Are you really called to be a prophet?
Cecelia Campbell-Livingston
“Oh oh people of the earth Listen to the warning
The prophet he said
For soon the cold of night will fall Summoned by your own hand.”
– The Prophet’s Song, Queen
INCREASINGLY, THERE have been a number of ‘prophets’ popping up all over the place, claiming to have received messages from God about things that will soon happen. A classic case in point is the recent US presidential election where many prophesied that President Donald Trump would easily romp to victory over his political rival, Joe Biden. When this did not happen, the ‘prophets’ began to scramble to find excuses as to why their ‘prophecy’ went awry.
Situations like this beg the following questions. Whose voice are some Christians listening to? Why would they be so sure that they are called to be prophets when clearly they are not? More important, what is it with this recent obsession of wanting to be called a prophet?
Family & Religion, in an effort to shed light on the issue, reached out to Rev Marie Berbick of the Touching Your World Ministries. She shared that, if someone is called into the prophetic ministry, God will reveal it to them. Quoting Jeremiah 1:5 she said God informed him that he was called to be a prophet. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
She pointed out that someone can be prophetic, meaning they can have the gift of prophecy, but it does not mean they are a prophet.
“Prophets are called by God, but anyone can prophesy. Paul encourages believers, in 1 Cor 14:1, to “desire” the gift of prophecy. Therefore, anyone can prophesy, but prophets are born prophets,” she stated.
Berbick shared that God will send someone to prophesy to you, stating that a prophet may speak the word over your life, and what normally happens is, once that word is released, she said, other prophets will come and confirm it.
REJECTED BY OTHERS
Another sign that will indicate that you are called to be a prophet is when you are rejected by others. She said even family members will be among those doing the rejection, as they will think that the one called to be a prophet is different or strange. God will use the rejection to bring his chosen prophet closer to Himself.
“They may have premonitions — a strong feeling that something is about to happen. Often, it’s something that’s not good, but it can also be something good,” Berbick said, sharing that there was a time long before she walked into her calling as a prophet. She was about 18 years old, when she knew just when the phone in her house was about to ring. It became very scary for her. She would just begin to stare at the phone and the phone would begin to ring within seconds!
Other signs that will manifest themselves to the person called to be a prophet, according to Berbick, are dreams that will manifest exactly as they were seen, and sometimes they happens shortly after the dream.
Pointing out that there will be the knowledge that the dreams are not ordinary, she said there will be a deep feeling inside, when they awake, that it is not just another dream. The person will find that they have a vivid recollection of the dream and it doesn’t leave them.
Persons called to be prophets, she said, will also have visions. Some might even have open visions where they see things like they are happening live in front of them, but it disappears after a few seconds.
“Some people get flashes of things and what they see manifests. In one of my experiences when the Lord wanted me to intercede for someone who was sick, I saw the person’s face slowly coming toward me from the clouds and their face was on a funeral programme. But at the bottom of the programme were my initials! So I knew that I wasn’t sick, it was that person who was sick, but God was calling me to pray for the person or they would die,” she shared.
Berbick shared that there are other signs such as hearing an audible voice, discernment, intuition about people, places or things. She said the processing that takes places when you are called to the office of the prophet or any other office of the 5-Fold Ministry can be very difficult, frustrating and sometimes depressing. But she is encouraging that no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Heb 12:11)