By James Wilson
It
was 1984 when outlaw biker Roger Ralston had a prophetic dream. God told Roger to found a ministry of
compassion for pregnant women in crisis.
A new Christian, he knew only to obey the voice of God, obedience was a
new concept to him. God said more. If Roger and others would be faithful the
ministry would become a full service medical facility, operate in three
counties simultaneously, and one day take over the facilities of a local
abortion referral service.
Roger
retired after a few years as the first director of Crisis Pregnancy Center in
Shasta County. Those who knew of his
dream continued to pray it, and countless volunteers worked it whether they
knew or not. By 2006 the name had
changed to Carenet Pregnancy Center, they were operating a medical facility
with volunteer doctors and nurses, had expanded into Trinity and Tehama
Counties, and taken over the facilities of the abortion service at the
provider’s invitation. The dream was as
pragmatic as it was prophetic, and this is one of the principle reality checks
to be passed by any legitimate prophecy.
If it is prophetic it is pragmatic.
Carenet
is now part of a national network. Just
as nationally well known is LifeLight; both have chapters in my city of
Redding. Their donor bases tend to
cross-pollinate. In 2005 they
inadvertently scheduled their primary fundraisers for the same night. Aghast at what seemed a disaster for both
ministries in the making, they listened to my prophecy to leave the double
scheduling intact and bless each other that the Lord might bless them both. Each sent people to assist the other ministry
that night and both ministries broke all previous records for fundraising. Again, if it is prophetic it is pragmatic.
The
contemporary prophetic movement is an authentic move of God. He has been speaking to and through His
people from the beginning. He speaks
because He is a God of speech; He spoke the world and its creatures into
being. What changes with the incarnation
of His Son is the disbursement of His words through the whole community of His
Body and His Blood – with many voices contributing a panel to the tapestry –
just as He promised in Isaiah 59, Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 39, and Joel 2.
The role of the prophets
in this fulfilled divine economy is to release and pastor the prophetic voice
He has released over the prophetic community.
But the Old Testament prophets were ever focused on what was happening
at ground level – whether they spoke of past, present, or future events. No authentic prophet of Israel would have
been content to speak in a rapturous tone of voice about some mystical and
non-specific “shift” in the heavenlies, or to predict year after year that this
was the year the Lord transfers all the wealth of the world to the saints and
all our dreams come true. The people
tested the prophetic utterances then and we need to test the spirits now – as
Paul insists in 1 Thessalonians 5:21.
Proper
testing of prophecy is not rocket science.
It must be consistent with the scriptures; God does not contradict
Himself. It addresses present, past or
future events through the lens of God’s perspective. And it includes a practical directive toward
a pragmatic outcome. That said, some
prophecies deal with the apparently mundane while others deal in what can only
be called grandiose. The Alamo prophecy is
downright grandiose and the jury is out on its fulfillment.
On
a 2009 visit to the Alamo God called me to pray fulfillment of His purposes for
that 1836 battle in our nation today. He
said those purposes were fulfilled then in the crucible of encirclement,
assault, and massacre. He identified
them as the garrison becoming one race – as Indians, Americans, Europeans and
Hispanics came together in the common cause of freedom – and one faith – as a
garrison co-commanded by a Baptist and a Catholic and representing every known
Christian background learned to pray together as they fought and gave their
lives. The third purpose was personified
in the thirty-two from Gonzales who rode in on the ninth day – they rode toward
rather than away from the place of danger.
He says our nation struggles in that same crucible today; it is a
spiritual, political, and physical assault, and in that order. He says that what cost the Alamo defenders
their earthly lives and brought them to eternal life is on the table for our
nation today. It passes prophetic
muster; the question is whether it passes from our ears through our minds and
into our hearts.
James A. Wilson is the author of Living
As Ambassadors of Relationships and The
Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by
e-mailing him at
praynorthstate@charter.net
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