See more of this whole series here –

http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=category&;cid=4&page=2

The Prophetic Call – Introduction

“Art Katz’s books and writings are copyrighted.  Permission needs to be sought from www.artkatzministries.org if quotes are to be used by third parties. This article used with permission Art Katz Ministries.”

There are two great words that I guard with a fierce jealousy, namely, prophetic and apostolic. The church is “…built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets…(Eph. 2:20b)”, and if those two words are ruined, cheapened, made merchandise of, lose their meaning or are made to stand for something that God did not intend, then we have lost our foundation. If there is something flaky about our apostles and prophets, then what will the superstructure be if it is based on that foundation? The superstructure cannot exceed the foundation, and therefore the foundation deserves the most exceeding attention. This has been my long-standing passion and jealousy, and in a certain sense, a kind of a watchdog over these words, that they should not be used indiscriminately nor lightly, which in fact is exactly what is happening today.

Even if we cannot articulate or explain them, we need to intuit what they represent and the importance of what they represent, or we will indeed lose them. I would go further to say that the greatest threat of our contemporary, charismatic and evangelical Christianity is the cheap and light allusions to, and use of, these words. We throw them about with great carelessness and there are ministers taking for themselves their title, or allowing themselves to be so described, who are not in that office or may be false expressions of it.

There is a present phenomenon taking place worldwide of a sudden attention to the prophetic calling. One of the interesting things to note is the popularity now of that calling, with people gleefully tripping off to pack out churches in order to hear men who are being called ‘prophets’ and ‘oracles’. It is a phenomenon that we need to attend with great care. We are told that in the last days that there will be false prophets, false apostles and false anointings. In the book of Revelation, the church in Ephesus is congratulated by the Lord for discerning the false apostles, “those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false (Rev 2:2b).”

I am continually amazed at the naiveté and the ignorance with which these great words are being used. It has become so bad that people cannot even distinguish between the gift of prophecy and the office of prophet. I cannot think of a more fundamental confusion that would destroy the foundation of the church than this one thing alone. It is like a brush that is painting everything in the same color. The office of prophet is so holy, “the holy prophets of old.” The gift of prophecy is something else and can be exercised through any believer as the Spirit wills. That does not make them a prophet and we need to make that distinction.

____________________

See the whole book at www.ArtKatzMinistries.org