Mar 032011
This is a voluntary guide for “The Prophetic” or “Following God’s Leading” ..depending on your denomination.
“..the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
Sweet words come from an aching heart. Revelation 10:10-11, 19:10
- Optional – The Elijah Code cannot be effectively used to threaten any prophet, nor to establish or remove him or her regarding an office as a stand-alone document. It can only be imposed by an inquiring person as an individual test to validate the legitimacy of an alleged prophet for oneself. The Elijah Code could also be use to its entirety by a ministry to augment a larger policy regarding its own ministry—which still requires active consent of the prophet in question. It is only an authoritative code for those who choose to make it as such.
- Dark Night of the Soul – A prophet cannot be publicly or ecclesiologically legitimate until he or she has endured the Dark Night of the Soul* and finds its vast reality and immense value, pressing into it further as the Divine Romance deepens. It is in the Dark Night of the Soul where the false prophet is locked out and the Elijah heart finds ever-deepening value.
- God Verifies Himself – “God told me” is not the same as claiming “therefore you should agree.” Stating the second phrase only devalues a prophetic message. If “God told me” to do something and I fall because of it, then “God told me to fall” and I must humbly comply. It is not possible for an Elijah lover of God to long ponder the temptation of claiming Divine seal for approval and defense. If the Lord has truly spoken, He needs no further validation of His word. If the Lord’s guidance is ignored, a human claim that He has spoken stands no chance to persuade. The messenger delivers the package, nothing more.
- Two Pillars of the Heart – The heart of an Elijah prophet has two components: a. that the prophet stands in love with God and b. that the prophet can turn the hearts of people toward God.
- Validation In-Kind – The only community-discerned validation of an alleged prophetic word comes from another prophet’s prophecy not aware of the alleged word by any means other than word of knowledge from the Lord Himself. Only the Creator of humanity can validate the Creator to humanity.
- Lifestyle of Belief in God’s Sovereignty – The Sovereign God is Sovereign in all circumstances; He alone chooses the fate of each battle and has already won the final War. The Elijah heart finds confidence of this in times of alleged defeat. Though heavy the Elijah prophet’s heart may be, he or she finds no need to fall back on human arms as the pivotal tool against the enemy. The one whose hope rests in God alone has hope because he or she rests in God only. In this the Elijah prophet joyfully accepts whatever he or she cannot control on the basis that God has ordained it for the good of all who love Him.
- Imperfection – Sin exists in the life of each human, no matter how close to the Lord; sin does not invalidate the message of a prophet, though it may remove him or her from an office of ministry. The Lord alone chooses through whom He will speak and when. The only corrupt events to discredit a prophet’s reliability are using his or her prophetic platform to condone sin or oppose what is good.
- Full Humility – Humility cannot possibly take offense to pride, nor must the Elijah prophet take offense to pride or seek to affront it.
- Audience-Specific Messages – Dated words from the Lord are not necessarily implied as all time rules for prophetic or Christian conduct nor are they a substitution for future prophecies where they are needed. Time-and-circumstance-sensitive directions are not necessarily all-time-universal standards. Different words from God may be only for specific people. A Word of Knowledge may be followed by a Word of Wisdom on how to respond, and how not to respond, to that Word of Knowledge in particular.
- Community/Bible – The Elijah prophet must submit to Scripture in all things and receive/seek Elijah prophets’ and other peer counsel to ensure the purity of spiritual blind spots. No message from God contradicts His infallible written Word and no Christian is a spiritual island unto one’s self.
* See early Christian literature for term “Dark Night of the Soul”.