PROPHETIC INACCURACY AND CANADA REPORT
Ben Peters
Sep 30, 2009



www.kingdomsendingcenter.org and www.ohmint.org



Greetings Saints,

We had five wonderful meetings in Saskatchewan, ending on Sunday evening. The results were mostly out of this world and only eternity will reveal how important it was for us to be there. We believe there are some strong leaders of all ages who are willing to pay the price for revival in the region.

We are now in Calgary, Alberta and have many appointments with old friends as well as several meetings planned on the weekend. We are requesting much intercession on our behalf, especially for Brenda, as she has had such an intense schedule and emotional trauma in the past two months, including the death of her father and the empty nest with our boys gone to Redding.

Below, I am sharing another message on the prophetic which I believe may answer some questions. Many months ago I wrote an article called, Prophetic Confusion. In this article I'm pointing out some reasons for prophetic inaccuracy. I trust you will be blessed!

In God's great love,

Ben, Brenda, Family and Team



PROPHETIC INACCURACY

What do we do when prophetic words from people with a reputation for accuracy don’t come to pass? How do we resist the temptation to treat the prophetic with contempt or to even despise prophecy?

The prophetic movement is still not very mature, and like a child learning to walk, there are many missteps and accidents. At the same time, we have seen the wonderful results of true prophetic words, including salvation, healing and deliverance. We know of whole groups of people who have been spared by prophetic warning. Thousands of individuals have come alive to their destiny through personal prophetic words. We are commanded by Paul to desire earnestly to prophesy. It’s not an option, but we need to become wiser and minimize the casualties of “friendly fire”.

We recently sent out a newsletter with links to some prophetic warnings and our take on what we had heard from prophets with a good reputation and a strong anointing. We stated that the word on the first link was not confirmed, but what we had been told was that the prophet had predicted both the Oklahoma City bombing and the World Trade Center Towers in NYC. In the current word, he predicted another attack on 9-11 this year on the Citicorp building.

Nothing happened on 9-11, except that various people were arrested who had plans to blow up things in NYC. So how do we deal with this?

REASONS FOR PROPHETIC INACCURACY

1. JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS – FALSE ASSUMPTIONS

Sometimes prophets will receive a small piece of information from God and then reason logically to some conclusion. A prophetic friend heard from God back in 1998 that something significant was going to happen on September 11. He told some close friends and they watched the news that day and nothing happened. He had assumed that God meant the current year. He thought he must have heard God wrong. In 2001, he learned a valuable lesson about jumping to conlusions.

I Corinthians 13:9 tells us we know in part and prophesy in part. Verse 11 tells us that as children we think and behave like children, clearly indicating that we are just like children in the prophetic. We get a little information and get all excited about it, even though we know very little on a mature level.

When Brenda, my wife, was pregnant with our youngest son, Nathan, she was teaching a kindergarten class. Little Nicolas asked her how her baby ate. She simply said that he got some of the food that she ate. After recess, he came in and declared that he had it all figured out. If she ate a banana and the baby wanted some, it would reach out and grab a piece for himself. Clearly, he understood only as a child, not an adult. Even the most advanced prophets should identify with Paul, who acknowledged being child-like in his prophetic knowledge.

2. PEOPLE’S RESPONSE CHANGES GOD’S PLANS

There is no better example than the story of Jonah. He clearly stated, “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” He clearly could have been stoned according to one Scripture. However, he was not a false prophet, even though he was a reluctant one. God responded to repentance. We don’t know what happened in New York City on September 11. Possibly, the warnings stirred up enough prayer to expose the plans of the enemy.

The opposite situation can also be true. God may inform a prophet of His plans to bless and prosper a person or a nation. However, if they fail to pray or possess what God has promised, they may fail to receive the blessings He wants to bring. Such could have been the case in previous elections, etc.

3. PROPHETIC PRIDE LEADS TO ERROR AND HUMBLING

I have been observing that our natural tendency is to want to find one or two people who are always right and then put our confidence in their words. But God seems to think that we should always be seeking Him for His confirmation, no matter who said it. He likes to surprise us and use unknown people to do some of the greatest works. But if they or any prophet get lifted up and think they can do nothing wrong, they will fall. King Saul didn’t know that the Spirit of God had left him. Many Kingdom leaders fall into the same category at times.

ADDITIONAL CLARIFICATION ON PREVIOUS INFORMATION

We also informed people in our past newsletter that a number of prophets have predicted another economic crash soon. The stock market has been rising slightly since then. I heard another warning that it would hit a little over 10,000 before it crashed again.

These are not my personal predictions. I have received nothing myself. I am just reporting what I have heard, having been with some strong prophetic people recently.


SOLUTIONS TO PROPHETIC INACCURACY

1. Don’t focus on the prophet – focus on the information and ask God for confirmation. When we focus on the person, we will find flaws and possibly ignore a word from God, or we exalt the person and ignore a check from the Holy Spirit.

2. Pray that God would bring us into greater unity in all areas. When the body of Christ is so fragmented, it manifests in confusion and lack of power in all aspects of Kingdom ministry.

3. Obey Paul’s command to desire earnestly to prophesy. When we all do that with humble hearts, there will be plenty of confirmation when the word is true and the opposite when the word is not true.

We still have a lot to learn and we will still make mistakes, but God is doing a work in His body that will produce greater clarity and maturity if we don’t give up and throw out the baby with the proverbial bath water.

In His Service, for His Kingdom,

Ben R. Peters