Several weeks ago, I posted a blog entitled Holding the Prophets to Account. The blog outlined the misuse and abuse of the prophetic gift, especially by the US prophets who declared the COVID19 pandemic would end quickly and Donald Trump would win the election.
Four of these prophets, Loren Sandford, Jeremiah Johnson, Shawn Bolz, and Kris Vallotton, have had the courage and humility to admit they got it wrong (see reference).
Kris Vallotton, from Bethel Church, had posted an apology back in November. Bethel’s leadership told him that it was “too soon”. Kris removed the video apology, only to post a new one on January 9th. Still, many of his followers told him it was “too soon”, “not over”, “the story is not finished”, and the like. Seriously, this kind of gullibility is the sort of thing that leads people to be seduced by cults. And, sadly, many sincere Christians have embraced all sorts of bizarre doctrines and conspiracies in recent times.
Jeremiah Johnson is another prophet to apologise: “I want to go on record: I was wrong, I am deeply sorry, and I ask for your forgiveness.”
After apologising, Johnson became the recipient of terrible abuse from some Christians. He wrote, “Over the last 72 hours, I have received multiple death threats and thousands upon thousands of emails from Christians saying the nastiest and most vulgar things I have ever heard toward my family and ministry. I have been labelled a coward, sell-out, a traitor to the Holy Spirit, and cussed out at least 500 times. We have lost ministry partners every hour and counting … I have been flabbergasted at the barrage of continued conspiracy theories being sent every minute our way and the pure hatred being unleashed. To my great heartache, I’m convinced parts of the prophetic/charismatic movement are far SICKER than I could have ever dreamed of. I truthfully never realized how absolutely triggered and ballistic thousands and thousands of saints get about Donald Trump. It’s terrifying! It’s full of idolatry! (See reference). I couldn’t agree more!
Rev. Loren Sandford was also astounded at the abuse he received. “Since January 7, I personally have been called a betrayer, a false prophet, a traitor, faithless and some have said they found me disgusting,” he said. “I am way past broken-hearted at what Christians are saying and doing. No wonder the world doesn’t believe us.”
But that’s all the apologies, folks. Out of at least 40 charismatic Christian leaders that predicted Trump’s re-election, only four have had the courage and the humility to admit they missed it.
Others were still holding out for some last-minute miracle from God that would magically reverse the election and install Trump as president on January 20. Hank Kunneman said God had personally assured him there would be a miraculous outcome. Kat Kerr, a Jacksonville prophetess, agreed, saying, “He (God) assured me in 2015 that Trump would sit in the White House for eight years. And God assured me today when He walked into my room at noon — well, almost noon, 11:55 am. — He yelled as loud as He possibly could, ‘Justice will prevail.'” I don’t know what voices Kat Kerr hears, but it wasn’t God!
And these prophets haven’t just missed it with regards to picking the wrong president. In the lead up to 2020, not one prophet suggested anything like a global pandemic was coming. And when it did come, many of them prophesied it would be gone quickly.
Hank Kunneman declared that people would be quarantined from the virus by God’s mercy. God will “give life to this nation, and I give mercy. Do not fear this virus says the Spirit of God.”
Tracey Cooke, along with several other prophets, predicted that COVID-19 would be over by Passover (April 8-16, 2020), “the blood of Jesus” would cause the “plague to pass over”.
On 16 March 2020, Jeremiah Johnson said he received a prophetic dream about President Donald Trump and the coronavirus, “I believe around the time of Passover, we’re going to see [the virus] really slow down.”
Here we are almost a year later, and it’s obvious all these so-called “prophecies” are wrong. The USA has had over 420,000 COVID-19 related deaths. At the time of writing, America is recording over 150,000 new cases each day. While this third wave of COVID-19 has hopefully peaked in the US, there are still many months of sickness, death, and grief.
Let me give you a couple of prophecies that are from God:
“This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD” (Jeremiah 23:16).
“The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds” (Jeremiah 14:14)
I pray these prophets will humbly repent for misleading God’s people and for bringing discredit to the gospel. They have collectively given the charismatic and Pentecostal church a severe credibility problem and have revealed many contemporary Christians’ wafer-thin theology and un-Christlike character.