Hogwarts School of the Holy Spirit
On Monday, the Elijah List sent out an advertisement for something called "Online Prophetic Activation Training," offered by the organization Warriors International. See the advertisement here."Prophetic Activation Training" is made up of courses that promise "proven results" in teaching people to prophesy. Think of the Hogwarts school in the Harry Potter films, but with a Holy Spirit twist.Warriors International, run by apostolic prophet Reeni Mederos, is one of a growing number of "Christian" organizations that teach hands-on exercises designed to stretch your spiritual muscles so you can learn to prophesy more accurately and with greater precision.If that all sounds rather New-Agey, that's because it is. The claim that you can "sharpen" your prophetic powers through classroom-type exercises is not supported by Scripture.Bogus LicensingIn the advertisement, Reeni Mederos is referred to as a "licensed" apostolic prophet. Licensed? Licensed by whom, I wonder? Is there some type of official body that grants licenses to apostles and prophets today?I can't imagine the Old Testament prophets, such as Isaiah or Jeremiah, carrying an official card granting them authority to prophesy. It's a sketchy claim to be a "licensed" apostolic prophet.But if you can't tell true prophets by whether they have licenses or not, how can you identify them? According to the Bible, true prophets will be known by at least three characteristics:
- True prophets' predictions will come to pass (Deuteronomy 18:21-22).
- True prophets' words will line up with the revelation already given in Scripture (Deuteronomy 13:1-5). In other words, they won't give prophecies that contradict or undermine the Bible.
- True prophets' lives will show the good fruit of righteousness (Matthew 7:15-20).
New Age and Occult PracticesIn addition to her bogus licensing, Reeni Mederos' "Prophetic Activitation Training" should raise another red flag. The concept of using exercises to develop prophetic powers has more in common with New Age philosophy and the occult than Christianity. If you don't believe me, just check out the New Age section of your local Barnes and Noble or other bookstore. Their shelves are lined with books that promise to help people develop their prophetic (or psychic) powers.Just because some people who promote these exercises claim to be Christian--or because some of their books have recently begun sneaking into Christian bookstores--does not mean that the exercises are truly Christian. This point is important.While miraculous gifts, such as prophesying, can be found in the Bible, the use of exercises to acquire and develop those gifts cannot. The idea that people can learn to heal or prophesy is questioned even by leaders within the Pentecostal and charismatic camps. As Vinson Synan, the premier historian of the Pentecostal-charismatic movement, has said, “The practice of learning to prophesy in a classroom setting seems to take a gift of the Spirit, which is given and controlled by the Holy Spirit, and place it in human hands apart from a worshiping community" (see the book Understanding the Fivefold Ministry, Charisma House, 2005).In defense of the practice of training people to prophesy, many apostles and prophets claim that their schools of supernatural ministry have biblical precedent in the “schools” of the prophets that existed in ancient Israel. Indeed, a number of their organizations call themselves “School of Prophets," including the one run by Reeni Mederos. This defense does not hold, however, since there is nothing in the Old Testament that suggests that Israel’s prophetic companies were schools that taught people how to develop supernatural gifts. Rather, these companies appear to be communities that were made up of people who were already prophets.So, think carefully before you fork over tuition for Hogwarts--er, I mean Reeni Mederos--School of the Prophets.