I will test “Forty Prophecies for 2023 and Beyond”, by Chris Reed, published on Morningstar Ministries web site December 29, 2022. One reason I chose this word is the fact that I do not need to do the compiling myself. Usually, specific predictions are spread out across several messages and intertwined with non-predictive utterances. Another reason is the clearly defined time-frame. Even though the heading says “2023 and beyond”, the contents for almost every prediction makes the 2024 election the upper boundary for them to apply.
The TL;DR version is simple. Reed failed spectacularly. These are clearly not words from the Lord but emanate from his fleshly wishes.
I know that Reed has been disgraced. He has been caught faking prophetic revelations, using social media and other investigative methods to emulate “words of knowledge”. He has also been caught using the prophetic to manipulate women to have sex with him. However, the predictions are still online at Morningstar Ministries, and they provide valuable insight into how the prophetic work in these circles – or rather what a mess it has become!
I’m writing columns for the main Christian Swedish newspaper, Dagen. My latest one is a word of hopefully sobering warning. The subject is American so-called prophets. They have a following on our side of the Atlantic as well.
A warning has increasingly echoed within me this year: “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7b, NASB2020). This warning has grown stronger over the past year, particularly after hearing those who prophesied in support of Donald Trump. In 2016, a supposed prophecy claimed that Trump’s victory would spark a major revival. It would be one thing to suggest a political improvement, but a revival! How did they come to that conclusion?
These so-called prophets declare it a Christian duty to stand behind the prophets as if they were right, despite being wrong. They predicted Trump would win the 2020 election, that Biden would never become president, and, later, that he would soon be removed. It was proclaimed with certainty as the truth. According to the prophets, Trump was “unstoppable,” and neither spiritual resistance nor voter fraud would prevent him. Many of these so-called prophets elevated their desires to the status of the Lord’s word.
Among these prophetic figures, it has become a dogma that God chose Trump as the vehicle for every conceivable blessing. Voting against Trump was said to be opposition to God. Johnny Enlow, a Pentecostal pastor in California, called the acknowledgment of Biden’s presidency a “serious transgression,” foretelling that Christian leaders would lose their spiritual authority, and their names would be erased—a disturbing form of spiritual abuse.
The problem isn’t that this comes from the right. A similar exaltation of political leaders from the left or center would be equally serious. The gravity lies in proclaiming that God’s kingdom stands or falls with a single person. Messages are being presented that everything is at stake in the election, and Trump is de facto elevated to a messianic figure.
I have previously written about how God allows false prophets to emerge, leading their followers astray to test us. But God does not let them remain unpunished forever. “Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the LORD, “and reported them and led My people astray by their lies and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them nor command them, nor do they provide this people the slightest benefit,” declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:32), NASB2020)
A loss for Trump in the election could be an eye-opener for some of them. However, if Trump wins, they will likely become even more entrenched in their delusion. The punishment may be delayed—but risks becoming more severe. And how will they be judged? By their own words (Matthew 12:37). And “in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:2).
Lars Gunther is a pastor and Bible teacher based in Hestra, Sweden.
Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice is a multicultural, gender inclusive, and ecumenical organization that promotes peace, justice, and reconciliation work among Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians around the world. If you like what we do, please become a member!
A few nights ago I had a surprisingly vivid dream featuring Russian President Vladimir Putin. I recall it now as if it were an event that actually happened.
At first I was walking behind him and an American woman I knew, who seemed determined to keep me from him. Then I saw him look at me at a gathering in a hotel, as I refused to sing some well-known American songs in English with what looked like American fans.
Then suddenly I was seated beside him in the front seat of his limo. Gracie sat beside a woman in the back seat who was maybe his wife– though I’ve since learned he’s divorced, so I’m not sure who this was. She lay back against the seat, her bare forearms covered with elaborate, symmetric tattoos.
We start talking more personally, and he immediately directs someone to pull the curtains between the back seat and the rest of the limousine, so those further back couldn’t hear or see us. Heavy black curtains are drawn, allowing for total privacy.
I tell him I’ve been praying for him. He looks skeptical, and I say:
“Mr. Putin, I mean prayer as conversation with God.”
His driver mockingly asks: “conversation with God?!”
I then remember that as Russian Orthodox Christians he and his driver would understand prayer more as rote, liturgical prayers from a prayer book. So I explain:
“I’m not talking about praying liturgical prayers, say from the Orthodox liturgy or prayer books. These prayers are precious, valuable and powerful, and we can certainly benefit from praying them. But we can also pray to God directly, conversationally about what’s on our heart and mind.
I look at him and say: “President Putin, I’ve been talking with God, with Jesus, like we’re talking now, asking him to give you wisdom to know what to do, and courage to make the right decisions.”
He visibly warms up, and looks at me with genuine interest.
I had seen some special bottles of liqueur or skin tonic. I wondered if he might give me a gift. Just then he offered me a bottle and some other gifts. I thought I should ask him how we could stay in contact in the future. But then I woke up.
This dream took me completely by surprise. I hadn’t been thinking about Putin, though I have been keeping up on the news on a daily basis regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I also lead a weekly Bible study via Zoom with Russian recovery guys living near Krasnodar.
I read and hear Mr. Putin being regularly denounced as a brutal oligarch dictator, a war criminal, evil incarnate. He is often compared to Stalin or Hitler. He most certainly has blood on his hands.
However, in only demonizing Russia’s President we risk pushing him further into the darkness, from where even more destruction can be unleashed.
Throughout Scripture the prophets regularly communicated with heads of State, both in person and through letters and emissaries. These communications included intercession, as well as offers of specific counsel, warnings and outright denunciation too.
Jesus challenged the religious leaders of his day, embodying a way for saving that incorporated active love for and intercession on behalf of enemies.
“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Lk 6:27-28).
The Apostle Paul was often imprisoned by the authorities of the Roman Empire who had blood on their hands– who he faithfully told about Jesus. He writes in Romans 12:14 “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse,” followed by “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rm 12:21). Paul wrote Timothy words that are certainly important to head now.
“First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all people, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior” (1 Timothy 2:1-3).
Mr. Putin has recently threatened to use nuclear weapons, which would lead to destruction like the world has never known. Certainly now is the time to include him and his political and spiritual advisors, and our own national leaders in our prayers, “so that we (followers of Jesus in the Ukraine, Russian, Europe and around the world) may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity”– so we can focus our attention on advancing Jesus’ Kingdom.
In my dream I told Vladimir Putin that I pray for him. However in reality I have really only begun to actively pray for him since my dream. I invite you to join me in daily prayer for Mr. Putin, and for his advisors– including the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill. Let’s remember to pray too for the Ukrainian people, leaders and soldiers– and for Russian soldiers. May we engage in active peacemaking from out of a commitment to prayer as the Apostle Paul urges in Philippians 6:18.
“With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.”
Bob Ekblad is co-founder and co-director of Tierra Nueva in Burlington, Washington. Bob is ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He holds a ThD in Old Testament and is known internationally for his courses and workshops on reading the Bible.
Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice is a multicultural, gender inclusive, and ecumenical organization that promotes peace, justice, and reconciliation work among Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians around the world. If you like what we do, please become a member!
I’ve written before about the “mark of the beast”, but it seems that every few years, especially around election cycles or the advent of some new technology, some Christians see circumstances that they believe will lead to “the mark of the beast” from Revelation 13.
So here are some thoughts about “the mark” versus the gospel of Christ’s love. Because the common understanding of “the mark” is not compatible with the gospel. One will invariably overtake the other in the end.
Attempt at showing that the Mark of the Beast is energy drinks
1. The Dividing Issue
Firstly, the crux of “the apocalypse”, the central issue, the great “controversy”, is about Christ’s love.
It’s not about some overlooked ritual, the knowledge of a more correct doctrine, name, or command.
Instead it’s what sounds so simple, too simple, too elementary. It’s what the apostles proclaimed from the beginning, and what they wrote “we are nothing” if we do not have.
It’s not about the mere profession of the name of Jesus Christ, for he said that in the end many will call him “Lord, Lord” but will not do what he commanded them to do. (And we’ve seen that all too often throughout history, up to the present day.)
It’s not about proclaiming the doctrines of the gospel *unless* that gospel is backed up with living out grace in love for others. Of course many of Christ’s statements about himself offended religious leaders, and his miracles offended them, too. But what upset and offended them most was in all of those things he was giving grace and mercy, proclaiming God’s justification and love for the “sinners” that they felt above, for people they believed were undeserving.
His name is Eric Rossoni and I got to speak with him a couple of months ago. He actually used to support Donald Trump and was convinced in 2016 that God was using him. But when the Stormy Daniels scandal blew up and almost no Christian leader condemned the president for sleeping with a porn star and paying hush money to hide his sin, Eric realized that something was terribly wrong with the Christian Trump movement.
In 2020, he received a prophetic word that Trump would lose, something he also wrote about on Twitter (several hours before the election results were announced):
Eric seems to be the only American prophet who got the election prediction right, but he’s not the only one worldwide. Nigerian pastor and self-proclaimed apostle Johnson Suleman also prophesied that Trump would lose back in March 2020. However, he viewed it as a tragedy, while Eric Rossoni is thankful that Trump isn’t president anymore.
Eric is convinced that Trump has revealed the hearts of many Christians, and it’s not pretty. He hopes that Christians should abstain from strongly aligning with political parties and leaders even as we try to make the world a better place.
In order to remain politically and prophetically sharp, the church must avoid Trumpism at all costs.
Micael Grenholm is a Swedish pastor, author, and editor for PCPJ.
Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice is a multicultural, gender inclusive, and ecumenical organization that promotes peace, justice, and reconciliation work among Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians around the world. If you like what we do, please become a member!
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. – Matthew 7:15
Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. – 1 John 4:1
American Evangelicalism has been taken over by hypocrites. It is not new as this trend started several decades ago, but now we can see clearly the corruption before us. Conservative Christians, who claimed to be standing up for “traditional Christian/family values” supported a rich, womanizing con-man for president. People like John MacArthur, Wayne Grudem, and many leaders of American Evangelicalism made claims that Trump was the lesser of two evils since he was supportive of “traditional Christian/family values” despite being a flawed candidate. MacArthur in particular likes to take shots at LGBT people and said that he endorsed Trump in 2020 due to Trump’s social conservative views. However, Trump doesn’t seem to agree with MacArthur:
John MacArthur, like many of the leaders of American Evangelicalism, is a hypocrite and false prophet. Which I know this is strong language, but I am genuinely upset over the sad state of the Evangelical Church, and its hypocritical ways. How these people claim to follow Jesus but seem to ignore everything he said. How they are “pro-life” while against welfare services, pro-war, and anti-pandemic relief. Continue reading False Prophets and False Idols: The Sad State of American Evangelicalism→
It’s easy to laugh at all the insane conspiracy theories floating around right now, with people claiming that coronavirus vaccine will kill you, change your DNA or transform you into a satanist. But really, it’s nothing short of a catastrophic tragedy that millions of people seriously believe these kinds of things.
To combat this pandemic of misinformation, Christian leaders need to speak up. This is exactly what the superintendents of the Pentecostal churches in the Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden – decided to do last week. In a joint statement, they warned against conspiracy theories and YouTube prophets, telling their flock to listen to medical authorities and take the vaccine.
It seems that now there is a kind of lull in the momentum of the church at large in America. For decades she has poured her efforts into achieving political power. It culminated in being raised to the mountaintop during the last four years, after electing a leader who promised power to the church, if only she would support him.
And support him she did, in spite of his obvious greed, unrepentant immorality, dragon-like words, and his demonization of others (particularly his mocking of the weak and the ‘least of these’ such as the poor, foreigners, and oppressed minorities). At first many may have had a pang of conscience, but rationalized it as necessary to bow down in order to achieve the goals they sought through political power.
They may have rationalized that he could be influenced and changed. That she could hold him accountable. But instead he remained the same, and the church had to bow down repeatedly as he demanded more and more support (and praise). Having sold her soul once was not enough. She had to sell it again and again. And having done that so many times, she found that she had put all of her hope in him. She made herself afraid with conspiracies and countless fears of what would happen if her immoral champion were not re-elected.
She taught support for him from her pulpits. She prayed for his will to be done. Her prophets prophesied his victory. She sanctified his place and his causes, such as the imprisonment and breaking apart of refugee families. She allied with enemies of Christ’s ways such as white supremacists.
When he stirred up undeniable violence, and her prophecies failed (even as she tried so hard to have faith in them and make them come true), she had to pause.
After Trump lost the election, Johnson quickly jumped on the conspiracy theorist bandwaggon claiming that the election was “stolen” from Trump. In fact, he put his prophetic integrity on the line, along with all other “prophetic voices” who had claimed that Trump would be reelected:
Yeah, back in November Johnson argued that the only alternative to the #stopthesteal conspiracy theory was that numerous prophets were possessed by demons… something he clearly didn’t believe.
But after the 1/6 terror attack against the Capitol and the certification of Biden’s win by Congress, something happened with Johnson.
“When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD and the message does not come to pass or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.” – Deut. 18:22
No matter if you like it or not, Joe Biden won the US presidential election. This is very awkward for all the pastors and televangelists who claimed that God had told them that Trump would be reelected. Some of them even claimed that he would do so “by a landslide”.
This video includes false Trump prophecies by Pat Robertson, Paula White-Cain, Kris Vallotton, Mark Taylor, Kat Kerr, Marcus Rogers, Kevin Zadai, Greg Locke, Taribo West, Denise Goulet, Curt Landry, Jeremiah Johnson.
As of this writing, only Vallotton has apologized for his mistake – and even he took his apology down after many of his followers protested.
PCPJ 