Lessons from a Fake Prophecy
More than ten years ago, my husband Mark went to a conference at a church we love and have been deeply shaped by. At that conference, one evening involved a ministry time featuring a man who had become well known for giving accurate words of knowledge. (Words of knowledge are among the spiritual gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12. A word of knowledge is information about another person that you could not know except that God tells it to you. Think of Jesus telling the Samaritan woman she’d had five husbands.)
During the ministry time, this man would call out a name, and when the person stood up, he would share details about their lives and give them a prophetic word. Out of a crowd of nearly a thousand people, the man called our names. My husband stood up, and the man shared several details about our lives, including the number of kids we have, two different places we’d previously lived, Mark’s birthday (but one day off), and several other details. He then gave us a prophetic word about our lives and the church we were pastoring.
A friend recorded the word for us on her phone, so even though I wasn’t there in person, I was able to listen to it. At the time, being called out like that and receiving that word deeply encouraged us. We felt seen and loved by God. We’d been in a season of plowing, and it felt hard and slow. Some days we felt very discouraged and wondered if we were making the right choices. That word gave us fresh energy to persevere, and we held onto it fiercely. We did what we knew to steward that word in faith.
Several years later, we started to hear whispers that this minister had been data mining on social media to get his words of knowledge. I thought back to the word he’d given us, and I realized that all of the information he’d given us could be found on our social media. Some of it he would have had to dig for, but it was all there. Not only that, but Mark had posted beforehand about leaving to attend that event, so his profile would have been easy to find for anyone who searched the conference or church name.
We are not quick to believe rumors, so we didn’t want to jump to any definitive conclusions about that minister, but we did start asking some questions. We noticed that man wasn’t getting invited to speak at big conferences anymore. Considering that none of the prophetic words that man had given us had come true, we needed to acknowledge the word could have been a fake. We didn’t know for sure, but we wondered.
(Recently, the church that hosted that conference all those years ago released a letter explaining their suspicion that this speaker was data mining his words, which is why they had stopped platforming him and had urged him to repent and make meaningful change in his life.)
After the initial revelation about this speaker, I began to wrestle with some disillusionment about the charismatic world of events and conference speakers. This wasn’t the first time I’d seen the underbelly. I’d worked for quite a few conference speakers as a writer and editor—and many of them were all you would hope (kind, godly, loving, generous), while others were rude, dismissive, or worse (predatory). I’m not sure why this situation hit harder than some of the others, except that it shook me to realize that something I’d clung to so tenaciously as a message of hope from God had just been a lie.
This sent me on a journey of wrestling over these issues. I couldn’t change what had happened or the fact that predators and charlatans sometimes find the church an easy target, but I wanted to learn and grow. I also didn’t want to react to an extreme that caused me to reject the good with the bad. What was God’s heart for me in this? What could this fake prophecy teach me?
Some people make lots of money and garner a large following online through playing the extremes. Our culture seems to love polarization and outrage—but often the truth is nuanced and complex. In that spirit, here are my uninflammatory but hopefully helpful reflections on receiving a fake prophetic word:
1. Judge a person by their character, not their platform.
Most of us do not have the opportunity to see the true character of online personalities or conference speakers. We can learn a lot from them, but they cannot function as our spiritual leaders. They haven’t earned our trust because we don’t actually know them. Only people whose character we can observe are capable of discipling us. As Paul cautioned the Corinthians: “For you may have countless instructors in Christ, but you don’t have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (1 Cor. 4:15 CSB).
2. Get your primary growth and community within a local church.
Conferences are exciting, and conference speakers can be very dynamic. Mark and I have both experienced life-changing moments at conferences, but those experiences then need to be walked out within a community. We can receive from speakers and influencers, but we need to differentiate between a teacher we can learn from and a pastor or mentor or friend who will be involved in our lives and empower us to grow. Living life in community with people who can see our flaws and call us higher is sometimes hard and painful. Running to the next conference or watching reels of the latest influencer might feel more exciting, but it will not be as fruitful as the “iron sharpens iron” of real relationships.
3. Don’t need a prophetic word.
It’s easy to attend an event looking for a dramatic prophetic word or recognition by a spiritual leader. Prophetic ministry is beautiful and can be so impactful, but it should not be the primary way we hear from God. We do not need to run to the prophet to hear from God, as they did in the old covenant, because the Spirit of God now lives in us. We can hear God for ourselves. We can be blessed by a word, but we do not need it. Jesus is the only word we need. “My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).
4. Know that the most important thing God will ever say to you is: I love you.
Every revelation in our lives must flow from the revelation of God’s love for us. We are sometimes tempted to chase after what seems exciting—the next conference or famous speaker or Instagram influencer—but the most exciting and important truth we will ever hear is that we are beloved. This truth ground us and keeps us running to the Father above all others.
As I look back at the fake prophetic word we received, I am thankful that my primary experience of that word was feeling loved. God knew it was a fake, and perhaps if I’d been more discerning, I could have figured it out too. But regardless, in that moment, God made sure I knew his love for me. And even though the word was fake, his love is always true.
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