Prophets: Recovering an Authentic Prophetic Voice

​Over the past two posts, I’ve been interacting with thoughts from the Latter Rain Movement of 1948, where God began to stir recognition of apostolic and prophetic ministry. This movement is often somewhat controversial. Many Evangelicals, and even some Classical Pentecostals, reject the idea of modern apostles and prophets. And yet, Ephesians has emphasized that God gave apostles and prophets for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry. If that’s true, and I believe it is, how do we make room for apostolic and prophetic ministry? 

Last post, I explored apostolic ministry and made a case for the modern-day apostle, a person who serves the church through relational and missional care. Today, I want to explore prophetic ministry, specifically through the lens of plurality, as it developed in the Latter Rain movement. 

PRophetic PResbytery: Ministering TOgether

One of the eyewitnesses to the Latter Rain Movement tells an interesting story regarding the role of a plural presbytery in their practice of prophetic ministry. 
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On February 12th, several people were called to have hands laid on them; however, the prophetic teacher was the only one of the presbytery present, all of the others were absent. This brother with the prophetic ministry prayed and prophesied over them alone. Yet, he didn't have the liberty in the Spirit that normally accompanied his ministry. During the remainder of that day and the next day, Feb. 13th, there was very little moving of the Spirit among us and the Holy Spirit seemed to be grieved. No one was indicated to be prayed over. Those were two, very dry, difficult days, and very noticeable. We all wondered what the problem was and what happened. On the morning of Feb. 14th this brother that prayed and prophesied alone, confessed to his brethren in the presbytery and the whole class. He said that God had dealt with him, showing him that he made a mistake in his eagerness, because he prayed over these people alone, after God had clearly said that He wanted a presbytery to minister together. He asked for forgiveness from the Lord and the other members of the presbytery and class. Then the brethren called the same people back again. The Spirit of God moved mightily once again, gifts of the Spirit, ministries and callings were prophesied to them and imparted by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery, with the gifts beginning to operate that same day.[1]

​I find it interesting that this brother hindered the flow of the Spirit of God moving in their midst by prophesying without the gathering of the elders. Their general practice was to prophesy in the presence of a gathering of elders who could judge the word given as to its accuracy. So often, in today’s charismatic church, words of prophecy are given to individuals one-on-one, often without others around to weigh the word. When you look at the state of prophetic ministry today, with so many being exposed for false prophetic words, I wonder if prophetic presbytery is something we should explore? Lest we build an idea based only on this one example, are there others that practice this? There are!
As I’ve looked into some of this, I’ve found that this can be found in certain charismatic circles today. Elim Bible College in Elmira, New York, holds a prophetic presbytery each year for its seniors, where they receive prophetic ministry. Leah Waters explains how many receive words during these special times of ministry before two or three prophetic voices are invited in for ministry.[2] I recently found videos where Gateway Church of Texas holds a prophetic presbytery where they minister prophetically to their church.[3]

Scriptural PRecedent

You may be saying, “Okay, Jake. I get that they did it in the Latter Rain Revival and that Gateway and Elim do it today, but is it biblical?” I was looking at the Biblical record in the New Testament where prophets are mentioned, and I recognized that often prophets are spoken of in the plural. Let’s look at this:

Acts 11:27 (ESV)
27 Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
 
Acts 13:1 (ESV)
1 Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
 
Acts 15:32 (ESV)
32 And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words.
 
Acts 21:8–9 (ESV)
8 On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. 9 He had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied.

1 Corinthians 12:28 (ESV)
28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.
 
1 Corinthians 14:29–32 (ESV)
29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. 30 If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, 32 and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.
 
Ephesians 4:11 (ESV)
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
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Prophecy in the Presence of Other Prophets

Here’s what I find interesting: three times we have instances of people practicing prophetic ministry in the book of Acts. And each time, when a prophet speaks, it's in the presence of other prophets. 

In Acts 11, Agabus travels to Antioch and prophesies a famine. He did so, however, as a member of a company of prophets that came down with him (Acts 11:27-28). Again, in Acts 21, Agabus prophesies over Paul, a word of personal prophecy (Acts 21:8-11). I find it interesting that Luke adds a specific note in that context that Philip, with whom they were staying, had four unmarried daughters who prophesied (Acts 21:9). Could it be that prophetic ministry was always done in the presence of other prophets who could weigh what is said? 

Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 14 notes that the prophetic words given by the prophets are to be subjected to and weighed by the other prophets in the church (1 Cor. 14:29, 32). Could it be that by establishing prophetic teams or organizing prophetic presbyteries, we could Biblically make room for the prophetic? 

Conclusion

In a world that has been marked by prophetic exposure recently, with some big-name prophets in the charismatic movement being outed as frauds. Some have received these words and made life-changing decisions that have ended. One, I believe, ended up in an abusive marriage. Others have moved across the world to be missionaries based on prophetic words that turned out to be fake. How can we in the church protect the body of Christ? How can we guard against such collateral damage resulting from prophetic ministry? Perhaps the plurality principle and the practice of presbytery could be one way that we could restore authentic prophetic ministry in the church today. 

[1]Ewald H. Wanagas, “The Revival & Outpouring of the Holy Spirit in 1948: Things I Have Seen and Heard,” The Sharon Star (September/October 2000): 5.
[3]Leah Wates, “Prophetic Presbytery, “ The Elim Hearld (Spring 2023): 13.
[4]https://gatewaypeople.com/presbytery-recordings