Two Sides of Prophetic Responsibility

I’ve really struggled for a few weeks with how to respond to much of the conversation that has gone forth over the numerous prophecies made by many well-respected prophets. Part of my struggle comes from a place, knowing that while I do consider myself to be a prophetic voice, I do not count myself to be someone who walks in the office of a prophet. So, in that, I find it hard to watch as many prophets have caved and apologized for prophesying something they sincerely believed God told them to speak.

Much of what we know of prophecy is based on patterns and precepts that we’ve taken from scripture. We look at scripture and look to the Holy Spirit to guide us, as we do in however else that we’re called to function. Our walk is one of faith, not sight. It’s one based on trust. There are times when we stumble. There are times when we walk with ease. Yet, no matter how easy walking becomes, we must always keep in mind that even in that, it takes God.

I’ve listened to many people criticize the prophets who have held fast to their prophetic word that President Trump would get a second term. Many became enraged as some even doubled down, stating that even though there has been an inauguration on January 20th of 2021, that President Trump will be back in office.

Each time I’ve listened to the critics, one particular criticism seems to go against the grain of all that I know about prophecy. The criticism? “These prophets need to apologize for their prophecy because it has caused people to lose hope, to lose faith.” This line of criticism absolves the hearer of their own responsibility to prophecy. In all my years that I’ve read about the prophets of both the Old and New Testament, at no point did I read anything that said the prophet was responsible for the hearer’s response to prophecy. The prophet's responsibility was to deliver the word, much in the same way that a mailman delivers mail.

When Jonah received a word from God to take to Nineveh, he initially resisted because he didn’t want the people to repent. His error led him on a detour that almost cost him his life until he repented. But people today want prophets to repent for obeying the leading of God to give a word. Their justification is that they are as responsible for the hearer as they are the word. I find no evidence of prophets being responsible for the hearer or the hearer’s response to the word.

If a prophet were responsible for the hearer’s response, how likely would a prophet be to give a word? How much more responsible would a prophet feel they are to ensure that the prophecy came to pass? That too is not the prophet’s responsibility.

Those who hear a prophetic word have a responsibility when they hear a prophecy. The first responsibility is to hear with spiritual ears. The second is to carefully consider the source: does it line up with the word, with God’s nature, track record, and heart? These are not the only responsibilities to hearing a prophetic word, but they are the ones that I want to focus attention on.

The first one is important because if we call ourselves Christians, children of God, and an ekklesia, then we have a duty to hear the word as the spiritual beings that we are; not merely carnal and fleshly motivated creatures. This also presents an opportunity for a self-check. Fleshly hearing will cause a person to pick up on what they desire, not what God desires. It will cause them to place hope in things, not in God.

The second responsibility brings us to God and who He is, His character, and acknowledges that as a basis for what is being presented. If what is being spoken does not line up with that, then the odds are that it is not of God.

The accusations of those who say that it is the fault of the prophets that led people to walk away from God want to absolve those who called themselves Christians of their own responsibility and cast blame because they have chosen to disregard a prophetic word, simply because it has not resulted in an outcome that has yet to unfold. It was hundreds of years after Isaiah prophesied the coming of Christ before Jesus was born. Did that make him a false prophet? When Samuel told Saul, that God had removed him as king, did that make him a false prophet because it didn’t literally happen that day (1 Samuel 15:28)? Was God’s a false prophet when He warned Adam and Eve that they would die on the day in which they eat of the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17)?

We need to be more discerning of how the prophetic works, as well as how God is moving through the prophetic and those He has called to the office of the prophetic. We also must be more gracious to those who prophesy. Prophets are not perfect people, even when led by the Spirit. Those who prophesy, see, and hear in part. They don’t receive the whole picture, so even when a prophecy is given, it is subject to the unfolding of time. There are many things that have been prophesied, even by those in scripture which have not turned out the way many believed they would. The birth of Jesus is our best example of this. How else can you explain the fact that even today, there are millions of Jews who do not acknowledge Jesus as being the one that they’ve been waiting for?

Ultimately, there are two sides to prophetic responsibility which have been ignored, and the attacks on those who prophesied about President Trump and a second term have been more detrimental to the Body than the fault of faithless people, or those faint of heart which have been laid at their feet. The season we are in is one that has been set to mature the Body and test the faith of God’s children to determine whether they a growing up enough for the next level of preparation. If the body of Christ is not ready for that level of faith, what is coming next will become a moment we begin to see who truly has the right stuff and who will be among those written in scripture as falling away (2 Thessalonians 2:3).