Are There Prophets in the Church Today?     
Dr. Allen M. Barber
September 12, 2005


“He who descended is Himself (Jesus) also He who ascended far above all the heavens so that He might fill all things. And He gave some as apostles and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastor-teachers...” (Eph. 4: 10-11).

From Paul’s revelation as given in this passage, it is clear that Jesus is the source of the “office gifts” (GK – domata) in the church and one of those gifts is the office of prophet.

It is my observation in the denominational church that the saints have no problem with the offices of pastor and evangelist, but looks with suspicion at anyone who dares lay claim to the office of prophet. Some of this stems from a misuse of the gift and/or a misunderstanding of its purpose in the church.

The Charismatics interpret and promote the “prophets gift” as one who gives a prophetic utterance to guide the church. There are plethoras of internet websites that encourage and promote the giving of prophetic utterances and I am amazed at the quantity of so-called prophetic utterances. From viewing many of these websites, you would think that God the Holy Spirit does nothing, but give out prophetic utterances 24/7.

Watchman Nee says in his book, The Ministry of the Word, that God is not so free with His Word and that actually getting a word from God (A rhema) is not that easy. Since receiving a word from God (A revelation) requires discipline of spirit, soul, and body or in other words, a holy and godly walk with God and a disciplined commitment to the Word of God, God is not in the business of giving revelation to just anyone. They first must be committed to His Word and have disciplined the flesh.

The other danger of not properly understanding and utilizing the prophet’s office is to supplant the study of the written Word of God with so-called “prophetic utterances,” that is, they become the “Bible” for those who reply and depend upon them for guidance. Instead of personal discipline in studying the Word of God and depending upon the Holy Spirit for revelation, many in the church rely upon the so-called prophetic utterances whether on a website or from someone who claims to be a prophet and makes a ministry of giving “others” a word from God.

In contrast, other denominations completely deny that there are any authentic prophets in the church today and are led by a single pastor. They do give credence to the office of “the evangelist” such as Billy Graham.

The book of Acts clearly teaches there were prophets in the early church and a study of Biblical history from the time of the ascension and for many centuries afterward, reveals that prophets were recognized as an authentic office in the church. With the inception of the Papal Church and the denominations, the office of prophet died out (This does not mean there were not prophets in the authentic church, but they were not as well known or recognized by the Western European churches, and in more recent times, the church in the United States).

If we want to know what is the true office of prophet, all we need to do is study the Old Testament and it is clear that a prophet was a man set apart by God to speak bold truth to his generation and usually it was a word of judgment. Therefore, the prophet’s office deals with both the future and judgment and differs from the offices of pastor and evangelist. A pastor or under-shepherd primarily deals with the “teaching gift,” that is, instructing the saints in the doctrines of the Word that they may grow into spiritual maturity. The evangelist’s gift is to preach the gospel to the lost world.

Although a pastor and an evangelist can operate in the prophet’s gift, it is not their focus and calling of God. A pastor who operates primarily in the prophet’s gift will never have a large following because the message of bold truth in the form of judgment will not be tolerated by the saints for very long, particularly in the Western church that likes to hear the so-called “positive message.” That said, it also clear from the Old Testament that a prophet was also a teacher of righteousness and his message dealt with the holiness of God. Therefore, the prophet and teacher gift function together in the Bible just as do the pastor and teaching gift.

Unfortunately, the denominational church has placed for too much emphasis on the pastor as being “a preacher” than a teacher, and as a result, the church is full of adult babies who have not grown spiritually since being saved. The church needs teachers not preachers. Evangelists are preachers who have one primarily message, which is that Jesus died for the sins of the world, was buried, and rose again on the third day. This is the gospel and the only message of salvation as there are not many ways to knowing the one true God. Salvation is in no other person or God than the Lord Jesus Christ who Himself said as recorded in John 14:6 that He was “the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father God except through Him.”

Prophets emphasize this truth and will not compromise or water down the Word of God for anyone or any cause. Because of standing with the truth of the Word of God and refusing to compromise, prophets are often isolated and persecuted by the church, especially if they speak judgment. Like Israel of old who did not like to hear judgment and who killed the prophets God sent to them, the modern church does not like to hear a message of judgment. Being a prophet of God can be a very lonely experience as the church as a whole does not like to associate with prophets they consider “negative.” They would rather hear a comforting message of peace, prosperity, and security and it matters not that the nation and the professing church is guilty of much wickedness and rebellion against God.

In Jeremiah 15:19-21, Jeremiah was recommissioned by God to be His spokesman to Judah of certain judgment – the Babylonian Captivity, but there was a condition; Jeremiah had to repent and separate the “holy from the profane.” Only then, would God use him as His prophet (Jeremiah had accused God of being a deceiver and a liar because the word of judgment had been delayed and as a result he was being severely persecuted by the people; may I just say that rarely does a prophecy take place immediately and the book of Proverbs says every word of God must first be tested).

Although my initial calling from God was to the office of Pastor/Teacher (The Holy Spirit did manifest the office of prophet during my pastoral ministry and more often than the saints preferred), like Jeremiah, I became aware that God had recommissioned my calling primarily to the office of prophet and I began to receive revelations of coming judgment to the church and our nation. This was in 1992. However, in contrast to the so-called prophets who claim an abundance of prophetic utterances, I have only been given three or four major prophecies and every one of them have come from the written Word of God not just “my words.”

For example, from the study of the prophecies of Jeremiah and Hosea, the Lord gave me a word concerning the United States. The word came from Jeremiah 46:20 and Hosea 10:10-15 on March 16, 1994 and I have stood on this word now for 16 years even though I have been mocked, ridiculed, and considered a heretic by many.

In the Jeremiah passage, the Lord told me that He was going to raise up “spiritual horseflies” to attack the “heart” of the United States and that it would come from the north. In addition, He told me to write a book, entitled, “Horseflies Are Coming to the United States” and I must bow my head in shame and confess I thought the title was silly and no one would take me seriously. Therefore, I failed to obey the Lord, but a careful examination of what took place on 9-11-2001 was the fulfillment of the two passages the Lord gave me to warn the church and this nation of judgment and that we must repent!

Anyone who has raised horses or cattle knows the affect horseflies can have on those animals. The female horsefly sucks the blood out of cattle and horses and if they are not properly inoculated can greatly weaken and even kill them. On 9-11-2001, spiritual horseflies in the form of 19 Arab terrorists struck at the heart of America – our financial empire with the destruction of the WTC’s – the icon of our financial fortress.

The planes that hit the WTC’s circled and came from the north. This was no accident, as the occult believes their power resides in the northern hemisphere. Al Qaeda is part of the occult and the Illuminati and a study of how Ben Laden organized the cell structure of Al Qaeda reveals it is patterned exactly like Freemasonry, which is an occult religion and part of the Illuminati.

The Hosea passage formed the detailed part of the prophecy concerning judgment upon American. If case you are someone reading this and do not understand how a prophecy or a Word from God comes from the written Word with present applications, the Greek word associated with personalized revelation is the word “rhema,” that is, the Word the Holy Spirit reveals to the prophet’s spirit as a message from God concerning His will for the present time; this is why the Word of God is referred to as the living Word – the Holy Spirit is constantly breathing life upon it and that is what makes it active, powerful, and sharper than a two-edged sword).

The brief form of the word I received from the Hosea passage was “that God’s time had arrived to judge America who like Ephraim (Israel) had become a prideful trained heifer and oblivious to its sin and need of repentance, but that God was going to harness America for its wickedness, injustice, and for believing in lies. Therefore, because we have trusted in our own way apart from God and in our superpower status (military), God will send judgment upon our three major fortresses – financial, military, and breadbasket. The precise word God gave me was “that a great tumult and uncertainty would come upon the nation.” That is exactly what took place on the morning of 9-11-2001 – a great tumult [loud noise] accompanied by uncertainty occurred when the twin towers fell. It was a judgment upon our financial empire and contrary to what our government says, we have never fully recovered financially from that attack. The surplus from the Clinton administration, which we took great pride in, was practically wiped out overnight. Today our nation runs unprecedented deficits and our debt increases by the second due to the global war on terrorism and natural disasters like the Hurricanes of 2004 and now Katrina.

Speaking of Katrina and to support my position that the office of prophet is still alive and well in the church today, the following are excerpts I wrote in an email on April 2, 2005 to Bill Koenig of Koenig International News:

“It is my habit to read the Psalms and Proverbs in my daily morning quiet time (The appropriate Proverb for the day of the month as there are 31 proverbs) and as I was reading Proverbs 31:8-9 on the morning of March 31, 2005, my wife told me that Fox News just reported the death of Terri Schiavo. A careful reading of this Scripture proves how God often speaks to His prophets and has been His method of speaking to me since He recommissioned my calling in 1992. Notice what the verse says:

8 Open your mouth for the mute,
For the rights of all the unfortunate.
9 Open your mouth, judge righteously,
And defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.

There can be no doubt this verse speaks clearly and plainly to our nation and particularly the activist Supreme Court which allowed Terri Schiavo to starve to death refusing to give her water or a morsel of food. When I read that verse on the morning of March 31 and realized it was from Proverbs 31, and in addition 13 days from the day her feeding tube was removed (The number 13 in the Bible always means rebellion and associated with evil – Michael Schiavo’s attorney was a New Age Mystic and a member of the evil Hemlock Society), I knew this was a word from God and I wrote down what I heard the Holy Spirit tell me:

‘The death of Terri Schiavo is a test to show America its true heart – that it has become a death culture with its attention upon Abortion and Euthanasia – abortion is the law of the land and the innocent blood of millions of infants denied the right to live and now the death of Terri Schiavo, the precursor to euthanasia becoming law, cries out to God night and day. The death of Terri Schiavo was great wickedness and total disrespect for the life that comes from God as well as His warning not to oppress the helpless and needy and it was done in full view of the entire world to see. As a result, judgment is coming to the United States because our national sins have reached the point of no return without judgment. The Lord spoke to my spirit and told me to start preaching, teaching, and writing judgment to this nation. I reminded Him that I had been doing that for over 10 years and His answer was to do it even with more conviction and passion, that is, not to be afraid of how I or the message will be received.”

Then the Lord said the following: While the wicked judges took the life of a helpless soul by starving her to death in view of the whole world as the lame duck Congress and Executive Branch stood by and did nothing, but give a weak rebuttal, a more severe judgment than 9-11 is coming to America and many are going to die as a result since we no longer value life or revere the Word of God. In addition, I heard a number and it was 1 million.

How this judgment is going to come, I do not know, all I know is what God showed me just as I did not know for certain how the judgment of Jeremiah 46:20 and Hosea 10:10-15 would come about, but it did 7 years after I received it.

God does things in 3’s and therefore, there will be two more judgments upon this nation and between each judgment will be a temporary period of grace to give the nation time to repent.” This can be supported by a study of the Word of how God does things in a series of 3’s.

The Lord told me that when the next judgments come, there will be no doubt that they are of divine origin, but many would still not believe they were of His doing. After receiving this word, I immediately wrote my Senators – John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison, and my Congressman, Sam Johnson. Here is an excerpt from that communication on March 31, 2005:

The Lord showed me back in 1994 that He was going to judge America for her sins and that 9-11 was the first act of His judgment to be followed by a period of grace to allow time for repentance - none came. Therefore, I assure you as a minister and prophet of the Word of God that our nation is going to experience two more devastating judgments more severe than 9-11. You and the members of Congress have been warned! May God give you all wisdom to wake up out of your spiritual lethargy.”

Now this was written between March 31 and April 2, 2005 and/or 5 months before Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast wiping out entire cities and displacing millions of people. Maybe the number “1 million” I heard was the number of displaced people rather than the number of lives lost. However, the third judgment has not yet occurred, but it will for there is still no evidence of repentance in this nation.

You know why? Because sin is no longer preached against in the churches and the sinner-hood of man is not taught. In addition, repentance is a lost word in the church and nation. The church is all preoccupied with materialism and a celebrity gospel (compromising the Word of God for the sake of following some made-man movement such as Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Church and Copeland’s, et al prosperity movement) than it is in pursuing a holy walk with the living God and calling this nation to repentance. The nation is not going to repent or see any need of repenting until it first sees the saints getting right with God. Peter speaking in the context of the last days said, “That judgment must begin with the Household of God” – I Peter 4:17.

Lest anyone misunderstand me, no true prophet of God delights in judgment, but mourns for the nation and the people of God. However, if he is truly called of God to the office of prophet neither will he refrain from speaking all that God instructs him to say. This word was given to me in January 1994 from Jeremiah 1:4-10:

“Before I formed you in the womb (What does that say about abortion), I knew you and before you were born I consecrated you and I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations (In my case to our nation)...everywhere I send you, you shall go and all that I command you to speak you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you declares the Lord...Behold I have put My Words in your mouth and I have appointed you this day over the [nation] and over the kingdoms [Again in my case, it meant the kingdom of God, the Church, and not that I am the only prophet, but one voice in and to the church], to pluck up and break down, to destroy and to overthrow, and to build and to plant.”

I asked the Lord what He meant by this three-fold commission and He told me I was to build and plant His people in the truth of His Word and thereby pluck up, break down, destroy and overthrow the lies of Satan via false doctrine and to lead the saints out of the flesh into an overcoming walk with God in the Spirit, that is I am to teach the saints how to be overcomers.

I can truthfully say that I have tried to do just that, but most have rejected the message of judgment as well as the message about the overcomers and outer darkness. Only the overcomers are going to rule and reign with Jesus in His kingdom and many carnal believers are going to be assigned to the outer darkness with the hypocrites and not receive their glorified bodies until the second resurrection.

Paul said that he was striving for the resurrection out from among the dead (the spiritually dead without the new birth and the carnal believer who lives after the flesh and not the spirit) and Hebrews says the First Resurrection is the better resurrection implying that many saints will be raised in the inferior second resurrection along with the unbelieving dead. Most theologians do not teach this because they have no revelation of it and rely strictly upon the carnal mind for understanding of the Scriptures.

Well, if the Lord has called me to the office of prophet, then there will be a third judgment upon this nation, and it will be worse than 9-11 and Hurricane Katrina – the financial and agricultural impact as of this writing has not been determined.

I will tell you this that as Deb and I were shopping over the weekend, the food market had a sign that said, “The supply of chicken will be low until we recover from Katrina as 30% of the poultry was wiped out.” Once again, the word God gave me from Hosea 10 was that He was going to judge our breadbasket – our food supply. The soy and corn crop was severely damaged by Katrina.

The final word God spoke to me on March 16, 1994 from Hosea 10:15 was “there would come a day when America would be stripped of its superpower status unless we repent” and I do not think we will repent without God severely judging us for we are too engrossed with our “pleasures and prosperity” to see the need of repentance.

The Lord bless.