Written by Gavin Aleogho
Frank was a successful young man with a well-paid job coupled with some flourishing businesses that were run by his supportive wife. His life turned around when his Senior Pastor gave him a prophetic word that God was calling him to start a branch of their denomination in another town.
Eager to obey what seemed to be God’s call, he resigned from his high-paying job, shut down his business ventures, and moved his family into uncharted territory.
After four years of frustration without success or fulfilment, coupled with financial struggles and a sense of emptiness, in desperation, Frank was driven to seek the face of God in dry fasting and prayer.
It was during his personal retreat that it was revealed to him that he was not supposed to start or pastor a church in the first place. The unresolved question in Frank’s mind has been, “Was the prophetic word from his Senior Pastor from God or was it motivated by a self-motive to expand the empire of their denomination?”
If you’ve followed my series of articles on the subject of the prophetic, you will remember that I said that, basically, there are two other sources of prophetic words, besides God. These sources could either be soulish or devilish. In this episode, I will be focusing on how to discern soulish prophetic utterances.
Many people’s faith has been shipwrecked because they thought that their faith was resting on a prophetic word from God, unknown to them that the prophetic word they received was not from God but from the soul (desire) of the so-called prophet. That was the case of Frank.
Soulish prophetic words refer to prophetic declarations that originate from the human soul (emotions, intellect, or personal desires). Soulish prophetic words are prophetic words that are not inspired by the Spirit of God or backup by the anointing on the man of God.
A prophetic word can also be said to be soulish if the inspiration is only coming from the mind of the speaker. The mind of man cannot be trusted, especially when such a mind has not been subjected to the renewing that comes from the continuous yielding to the word of God and the dealings of the Holy Spirit.
It is dangerous to place your faith in a prophetic word that is not from God, irrespective of who is saying it, for it is not likely to come to pass. Besides, it will seem as if God has lied to you, whereas, your faith was only standing on sinking ground, not on the rock of God’s word.
Some months back, I met an old friend who was in her late thirties. From her words and disposition, she seems to be fed up with God and anything called Church. I remembered how committed she was when we were in the same Church, back then in School. Prior to meeting her, she was divorced after just 3 years of marriage. She was angry with God for deceiving her into marrying a “bad” and “irresponsible” man.
After several counselling sessions with her, I discovered that she never had a personal conviction before accepting the man’s proposal. She was only led into the marriage when her pastor’s wife gave her a supposed prophetic word that the guy was her husband. Unknown to her as at then, that the pastor and his wife were only trying to match make both of them into getting married.
This is the danger of running your life on a prophetic word which you didn’t verify if it’s from God or not. It was later discovered that the man was an imposter in the Church who was on a mission to get married to one of the daughters of Zion.
It is important to know that some people use psychology to give prophecies. While some soulish prophetic words are based on either, assumption, guess work, postulations, predictions, hypothesis, probabilities, logic, reasoning, possibilities, permutations, forecasting or a mere man’s desire.
It is also important to know that even a genuine servant of God with good intentions can sometimes fall into this error. I have fallen into this error in the past and afterward get rebuked by the Holy Spirit. Even though my intentions for speaking such so-called prophetic words were good, I was not led by the Holy Spirit to do that but by the flesh. Hence, I was rebuked for trying to lead God instead of the Holy Spirit taking the lead; giving me what to say per time. Sincerely speaking, I am still working on myself so as not to fall into this error.
This is why every sincere servant of God must always bring themselves under the lordship and leadership of the Holy Spirit. We must guide our heart and mind from every suggestion from the flesh and from the devil, putting every thought and impression to test before dishing it out to the Church. This is how I operate when it comes to the prophetic. If we don’t do such spiritual self-reflections, we will end up giving a soulish prophecy either with the goal of impressing people or giving false hope.
THE DANGER OF SOULISH PROPHECY
1. It gives a false impression about the speaker.
Making the congregant or hearer think highly of the supposed prophet just like the case of Simon the sorcerer.
“But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.”
Acts 8:9-11
2. It gives false hope to the hearer
Man’s words do not have the power for self-actualization. And God cannot be compelled to fulfil the mere wish of a man. God will only confirm His word. Hence, holding on to a soulish prophetic word is like building a house on the sand.
I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
Jeremiah 23:21
3. It leads to deception.
When people are made to believe that what they are hearing is from God, they are likely to make wrong decisions and take wrong steps in life. That was what Tobiah and Sanballat were trying to achieve against Nehemiah.
And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me.
Nehemiah 6:12
What a lot of people consider as prophetic words from God are not really from God; such are only prophetic words that are done in the name of the Lord, whose source is from the soul of a man. And because it is not from God, it lacks the potency to come to pass.
Every prophetic word that is released from God carries within itself the ability (power) to bring to pass what it talks about, despite every opposition. Especially when it is received into the right heart and when all conditions are met. Most times, for the fulfilment of genuine prophetic words, some condition needs to be met. Not until such conditions are met, there might be delay or abortion of the fulfilment of even genuine prophetic words.
A lot of people have been disappointed in the faith. Some even turn their backs on God because they never saw what was promised to them. On most of such occasions, if you take an inventory, you will discover that their faith was hinged on man’s word and not on God's word. For if it is God’s word, it will definitely come to pass.
Your faith can never stand the test of time when it is standing on man’s word. This is why you have to verify the authenticity of every prophetic word that you receive so that your faith will not be standing on man’s word but on God’s word.
On most occasions, such prophetic words whose origin is from the soul are sometimes good to the ears, exciting to the heart and give promises of a glorious future. They are often characterised by emotionalism, sensational and appealing to our feelings. But if you care to verify, you will discover that such words do not resonate with the Spirit of God in you.
One way to ascertain such prophetic words from men is to check your spirit. Do you have witness in your inner man?
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things…. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
1 John 2:20,27
Before you venture into that business, marriage, ministry or job ensure that you are not acting based on man’s word but on God’s word.
Be spiritually alert and sensitive.
© Gavin Aleogho
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