person. We don't tell the team any details about the person thereby causing the team to wait on God until they know they have received a word from Him for the person. It is the combination of the multiple prophecies that can have a good impact on the person. Before the tape goes out to the person, the prophecies are evaluated by the senior members of the team, and then it is sent or given to the person. It is a pretty down to earth and practical approach to the prophetic, but I think it is the best and most reliable way to prevent any person receiving a false and damaging unevaluated prophecy.