January 25, 2006
For the past few months I have been receiving an abundance of correspondence, concerning the recent natural disasters that have been plaguing not only the United States, but much of the world.
Those that saw our web article concerning coming natural events some sixteen months ago, entitled 'Nature' congratulated us on being one of the few ministries that foresaw these events accurately, while others that had not seen it asked why it was that we've said nothing about what happened.
Even among those that read the article long before Katrina struck New Orleans with it's devastating force, there were those who were unhappy because we didn't publicize the fact that we had 'been right', one letter went so far as saying: 'no wonder nobody knows about you guys, every time something you say comes to pass, you never take credit for it.'
Well, the simple truth is that anything God gives to our ministry as a forewarning, a prophetic word of future events, we cannot take credit for, because it was not ours to begin with.
Attempting to take credit for something on the prophetic landscape, is a feeble mind's futile attempt to prove one's own relevance. I can no more take credit for a word given, for an event foretold, than I could for the sun rising every morning.
Prophecy has it's origins in God, it is divinely inspired, and when God chooses a vessel, it is not for the vessel's glory, or net worth, it is not so the vessel is lauded among his peers, or perceived to be spiritually gifted. He is simply one of the brethren, who now has a greater responsibility toward God, one of whom God requires more sacrifice, and obedience.
The sad truth, is that self appointed, and self anointed prophets today, have made a business out of prophecy, and in their own lust for glory and power, lift themselves up, revel in their own pride, and consider themselves above reproach even when time after time their 'words of knowledge' fail miserably, because they did not originate from God, but from their own gut.
A prophetic ministry, dear friends, is not supposed to compete with the local news for the breaking story, but by the unction of God, foretell future events before they are probable, plausible or possible.
We live in an age where educated guesses, are labeled as prophecy, and the men who make them are lauded as prophets. We have become so used to this, it is so prevalent, that when God does give a true word of knowledge, when a true event is foretold by the power of God, and it does not happen within a week, men quickly start to roll their eyes, and whisper among themselves, 'I guess he missed that one.'
A perfect example of what I am trying to say happened to us not long ago. During the first Iraq war, a word was given that America would once more be at war with Iraq. A few months passed after the first war ended, and we already started receiving letters, asking us to retract what we had said, and apologize because it had not come to pass.
Many years later, did the word come to pass, and war was once more reignited just as God had foretold.
We have been conditioned in this nation with the expectation of instant gratification. We want it now, rather than later, and the cunning wolves that roam freely among the children of God are more than happy to accommodate. They pander to our ever growing need to know more than the next man, and are shameless in coming up with suitable theories for the current situations.
They compromise the truth at the drop of a coin in the offering plate, for their primary concern is not to forewarn, admonish, correct and chasten as God leads, but rather to appease, placate, and lull back to sleep those who would stir from their slumber seeing the ever growing need for greater closeness to God.
False prophets are popular, and have always been, because they tell the people what the people want to hear, rather than what they need to hear, and anyone starting out in a prophetic ministry quickly realizes that the road to financial success is paved with the suppression of truth.
Tell a nation that judgment is at its doorstep, and the best you can hope for is to be mocked and ridiculed. Tell a nation that for some as yet unexplained reason God will continue to overlook its evil and rejection of Him, and it will continue to prosper, and you will be loved and adored, called prophet and embraced by all.
You see, true prophetic ministries, and there are still a few out there, are not the shameless peacocks prancing on your television screen, telling you the war will be over in a week and no American soldier will die, if you send the best possible offering you can. True prophetic ministries don't own private jets, and homes on golf courses, they don't 'take time to reflect, and get closer to their spiritual center' in two thousand dollar a night hotel resorts on some exotic island, and they don't scheme the day away trying to extract as much as they possibly can for their prophetic services.
True prophetic ministries are unpopular, they are uncompromising they strive to do the work of God, even to their own discomfort and personal sacrifice. True prophetic ministries are unconcerned with men's opinions about them, they often times speak the words given them, hoping in their hearts they do not come to pass, they are mocked, rejected and misunderstood, yet they do the work nonetheless, for it is their calling, their duty, and their reasonable service to God.
There is much more I could write on this topic, but I choose to refrain lest my emotions get the better of me. For I have seen good men belittled, and hypocrites praised, I have seen true prophets scorned, and false prophets lauded, I have seen the children of God embrace lies and reject truth. I have seen too much and my heart weeps.
May God give us wisdom, and a love for His truth!
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.