It seems that in the quest to become more and more supernatural many have increasingly wandered away from the plumbline of solid Christian doctrine and responsible accurate interpretation of the Scriptures. The resultant weirdness flowing from key leaders in various places is leading many followers into what can only be called heresy.

Some prominent teachers in the renewal movement now espouse “open theism” which posits that God does not know the future, the end from the beginning. It then builds on that premise to diminish the revelation of the omniscience and absolute power of our God that Scripture so clearly articulates. Another teaching gaining ground among us is the idea that once we have come to Jesus we need never repent again because we are no longer sinners. What about Paul’s statement concerning sinners, for instance, among whom he identified himself in present tense as “foremost of all” (I Timothy 1:15)? I think some people need to do a thorough study of New Testament exhortations to repent.

The problem stretches from the heretical to the silly. I recently returned from a ministry trip to New Zealand where one prominent leader has been teaching that we can unleash our spirituality by taking monoatomic gold pills. Why? Because Adam was made of monoatomic gold! What!? Another teacher here in the U.S. teaches that God didn’t part the Red Sea; Moses did! Where is our discernment? Recently I’ve heard it taught that it would be OK to pierce the ear in the lobe, but not at the top because the top is the ear gate and you might hinder your ability to hear God. Where is there any real foundation for this in God’s Word?

I am aware of one Christian leader who has devised a method of Christian divination, claiming that in doing so he has redeemed something for Christian use that the enemy stole. What happened to the biblical injunction against engaging in that kind of activity and the penalties for doing it?

I’m just scratching the surface here with a few representative examples. Where is the justification for any of this when held up to the light of solid exegesis of God’s Word? And if you don’t know what exegesis is, take some time to look it up and learn to understand how to read the Bible accurately for what it actually says. It’s time for us to stop interpreting the Bible through the filter of our personal revelations and personal experiences and learn to interpret our personal revelations and personal experiences by the Bible.

Graham Cooke, Approaching The Heart Of Prophecy: A Journey Into Encouragement, Blessing And Prophetic Gifting (Winston-Salem, NC: Punch Press, 2006), 282 pages, ISBN 9780977080786.

Graham Cooke’s new book Approaching The Heart Of Prophecy: A Journey Into Encouragement, Blessing And Prophetic Gifting is volume one of what will be a six book set known as The Prophetic Equipping Series. This series is based on a major rewrite of his earlier book,Developing Your Prophetic Gifting, and will include new material as well. Future volumes in the series will be Prophetic Protocol, Prophetic Wisdom, The Prophetic Impact, Prophetic Partnerships and Prophecy And The Ways Of God. Volume two of the series, Prophetic Protocol, is scheduled to be released in either February or March of 2007.

Approaching The Heart Of Prophecy, like Cooke’s earlier work, Developing Your Prophetic Gifting, deals with practical aspects of the use of the prophetic gifts. While the book certainly contains theology, it is not mainly a theological work.

The book is divided into four modules. Module one is titled “The Exercise of Prophecy.” In this section, Cooke stresses the grace aspect of the prophetic gifts. He writes about the importance of having a proper view of the nature of God and having God’s heart when operating in prophetic gifts. He says that it is important that we see people as God sees them. Also in this module Cooke talks about his belief that prophecy comes to the prophetic person in three stages: a word of knowledge, a word of prophecy and a word of wisdom. In Cooke’s words, “A word of knowledge opens up the issue, a prophetic word speaks God’s heart into it, and a word of wisdom tells us how to respond to God.” Thus, his counsel to prophetic people is to speak the second thing revealed, not the first. Also in this module Cooke addressed some of the things in a prophetic person’s life that can taint their gift.

Module number two is titled “The Process of Prophecy.” In this section Cooke lists a number of things that are important for a prophetic person to pursue in order to be effective for God. He mentions the need for humility, rejoicing, meditation, waiting on God, the importance of speaking in tongues and the practice of unceasing prayer. In this section he also speaks a little more about the three phases of revelation that he introduced in the first module. This module also contains a list of the various ways in which God communicates prophetically. God can communicate through dreams, visions, words, Scripture or impressions.

Module number three is titled “The Purpose of Prophecy.” In this section Cooke discusses nine purposes of the prophetic gifts. The purposes are: to restore people’s dignity and self-respect, to edify, encourage and comfort the church, to bring correction and warning, to provide direction and enhance vision, to open up the teaching of the Word and confirm preaching, to release the church into new doctrine or practice (note: don’t get worried about this one), to provide insight into counseling situations, to provide evangelistic breakthroughs and to provide an agenda for prayer. In this module he also deals with four arguments that are used against prophetic gifting.