“These are the beginning of birth pangs. Are You Ready?”

In March of 2020, just as we were realizing that the Coronavirus was for real and could have a devastating effect, I started looking at everything that was happening not just in the physical realms but also spiritual. I immediately knew what God was saying to me. Tough days were ahead. I started reading Matthew 24 with Revelation 13 and since then God has been directing me and I have wrote a number of articles regarding the season that we are living now.

Over the next two months it was like God was dropping lines into my spirit for different blogs I have written https://davidkedode.com/welcome/about/blog/ . But this is more than just articles but encouragements and a strong warning for the coming days. If you embrace its messages, it could save your soul…literally.

Birth pangs come in waves. Just when everyone was thinking that things seemed to be improving regarding COVID-19…

• President Trump was calling for the USA to open by Easter,

• PM Netanyahu was getting worldwide praise for how he handled the plague and Israel started opening up just after Passover,

• Famous prophets were saying that Corona would end on Passover (like the plagues of Egypt) or that an Easter heatwave was going to burn up Corona. They said that God said that!

Then, BOOM, another birth pang! George Floyd was murdered (in my opinion) by police officers in Minnesota. Protests and riots broke out all over America—and spread overseas. Sadly, the church did very little to take advantage of the moment and reach out to Black America with the love of Jesus. Right in the midst of that, Corona surged again.

Megachurch pastors were saying that soon we would be back to normal, not realizing that God might be speaking to us about a new normal. Others adapted and have reached thousands, even millions, via Zoom and the Internet. “Prophets” were quick to say, “all is well, and the stock market will rise again. Prosperity is coming! God is good; He would never send a virus.” One even said it would not touch America—then it did—and instead of repenting, he prophesied again—that the virus would bring a sweet unity (didn’t happen!).

These were the same prophets who never saw Corona coming! But now they are qualified to tell us when it would end? Where is the accountability for using God’s name on a worldwide stage and misquoting Him? Where is the repentance? Brokenness? Humility? Paul said, 

“I have been crucified with Messiah and I no longer live, but Jesus lives in me,” (Galatians 2:20a) and, “You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” (1 Corinthians 6:19a-20b)

I believe with all my heart that God is seeking to remind us of our holy commission, which is the Great Commission. During the coming days, weeks, months and years, we have to get back to the task of sharing the life-changing power of Jesus! He has commanded us to make disciples, preach the Gospel and extend the borders of His kingdom.

The best is truly yet to come. Revival! Yes, real New Testament, Book-of-Acts-and-beyond revival is on the horizon. But so is persecution. Think it not strange, as Peter says, in speaking of suffering for Jesus. Sadly, most are not ready. When Corona came and was immediately followed by racial tensions, our knee-jerk reaction should have been, how does God want to use this to bring Jesus to more people? But most sought to “save their own lives.” According to Luke 9:24, that is how you lose your life. It is the one who embraces the cross and follows Jesus who finds it. Let me be biblically blunt: Dead people have no rights! We live to serve Him. 

“I’m done with Prophets!” — Wait just a minute!

1 Thessalonians 5:20 and it is for the sentiment above that I believe God moved upon Paul to write it:

“Do not treat prophecies with contempt.”

For those of us who believe in the supernatural and that God still speaks today, you may have read this verse in the past and wondered, “Why would we ever despise prophecy or treat it with contempt?”

Just like those believers in Thessalonica, who had to deal with a plethora of false prophecy, many in the body feel burned by the recent false prophetic words. Sadly, it is not over. I just watched six “prophets” who are holding fast, with great boldness, to the false hope that President Trump, not Biden, will be inaugurated on January 20^th. Wednesday’s nightmare of the Capitol building being overrun wasn’t enough for them.

One of them, a woman yelling in the voice of God Almighty, taking the name of the Great I Am in vain, declared that Trump will be the 46^th president. (She might want to tell God that when a president wins a second term, he keeps the same number, which in this case, would be 45. Forgive my sarcasm, but when someone is yelling and lecturing the body of Messiah in the voice of God the Omniscient [all-knowing], you would hope that they would get the basic facts right.)

This is the same situation in which the Thessalonians found themselves. They had had it with false prophets who had predicted the coming of the Lord. They had had it with false teachers who had peddled heresies. They probably were scared of being deceived. Remember, they did not have the Bible as we do today. Even the Hebrew Scriptures were not readily available, as they were on scrolls and in Jewish synagogues. This is why the Apostles gave the believers creeds—to protect them from heresy, until the word of God was canonized, centuries later.

“…Messiah died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve, After that He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to Jacob, then to all the apostles;  and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-5, NASB).

They called these creeds the rule of faith and Paul warned the Thessalonians about associating with people who did not abide by this creed.

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, to keep away from every brother who walks irresponsibly and not according to the tradition (rule of faith) received from us. (2 Thessalonians 3:6)

One of the differences between modern day apostles/bishops, and the original apostles, was that they had divine authority to preach the TRUE, genuine Gospel before we had the New Testament canonized or even written. The apostles were the NT epistles before they were written, teaching true, live-giving doctrine. But without the scripture, there was much false prophecy.

Test, Don’t Reject

It would appear that the believers in Thessalonica had begun to despise prophetic utterances. But Paul saw prophecy as crucial. We see in 1 Corinthians 14 how we are encouraged to prophesy (v. 5). He states that it is essential for the building up of the body (v. 4), instructing them to not reject prophecy but, rather, to test prophecy.

Our present situation is particularly painful, because so many put their heart and soul into believing that God was behind the reelection of Donald Trump. Hundreds (maybe thousands) of leaders prophesied this. Even after the election, there was a massive prayer movement to “stop the steal.”[1]  After the Electoral College met on December 14th, prophets boldly predicted that Trump would overcome on January 6^th. We made a video showing four false prophecies since November, where three of them promised a massive miracle or reversal during the Christmas season. (By the way, these men are all still prophesying daily on YouTube, as if their prophecies came to pass. Not one of them has even hinted that they missed he mark.)

Guard the Flock

So, yes, it is reasonable that there would be some disillusionment with prophecy. But Paul says to not reject the prophetic gift. We need it. We cannot “despise” it. But as leaders, we must govern it. Many leaders are afraid to do so. We have a “code” among leaders not to critique each other in public. But we have a commission from God to protect the flock, and that must come first.

Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. (1 Peter 5:2-3)

We cannot fall into this trap of hating prophecy. It is a big part of the New Testament life. We have a living faith and a living God. God still speaks today. Remember, the same Bible that tells us to go after the gifts of the Spirit (I Corinthians 14:1), also warns us about being deceived by false prophets (Matthew 24:4). Here is what we can do, going forward, to protect ourselves while still loving the prophetic gift.

1. Test prophecy. I am sure that most of these prophets did not have deep prophetic experiences regarding the Trump word, but simply copied other prophets, not wanting to be left out after the victory. One has already confessed this. So, before you believe a prophet, pray about it. Ask yourself, “Am I believing this just because it is what I want or is this really bearing witness with my spirit?”
2. Check the track record of the prophet. I can tell you that one of the primary prophets leading this chorus has a track record of several recent missed prophecies. He was massively wrong on the mid-term elections and said God would have mercy on America regarding Coronavirus.
3. No one can hear God for you better than you can yourself. While sometimes God will send a prophet to wake us up, in the New Testament every believer has the Spirit. Don’t be overly dependent on prophets, as this is a trap that can lead to deception. You can hear God for yourself.
4. Will their prophecies lead to incitement or violence? For instance, one prophet has been preaching civil war and talked recently about “godly” armed militias. Is that what we saw on Wednesday? Do we see such militias in the book of Acts? After Paul is illegally arrested in Acts 21, do they take up arms to rescue him? Is there anything in the Great Commission about private militias? Jesus rebuked Peter for using his sword and told Pilate that His followers will not fight in His name, but that His kingdom is not of this world.
5. Does it line up with the Word? When a book came out in 1988, 88 Reasons Why Jesus is Coming back in 1988, we knew it was off, because Jesus said we know the day or hour (and we assume year).

In closing, there needs to be an audit regarding this past season. But we can’t go so far that we begin to despise such a precious gift. False prophecy is only going to grow worse with the excess of Facebook prophets looking for significance. We just have to be better at testing and discerning.