What Mike Winger has been exposing about prophetic people using Facebook for data mining to conjure up prophecies is sickening. In essence, people like Gary Morgan of Australia found people who were coming to their conferences, looked at their Facebook profiles to get information, and then claimed to have a word from God for these people. It is absolutely disgraceful.
There’s a second part that is equally difficult to swallow. At these conferences and events, those who received the conjured up words would often fall to the ground in some sort of manifestation of the Spirit. I wish Mike would not have shown these, but he did. Yet it creates a sickening pit in the stomach to see these responses from fake prophetic words. How much is hyper-emotionalism?
I am glad these fake prophets are getting exposed. It is a vile offense against God.
I am saddened for the people it affected.
In the context of going through Corinthians about prophecy, we have to keep in mind two things.
1) Prophecy gifts are real.
2) Prophecy can be grotesquely distorted and abused.
Do we then throw out all prophecy? I don’t think Biblically we can do that. But like the Scriptures say, we should,
“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thess 5:19-22).
Spiritual abuse is sick. It exists. People do evil things in the name of God. It is devastating and painful.
But let us never not cling to God, who is the real thing.
We must forgive, and stay connected to the church, although sometimes it means changing church bodies.
Let’s not give up the race.