Fortune Cookie Prophecies

New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) leaders give many prophecies that are unfalsifiable. That is to say, their predictions of future events are generally so vaguely worded—and left open-ended as to the time of their fulfillment—that the predictions could never be shown to be false.

An example of a vaguely worded prediction is the following from the Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders' “Word for the Lord” for 2011:

Expect the unexpected in this coming year.

This prediction is so vague that it is rendered meaningless—much like the words of a fortune cookie. Anything unexpected that occurred in 2011 could be seen as its fulfillment. Such "fortune cookie prophecies" are common from NAR prophets.

An example of a prediction that is left open-ended as to the time of its fulfillment is the following—-also from the ACPE’s “Word of the Lord” for 2011:

Dreams and visions will increase, even among very young children.

But how could anyone ever know if dreams and visions had increased in 2011? They couldn’t. And even if it could somehow be shown that dreams and visions did not increase in 2011, it wouldn’t matter because the ACPE prefaced their 2011 predictions with the following disclaimer:

While we are calling this a prophecy for 2011, it is to be understood that the time frames for the fulfillment of prophecies cannot only be confined to a calendar year period, thus this constitutes more of a seasonal prophetic word.

So, if this prophecy doesn’t have to be fulfilled in 2011, then when does it have to be fulfilled? In 2012? In a decade? In a century? By calling their revelation a “Word of the Lord” for 2011, the ACPE is implying that the predictions will be fulfilled in 2011. Yet, by not specifying a time period, they have given themselves a convenient out.

In resorting to such tactics, the NAR prophets have put a large distance between themselves and the biblical prophets, who made detailed predictions and gave precise times for their fulfillment.

An example is the prediction made by an unnamed biblical prophet who foretold the rise of a king named Josiah (1 Kings 13:2). The prophet not only revealed the rise of this future king—including even the king's name—but he also predicted that King Josiah would sacrifice idolatrous priests on an altar and burn human bones on that altar. Though the fulfillment of the prophet's prediction took nearly 300 years, every detail of the prophecy was fulfilled to the letter (2 Kings 23:15-20).