I want to share one story from the Bible and reason together with you. It happened in Israel, 1Kings 13.
“And behold, there came a man of God out of Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.”
I want to remind you that Jeroboam was Solomon’s enemy. When Solomon began to become weak in the kingdom, and God began to warn him, He said that He would raise a wave within the kingdom that would be a problem for the kingdom. His son Rehoboam, unlike his father, was not distinguished by wisdom. Once, when the people cried out about the pressure – because Solomon had wisdom, he built the temple and expanded the borders of the kingdom – and came to Rehoboam as the heir and asked to ease the burden, because it was heavy. Rehoboam asked the elders, and the elders advised him to hear the people, because they were really tired. Those people knew Solomon, the elders said that if Rehoboam did what the people asked, they would be faithful to him to the end. But Rehoboam also asked the young men, his friends. They said, “No! Tell them that your little finger is thicker than your father’s loins. He beat you with whips, but we will punish you with scorpions.” Rehoboam went out and released it to the people and the elders who knew his father, who were much wiser than he. And they turned and said, “…There is no more glory in Israel, we are leaving.” They left.
And there was a man Jeroboam. One day he was on the way, and a prophet came to meet him. Jeroboam was just a man who was living his life. And then a prophet appears before him and says, “Thus says the Lord: “I will give you ten tribes because they have rejected Me. You will rule over ten tribes. And if you keep My commandments and My will, you will rule under My blessing.”
Solomon wanted to kill him. For Solomon he was an enemy. And then, when Rehoboam learned what was happening, he raised an army, one hundred and eighty thousand strong warriors, but the Lord stops it through the prophet, saying that it was from Him. And we must give them credit, they humbled themselves, turned their army back and remained in their tribe. Such were the kings of old, who listened to the prophets.
Jeroboam rules in Israel, in Bethel, and begins to gradually weaken. He starts thinking that if to go for worship to Jerusalem, he will be betrayed and killed. He makes two more altars for people to come for worship, and sets those to serve whom he himself sees, not from the tribe of Levi, not according to the law. That is, he entered into self-willed service.
He had grace, he had prophecy, he had revelation, he had favor upon him, but he went beyond the limits, beyond the contours of that grace, and began specifically to practice idolatry.
And here comes a prophet of God, a prophet without a name: a young man, a youth, who comes as a stranger: nothing special. He comes at the word of the Lord to Bethel at the time when Jeroboam was standing at the altar, which he himself had made up, to burn incense on it. He thought that God was with him to the end – in this matter too. There is such a delusion when people think that God will be with them in everything – even in that which is not pleasing to Him. A prophet will be sent at a critical moment of the apostasy of God’s people, a prophet will always appear wherever there are elect, even if not all are elect in the congregation: a prophet will come – not necessarily as a person, but there will come a sign, or an angelic visitation, or judgments, but something will happen where there are the elect, the sincere ones – those who have not stained their garments.
“And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord and said, ‘O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: “Behold, a child shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you shall he offer the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and man’s bones shall be burnt on you.’” (1 Kings 13:2)
Imagine, that is, people will be laid in the fire. This is an incredible abomination, because the Lord is showing that on the altar that you have built for Me people shall burn – you have this for yourselves, God is not even near around this. This is self-willed service.
And the Lord speaks of the anointed one who will fulfill God’s Word. He speaks of the future – that Josiah, the anointed one of God, will arise. We know that he arose and did everything exactly as this young prophet without a name said – we don’t know his name, it’s not made known to us.
“And he gave a sign that day, saying, ‘This is the sign, which the Lord has spoken: Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.’
That is, the word of a prophet comes with a sign. If you watch a real prophet, there will be signs with him. If to give you ‘solid food’ now – sometimes God may judge even the prophet. But this is also a sign. Because the worst judgment from God, as I think, is abandonment – when God has abandoned you, when there is neither punishment, nor blessing – there is nothing: God is silent about you, He doesn’t know you; this is the most terrible thing – when God abandons you.
Today, some say that this can’t happen – but we read in the Bible that the Lord turned His face away – sometimes for a while, and sometimes forever. Jesus said, ‘Depart from Me, I never knew you.’ They said to Him, ‘We prophesied in Your name, we did wonders.’ And He answered: “Who is this? I never knew you!”
A prophet comes with a sign. We are accustomed to think that signs are healings, resurrections, some positive things. No. It is not always so. I remember when the Lord replaced the Angel who was moving with me, the Angel of water with the Angel of fire. And then, after visiting certain places, I saw a truly different nature of signs was coming – regarding mega signs that concern cities, regions or weather, seismic things, or regarding people or churches.
We sometimes think that this is man who harmed us – that a man has come who has no love, has brought us harm, but you don’t realized that you are under the judgments of God! The man isn’t even thinking about you, he just did his work and moved on, but you are left in bitterness, in poison, in resentment, and you don’t even realize that these are judgments. Where is the Holy Spirit on you? Where is your joy? Where is the fullness of God’s grace on you, if you are right? What can anyone do to me if I am right before God? What kind of person can take away my Holy Spirit? What kind of person can steal my joy? But it was stolen from you. Maybe God has something to do with it after all?! These are serious things.
And so a true prophet comes with signs. These signs are not always pleasant and sweet. These are not sweets, these can be completely different signs, which we are not used to and which are inconvenient for us. Be attentive to prophets; be careful, this is not a joke. If he is a true prophet, he is a messenger of God.
So God meets Moses and wants to kill him at night. His wife Zipporah quickly cuts off her son’s foreskin, casts it at the feet of the Judge, the wrath is gone, Moses continues on the path of messengership. As if two different authorities were over Moses. But this is a hierarchy. If you received a blessing from your superiors, received an assignment to be a messenger, and simply overslept, nothing works out for you, because you broke the rules of the game. Moses encounters God, who wants to kill him after sending him, and resolves the issue very quickly, understanding the reason.
“And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, “Lay hold on him.”
Do you see what happened to Jeroboam? This young prophet came out of nowhere: he should have recognized him, because he had seen the prophets before, Jeroboam already knew the prophetic dimension, the prophet prophesied to him things that few of God’s people had ever heard: that he would reign over God’s tribes if he did His will, and would be under the mantle of His blessing. Who can boast of such prophecies? But here is the young prophet – whether he recognizes him or not – it doesn’t matter. Jeroboam gets furious and puts forth his hand and says: “Lay hold on him!”
“And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him. The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign, which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.”
The word came with the sign of judgments. The prophets will execute judgments on the strong, but they themselves must be stronger. This young man was able to release thing to the king in the face. And his hand became wood-stiff.
The Church should be such a prophet.
“And the king answered and said to the man of God, “Entreat now the face of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again.” And the man of God sought the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.”
God will humble His opponents to Himself. These opponents will serve the will of God. They will be either an instrument of wrath or an instrument of mercy, but God is able to humble His opponents. And, of course, the mercy that was extended to Jeroboam – it is written that the man of God prayed to the Lord for mercy, therefore the hand was restored. Imagine he had not prayed – the hand would have remained stiff. But the prophet prayed mercy before the face of the Lord, and the Lord had mercy on him according to the word of the prophet.
Mercy because of the prophet. Prophets must carry the dimension of the mantle of mercy – not a lie, not a false mercy, but mercy that covers sin and unrighteousness – true mercy, not as an obligation, as a distorted truth.
A prophet can give either righteousness or mercy for unrighteousness. In his mantle there is also mercy. “Judgment without mercy – to him who has shown no mercy.” Remember this if you don’t show mercy, if you hold a grudge or unforgiveness, anger, hatred, even silent hatred.
“And the king said to the man of God: come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”
Of course, “grab” such one for yourself! And then, maybe, he will become a courtier, or maybe a prophet “on the payroll”… There will be attempts to buy a prophet. And there are always those who want to buy a prophet. There are always those sources, or people, or Angelic forces who want to buy a prophet.
Great wisdom is needed, whether to accept gifts or not. Sometimes a person gives from the heart what he can give. This is his gift. A widow can also give. Elijah ate the widow’s bread, left no piece. It was a prophetic ministry.
There will be attempts to buy a prophet, especially when you are already moving in spiritual things. There will be forces that will want to buy you. There will be forces that will want you to exchange yourself. The anointing is something that cannot be sold, it cannot be exchanged – it is the most precious thing a prophetic person has.
“But the man of God said to the king, ‘Even if you give me half your house, I will not go with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in that place, for so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying “Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that you came.”’
Here is the answer of the incorruptible prophet. Three “no’s”: “I will not go with you,” “I will not eat,” “I will not drink.” So he went a different way. You see: a prophet always goes by new paths: he came one way to Bethel, and left another way. This was a commandment charged by the Lord. That is, he didn’t go to do the work and return by the same way. He went a new way. The prophet goes by new paths. Maybe it was longer, but he went a new way.
“So he went another way and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.”
A prophet is a pioneer. His obedience was absolute. But, unfortunately, his obedience was only in the first round. In the first round he absolutely won: he overcame the king, he defeated idolatry, he defeated this altar. He won.
But the second round begins.
“Now there dwelled an old prophet in Bethel.” The devil sends new tricks. The king lost to the prophet, but a different prophet arises. A different game begins – a more subtle one, in which this young man had no experience.
“His sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words that he had spoken to the king, them they told also to their father. And their father said to them, “What way went he?” For his sons had seen what way the man of God came from Judah.”
The context of the events was such that the old prophet couldn’t hear the Lord. For some reason he didn’t know that he was to curse the altar if he was a prophet in this city. Why should the Lord send another prophet from other places when there is a prophet here? Because this old prophet was a professional manipulator of spiritual things. And he heard this news not from the Lord, but from his son, who was a “scout”. You know, there is such scouting – collecting gossip? They appear to love, but they are aware of all the bad things. Do not be such a person. We are to bring Good news. An evangelist has bright thoughts, and then his lips are pure. Don’t listen to the “scouts”, listen to the Holy Spirit and have the testimony of God within you. Be kind, good, bright and pure.
So this “professional” listened to sermons from people and forged sermons to be prophetic. The son came and told him everything. He even asked his son which way the young prophet came. That is, he knew nothing at all, although he was a prophet. The life of the old prophet in the midst of idolatry was dead. A dead old prophet, who had gotten weak.
“And he said to his sons: “Saddle me the donkey.” So they saddled the donkey for him, and he rode there on, and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak, and he said to him: “Are you the man of God that came from Judah?” And he said: “I am.” Then he said to him: “Come home with me and eat bread.”
He rode after him and said the same thing as the wicked king. Why? Where they have all things dead, they need young blood, fresh blood, where life burns. And the king needed this life. The old prophet had ceased hearing from the Lord. The last prophecies were many years ago. He wasn’t even aware, he just sat there and kept quiet. And there he was doing the same work that the king had done, this satanic work of temptation. But that blow had been parried, but here he was caught by it.
“And he said to him, ‘Come home with me and eat bread.’ He said, ‘I may not return with you nor go in with you; neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place, for it was said to me by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall eat no bread nor drink water there, nor return again to go by the way that you came.'”
Do you see? He knew the prophecy by heart. Three points: ‘don’t eat,’ ‘don’t drink,’ ‘don’t return.’ They’re hunting for the young blood. Religion hunts them. You know, religion brings severity. You release in the Spirit – they look at you so harshly, you don’t even want to live. Then you pretend, go out and become yourself again. And this teaches deceit, because they themselves aren’t such, I assure you. All these “law-experts” are not such. Because this is the leaven of the Pharisees.
Have you ever met a religious person who is very much carnal? All things are well with him, no excess in all things, but… we like to eat – much meat at night. There will definitely be a “bleed” somewhere. Any prophet will know this. You can immediately see how the flesh “bleeds”. A law-expert can’t be truly spiritual.
But a prophet is a man of the wind, a man of the elements, a man of the spirit. Yes, he may not have the right look, he doesn’t know all the orders of the liturgy. Yes, he may have clumsy speech, but with him are the elements, with him is the wind, he controls fire, and he has love.
There is a hunt for fresh blood. Today there is a huge crisis of fresh prophecy.
“And he said to him: “I am a prophet also as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord …” Here he speaks the dreams of his youth days.
“…saying, Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water. ‘ But he lied to him”.
He starts lying. Here is a “prophecy”. I wouldn’t be surprised if the old prophet believed he was prophesying. He even felt the ‘power’. But it was not a prophecy – it was flesh. The false prophecy of the old prophets. When I say ‘old’ I do not mean age, and when I say ‘young’ I do not mean age. I say ‘new’ prophet and ‘old’ prophet. ‘Old’ doesn’t mean age, but ‘old’ means outdated. And ‘young’ doesn’t mean age, but means ‘new’.
‘So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water. ‘
Pressure, yes. And here is such an old prophet…
‘And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came to the prophet that brought him back. ‘
Oh, at last he felt the Lord move! Finally, the prophecy came through him. But here’s what followed:
“And he cried to the man of God that came from Judah, saying: “Thus said the Lord: ‘For as much as you have disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, but came back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of which the Lord did say to you, ‘Eat no bread and drink no water,’ your carcass shall not come to the sepulcher of your fathers.”
This prophecy is a curse on the living, young gift. You would not wish such a thing to Satan – to give such prophecies. A curse on someone who simply stumbled.
“And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for the prophet, whom he had brought back.”
That’s it, he even gave him the “car” and sent him away. After this we do not hear a single word from the young prophet – that is where his words end. He is silent. Silent forever. Those gifts were for the last time, and the bought young prophet is a most terrible picture. The prophet who was bought for food, for a donkey.
“And when he was gone a lion met him by the way and slew him. And his carcass was cast in the way, and the donkey stood by it, and the lion stood also by the body. And behold, men passed by, and saw the carcass cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcass, and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelled.”
The event became a parable. He, his ministry, his life became a parable. A terrible parable-tragedy. It is a drama. This tragedy is a parable about the judgments of disobedience. This young prophet without a name, I think, the Lord preserved his honor in order to give him a new name in heaven. He was judged on earth to be redeemed in heaven. It was not a worst mistake he made. He was not wicked. He simply disobeyed the Lord. At the level he walked, such a mistake – a simple one – was fatal. This prophet was very high up, where such mistakes were not allowed. As if it were a window was open in a supersonic jet to get some fresh air – the man would simply be blown to pieces. That was more or less how this prophet walked: he could not make mistakes at that level.
“And when the prophet that brought him back from the way, heard thereof, he said, ‘It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the Lord: therefore the Lord has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him and slain him, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke to him.’”
And there he interprets … Finally, he is “in the know.” When something bad happens, they are strong. When some curse happens, they are strong. A real man of God, a prophet, is a man of light. They look into a pit with tears. Men of God are men of light, mercy, and love. But this one carried things…
“And he said to his sons, ‘Saddle me the donkey.’ So they saddled him. And he went and found his carcass cast in the way; and the ass and the lion standing by the carcass; the lion had not eaten the carcass, nor torn the donkey. And the prophet took up the carcass of the man of God, and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. And the old prophet came to the city to mourn and to bury him.”
He killed a man! This is his victim! He killed him with a lie, he killed him with his envy. He killed him! I imagine the heart of this old prophet – when he lifted this young man onto the donkey whom he killed with his own hands.
“And he laid his carcass in his own grave, and cried over him: “Alas, my brother!”
There was a concentration of demons there when he did this. Maybe he should have added more words, at least added “Forgive me”…
“And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulcher, wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones: for the saying, which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places, which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.”
So this “good” of the old prophet flowed “with filth.” He wanted to join the river of life of the young prophet. He knew that he had salvation. That is why he killed him by cunning. He knew that this young prophet would go to heaven. But he had no such confidence. And you know what? Even the dead young prophet was higher than the living old prophet. The dead young prophet was closer to the Lord. There was a difference between them: the former was judged, but the latter was abandoned. This is what I said, the most terrible thing – the latter was abandoned. The former was punished, and this is love, because “God disciplines every son whom he receives,” and this one was abandoned – nothing was with him: no voice of God, no word of God, only a prophecy that went forth to curse, and again silence.
“After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places; whoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places. And this thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.”
The prophet’s failure did not change the city and the country. The prophet lost, therefore Jeroboam continued to do evil. He did not change the situation of the people, and had no influence, because he did not listen to the voice of the Lord. He came to change this city. He came to curse the altar, that they might cease to practice idolatry, but he lost. Everybody knew this story. And what did Jeroboam think, what did the people of this city think when he performed a miracle with the altar, and then lay there, killed by a lion, and the donkey stood next to him?… What did the people think? Everything was twisted and all tangled up in them…
They did not receive a testimony. Do you understand? Living prophets must not fall! Prophets must not fall, because it will bring harm to the Kingdom of God!
I repeat: not young, but “new”.
The signs of a modern believer are superficiality, serving people’s needs, but not taking people to God, fear, commercialism, fear of individuality in God and inexperience, because the superficiality abides. These are the signs of an old prophet: he serves the ego of man. Modern prophets comfort the individual, but do not lead to glory, and they do not love the way of the cross, because the cross crucifies the flesh. “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.”
The old prophets have a Babylonian theology system, they follow the beaten paths of the majority, not new ones, but those that others walk.
Signs of a true prophet: fresh blood, fresh spirit. These prophets do not serve people’s demands, they don’t “yes men”, they are free. True prophets never please people. True prophets do not follow the majority. True prophets are ready to suffer for their position and for their prophecy. True prophets are connected with the cloud of witnesses and with the ancient prophets as well – they are not strangers to the ancient prophets. There is a teaching that the ancient prophets are already Old Testament, not God’s, after Christ they are different, they are no longer relevant. But many prophecies will still be fulfilled. Like Daniel or Malachi, Isaiah … Not all prophecies have been fulfilled yet.
A true prophet is connected with the ancient prophets. He moves in the same spirit, he is not different. The Old Testament prophets will recognize him because he wears the same mantle. And the two olive trees will also torment people on the planet that will be full of lawlessness. They will torment and they will be hated because they are true prophets. A true prophet is connected with the ancient prophets. A true prophet walks in a supernatural walk. He is in the open spiritual world. He doesn’t need to manipulate, to advertise, to exaggerate, he doesn’t need to flirt or manipulate people. He is not interested in human glory. He is in the supernatural walk. He dwells among the Angels, he knows the Angelic world. He knows that he lives in the company of Angels. And he has a pronounced way of the cross. This man is a man of the cross. He knows what fasting is. He knows what abstinence is, he knows what walking in the wilderness is, he knows what it is to overcome in the dead of night – to see the light in the dark night of the soul.
There is a great need today for a new and fresh revelation of Christ. The real prophet of the new generation, the new prophet, has a new and fresh revelation of Christ, because from Him comes all else. There is a need today for growth in the stature of Christ.
I challenge you all today to renew your blood, renew your spirit and think seriously about this situation with this young prophet: he was good in the first round, but religion ate him up.
Maybe somewhere religion is also eating you, and you don’t look for religion outside yourself, you don’t judge the pastor or your church, religion is inside you: when you don’t live in the spirit, but look like a Christian, when you don’t live on the cross, but look spiritual, this is the root system of any religion, which is hypocrisy and deceit. I challenge us today to be urgent, to make a call for the raising up of these young prophets and churches of prophets.