It is my prayer that you will hear my heart in this, both in this post and in anything else I share here.

I started this blog in 2017 and returned last year, and from the beginning it has been a place where I share what I believe the Lord is showing me through dreams and visions. I want to remind you of that framework because I do not want to give the impression that I have stepped away from prophetic ministry or no longer believe in it.

I have not. But I have been untangling some of my beliefs around how it should function, and in doing so I have come to see a real need for reformation in the prophetic, as well as in other ministries within the charismatic church. Of course we need leaders, but we also need to return to biblical qualifications and to a place of real accountability, not just assumed authority.

Know that any ‘critique’ I offer is only to point to a desire for genuine use of spiritual gifts in spiritual formation, to make us more like Jesus.

I have included some chunks of scripture. If you are anything like me, it is easy to skip these, thinking we know the verses already. But I have deliberately included them rather than just giving the ‘address’ of the scriptures for you to look up if you so choose. I hope you don’t skip over them.

Recently I had a vision where I saw the arm of the Lord extending from heaven with a clenched fist, and it came down and smashed a stone altar.

A second vision revealed what remained. There was scattered rubble and a cave, and from its mouth there was a conveyor belt carrying the broken pieces of the altar through something like an archaeological process. I somehow understood that this was a methodical and thorough search for both gold and human bones, anything that might be redeemed.

I also knew that this altar was like the Tower of Babel I briefly discussed last week, an altar of pride and of the desire to ascend.

My daily reading this week in the Book of Isaiah spoke into this same theme of idolatry and pride. These verses clearly define what idolatry looks like, what it leads to, and what God thinks about it.

Yet the people do not turn back to Him who struck them,

Nor do they seek the Lord of armies.

So, the Lord cuts off head and tail from Israel,

Both palm branch and bulrush in a single day.

The head is the elder and esteemed man,

And the prophet who teaches falsehood is the tail.

For those who guide this people are leading them astray,

And those who are guided by them are confused…

Each devours the flesh of his own arm,

Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh,

Together they are against Judah. Isaiah 9:13–16, 20–21

I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their wrongdoing; I will also put an end to the audacity of the proud and humiliate the arrogance of the tyrants. I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold and mankind than the gold of Ophir. Isaiah 13:11–12

These images of judgment on pride resonated deeply with the picture of the altar I saw destroyed in the vision.

They outline the disastrous results of idolatry: confusion, blindness, and a people that devours one another.

I once had a dream where I was on a stage with other performers, and a woman put on a gown and was lifted into the air as though she were flying, carried around the stadium on the upraised hands of the crowd. One by one we each took our turn putting on the gown and being lifted up in the same way, and after each person had their moment, the rest of the group turned on them and attacked them, hungrily consuming them.

When my turn came, I felt the hesitation for only a moment before I allowed myself to be lifted, and I remember how overwhelming the feeling was, how exhilarating and intoxicating it felt to be carried like that, as though I were flying above everything.

When I woke, that feeling lingered, and as I was turning the dream over in my mind, trying to understand it, I heard the whisper,

“How can you believe when you receive glory from one another?”

John 5:41–44

The meaning was suddenly clear, if uncomfortably direct. This was about the desire for the praise of man.

When the church begins to value people too highly, especially those in visible roles, we slowly begin to recognize one another according to the flesh rather than according to the Spirit.

We start to call things anointed that are not, and we excuse or overlook character issues because we do not want to lose what appears to be powerful or significant.

We do not develop discernment by chasing what is dramatic or impressive, but by becoming deeply familiar with the nature and character of God Himself.

And yet there is a pattern that many of us have absorbed, often without realizing it, where prophetic voices are expected to be captivating; able to deliver something that feels profound in the moment.

In that environment, it becomes amazingly easy to prioritize what is appealing over what is true, and to preserve the influence of a person rather than weigh the fruit of their life. This is where confusion enters.

There is also something in us that is drawn to the idea of being part of the forefront of what God is doing, and in that atmosphere, appearance can begin to take precedence over substance.

We begin to hunger for encounters and experiences and neglect the kind of grounding in scripture and obedience that can sustain and rightly interpret those experiences.

Bank tellers are known to study genuine bank notes in order to spot counterfeits.

They do not research all the new methods that counterfeiters invent; they know the real thing.

But we have, in many ways, swallowed the theology of a counterfeit kingdom, where prophets are expected to be extroverted, charismatic speakers who wow us with profound sound bites of revelation.

Lastly, Isaiah refers to the proud, blind, and confused people resorting to cannibalism (Isaiah 9:20–21), and the Bible describes jealousy as the sin that causes us to devour one another.

For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. Galatians 5:13–15

Jesus consistently pointed to humility, obedience to the Father, and love for others as the measure of faithfulness. Signs and wonders were something that flowed from a life that was rightly submitted.

So, the question for me, and perhaps for you, is this: how do we recalibrate our internal “bank teller” senses to recognize the genuine humility of Christ in a culture that remains so enamored with taking turns’ donning the flying gown’ of the praise of man?

God in His love wants to cleanse us from anything we might use as a ‘tower of Babel’ to reach heaven.

He is not interested in building platforms that compete with His place in our lives.

God has made us His temple, both individually and corporately, and our lives are meant to become an altar where He alone is given the high place.

Spiritual gifts and ministries are meant to be the servants of the body of Christ not a master demanding tribute.

The exposures we have been seeing are part of the process.

It is my hope that we will look to the Lord and to His word and see true ministry established.

I know I am not alone in this longing to see what has been built on faulty foundations brought into the light, so that only what is true can remain.

All the love, my friends.