There is no one-size-fits-all prophetic gown in the Bible

By Bishop Dave Chikosi

The machine that manufactures prophets in heaven is not like the modern cookie cutter which cuts cookie dough into one particular shape. The result is that all cookies look alike. Same with a sausage machine: all sausages look and smell monotonously the same. No individuality. No uniqueness. 

This is just not God’s style. Yahweh doesn’t mass produce His servants. No one man of God or one ministry is exactly like another. God doesn’t require that His ministers walk around looking like a string of boring sausages. God’s grace is not one size fits all. Rather His grace for ministry is tailor made for each individual’s personality, background and human experience.

CAVES, LOCUSTS AND WILD HONEY ANYONE?

I get asked this question a lot nowadays: “Bishop, what’s up with today’s prophets? Why are they wining and dining when prophets in the Old Testament ate locust and wild honey? Why do they live in fine houses when prophets of old lived in caves?

Most people who ask that question usually have in mind a perception about prophets like John the Baptist, Isaiah, Jeremiah etc. First of all, beloved, your name is not Jeremiah, Zechariah or Isaiah. These prophets were unique in calling, personality, history and life experience. No two prophets are created equal. You don’t give up your uniqueness when God saves you or calls you into ministry. When we come to God we are redeemed not eliminated.

This is why we find different kinds of men of God in the Bible. Some are loud, others are quiet. Some, like Enoch, are quite confrontational. Others like Jeremiah are very emotional. And then there are the likes of Elijah who have no qualms making fun of other people’s gods. Others like Paul use the intellectual approach in presenting their message.

Every man of God has his own unique way of doing things. William Branham was a very serious prophet. But his contemporary, Kenneth E. Hagin Snr, was much more relaxed and very homey in his presentations. God raises a prophet for a particular time and clime, and uses the man’s unique style and approach to reach a uniqe generation and audience.

JESUS LOVED A GOOD PARTY

Compare and contrast, for instance, the prophetic ministries of our Lord Jesus Christ and that of John the Baptist. John came out wearing camel’s hair and eating locusts and wild honey (for maximum visual impact no doubt). To say he wore no elegant clothes and ate no gourmet food would be an understatement.

But right on the other hand, Jesus, John’s cousin, came out with a radically different lifestyle. Jesus Himself makes the contrast between Him and His cousin:

“For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners’ (Luke 7:33-34)

The uncomfortable truth for traditional Christianity is that Jesus loved a good party. This is why three of the 4 Gospels in the New Testament open their first two chapters with Jesus having a ‘partey’. The only Gospel that doesn’t begin with a party is Matthew. That’s because Matthew is writing exclusively to Jews. His Jewish audience were not living under the dispensation of grace that we now live in. They were still under the burdensome yoke of the Law of Moses. They were very legalistic about almost everything. Matthew knew that Jesus’ party going activities would offend Jewish legalism, and so he left those details out.

But if Jesus had had an Activity Calendar I venture it would read something like this:

Day 1: Get baptized by my cousin

Day 2: Go into the desert and be tempted by the Devil

Day 3: Come back and go have a party!

NO FUN, DUMB AND MENTAL

The fact is Jesus knew how to have a blast. I mean when they ran out of wine at the wedding at Cana, Mary knew that her go-to guy was Jesus. Jesus would definitely want to keep the party kicking. Mary knew He wasn’t going to give her a mini lecture on the dangers of worldly fun, or why it’s wrong to drink. He wasn’t going to shut off the party valve and turn the whole thing into some church revival. No, Jesus was going to make sure no one goes home disappointed by providing “the best wine for last.”

I think Christians sometimes are too serious and have forgotten how to have good clean fun. Our pastors failed to tell us that “holiness is happiness”. This is why we walk around like we were baptized in pickle juice. We are too fundamentalists and that’s not always a good thing. Fundamental is short for “No fun, dumb and mental.”

I remember those early church days when it was too worldly to go watch soccer. I even remember some holiness sisters I was friends with. You couldn’t catch them dead at the sinful cinema house downtown. But they watched TV at home and their favorite show was “Dallas”! Really sanctified weren’t they?

LEAVING A FINANCIAL INHERITANCE FOR YOUR CHILDREN

There is no one size fits all garment for prophets in the Bible. The sad reality is that there are prophets in the Bible who lived at subsistence levels. Take for instance the heartbreaking case of the wife of a prophet who appealed to Elisha for help. Her husband, who was part of the company of prophets, had died with a huge amount of debt. Now his creditors were coming for their money and threatening to take the woman’s two boys into indentured servitude (2 Kings 4).

This account is particularly sad in the light of the Biblical truth that: “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous” (Prov 13:22). This prophet had left no assets for his kids to use as start-up capital for their own business. Instead this man of God had left his kids with  a load of debt.

And even though “he revered the Lord” as the wife points out to Elisha, this prophet died poor. The take-away lesson from this story is this: you can be a saved God-fearer, but if you don’t use your faith to access all of the divine provisions made available at Calvary, you will die sick and broke. God’s provisions will not fall on yuou like ripe mangoes off a tree. You must use your faith and go after everything that was purchased by the Blood of Jesus.

BIBLE PROPHETS WHO COULD PAY THEIR WAY

It is indeed a mistake to assume that all Biblical prophets were indigent. We are told that “Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold” (Gen 13:2). But we also know that when a pagan king tried to take Abraham’s wife into his harem God showed up in a dream and told the king: “Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live” (Gen 20:7). In other words, “touch not mine anointed.”

However, my point here is this: in Abraham we have a prophet of God who is very rich materially.

But not only was Abraham rich. He had a private army! Aw Lawdy!

This is why when Abraham learned that his nephew Lot had been captured in battle one day, he immediately “called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan . . . He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions” (Gen 14:14-16).

Apparently God was okay with His prophet having his own private militia of 318 bodyguards!

The Apostle Peter is very confident in designating King David “a prophet” (Acts 2:30). Yet this prophet was also able to donate towards the rebuilding of the Temple a personal fortune worth (in today’s money) nearly a billion dollars. No poor prophet here.

And if Elisha could help a poor widow pay her bills and Elijah could turn another poor widow into a rich oil baroness, I’m sure both prophets could take care of their personal economic needs. Both prophets did not, in point of fact, live in economic dire straits.

CAVES AND MOUNTAINS ARE NOT FOR EVERYONE

It’s not every Bible prophet who lived in a cave and wandered around mountains in sackcloth and ashes. Court prophets like Nathan, for instance, lived relatively more comfortable lives than others. The fact is God doesn’t make cookie cutter types out of His prophets. He didn’t do it back in Bible days. He certainly is not going to begin now. If two of us are exactly alike, then one of us is not necessary.

No, let every man of God be himself. And don’t worry about the fake ones (didn’t Jesus say “the fake will always be with you” or something like that?). God will deal with every one of us in due season. There is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed. But it’s not your place or mine to go around pointing fingers and baselessly judging everybody. Remember: “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matt 7:1)

[This article is part of an ongoing conversation in Zimbabwe about the subject of divine prosperity and prophets. To see videos and articles about other topics addressed by Bishop Dave Chikosi, please go to his blog http://davechikosi.blogspot.com. God bless!]