False prophecies aren't harmless entertainment, but they obfuscate our vision, so that we no more see what God is doing in our generation.
After many years, I have come to the conclusion that we accept false prophecies primarily as they give us justification for our indifference to the needs of our neighbour.
In this post, I look briefly at prophecies about Trump, the islamisation of Europe and demonisation of the EU as part of the Brexit campaign with some help of the prophet Jeremiah and his ministry.
In recent months we have seen many prophets reduced to Trump apologists in a sometimes tragicomic effort to defend their prophetic position and authority. This has led to endless spin doctoring, as events happening in the real world are either denied or reframed beyond any scope of rational reinterpretation. And if nothing else works, these prophets will always attack the liberals, claiming that things would be much worse if they were in power.
For example, Chuck Pierce, explaining the internal chaos in the White House and investigation into relationship with Russia, prophesied recently that there would be ten months of internal war in the White House, followed by three years of great success and progress, because Trump has the "breaker anointing". It seems that the prophetic movement will keep on redefining biblical concepts and theology based on whatever Trump will be doing.
After many years, I have come to the conclusion that we accept false prophecies primarily as they give us justification for our indifference to the needs of our neighbour.
In this post, I look briefly at prophecies about Trump, the islamisation of Europe and demonisation of the EU as part of the Brexit campaign with some help of the prophet Jeremiah and his ministry.
In recent months we have seen many prophets reduced to Trump apologists in a sometimes tragicomic effort to defend their prophetic position and authority. This has led to endless spin doctoring, as events happening in the real world are either denied or reframed beyond any scope of rational reinterpretation. And if nothing else works, these prophets will always attack the liberals, claiming that things would be much worse if they were in power.
For example, Chuck Pierce, explaining the internal chaos in the White House and investigation into relationship with Russia, prophesied recently that there would be ten months of internal war in the White House, followed by three years of great success and progress, because Trump has the "breaker anointing". It seems that the prophetic movement will keep on redefining biblical concepts and theology based on whatever Trump will be doing.
Now, I am not concerned of Trump. I am sure America will survive his presidency, much as it has survived any other presidency. I am not much concerned of the political spin doctors either. They are only doing the job they have been paid to do. I am concerned of the prophetic movement. We are supposed to speak on God's behalf—not to apologise for a man who doesn't even claim to be a Christian. What happened to us?
The answer is rather simple, but it is the one that most of us want to avoid thinking about. Perhaps these prophets aren't speaking on behalf of God at all. Perhaps all they are doing is repeating the rumination of their own mind and confusing it with the word of God.
It seems that contemporary prophecy is largely a call to inaction. It might resemble a call to action, but it is a call to inaction when it comes to its real target group, as it never challenges the lifestyle of prosperity-obsessed Christians. The contemporary prophecy is there largely to justify our love for the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It might come with Christian-looking wrappings, but that's all it is.
Tragically, the function of much of contemporary prophecy appears to be protecting us from the Word of God, so that we can keep our self-centred lifestyle!
And let me tell you something: God is not automatically pleased just because we call our gatherings prophetic.
Amos 5:21-24 says, “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
According to Amos, if our meetings don’t lead to an increase of justice in the world, they are detestable to God. I find that shocking too, but that is the Word of God.
I fear that the endless stream of prophecies that we are bombarded with today is designed to keep us from reading the Bible. Today’s Charismatic Church seems to require a new prophetic word every day! The sad truth is that many in the Charismatic Church have become addicted to the thrill of receiving a new prophecy, but by and large, we are unwilling to obey the clear word of the Bible. That’s why we need a steady stream of prophecy, so that we won’t have time to take the clear word of God seriously.
Paul prophesies in 2 Timothy 4:3, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”
2 Timothy 4:3 is where we are—right now. We have discovered that false prophecy is far more pleasant to us than following Jesus.
Charles H. Spurgeon said, “A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats."
Charles H. Spurgeon said, “A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats."
We want prophetic emotions but not a clear word from God, as it demands obedience as response. We prophesy a revolution that doesn’t need to change our lifestyle—a reformation that looks exactly like us. By and large, prophecy has become part of the Charismatic stage and media entertainment industry. We have become slaves to the media and entertainment principles of this world. (I look at this phenomenon from the perspective of spiritual gifts in my book Supernatural Love: Releasing the Compassion of Jesus Through the Gifts of the Spirit.)
Jeremiah 5:31 says, “The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power; and My people love to have it so”.
We keep on consuming the material from false prophets, as they keep on prophesying blessings to us. And we keep on consuming false prophecies of fear, as they justify our lifestyle of not loving our neighbour. We like the fact that the false prophets demonise our neighbours, as that justifies our indifference to their suffering.
There are many streams of false prophecy in Church today. Here I will be touching on three false prophecies which are currently causing inaction in the Body of Christ—in America and Europe. The first is based on false hope, the second one on a projected fear and the third one on wrong timing. In different ways, these three false prophecies are obstructing us from doing what God is challenging us to do in this generation.
False hope—Trump
The widespread acceptance of the Trump prophecies in the Charismatic Church reveals how the prosperity gospel has worked its way through our churches. There is no other explanation for this phenomenon. We do listen and obey to the voice of our master—but our master seems to be mammon!
If you believe in Trump prophecies, I challenge you to pick any book from the Bible and read it. No matter which book you will choose, it will contradict the Trump prophecies and show that he is a false hope for the Church. And no matter which book you will choose, it will contradict the kind of political gospel of indifference to the suffering of our neighbours that we are preaching today.
I have written extensively about the Trump prophecies in the past, and there is no need to cover this ground again. Below are some links to previous blog posts.
Do Trump prophecies mark the destruction of the prophetic movement?
Don't lose your prophetic calling for partisan politics
When a prophetic movement merges with a political party
Do Trump prophecies mark the destruction of the prophetic movement?
Don't lose your prophetic calling for partisan politics
When a prophetic movement merges with a political party
The Trump prophecies have exposed the Laodicean state of the prophetic and much of the Charismatic Church. In Revelation 3:18 Jesus asks the Laodicean church to “anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see”. It seems that much like the prophetic movement today, the Laodicean church boasted of their ability to see spiritually; yet Jesus said that they were spiritually blind.
Jeremiah 23:16-18 says,
This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They keep saying to those who despise me, ‘The Lord says: You will have peace.’ And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’ But which of them has stood in the council of the Lord to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word?
Trump is a false hope. But what made the Trump prophets particularly emboldened was that his election was a winning bet against all odds.
This is not dissimilar to what happened in the times of Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 27 the King of Judah is contemplating whether to rebel against the Babylonian rule. False prophets promise that Jerusalem would be delivered from the yoke of Babylon in two years. But Jeremiah says that this is a false hope.
Jeremiah 27:9-10 says,
"Therefore do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, 'You shall not serve the king of Babylon.' For they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land; and I will drive you out, and you will perish. But the nations that bring their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let them remain in their own land," says the Lord, "and they shall till it and dwell in it."
Initially, it seemed that the false prophets were winning and that rebellion against vassalage to Nebuchadnezzar might be the right option, as the ruler of Babylon had many problems.
Around that time, after a brief Syrian campaign in 596/595 BC, Nebuchadnezzar had to act in eastern Babylonia to repel a threatened invasion, probably from Elam (modern southwestern Iran). Tensions in Babylonia were revealed by a rebellion late in 595/594 BC involving elements of the army, but he was able to put this down decisively enough to undertake two further campaigns in Syria during 594 BC.
Initially, it must have looked as if Babylon was about to collapse. And the false prophets seemed right. But all they did was reacting to the news. And following the false prophets led to much greater destruction than was necessary.
So, because of Trump prophecies we are now defending not caring about the global environment, not caring about refugees and cutting the healthcare from the poorest of society. We defend nepotism, corruption and we forget that we have attacked the previous government over many of the issues we now choose to ignore. Then we demanded impeachment and resignation, now we look away and pretend that it is all a liberal conspiracy. All it reveals is our self-centredness and lack of integrity when it comes to politics. All this might be OK, if we were just political operators. But we are the Church.
Why are we doing it? All this is supported by widespread demonisation of the liberals, Muslims, illegal immigrants and so on. Let me suggest that we prefer it this way, because that gives us an excuse not to love the neighbour—the one who doesn't look like us.
But Jesus didn't say: "Love your neighbour as yourself—unless he is transgender, Muslim, liberal, gay or Mexican." Jesus never gave us the option to opt out from loving all our neighbours. To make this absolutely clear, He asked us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.
But these kinds of false prophecies give us an excuse not to love our neighbour that is different from us, as they tend to demonise the neighbours we don't like. But we are not supposed to fight against flesh and blood but against demonic principalities.
You might not approve someone's views on politics. Yet, Jesus commanded us to love them nevertheless. How can you love them if you always speak badly about them?
The Church needs to decide if we want to be Christians or a political party.
So, because of Trump prophecies we are now defending not caring about the global environment, not caring about refugees and cutting the healthcare from the poorest of society. We defend nepotism, corruption and we forget that we have attacked the previous government over many of the issues we now choose to ignore. Then we demanded impeachment and resignation, now we look away and pretend that it is all a liberal conspiracy. All it reveals is our self-centredness and lack of integrity when it comes to politics. All this might be OK, if we were just political operators. But we are the Church.
Why are we doing it? All this is supported by widespread demonisation of the liberals, Muslims, illegal immigrants and so on. Let me suggest that we prefer it this way, because that gives us an excuse not to love the neighbour—the one who doesn't look like us.
But Jesus didn't say: "Love your neighbour as yourself—unless he is transgender, Muslim, liberal, gay or Mexican." Jesus never gave us the option to opt out from loving all our neighbours. To make this absolutely clear, He asked us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.
But these kinds of false prophecies give us an excuse not to love our neighbour that is different from us, as they tend to demonise the neighbours we don't like. But we are not supposed to fight against flesh and blood but against demonic principalities.
You might not approve someone's views on politics. Yet, Jesus commanded us to love them nevertheless. How can you love them if you always speak badly about them?
The Church needs to decide if we want to be Christians or a political party.
Fear—islamisation of Europe
The false prophecy about the islamisation of Britain is largely based on reacting to the news. So many prophets have prophesied about the islamisation of Europe that I have lost count. But in reality, the much bigger danger facing Europe is the secularisation of our nations. And the terrorism that much of Europe has experienced, as terrible as it is, works against any islamisation process, as the Europeans and even many Muslims experience the violent side of Islam for the first time, which is leading to increasing hostility against Islam. I have always said that if nothing else will get the Brits and Germans to fight, try to take away their beer!
In a previous blog post I have written about the amazing things God is doing in the Middle East. If you want to know more please read 12 lessons from fulfilled vision.
But now our church is getting involved in Europe-wide work with Muslim refugees and huge numbers of them are coming to faith. We are helping to training converts from Islam to become pastors in Europe, so that they can plant churches. And the Arab churches in Europe are now planning for Europe-wide evangelistic campaigns!
But many Christians are actively speaking against the European nations accepting refugees, believing that it is some kind of Trojan horse scheme by Islamists to sneak in a huge number of Muslims.
I partially understand those fears. But I disagree with these prophets. It seems that they can only see what the devil is doing. They have lost their ability to see what God is doing.
I believe that God has a different perspective. Just because we have lost faith in His power, it doesn't mean that He would stop proceeding in His salvation plan. And He knows He has all the power!
It has been estimated that Germany has let in nearly 2 million refugees, although the official numbers are lower.
Now slow down and follow me in this line of thought:
But many Christians are actively speaking against the European nations accepting refugees, believing that it is some kind of Trojan horse scheme by Islamists to sneak in a huge number of Muslims.
I partially understand those fears. But I disagree with these prophets. It seems that they can only see what the devil is doing. They have lost their ability to see what God is doing.
I believe that God has a different perspective. Just because we have lost faith in His power, it doesn't mean that He would stop proceeding in His salvation plan. And He knows He has all the power!
It has been estimated that Germany has let in nearly 2 million refugees, although the official numbers are lower.
Now slow down and follow me in this line of thought:
Numbers 35:33 says about blood defiling the land: "So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it."
In the Old Testament world, it was an eye for an eye: only the blood of a murderer could cleanse the land.
Thankfully, 2 Chronicles 7:14 promises, "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
Let me ask a question: if God wanted to atone for the land where six million Jews were killed, how would he do it? Today.
Through repentance. And how could Germany express repentance? Through accepting a huge number of refugees.
Let me ask a question: if God wanted to atone for the land where six million Jews were killed, how would he do it? Today.
Through repentance. And how could Germany express repentance? Through accepting a huge number of refugees.
Right now, God is healing the land of Germany through cleansing the bloodshed of the Holocaust. He is removing the curse caused by the shedding of innocent blood in Europe. He is doing that through helping Germany to save lives of over a million refugees. He is making the land ready for revival and reformation.
I believe that through all the Islamic terror the devil is trying to harden our hearts, so that we would close them to the millions of Muslims that are ready to accept the gospel in Europe.
I believe that through all the Islamic terror the devil is trying to harden our hearts, so that we would close them to the millions of Muslims that are ready to accept the gospel in Europe.
In 2009, God gave me a prophetic word about a coming season of 30 years of reformation in Europe. And this leads me to a false prophecy that is false mainly because of wrong timing.
Wrong timing—the Beast
There is a false understanding in the Body of Christ about prophecies predicting an imminent apocalypse. It says that as the apocalypse is prophesied in the Bible, there is not much harm done if someone prophesies an apocalypse but the timing turns out to be off. But in fact, a wrong timing of a prophecy can be intensely harmful. Endless prophecies about the apocalypse often stop Christians from reaching out to their neighbour and loving them, and anyone disagreeing with them becomes the enemy.
Since I was a child, I have heard prophecies about the EU being the beast in the Book of Daniel and Revelation. In 1994, when Finland held a referendum regarding joining the EU, those prophecies were troubling me. At the time I had no deep biblical understanding about the issue, but when I prayed about it, I received an assurance that although Europe or parts of it will undoubtedly play a part in the End Time events and not necessarily in a positive way, the EU itself won’t be the institution that would be the beast.
In fact, looking at the history of Europe, it is far more likely that the EU is the cage that is restraining the beast, as it was created to pacify the European nations after two very destructive world wars.
This theory about the EU being the beast or somehow involved with the beast has been resurrected over and over again, and it has evolved and found new incarnations over the years. For example, David Hathaway claims that Europe will be raped by Islam. I have dealt with his poor understanding of history and biblical prophecy in Fact-checking 'The Rape of Europe'.
As I mentioned earlier, I received a prophecy about the coming reformation in Europe in 2009, and because of this prophecy I have always had a fairly optimistic outlook when it comes to near future.
When the EU referendum neared in Britain in 2016, I was reluctant to say anything about the issue prophetically. I had many reasons for that, not least as politically I am a Remainer, and I feared that it would colour my judgment, and I didn't want to speak prophetically about an issue Christians should simply vote about according to their political views and conscience.
But, I was intensely disturbed before the election, as many Christians framed the referendum as a separation of Christian Britain from the non-Christian continent. And they began to demonise the EU, even when they clearly knew very little about its workings and history. And they forgot that it was not just the Roman Empire but later on the Church that united Europe.
The Church was the first truly global organisation and I think it is fair to say that extreme forms of nationalism should be alien to the Christian worldview. A true Christian should be unable to obsess of the fate of their own nation exclusively, mainly as they know that all the people of the earth can potentially become their brothers and sisters.
And many Christians criticising the ungodly Europe simply forgot that Britain is one of the most atheist nations in Europe. And statistically, Christianity is doing better in the mainland Europe than in Britain.
But why do so many Brits and Americans think that Christianity is doing so poorly in Europe? I believe there are two main reasons. First, the Christianity in the mainland Europe often seems somewhat traditional, and many Charismatics despise traditional expressions of Christianity. In essence, they don't consider traditional Christianity to be true Christianity. Second, most Americans and Brits only speak English, so they find it difficult to follow what is actually going on in Europe. Whereas in Europe many Christians speak English, so they tend to know what is going on in the English-speaking churches. And because we all hear more about what is going on in the English-speaking churches, this creates an illusion that Christianity is somehow stronger in the English-speaking world.
Whereas Latin was the 'holy language' of the medieval church, English has become the 'holy language' of the Charismatic world church.
As I mentioned earlier, I received a prophecy about the coming reformation in Europe in 2009, and because of this prophecy I have always had a fairly optimistic outlook when it comes to near future.
When the EU referendum neared in Britain in 2016, I was reluctant to say anything about the issue prophetically. I had many reasons for that, not least as politically I am a Remainer, and I feared that it would colour my judgment, and I didn't want to speak prophetically about an issue Christians should simply vote about according to their political views and conscience.
But, I was intensely disturbed before the election, as many Christians framed the referendum as a separation of Christian Britain from the non-Christian continent. And they began to demonise the EU, even when they clearly knew very little about its workings and history. And they forgot that it was not just the Roman Empire but later on the Church that united Europe.
The Church was the first truly global organisation and I think it is fair to say that extreme forms of nationalism should be alien to the Christian worldview. A true Christian should be unable to obsess of the fate of their own nation exclusively, mainly as they know that all the people of the earth can potentially become their brothers and sisters.
And many Christians criticising the ungodly Europe simply forgot that Britain is one of the most atheist nations in Europe. And statistically, Christianity is doing better in the mainland Europe than in Britain.
But why do so many Brits and Americans think that Christianity is doing so poorly in Europe? I believe there are two main reasons. First, the Christianity in the mainland Europe often seems somewhat traditional, and many Charismatics despise traditional expressions of Christianity. In essence, they don't consider traditional Christianity to be true Christianity. Second, most Americans and Brits only speak English, so they find it difficult to follow what is actually going on in Europe. Whereas in Europe many Christians speak English, so they tend to know what is going on in the English-speaking churches. And because we all hear more about what is going on in the English-speaking churches, this creates an illusion that Christianity is somehow stronger in the English-speaking world.
Whereas Latin was the 'holy language' of the medieval church, English has become the 'holy language' of the Charismatic world church.
Anyway, about a week before the referendum in the UK, God finally gave me a reading from the Scripture, making it prophetically applicable to Britain.
Now the referendum is long past, so I think it is fine to release this word.
This leads me back to Jeremiah 27-29.
The word I got was that like Babylon, the EU has been appointed to be there for a time. Britain has chosen to take a different route but, unless we are careful and understand that the EU has been appointed to be there for a time, this will lead to weakening and impoverishing of our own nation.
Most Christians don't know that if there were a hard Brexit, Britain would need to renegotiate over 750 international agreements. They have not even begun to think about the practicalities of all of it. So, whatever happens, Britain must be able to have a constructive relationship with the mainland Europe.
Most Christians don't know that if there were a hard Brexit, Britain would need to renegotiate over 750 international agreements. They have not even begun to think about the practicalities of all of it. So, whatever happens, Britain must be able to have a constructive relationship with the mainland Europe.
I would have more to say about this, but I don't want to go any further.
In Jeremiah 29:10 the prophet says to the Jews,
"For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place."
The destruction of Babylon had been preordained by God, but it would take 70 years. Then its destruction would surely come. But in the meantime, Jeremiah advised the Jews to choose the path of non-resistance. God would surely deliver them from Babylon, and rather than rebelling in the name of independence, He wanted them to prosper.
Rather than fighting a rebellion against Babylon and being punished by it, Jeremiah asked the Jews to wait. In 70 years, someone else would bring that destruction, and the Jews would be able to return to Jerusalem free. In fact, they would rebuild the temple and the city with the provision they accumulated in Babylon.
If you read my prophecy about the reformation in Europe, you will find out that I do believe that there is an appointed time that will bring darkness to Europe. But that time is not yet. Now is the time to bring in a great harvest in Europe. With or without Brexit, now is the time to love Europe. So, no matter how firmly you believe in Brexit—yes, you can support it politically, that is not the issue—please don't close your eyes to what God is doing and will be doing in the mainland Europe, as you might end up missing out from a mighty blessing.
You can connect with Marko on Twitter @markojoensuu and on Facebook at facebook.com/marko.joensuu or by visiting markojoensuu.com.
Rather than fighting a rebellion against Babylon and being punished by it, Jeremiah asked the Jews to wait. In 70 years, someone else would bring that destruction, and the Jews would be able to return to Jerusalem free. In fact, they would rebuild the temple and the city with the provision they accumulated in Babylon.
If you read my prophecy about the reformation in Europe, you will find out that I do believe that there is an appointed time that will bring darkness to Europe. But that time is not yet. Now is the time to bring in a great harvest in Europe. With or without Brexit, now is the time to love Europe. So, no matter how firmly you believe in Brexit—yes, you can support it politically, that is not the issue—please don't close your eyes to what God is doing and will be doing in the mainland Europe, as you might end up missing out from a mighty blessing.
You can connect with Marko on Twitter @markojoensuu and on Facebook at facebook.com/marko.joensuu or by visiting markojoensuu.com.
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