A Message from the Lord?
One of my colleagues received a message from the Lord via one of our former seminary students:
The Lord said concerning Dr. Lowery that he is constantly receiving the glory that belongs to Him and that is why He will increase his infirmity. That dust he will come, dust he will go. He needs to repent. . . . I reluctantly did not want to deliver this message because I know that you and your colleagues might not receive this message, but I am doing this now because . . . as I go on my knees to pray, these words of the Lord are still heavy upon my heart. The Lord constantly asked me to deliver this message to you and this is why I am doing it right now to be free of any guilt. . . . If you and your colleagues have any questions regarding this message, I advise you to direct it to God for I am just the messenger and I do not have any answer.
In the last several months I have received many messages, but never one directly from the Lord via a self-styled prophet. I have received words of encouragement, challenges to examine my walk with the Lord, written prayers, and even counsel concerning remedies for the cancer.
Is this truly a message from the Lord? When I had the word passed on to me, I recalled I Thessalonians 5:19 where Paul writes: “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.” The context clearly indicates that we must discern any prophetic messages and accept the good and reject the evil.”
I have concluded that the message is an evil word from a false prophet.
First, note in the first paragraph how he does not deliver the message to me but rather chose to deliver it to a colleague. This prophet is a cruel coward.
Second, note in the same paragraph where he does not want to be held accountable for what he has delivered: if we have any questions, we must turn to God. Such a “prophet” may not want to be held accountable by the Christian community, so I shall leave it up to God to hold him accountable.
Third, this “prophet” did cause me to reflect on what I have been saying these last few months and how I have been acting. He has challenged my motives and has concluded that I am receiving glory rather than God. Frankly, I paused and reflected on this. Visitors to this site and those who have talked with me know that my fervent prayer from the very beginning has not been for healing but rather that first and foremost that God be glorified. With regard to repentance, there is not a day that passes that I do not confess and repent.
Finally, I recall a story told by the Scottish professor, William Barclay. His daughter died in a boating accident and a person wrote to Barclay telling him that God had taken his daughter because of Barclay’s liberalism. I will echo Barclay’s response to this person in responding to this false prophet: Your God is my Devil.
A word from the Lord? I think not.
Related posts:
Be encouraged my brother, the devil deems you a threat. I continue to pray for healing and know it will come, in this life or the next. You have touched me deeply with your love and knowlege of our Lord, and I look forward to seeing you again.
admiring your perseverance
Mike
Epic. I love Barclay’s response and your’s as well. I had a discussion with a good friend this morning about how imperfect our love for God is…I think the same can be said of our ability to glorify him. Certainly we have all done a terrible job at glorifying God perfectly, but the humility of your pursuit in light of your circumstances is striking. From where I sit (several thousand miles away), God is being glorified through your weakness. Thank you for being such a blessing to the community of faith. We need your weakness so that we can see the glory of God in you.
It’s so easy to blame someone for something when they go through all sorts of sufferings, which actually test their faith! How often we are Job’s ‘comforters’ who are so ignorant of what’s going on in the spiritual world. In Job 6:14 Job says to his ‘friends’: “A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.” Bob, similarly to Job, hasn’t forsaken the fear of the Almighty, and yet got the reproach of those who are superficial in their walk with God and therefore, have a lack of maturity to access the situation. The only thing Bob could do for them is to pray that God may forgive them and “in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim 2:25). Be encourage dear brother in the Lord!