You would have noticed by now, that the frequency of new content on the Wind Farm has slowed down a little in the last month or so. There are a variety of reasons for that, but the primary one is, that I didn’t want to keep posting new content until I felt I had brought a measure of closure to the whole issue of Danny Nalliah and the Australian Federal Election of November last year.
Before I give you a report on our efforts so far, allow me to respond to Mrs S. Anderson’s comment on my previous post. She writes .. "I don’t mean to be rude, but I am wondering by what authority you make some of these statements…I mean who are you and what gives you the authority to censure and correct? I have been a christian for 30 years in the evangelical and pentecostal church and I have never heard of either you or your other writer" (meaning Robert Holmes).
That’s a great question Mrs Anderson! (Her thoughful, heartfelt comment can be read in its entirety here). She raises two very valid and important issues to which I’d like to respond in reverse order.
"I have been a christian for 30 years in the evangelical and pentecostal church and I have never heard of either you or your other writer."
Until today, I had never heard of Mrs S. Anderson either. But because I do not know her, it does not invalidate her. I must take it on trust that she is who she says she is .. and I do indeed trust that all she has said about her life experience is true.
Likewise, I too have been a committed Christian for 30 years in the evangelical and Pentecostal church. The last 15 of those years has been spent largely in prophetic ministry. I have a well-received prophetic curriculum available on-line free-of-charge at The Green Tree, I have travelled extensively in prophetic ministry over many years and have keynoted many prophetic conferences, schools and intensives. I am also a standing invitee to the Australian Prophetic Round Table which is a group of recognised prophetic ministries all working toward finding a way to walk together in close relationship, hopefully, to the profit of all.
However, I also recognise the truth in principle behind Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 9:2, in which he says "Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you." In other words, Paul is acknowledging that his ministry is recognised by some and not by others .. and he’s OK with that, knowing that this does not invalidate him. In the case of Mrs S. Anderson never having heard of me .. I’m totally OK with that too .. but likewise, that does not invalidate my own place of ministry, service and responsibility among the Body of Christ.
"… by what authority do you make some of these statements …"
The short answer is .. absolutely none. The slightly longer answer is based on an understanding of four passages of Scripture …
1 Corinthians 14:29-32 says …
Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets.
Ephesians 5:21
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:26
If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
Or, as Eugene Peterson says in The Message … If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing.
Isaiah 52:8
When the prophets see eye to eye, the Lord will establish Zion.
There are two very telling things that Paul says in those verses from 1 Corinthians 14. The first is that "two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said." What others? Are we talking about the general congregation or are we talking about "other prophets" who need to weigh what is said, to discern whether it truly be from God. Well … both. But more specifically, other prophets need to be a part of the weighing and testing procress. Partly this should be the case to demonstrate to those gathered that prophets can govern themselves with both self control and mutual accountability.
The second thing that Paul raises in 1 Corinthians 14 is the issue of "the spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets". Please be clear. Paul is not saying what we have been taught for so long .. that is, that "the spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet". He says "the spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets". His language is plural, collective and communal. In other words, the spirits (the giftings, the ministries) of prophets are subject to the control (that is, mutual submission and relational accountability) of (other) prophets. Again, this is not a heirarchical statement, rather one of safe, mutual and relational accountability for all.
The remaining three passages of Scripture quoted above, all point to the fact that if I am not prepared to relationally and mutually yield my prophetic ministry to the safety of relationships with other prophetic ministries, then I should simply be silent or function at my own peril and to the damage of the Body of Christ. But if we walk in safe, healthy and mutually beneficial relationships with each other, then the possibilities are almost limitless.
I think Mrs Anderson would agree that in recent years there have been many significant abuses of the prophetic gifts, which has caused the church at large here in Australia to retreat from the operation of the prophetic ministry on an almost wholesale basis. In know this to be true, because I caused a few of ’em by my own foolish and immature behaviour while learning how to function prophetically. In turn, I "did my time" and learned my lessons .. thank God (and everyone said, "Amen!")
So it is from a heart of genuine love and concern for the Australian church and for the prophetic ministry in this country, that one of my primary aims is to see the prophetic ministry both honoured and valued within the Body of Christ again. However, in order for this to happen, we as prophetic people must function in a way that is able to receive honour, if we are to ever continue seeing the prophetic ministry valued by the church again.
We must remember that love is the foundation of the prophetic ministry and is the key by which it is unlocked to us. Having now spoken with him personally, I have no doubt about Danny Nalliah’s love for his adopted homeland of Australia. So, in this context, the love of Christ is best displayed by an unreserved apology for the failure of every detail of his prophetic utterance. The love of Christ is not displayed by laying the blame for that failure at the feet of the praying church.
I don’t believe we can ever allow a "lone ranger" mentality to be embraced by aspiring prophetic ministries. In the same way that sin came into the world by the disobedience of one man (Adam), I likewise believe it is by one man’s bad behaviour that all access to Federal Parliament may well have been closed for the foreseeable future to any and all credible and honourable prophetic ministries. This, almost above all else, is perhaps the greatest tragedy in this whole matter.
Likewise, I believe that both the secular and faith communities of our nation are watching to see the prophetic community’s response to these issues. You would be unaware, but both Robert Holmes’ and my websites alone continue to receive significant traffic in relation to all this. In fact, almost half of the daily traffic to the Wind Farm, some seven weeks after the Federal Election, still results from people "Googling" search criterea specific to these issues.
Rather than trying to cause further dissention within the Body of Christ, I believe that people clearly need to know that prophets care about what other prophetic people do, as a demonstratration at large that the prophetic community here in Australia is in fact able to govern its own behaviour, as evidence that we are safe, and that our character and ministries can be trusted.