When I was twelve years old, my mother (who harbored a fantasy of being a missionary and also feared the destruction of America prophesied by David Wilkerson) finally convinced my father to sell our home in Montana and apply for jobs in other countries. A few months later, my father landed a job with the US military in Seoul, South Korea. My family announced our impending relocation at a home prayer meeting the next day.
Present at the prayer meeting was a man named Bob Guzman, who was believed to be an amazing prophet and had traveled all the way from Alabama to bless us. We were all excitedly awaiting the ministry time when we would really hear from God through the mouth of Brother Guzman.
We started off with worship choruses, which grew slower and more emotional, until Bob seemed to drift away in the Spirit. Then he began walking around, laying his hands on the heads of various people in the room and speaking the 'word of the Lord' over them.
I held my breath and closed my eyes as he approached me, begging God to give me a special message. I always felt that God kept skipping me during ministry time, and I thought maybe this time He would finally notice me. And then I felt a rough hand on my head, shaking me almost violently as words poured out over me. With my head being roughly rocked back and forth, I had difficulty concentrating on the message, but I caught the very end: " ... your feet will walk many lands. You will have compassion on the people and they will be drawn to you."
And then he let go of me and looked at me for a reaction. I felt that I was supposed to do something. Most people had begun to weep when Brother Guzman gave his prophecies and then blubbered to him how they knew it was really a message from God, and that only by hearing from God could he have known such things about them. But the truth was that I felt a little annoyed. Did he have to grab my head like that? I hadn't even heard most of the message. I just looked at him, hoping that the Spirit would overcome me so that I would be able to cry like I was supposed to. But nothing happened.
Bob, clearly irritated, gave a forced laugh. "I guess this one has the emotions of her Daddy," he said, gesturing toward my mother, who was having no trouble at all getting into the spirit of things herself and had already gone through half a box of Kleenex. His audience laughed, and the show moved on.
And what a show it was. Bob seemed to know all kinds of things about people. He prophesied over some that they had some kind of problem in their life that God wanted to help them with; he prophesied over others that they were earnestly seeking God. He even prayed for healing of the reproductive organs of a woman named Mary, whom I knew to be struggling with infertility problems.
There was something that nagged at me for many years about this, but, in true Pentecostal style, I pushed the doubts aside and refused to entertain them. After all, it was one of the few occasions in my life when God singled me out for a special blessing, and I wasn't eager to disprove it.
But, after leaving Pentecostalism, I finally admitted what had bothered me all along--none of these 'prophecies' really told anyone anything astounding. After all, we had already announced our plan to move to another country when Bob came up with the amazing insight that my 'feet would walk many lands'. And Bob knew all about Mary and her problems; I had overheard my mother telling him about it before the meeting started. (Moreover, with the advantage of hindsight, I knew that Bob's prayer that God would heal her had been completely ineffective. Mary had never conceived, and eventually, she and her husband adopted a baby boy). The rest could have applied to anyone. After all, doesn't everyone have some problem that they hope God will help them with? And why would anyone go to a home prayer meeting if they were not seeking God?
Bob had merely hit upon two secrets that psychics and mediums have known for thousands of years--people tend to think that their problems and personality traits are unique and they tend to assume that people gossip about them less that they really do. And so, when they hear something that sounds accurate, they are amazed, never asking whether this might be applicable to pretty much anyone or whether there is another way that this information may have been shared. Moreover (and this is the key factor) people WANT to believe that they can get special revelation. Getting a personal prophecy is like a postcard from Heaven--whether it is helpful or accurate or not, at least it shows that Somebody cares. And, after so many disappointed hopes brought on by Pentecostal teachings, Pentecostals have difficulty maintaining that conviction. They need some reassurance, and they will grasp at whatever they can.
'Prophets' like Bob Guzman exploit this weakness and build names for themselves (and sometimes even financial empires) on the desperation of people who need to hear that God loves them. Their prophecies are skillfully crafted to deceive and to manipulate. Let's examine some of the tactics:
Preying on the Weak
As a Pentecostal, I wondered why God seemed to so often pass over me during prophecy hour, while some people were blessed with personal words from the Lord at almost every prayer meeting, even by different 'prophets'. Eventually, I came to understand that Pentecostal prophets look for signs in a person's demeanor that suggest that the person is an easy target. People who are excessively emotional or obviously have many personal problems are the most easily swayed by the influence of a charismatic leader.
I was rarely chosen because I lacked the appropriate emotional personality that would exhibit readiness to receive. Even on the rare occasion that I was selected, the prophet would seem to realize that he had slipped up, as Bob Guzman did in observing that I had the emotions of my Daddy.
Prophets crave applause and affirmation. It gratifies their ego and it reinforces their image in the eyes of others. They are most likely to bestow their prophecies on those that are most likely to respond positively.
Encouraging a Faulty Memory
Prophets usually talk quickly, have music playing loudly in the background, and often shake their subject or at least grab their head or shoulders. These things all distract and make people unlikely to fully remember the prophecy. People then generally fill in the blanks themselves.
Even as a Pentecostal, I was amazed by how warped the prophecies often became upon the retelling. People filled in many details that were not present in the actual prophecy. "You have experienced great difficulties in your life" may be reinvented as "You have experienced the death of a loved one in the past year that was very difficult for you".
Flattery and Fantasy
The vast majority of prophecies are based upon things that people would like to believe about themselves. This was the tactic that Bob Guzman was employing when he told me that people would be drawn to me and my compassion. He was essentially telling me that I would be popular and that people would like me. Who doesn't want to believe that about themselves?
Other common prophecies:
- your sufferings are drawing to an end
- God has chosen you to be a great leader of a worldwide ministry (this one is particularly inspirational to idealistic young people)
- you are faithful in your service to God and He will greatly bless you
- you have special gifts and talents that can be greatly used in service to the Lord
- God is going to pour out His Spirit on you and give you the gift of healing
- others see Christ in you and are inspired by your example
- you are beautiful in God's eyes (This one works best on divorcees and single mothers)
- I see the beauty of Christ in you (This one is usually reserved for pretty teenage girls that the prophet is hoping to escort home for a 'special time of prayer'.)
The Status Quo
Another very common prophecy technique is to declare things that are so common to the human condition that they are virtually guaranteed to be true of anyone. People rarely realize how common their struggles are, and so they are amazed when something is accurate... even though the same prophecy could have been just as applicable to anyone else in the room.
Common examples of this:
- you sometimes have headaches (and God wants to heal you)
- you sometimes struggle in your walk with God
- you sometimes wonder whether God is listening to your prayers
- there is an area of temptation in your life that you cannot seem to fully subdue. You pray and repent, but you keep making the same mistake again (and God wants to deliver you)
- you have been through trials
- your teenage years were filled with turmoil and uncertainty
- you worry about the future and wonder what God would have you to do
Take That!
On rarer occasions, prophecies are actually used to attempt to correct known troublemakers. A 'prophecy' is supposed to be a message directly from God, and so it cannot be argued against. Abusive pastors, evangelists, and even friends and relatives can use prophecies to bulldoze opposition. If someone says, "I think ...", then their opinion may be ignored. If instead they say, "Thus saith the Lord ...", then no one can ignore them, and anyone who fails to obey will be declared to be in rebellion against God. Most of these prophecies are tailored to specific situations, telling the perceived troublemaker to stop arguing, become a 'servant', repent, get rid of their TV, stop wearing jewelry, or whatever the prophet wants the person to do.
The Dick Cheney Method
This method is predicated on the statistical probability that, if one blasts enough ammunition in enough directions, one is likely to hit something important eventually, even if it wasn't the intended target.
Pentecostal prophets fire suggestions into a large audiences and wait to see which ones find a target. In some cases, the person eventually declared to be the subject in the prophecy bears absolutely no resemblance to the original description.
"There is someone here who is experiencing a serious health problem," the prophet might say. "Something very serious, like cancer ..."
He pauses briefly, appearing to be listening to the Spirit, but really waiting for a reaction. "Or maybe a disease of the pancreas or liver ..."
He pauses again and then expands to a larger population. "God is telling me now that it is a friend or relative of someone here ..."
He will keep going in this manner until someone declares themselves to be the subject of the prophecy.
"My grandfather has Alzheimer's disease," someone finally ventures.
"Amen, Sister," the prophet says. "God wants to heal your grandfather today."
Miraculous? It's doubtful. And, in the Bible, we never see this type of guesswork prophecy. Can you even imagine Nathan standing before King David and saying, "The Lord is showing me that someone has done something sinful. Has anyone here stolen something recently? No? Told a lie? Worshiped an idol...?"
I Know What You Did Last Summer!
Pentecostal prophets are rarely as ignorant as they profess to be. Pentecostals are some of the world's most notorious gossips, and word of sinful behavior, health problems, or family quarrels spreads like wildfire. Prayer chains, established ostensibly to encourage people to pray with one another often function instead as the church's officially endorsed gossip line, into which people freely dispense any juicy tidbit of information, with the sanctimonious declaration that the church should 'pray for this person'.
Prophets are especially skilled at gleaning this information from congregations. Local prophets are usually privy to all the local gossip. Visiting prophets often stay in the homes of church members and encourage them to talk about the church and submit 'prayer requests' for other church members. People who declare that there is NO WAY that a prophet could have learned something are exhibiting an extremely naive view of human nature. People love to gossip. And, to Pentecostals, who are restricted from most entertainment of a more benign nature, it is practically a religious tradition.
Many, many times I have seen people prophesy things that I knew for a fact were gathered from previously circulated rumors. The person at the center of the prophecy, however, having been kept in the dark about the whispers of his fellow parishioners, was stunned by the revelation of his sin or health condition or whatever. In retrospect, it is even more disturbing that some poor souls strenuously objected to the truth of the allegations, but were usually condemned by group consensus even without evidence.
Many people, however, are so delighted to be noticed by God that they accept even false blame or the uncomfortable public revelation of their shortcomings. The desperation of Pentecostals is such that they will suffer abuse to obtain the smallest measure of assurance of God's love.
SOLA SCRIPTURA
Many Christians admit that the prophecies are not all genuine, and yet many wonder at the harm of it - if people are blessed and encouraged or challenged in regard to their sin, how can it hurt anything? But the Scripture does not take a benign view of such matters. In the Bible, false prophets are condemned. In Ezekiel 13, God declares, "My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations."
The people of God are also warned against heeding false prophets. In Matthew 7, Jesus instructed his disciples, "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves."
Quite simply, false prophets take advantage of the weak and lead people astray. False prophets set themselves up as idols, encouraging people to listen to their own words as the words of God. They turn people away from Scripture as the all-sufficient Word of God and teach them to grasp for illusions for their assurance of God's love.
Beyond being false and dangerous, it is also just so unnecessary. The Bible that even Pentecostals declare to be the Word of God contains all the assurance of love for His people that we could ever need. His love is manifest in the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ for our salvation. It is lauded in the Psalms and declared in the writings of the apostles. The revelation of God is complete, and the Scripture is sufficient for us.
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in his excellent Word!
What more can he say than to you he hath said,
You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?
(Article by Caroline Weerstra)
