Comments by David Nelson on Chapters 2,3 and 4 of "Why I Left the Prophetic Movement" by Andrew Strom

Posted: 2007-11-07 08:33:52

Comments by David Nelson on Chapters Two, Three, and Four  of “Why I Left the Prophetic Movement” by Andrew Strom  (11-1-07)

I believe that this is a very important book for everyone to read. I am in support of Andrew Strom as a prophetic voice for our day and agree with much of what he says in this book. I would like to make comments on chapters 2, 3, and 4 concerning “manifestations” in the Church today that some claim are of the Holy Spirit. Andrew Strom says in these chapters that some “manifestations” today and some particular teachings are very dangerous to the Body of Christ.

Some of the “manifestations” and a particular teaching mentioned by Andrew Strom are gold dust, laughing, jerking and too much emphasis in certain circles on “romance” with Jesus. I believe we need to be very careful if we say that something is not of the Holy Spirit (when in reality it may be of the Holy Spirit). Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil….” I would not want to be one who calls something that is Holy, unholy, or call something that is unholy, Holy. So, we must be careful not to throw out things that God may be doing. Some things that we may see happening in a church meeting may “bother us” or we may “feel” something is not right. Andrew Strom is very right when he says that each of us should be very sensitive to do what the Lord is telling us to do as He speaks to our hearts and spirits. We may need to leave a meeting. But we must also be careful not to cut ourselves off from other people in an ungodly way or prematurely. Here is the point, when should we cut off from people or condemn what they are doing? I think that Andrew Strom is condemning some things wrongly. (you will see what some of these things are as you read on).He says on page 49 of his book that God will do strange things in the future and God has done strange things in past revivals but when something becomes “weird or ugly” we ought to take note of that and beware. This sounds like a good warning.

We need to find a balance here. We cannot and should not say that every single laugh in every single service in the last 10 years was of the devil. We cannot and should not say that every person falling on the ground and jerking or shaking in a church meeting in the last 200 years was of the devil. So which ones were of the Holy Spirit, which ones were of human creation alone, and which ones were really of the devil? I believe the Lord will give true spiritual leaders (trained and prepared after God’s own heart for our day) discernment. The Lord will also give discernment to each believer what they should do in each situation. Each one, from the least to the greatest, should all know the Lord’s voice (and we are all learning to hear Him better and better) and a stranger they will not follow. In one instance it might be the flesh operating and we may need to say, “We will need to stop that.” In another instance there may be a person controlled or in-dwelt by an evil spirit who is crying out or writhing or even prophesying error, in that case we may need to say, “In the name of Jesus I command you to stop and come out of him or her.” The Lord will show us what to do. I believe the Lord will make us very sensitive and discerning people as we are coming closer to the Lord. Just like in the book of Acts when Peter saw what was in the heart of Simon the magician (Acts 8) and told him exactly what he needed to do to get right with the Lord. 

God is not ready to kill everyone who is “off” in a wrong direction or a large portion of church people attending church services across this land would be dead. But when followers of Christ who are serious want to make a place for His holiness and He begins to come in His power and settle in our midst then, watch out, things of the flesh and of the devil will be snuffed out fast, like things were kept fairly pure at Azusa Street meetings for about 3 years. Because God will be in His Holy Temple and let all men be silent before Him.

So, what is the balance here for all of us, church leaders and each believer? (1) Be careful not to cut off from people or condemn what they are doing before we really understand and truly see things as God sees them. (2) Do not continue too long in something that is getting “weirder” and is starting to affect you in some “uncomfortable ways.” Let the Holy Spirit give you discernment when to stay, when to leave, and how to feel about the people and what to say about what they are doing (is it evil or good, is it holy or unholy). We should be careful not to cut off from others or condemn what they are doing until we really know. There are too many divisions now, let’s not make more, unless we can clearly say, “Thus saith the Lord….” We do not have to be part of something but that does not mean that we should condemn it and tell people to cut off from it. It is very important that we learn how to love people in our day as the Lord is wanting to teach us how to have a greater love for others than we have ever had before. Love covers a multitude of sins, faults, and gives people the benefit of the doubt over and over again. (Please read the book “Without Love We Are Nothing” on our Books and Prophecies page for a deeper understanding of how to love the brethren in our day).

I think Andrew Strom’s warnings about how extreme and weird manifestations are Satan’s tool to destroy or taint revivals (in Chapter 4) are very good. This is very important! However, there are some things that Andrew Strom may be standing against that we (Prophetic Ministry Iowa) are not necessarily standing against. Especially, there should be more said by Andrew about the intimacy relationship with the Lord on the positive side. Andrew is right that we should throw out words with too much “sexual connotations,” these words can go too far (as some of the examples in his book illustrate). There is a depth to our relationship with the Lord that is little understood today that can be found throughout the Scriptures (not just in the Song of Songs, though there has been much revelation there from past writers and present writers). God is restoring to His Bride even now many truths about our relationship with the Lord. Yes, it is true, some people can take truths too far in their immaturity, some things can be down right false, and some of us need to take our relationship with the Lord much further and understand this love much better. There are many dangerous things going on in Christian meetings today, some things are too lop-sided, too extreme, people have taken things too far and are “out of balance,” but there could be some truth to what they are saying if they could come back in balance again with the Lord. It seems like a big mess as we look at so much “variety” or even “craziness” out there but the Lord will build His Church, restore truths, and we must learn His love towards all to help bring it all together when and how He sees fit. He can correct “out of balance” people in swift and amazing ways. He can bring people back to center. No, we are not so loving or open that we compromise truth. We cannot let sin come into or dwell in God’s camp. He is a Holy God. We can hold our truths securely, we must raise up a pure standard of truth, we can proclaim these truths from the rooftops and we will correct when we must. But we need to reach out to those who are deceived or immature without being tainted ourselves. We have to learn a greater love of God for this time to save people out of false manifestation groups just like we need to save people out of dead churches. As the Scripture says in Jude 23, we snatch brands from the fire with fear, hating their polluted garments and lest we be dragged down ourselves into error.

Another great point that Andrew Strom makes is that a broken, repentant spirit should be the hallmark of any revival. Some prophetic words do cut us to the heart and break our hard hearts. Other prophetic words may be calls from God to a closer relationship with Him that are not so much for repentance but never the less change us and draw us into a closer walk with the Lord. These “closer relationship” words from the Lord are also needed to keep people going with the Lord in the right direction after they have heard a hard sermon and repented. But what is it going to take to bring one person to his knees to seek God, not just in the heat of a hot sermon, but the next day and the next day, so that that person keeps seeking God and learns to walk with Him every day like Enoch did?  It may take different types of prophetic words, it will take teaching, it will take anointed words that are going to draw that one person into a lasting relationship with the Lord. That is the end we seek; People walking with the Lord individually every day. It will take fiery sermons and books and prophetic words and anointed teaching to renew our minds to see as the Lord wants us to see. I believe the Lord will be very successful in “wooing” people to Himself and He will use many means to do this including fiery sermons.

I consider Andrew Strom to be a prophetic voice for our time and I believe he is gifted in giving hard words and fiery sermons. I too have a prophetic ministry and have given hard words and fiery sermons (for hard words read “Flee From Babylon” book on our Books and Prophecies page). In Jeremiah 1:10 the prophet Jeremiah was to uproot and tear down before he could plant and nurture. In a “prophetic ministry” once you have given the hard words that uproot and tear down what is wrong, and the people are ready to say, yes, we agree, what shall we do to make a place for what the Lord wants? Then we will need words to plant and nurture into the paths of individual revival (restored, intimate relationship with the Lord) and corporate revival (how to get ready to meet with the living God and prepare a place for Him to come to).