Building a Powerful Church to Thrive During aTime of Crisis - Part 15
Is There Such a Thing as a Bad Word from God? Part 3I began working with a church nearly 10 years ago when it was in transition.The pastor who led the church into the transition eventually chose to leavethe church as he felt God was leading him elsewhere, and there was also amassive renovation of next level leaders, including the appointment of anew Senior Pastor who has done an excellent job in the last decade.However, not everyone in the church agreed with the changes being made,and one guy decided he was a prophet who had to speak against thedirection this church was going – which he did one day right in the middle
of the new pastor’s message. He walkeddown to the front and “prophesied”against the pastor and the message hewas in the process of delivering. He wascorrected and stopped, and later was toldthat if he had concerns, a public forumon Sunday morning was not the place todeal with them. He left the church and tothis day he can’t stand to have it spokenabout in his presence. I’m sure this guyfelt he was doing God a service but hehas gotten bitter and hard, and it is clear that his self-appointed prophetic
function was in fact an expression of personal opinion, fleshly interpretation of issues and really a reflection of aheart that was not processed correctly before the Lord.
When I heard about this incident I wasn’t totally surprised, since I hadworked with him and the leadership team he was a part of; the problem wasthat most of the guys on this leadership team were not deeply spiritual people and their placement on the team was inappropriate. During one of my visits a few years prior I gave a corporate word from the Lord to thechurch on Sunday morning, and that same evening I sat with the leadershipteam to discuss it. The Pastor / Senior Elder said a few words and thenasked for comments from the leadership team, and for the next 90 minuteswhat I observed shocked me. Various ones wanted to know why their pet
issues had not been addressed by God, others expressed disagreement withwhat was said or jumped ahead and began to debate how we wouldaccomplish what was said.
The discussion was not reasoned or filled with deliberate and thoughtfullyconsidered spiritual principles – it was riotous and carnal, filled with self-will and so verbally loud and disorganized that at one point the pastor had toraise his voice and say “everyone be quiet, I want to say something.” To myfurther shock the pastor told me afterwards “I’m really glad you were inthat meeting so you could see the quality of my leaders and the lively debate process that characterizes our team.” That secondary leadership team wasnamed the Leadership Assistance Council, and occasionally the new leaders
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and I joke that the team: a) was not made up of leaders b) provided noassistance and c) possessed no counsel (you have to laugh or else you will
hold your head and cry!). We also joke that the acronym “LAC” was anappropriate naming. We were able to transition that church throughexcellent response of the new leaders, some of whom had been on the LACteam – there has been much spiritual labor and the help of the Holy Spirit,and the church now stands as one of the core structures in our network.
This incident was just one more example of a wrong view of the prophetic;these experiences – and they are many – are an attempt by darkness tostain the prophetic and pollute people’s minds in order to get them to rejectthe true voice of God that does bring adjustment, correction andoccasionally rebuke. In addition to these bad experiences, there areassociated issues and philosophies held by many which serve as the basisfor a wrong belief that God could never speak a hard word to us: a) thedemand for blessing in the church and b) humanistic standards.
e Demand for Blessing
We must deal with another issue which twists the context of propheticoperations, and that is the demand for blessing that exists within the wider church. Back in the early 1980s we didn’t start out trying to build a “blessme club”, but over a period of time people came to expect that they couldget in a line to receive a good word from God. A big part of this was Godrestoring the prophetic to the church and personal prophecy was a predominant manifestation of that, but as I said it degenerated in many places to a carnal demand for blessing.
An extreme example, but true story, serves to illustrate this very well. Acolleague of mine was traveling into churches and he had a heart to comealongside pastors and help them build the people under their care. At onechurch he spoke with the pastor before the service and asked him if therewas anything he could teach that would strengthen the church at that particular time. The pastor refused to answer and just said “whatever youfeel led to do” and the visiting prophet pressed him for an answer so itwent back and forth several times. Finally the pastor became exasperatedand declared: “Listen, I don’t care what you teach tonight. In fact, I don’t care if you get up and read names out of the phonebook for 45 minutes. Aslong as when you finish, you prophesy over every one of my people.” Thatcontext made it very difficult for a prophet to function correctly within the
1 Kings 21:27 When Ahab heard these words,he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly. 28en the word of the
LORD came to Elijah theTishbite: 29 "Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he hashumbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the daysof his son." (NIV)
ISSUE 407 APRIL 13TH 2011
God can speak “hard words” to us, but the true word of God is always intended for our good and it points ustoward a redemptive processwhich brings us closer toHim. We have a right toreject the alleged prophetic words of those who are
unseasoned or warped dueto the distortion within their own heart, but we have noright to pick and choosefrom among what the Lord isactually saying and keep only what we evaluate as “good”.If Ahab the notoriously wicked king could receive a
hard word from God and repent to the point that it got God’s attention, then every believer today should learnfrom these examples and open their heart to the voiceof God – no matter what Hesays!
8/7/2019 [Building a Powerful Church to Thrive in a Time of Crisis] 15 – Is There Such a Thing as a Bad Word from God? Part 3
body of Christ, and the demand for blessing also manifests in a wrong viewthat God will only say positive things about a person, church, or nation; andthat any other prophetic utterance is wrong.
Humanistic Standards
The second factor which supports the false premise that God could never
speak a “hard word” to a believer is the imposing of a humanistic standardupon the church which wrongly connects love and acceptance to not beingoffensive because the most important thing is someone’s self-image. In thisframe of mind there is almost a desperation for people not to feel badlyabout themselves and to know they are loved and accepted based on humanaffection.
I was running some errands with Kathy the other day and we passed twochurches with sayings on the marquee. One said “It is important to benice”, and a few miles down the road another one declared “It is better to light a flame than to curse thedarkness.” Kathy and I drove along, talking about the philosophy behind the statements which clearly put a premium on being positive, socially acceptable and only saying “nice” things. In the last newsletter we dealt withGod cursing man and Elijah pronouncing death to Ahab, both of which were redemptive and filled with true love.
I guess neither God nor Elijah would be accepted into these churches, and I honestly wonder how churches likethis deal with parts of the Bible which are direct, straightforward and not “nice” by their definition. I guess they just ignore these parts and thereby twist the Word of God, presenting a false Christ that is similar to the twisted perception of God behind the man’s public rebuke of the pastor mentioned above. Darkness doesn’t really carehow God gets twisted up in people’s minds, as long as they don’t find their way to the true God who brings lifeand redemption. Too angry and condemnatory or too nice and politically correct – either one works for satanic purposes.
The reason people feel that a prophetic word must only say “good things” is because the body of Christ generallyis spiritually soft and non-governmental. This lack of correct spiritual government has produced realities whichare killing the Church across the earth, including:
a) When leaders engage in gross sin they are swiftly forgiven because after all, who are we to judge. Thereis usually no public rebuke and no true process of the person moving back to correct relationship with God.The primary act of restoration is to get them back in ministry, when what is really required is to secure their relationship with God. It is not their gift that is most important; it is their soul and their eternal destiny.
b) People are unwilling to change because “God loves me just the way I am.” There are countless peoplewho may be genuinely saved, but they are convinced that feeling loved is the most important thing.Therefore, the call to change is rejected as harsh and lacking acceptance. The problem with this is that theWord of God declares a changed person to be the primary indication of relationship with Christ (2 Cor 5:17, Mt 3:8, Jude 12), so this stance is unbiblical and it produces a very shallow church which lacksspiritual mass and which is completely unable to change the world around it because it is in largely thesame spiritual condition they are.
c) Sin is generally not dealt with because it is not a “positive message” and rebuking people turns other people off. It is a sad reality that within scores of churches people live in blatant sin that is never dealt withcorrectly by leaders. Many (most) things can be dealt with privately and a public rebuke is only needed inoccasional situations – but neither private or public measures are taken in numerous churches which simplyrefuse to confront those who impose their carnal lifestyles and thus rob the church of purity.
Example: How to Respond to a “Hard Word”
In 2007 a team of our prophets conducted personal ministry within a related church – these events are scheduledopportunities which have a follow-up process included so people know how to respond to the speaking of God.One man, a Secondary Leader in the church, had been saved about 7-8 years and radical changes had occurred inhis life since that time. He and his wife had spent the previous 20+ years as professionals, and a few years beforereceiving this prophecy they sold the successful business they had built up, left their well established careers andmoved geographically to be a part of this church.
Now, God was dealing with their internal development and the prophetic word hit strongly on that: “You built lifeto be safe. Your life was about being safe. And then God upset your nest, and He is making life for you unsafe. And that is God. Your life is meant to be unsafe. He said perilous times will come, unsafe times will come. And the solution is not to run away from the times - the solution is to find confidence in God. Your departure from your career and moving across the country is simply an outward sign of the radical transformation that is taking place
inside. A lot of the stuff that served you in the former incarnation is not going to serve you in the same way now.”
His response to this word was very good and can serve as a practical example of how to respond to what somemight call a “hard word”.
“When I heard the word unsafe, something crunched inside. I knew that meant insecurity, shakiness, some type of loss of what was previously built. I had a sense of dread. When I received this word I could identify with it veryquickly and I had a sense of the safety we had built. It was what the world told us we should do – get a degree,make money, (the more the better), save for the future, plan on retirement – it was considered the responsible thing to do. When God spoke these things to me I had a realization that I had not built the right foundation, and I knewmy world was going to be turned upside down.
Many things became “unsafe”: finances, job, demand in areas never touched before (leadership, marriage,
serving). Yet I see change inside of me, I see greater understanding of God and what He considers maturity.There is a component of liberation inside of all this. I look back and think about how worldly safe everything used to be. I also see how easily shaken it all was, and that I stand in a position of much greater strength and soliditybecause my confidence in Him has grown.
I had no idea the extent of this word, I just knew it was not going to beeasy. At the same time I heard the redeeming side, or the purpose behind these words….i.e. what God was after…“the solution will be finding confidence in God”. What I could not have imagined was the process that lay ahead. After 4 years, I have sight of what confidence in God looks likeand feels like. I am still in the midst of this word, but I see what it has doneand how a word has power to be long lasting; it does not depart until it hasaccomplished what it was purposed for.
The example of our brother – shared with his permission – and hisexcellent response to the word of the Lord reinforces the premise that thereis no such thing as a bad word from God. If it truly comes from the Lord itis filled with life, even if it is Jeremiah declaring captivity to Israel or Elijah prophesying death to Ahab. God is redemptive at His core and Hisspeaking is designed to bring people to a place of correct standing beforeHim. People have to be taught and led into a correct posture from which tohear God. It is a time of God speaking in the earth, and we MUST correctlyhear Him and respond appropriately!!
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