Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
I think I can speak for others here -- we are only uncomfortable with falsehood and hypocrisy.
I have found that most "prophets" can say most anything you want them to say, mainly quoting O.T. promises made to Israel. Recently the pastor (because the church needed money to pay their bills) fellowshipped with the congregation about sowing a special seed offering to the Lord. The pastor promised that we all would receive our blessing from the Lord within 90 days.
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Hi Ohio I understand where you're coming from. I'm ashamed of a lot of the Pentecostals and Charismatics out there that have given a bad name to the gifts of the Holy Spirit by working for money and doing shameful things like asking money for prophecy. They may be false prophets and false teachers who are probably demon possessed.
However this guy that prophesied over me is not a self proclaimed prophet. He's just a regular dude like you and me who probably has a full time job and is a regular member of the church. There were like ten people on the prophecy team that were there because they have proven prophetic gifting that they've developed. I talked to him after and asked how he was able to prophesy and he told me "I don't know, I just asked God and the words came to me". He came across as a pretty humble guy. Actually I saw him get ordered around a bit by the prophecy ministry leader and felt sorry for him.
There was one other sister who prophesied over me and she went into a bit more detail and described an area in my life that the Lord wanted to correct me in. I've never met her before, yet she was speaking to me about top issues I've been dealing with before the Lord. She also knew I was ministering to a lot of folks. If you saw me in real life you'd think I was just some punk based on my outward appearance, especially since it was a conference for new church members. Yet she had never met me or talked to me before but she knew I was and would be discipling a lot of folks.
Regardless, I experienced spiritual fruit from the first prophecy and felt so much joy love and peace.
1 Cor 14:24-25
But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all,
the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.
I also wanted to add that even though my church is pretty loaded because everyone tithes their 10%, the pastors on staff live by faith and do not take salary. Instead, the church sows a lot of the excess cash into missionaries and organizations that feed the poor and homeless. They are really paranoid when it comes to not letting money become a temptation. The concept that we can only either serve God or money is pretty ingrained in the leadership.
The leading pastor for example is quite well known and her books and CDs are widely consumed by Christians throughout the world. Yet she signed all the royalties over to the church.
One time I was sharing the gospel to a barber near my brother in laws house. The barber told me she was already a Christian and asked what church I went to. It turns out she was already listening to my pastor's ministry which helped her greatly. She had me set up our church's app on her iPad later so she could listen to more of her stuff haha.