By Bishop Dave Chikosi
Prophets seem to be everywhere nowadays. Some of them seem to know what an Old Testament military officer once told King Aram about Elisha. The officer told the king that the prophet knows “even the very words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom!” (2 Kings 6:12).
Bishop Dave Chikosi
The sacred and the secular world are both at a loss and don’t quite know what to make of this new prophetic phenomenon. We know psychics and mediums. But we are not used to prophets, even in our churches. At least not in the form and function they have recently surfaced throughout the church world.
What the church has traditionally called a prophet is simply someone who speaks forth the message of the Gospel as recorded in the Bible. A glorified evangelist-teacher if you would.
But what we have seen of late in the church world is mind-boggling to many. Prophets have surfaced all over the globe who go beyond just preaching and announcing the Good News of the salvation of souls. Now they can even tell you your phone number, the name of your dog or what you had for dinner last night. Maybe even the every words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom!
Several questions immediately arise. Is all this really necessary? If I already know my phone number, why is the man telling me what I already know (this is usually asked with a sarcastic smirk)? How different is that from the good old fortune teller/n’ganga/sangoma next door?
I hope to tackle these and other related questions and objections in these series of articles.
A lot has been said and written by scholars and students regarding the prophetic phenomenon. But let me give some friendly advice before we get too deep into this: if you are not a Prophet or an Apostle then an accurate understanding of how this gift functions is something above your pay grade.
If you have never functioned in the grace gift of a prophet, you are very poorly equipped to profess any knowledge of how it works. You are like a man who has never ridden a rollercoaster trying to describe how it feels to ride one. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. You can argue all day long with someone who has the gift, but at the end of the theological day, a man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument.
Only apostles and prophets have inside knowledge on how this gift really functions. Prophets yes, but why apostle? Remember, the apostle is the thumb in the five-fingered hand of God (Eph 4:11). The other four fingers are prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher. The thumb is the only digit on your hand that can touch all four fingers.
The apostle is therefore the only one of the five gifts that can stand and operate in all five offices, as the Spirit wills. The apostle can function as a prophet, sometimes as an evangelist and other times as pastor or teacher, depending on the needs of the congregation for the moment. The Holy Spirit who knows the need empowers the apostle to function outside his main calling and become whatever it is that the congregation lacks for the moment.
So allow me, your humble servant, to address this controversial topic from the standpoint of one who functions, by the grace of God, in the office of an apostle and carries that mantle for the glory of God.
The Bible speaks, not just of prophets, but of “Prophets and Seers.” These are two streams of the same river of the Spirit. They work side by side everywhere you find them in scripture. The Old Testament uses two different Hebrew words: Nabi for Prophet and Ro’eh for Seer. The Seer sees; the Nabi Prophet does not. Which leads us to an important prophetic axiom: “All God’s seers are prophets but not all God’s prophets are seers.”
The main difference between a Nabi Prophet and a Ro’eh Seer is how each receives divine revelation. The Nabi Prophet tends to receive his messages in audio form. The Ro’eh Seer, on the other hand, receives his messages mostly in visual form.
The Seer will see pictures, lights, colors and words. His task is to tell what he sees, even though sometimes it sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo. And then he must also try to make sense of what he is seeing, which is also not always an easy thing to do.
This is the reason why Seers often seem mentally detached and sound incoherent at certain times behind the pulpit. Downloading information from one realm (spirit) to another (physical) is not as simple as it sounds. Some things often get lost in translation – usually on the part of the listener.
Take for instance one of the visions that apostle John saw in the Book of Revelation. John saw locusts that look like horses with golden crowns on their heads. Their faces looked like men’s faces. But they wore long hair and had lions’ teeth. Well, go figure!
Now you can understand how, for listeners and readers, some things often get lost in translation. The message itself is divine, but understand that both messenger and recipients are human. The contents themselves are perfect but contamination can occur with either the giving or receiving container or both.
Many times the Seer himself knows neither the reason nor the season for which a particular vision is given. The apostle Peter speaks to this and says:
Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow (1 Pet. 1:10-11).
On the other hand, the Nabi (non-seeing) Prophet has it a little easier when it comes to communicating divine revelation. God usually just dumps a whole message into his spirit, out of which the Nabi Prophet speaks. This was the case with Moses, Jeremiah and others.
Of Moses God says: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him” (Deut 18:18).
Again let me emphasize: the Ro’eh Seer and the Nabi Prophet are two streams of the same river. In scripture the two streams coexist and complement each other. In King David’s court, we see both Gad the Seer, and Nathan the Prophet, serving together (1 Chronicles 29:29). And during King Hezekiah’s reign we know that Asaph the Seer, and Isaiah the Prophet were contemporaries (2 Chronicles 29:30).
However, the Nabi Prophet’s assignment seems to be broader than that of the Ro’eh Seer. Prophets tend to address national issues and global events. In this sense we can call their ministry “macroscopic.” Seers, on the other hand, tend to go personal with their prophecies. They can be described as “microscopic.”
Microscopic prophecy, by its nature, does tend to get “all up in your business.” As you stand there listening to the prophet call out your name, address, phone number etc, you have to wonder how much of your personal dirty laundry is the man of God going to hang out in public? It can be quite a nerve-wrecking experience for a parishioner who knows he or she ain’t living right.
But of course, a real man of God will never embarrass you in public, no matter how black your sins are. Unfortunately some churches do that for self-righteousness reasons. We also know many media outlets that do it for a living. But that just isn’t Jesus’ style. Instead of causing further embarrassment to the woman caught in adultery, Jesus chose instead to embarrass the jokers who came armed to the teeth with stones, ready to, not only stone her to death, but bury her with the self-same stones.
How does Jesus handle the situation? “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.” As soon as He said this He stooped down and began to write on the ground. What was He writing? The names of some of the brothels that these same “stone brothers” had recently visited! My guess is as good as yours! But as soon as these prostitute-visiting brothers saw they had been outed, they left faster than anyone can say Jack Robinson.
You see, real men of God don’t glory in someone else’s shame or demise. And where a rebuke is needed for “a saint living like an ain’t” a true prophet of God will whisper that in your ear and tell you to get your act together without making you a spectacle for the whole world to mock and laugh at.
I think that today’s Christians are too eager to expose the wrongdoing of others. We are like Ham. We love to expose the nakedness of our fathers to our own detriment. All Ham had to do was simply throw a blanket over his drunk and naked father, walk out quietly and never tell anybody about it. Then no one else, including you dear reader, would have ever known of this whole sordid account in Genesis.
But “thanks” to Ham we have this mess on record in our Bibles. Not content with just being a Peeping Tom, Ham had to become a news reporter also. He ran out and gleefully told his two brothers how dad had passed out naked and full of booze. But beloved, love does not delight in exposing others. “Love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pet 4:8).
(To be continued)
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Utter rubbish he knows the name and telephone number of a person but does not know how to dig Zimbabwe out of the hole we are in or how to make us get a currency so we can be a country again? You think God is sitting in heaven sending telephone numbers and names to prophets instead of useful information like the cure for cancer or Aids? Maybe how to find water in deserts or make it rain in droughts or what roots and trees heal the sick? Criminal con men the whole lot of them and there is special place in hell for such vile creatures. None of them are prophets just crooks.
Your ignorance is on parade and you have the privilege of being the first to post utter rubbish under this very well articulated theological piece. You obviously dont read the Bible. When Jesus came was it to solve Jewish economic and political problems? Prophets dont come to do your bidding. They come with an assignment from heaven which may or may not have anything to do with economics or politics.
Your comment “None of them are prophets” is dumb since there are no names in this article. Did you not go to school? Are you incapable of doing a study of a subject (which is currently of much interest) without making reference to persons? If you didnt go to school its never too late to enroll you know
Garikayi might be right
That is nothing ignorant in what Garikai said.and how does going to school enter here.You seem to have a problem.You are too emotional on things even yourself you don’t understand,cool down.
The ignorance consists of his thinking that prophets are sent to solve national economic and political problem.
The problem with you fayafaya is,you only listen to what our dear leaned bishop says you must learn that there must be opposition to everything,Nyeke is only expressing his own opinion.even me when i look at the whole article i fail to understand what the Bishop is trying to teach us,like it or not we still have false prophets around us,and according to my opinion telling me my address and cellphone number is totally madness zvasiyana neyi ne mufemberi kana ng’anga? when i come to your church with a problem help me to fix it not to tell me nezve address yangu kana phone dzangu,iwe fayafaya usaite hasha control your anger.
Hapana hasha apa. I used the same words Nyeke used – “utter rubbish.” How come u dont object to Nyeke’s use of those same words?
There are similarities between the real (prophets) and the counterfeit (n’ganga). But the counterfeit should not make us throw away the real. If you read your Bible you will see that God does show his prophets personal details of people’s lives. You cant fight scripture bru
Garikai. Be careful speaking against men of God. Your understanding is of this world. You think of your concerns or assume you are knowledgeable of what your fellow men require. But remember something very important. A prophet is not your servant, neither a seer. They are God’s servants and the bible warns that never attack another man’s servant for he is not your servant. Let him who appointed that servant rebuke him. I am not saying fake prophets dont exist. The bible warns against them. But if I were you, I would not speak of that which I dont quite understand neither would I speak evil of him who I did not appoint.
God ordered us to honour all men, love the brotherhood (fellow Christians), fear God (treat Him with reverence) and honour the king (whoever rules, whether he be known as prime minister/president). God never said honour those you think are genuine or those who have treated you with love or respect. He said honour all of them, regardless of what they have done. This is why King David could not bring himself to kill King Saul. David was a man who understood that noone can speak against God’s anointed, nor harm him. And even though Saul had disobeyed the Lord and was no longer yielding himself to the Lord, he was still anointed by God. David recognised this, refused to speak evil of Saul, blessed Saul even when he was trying to kill him, honoured him, respected Saul (even when David knew God had anointed him to take Saul’s place) and lastly killed the man who killed Saul, asking him: “Did you not fear raising your hand against God’s anointed?’
Dont bring the wrong things in your life by going against those God has blessed. If you want your life to be without mishap, dont remove yourself from the grace. Heed God’s words and they are life to your flesh, they are medicine to your flesh my brother.
Why should he be careful?Those people you call man of God,some of them are nothing else but crooks.
U miss the point. Saul was a wicked king yet David called him, not wicked, but anointed. You Denny would have called Saul wicked. But that’s also why you dont have David’s favor. You dont have David’s spiritual comprehension of kingdom matters. You call other people crooks as if you yourself dont have any vice? You such a wonderful, flawless human being arent you?
@Garikai, and once you are out of the financial hole that you created for yourself will you give God the glory? U want God to bail u out financially so u can go commit more expensive sins with the extra money? U may be a crook but if u think u can con God that way then u r really deceived
Zimuzimba I have visited the so called prophets like u say for the past twenty years.Yes I’v been told my address,my telephone number and a lot of other staff which I already new and after all unnecessary to be told about.The most surprising thing is none managed to solve my problems.I respect people of God but I believe the best is to talk to God yourself.
God does not bless visitors, and thats your problem. He honors commitment. Dont go to see what you can get. Go to worship God and you will be amazed at what God can do
I am not surprised you got no help. You need an attitude adjustment to begin with. If you call them “so called prophets” how can they help you? Also, God does not bless faith visitors. God honors commitment. Stop visiting and start committing. Dont go to see what you can get. Go with the motive to worship God and you will be amazed at what God can do.
i pitty for you my bro cz it showz you wont even understand the bible coz you are much focused on earthly rules
2 Peter 2:1: “There were false prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you”
A prophet was God’s mouthpiece: he spoke for God and gave His message. Sometimes that message was regarding the future. Other times it concerned the present, even the past, or simply doctrinal truth, but it was always God’s message spoken forth. Saka what has phone numbers got to do with God’s message!
I dont know but maybe if we stay patient the Bishop might adress this in part 2. this was just part 1
True man
Thats tru
thru dat man
Musatijairire mhata dzenyu fokofu
God loves you even when u r publicly displaying signs of mental illness. Repent while there is still hope
More like mental diarrhoea . . .
It does not help at all what is needed is a solution towards one’s problems
How can studying the Bible not help? The author is simply explaining the Biblical teaching concerning prophets. Are you as a bishop saying we shouldnt know how the prophetic works?
@Nyeke,you are very rite man
Munhu mumwe nemumwe achatongwa nezvakabata lets leave them to GOD to judge, these are signs of the end times.
Bloody criminals tibvirei apo nxaaaa !
Thats what they also called Jesus – criminal. They crucified Him among criminals. But we now know who the real criminals were dont we? God still loves you and if you repent He will forgive you of your ignorance dear brother.
Bloody criminals tibvirei apo nxaaaa !
Thats what they also called Jesus – criminal. They crucified Him among criminals. But we now know who the real criminals were dont we? God still loves you and if you repent He will forgive you of your ignorance dear brother.
even the devil can perfom wonders and cite scripture for his own good. even the bible spoke of many false prophets coming in our day. the acid test for false prophets is money. They say the love of money is the root of all evil. Any so callled prophet getting rich thru preaching is false. Period. Il not mention names but we all know them
I take it you are a Christian. Yes there are false prophets. But doesnt that very statement imply there are true ones? And how would we ever know if people dont write articles like this that enable each of us to check the relevant Bible verses for ourselves? You should be glad someone is writing publicly about something a lot of people complain about privately
@ Garikai wataura wabaya dede nemukanwa I always ask myself why is that those guys wanoti kuzvirema simuka ufambe why can they not say the same in Zim kuti poverty out
Is that what Jesus did to poverty in Palestine when He came?
Fayafaya dzora mwoyo kani. Zvakaitwa naJesu ndezvenguva iyoyo vanhu vachapfeka nyatera. Ikozvino Jesu akodzoka he isnt looking at healing leprosy but AIDS. Faya nenguva shasha
Aiwa ka mukoma. Jesu wedu uyu haashanduke. “He is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb 13) And btw He is not dead and gone. He is ever present with us. What He did back then, He is doing thru us today. So if He did not wave poverty away back then, why does anyone think His servants today can just wave poverty away?
Iwe fayafaya hauverengi bhaibheri,ingawani mwari akatumira shoko ne nguva ya Joseph ku Egypt kuti vachava ne nzara vaifanira kuchengeta chikafu,is it not the same nema sitiations atinawo mu Africa here?they also asked Jesus Christ about his second coming,what did he say? he talked about zvirwere he talked about wars and rumors of wars he talked about false prophets that will even deceive the very elect, so if you tell me its not true that prophets never talked about social,economic and political issues then ndarasika ipapo.
@Ale, sometimes prophets do address socio-politico-economic issues. But that is never their main agenda. Their main agenda is to call people back to God. I dont think any Bible reader will disagree with us.
Prophet anofanira kutaura zvichaitika not 4n number ,zita ndoma prophet aBaari
ko Jesu akaudza Nathaniel zita rake ndiBaari futi?
Stop misleading people, the bible carries it all, upto the second coming of jesus, everything has been foretold by true prophets, incuding people like you, no wonder you now resort to telling people phone numbers, nothing new from the creator, non of you are able to foresee natural hazards, but witchcraft only, probably your source of power is the same as these witches
I take it you dont believe in New Testament prophets as stated in Ephesians 4:11? So the Holy Spirit who wrote Eph 4:11 is misleading us since there are no prophets? Is this your argument as a Christian? i look forward to seeing your response so we can have an adult debate (minus the name-calling) about this
Fayafaya imbondiudzawo haprakatapra unomuziva?i rember when i was at primary school he used to visit us,in odre for you to see him you must pay 5cents,ayiita mapipi ayigona kuchinja munhu achimuita huka kana kuti ukandire zai se tseketsa ayizvigona,i would wonder kuti if he was here this time will he be able to tell you your cell number and address,so my point is Bishop vatura nezve muoni ne mufemberi,havana kuti jekesera kuti tingazive sei kuti uyu mufemberi wa Mwari kana vose vachiita mapipi akafanana uyezve vachida mari nekupfeka vzipfeko zvinoshamisra,vasiyana papi ?as i said before the book of Mathew 24:24 makes it clear that there shall arise false prophets who will perform miracles some will even call themselves by my name,saka toziva sei kuti uyu ndewamwari kanakuti mapipi chete?ndinovimba ivo Bishop wakadzidza pa next article yavo vachatijekesera.
@Ale, remember Bishop sadi this was part 1 of a series of articles. So lets hope he gets into what u r asking cause I agree with you that it is important to know the difference
You should also mention that majority of today’s prophets are very rich
Is it a sin to be rich? Lets tyalk about this one too in an adult manner i.e. with no childish name calling
4rm th buk of genesis to revelation handisati ndaona pane mporofita akaporofita vanhu vachiti ‘prophesy man of God’, instd t ws vice vesa
Thanx for a genuine observation made without the childish name-calling we often see here. We can have a debate without stooping low to our gutter instincts.
My response: I havent seen that either inscripture. But so what? I also havent seen any place in Bible where a preacher speaks and people clap. Just because its not written in scripture doesnt make it wrong. There a a lot of things we do and say at church that are not written in scripture. Its unrealistic to expect God to record everything we supposed to do in 66 books.
Ahiwa shamwari u being a traitor here. How can u ask “So what?” when earlier on u were asking somebody to follow suit of the biblical era?
Let me quote:
Darlington Nyamutswa: @ Garikai wataura wabaya dede nemukanwa I always ask myself why is that those guys wanoti kuzvirema simuka ufambe why can they not say the same in Zim kuti poverty out
Reply
Fayafaya
December 12, 2012 at 5:57 pm
Is that what Jesus did to poverty in Palestine when He came?
Reply
Numan
December 12, 2012 at 10:02 pm
Fayafaya dzora mwoyo kani. Zvakaitwa naJesu ndezvenguva iyoyo vanhu vachapfeka nyatera. Ikozvino Jesu akodzoka he isnt looking at healing leprosy but AIDS. Faya nenguva shasha
I wud like to respond but your logic is hard for me to follow
Another good academic analysis on a subject of much interest today. I thought the distinction between Nabi and Ro’eh was very interesting. I look forward to see the development of this thesis and hopefully it will cover issues like how to determine the false from the true.
To those who are complaining, this is one man’s academic thesis. If you have a different theology of prophets, instead of cussing and complaining, offer it.
We need more people like you guys who refuse to be fooled by these criminals who go around vachiita mapipi nezvishamiso zvisingatibatsire. They need to know we are sick and tired of them… or perhaps just tired! God wants us to abide by his laws so that we can be good enough to be citizens of His world! Kana muPorofita asingataure zvekururama kwedu haasati atanga zvake! We are tired of nánga idzi dzirikushandira mumachurch dzichida chete kutadzisa vanhu kunamata Mwari nenzira kwayo. Satan is also very clever and has devised all sorts of colourful and attention-grabbing things to distract and deviate people from walking the REAL path of God. Please do not be cheated… iro basa raMwari rinotaura rega… rine idi nechiremera charo. Ndine urombo kutaura ndichidaro but mafake vanhu ava… BEWARE!!!
You sound like a Bible believer. So tell me, you dont believe the Bible when it says it was Jesus Himself who gave prophets to the church? What do you think?
@Andy please tell these people that they are being fooled by the devil by thinking that every prophet is fake.the devil knows that if he does not confuse them he will be exposed,that is why people like Promise Chictsidzo are echoeing from the devil’s side.
This certainly an enriching contribution from Bishop Chikosi. Balanced article. He has not neither defended nor attacked those who tell people their id numbers or cell numbers, but just indicated that this could be the micro side of the other prophesy. Only God knows which among them use what power, or those with the gift of discernment.True, there will always be those who are from God’s side and those from the other camp, and may be, it is not for us to judge, unless there are other apparent unBiblical side issues that we cannot just ignore and the spirit of God compels us to so state.
manyepo awo tibvunzeyi isu vekuChipinge tikudzeyi varikuzvita kuno vanasangoma
Chipinge chineyi nezvirikutaurwa pano? Kana uri sangoma buda pachena shamwari
manyepo awo tibvunzeyi isu vekuChipinge tikudzeyi varikuzvita kuno vanasangoma
Chipinge chineyi nezvirikutaurwa pano? Kana uri sangoma buda pachena shamwari
@Andy i should admit i like your inclination. if people want to talk about prophets, it is the bible that should be the reference and not some funny ideologies whose origins are as dubious as they can be. it is sad that people when confronted with such topics that address real new testament issues they resort to making these baseless conclusions such as ‘mafake’ , their argument tends to end there with these statements. ok maybe whoever they are referring to is indeed fake. question is do they believe in new testament prophets at all. most likely the answer is a quick “yes” . so who is an example? none! lol.
Christ gave gifts unto man. new testament. and that does not change and will not be anywhere. so live with it guys, He gave gifts unto men.
the problem is the statements like mafake vanhu ava do nothing less than to confuse saints into believing there are no prophets in our season. now whether u are surrounded by ‘fake prophets’ or not the reality is the office of the prophet is still functional in this generation.
And these prophets are mushrooming in Africa more than anywhere else, taking advantage of the poor and desperate folk. It’s not rocket science to know that desperate people can do anything to get out of their situation. These prophets are taking advantage of that taking poor people’s money for their own self enrichment.
Statistically what u just said is false. There is probably more prophetic activity in Latin America than anywhere else.
Yes there are false prophets. But that very statement in itself suggests there are true ones. You cant have a false if there is no true. Those of us who care for Truth refuse to throw the baby out with the bathwater as you and your troops here are advocating. Read your Bible. New Testament prophets were given by none other than Jesus Christ Himself. You, Anonymous, and your cabal can never take that away from the church. Never ever! Satan has tried that already and failed. May be you can have better luck than satan!
I refuse to be taken for a ride by anyone. I have questions regarding the source of their wealth, what successful businesses did they run that earned them so much wealth? Not even the Charambas are that rich even though everyone knows the origins of their wealth, I.e. singing gospel music. With these so called prophets it just boggles the mind how they managed to amass so much wealth at such a young age with no known viable business ventures.
U off topic. Wealth is not the subject of this article
Source of wealth is the originating cause of all these questions being asked so it cannot be off topic.
We are all responding directly to the contents of this article. I dont know which article u r responding to. U may want to look up previous articles by the same author. They dealt with the subject of prosperity. Your comments would be relevant there. Here they are totally irrelevant. Cant you see that?
Lets put the record straight. There are genuine prophets and false prophets and the majority by far are false prophets…. it was like that even when there is reference to prophets of Baal in the bible, the times of Elijah, times of Moses etc … and even today!
Lets help each other here: A genuine prophet will be known for, among other related traits; not being material, being modest, giving credit to the name of God and not to himself, preaching Righteousness, …preaching wealth is a definite ‘no, no, no’, does not charge of entice people to pay anything. False prophets will be known for doing anything contradicting these traits. This sounds minor but its a serious indictment if a prophet fails to meet just ONE of these traits.
So who is setting the criteria of what a true prophet is – you? On what basis and by what authority? Why do you think all of us should be bound by your own man-made rules? Is this not arrogance? Give us scripture then we can talk. Otherwise forget it
Crazy article! Satan is trying by all means to twist the gospel. This is no sound doctrine. This is the craziest stuff I’ve read so far.
I will pray to my Jesus ati nunure. Zvime izvi mashura aya!
Fayafaya you won’t stop fayaring.
. . and if he succeeds where satan has failed what does that make him?
same difference. Satan and false teachers come in many forms.
Jesus says “Rev 2:2-3″