ISSUE 407
Prophetic Brief
Insight and Analysis for the 21st Century
New Video Series
We are living in an unmatched time
in the earth; a time when crisis is
erupting through natural disasters,
political destabilization, and
economic meltdown.   felt he was doing God a service but he
Politicians and religious leaders are
all weighing in on these events, but
they don’t seem to have the
answers to a world in intense
distress, and are rightly wondering:
What in the World
is Going On?
In this series of Prophetic Briefs,
Scott Webster addresses questions
that are on people’s minds, and
brings prophetic perspective to the
events happening in the earth
today, so that we can stand
effectively in a day when so many
things are falling apart.
View the first five episodes in the
series “What in the World is Going
On” at scottwebsterministries.org.
© 2011 SCOTT WEBSTER MINISTRIES.
APRIL 13TH 2011
Building a Powerful Church to Thrive During a
Time of Crisis - Part 15
Is There Such a Thing as a Bad Word from God? Part 3
I began working with a church nearly 10 years ago when it was in transition.
The pastor who led the church into the transition eventually chose to leave
the church as he felt God was leading him elsewhere, and there was also a
massive renovation of next level leaders, including the appointment of a
new Senior Pastor who has done an excellent job in the last decade.
However, not everyone in the church agreed with the changes being made,
and one guy decided he was a prophet who had to speak against the
direction this church was going – which he did one day right in the middle
of the new pastor’s message. He walked
down to the front and “prophesied”
against the pastor and the message he
was in the process of delivering. He was
corrected and stopped, and later was told
that if he had concerns, a public forum
on Sunday morning was not the place to
deal with them. He left the church and to
this day he can’t stand to have it spoken
about in his presence. I’m sure this guy
has gotten bitter and hard, and it is clear
that his self-appointed prophetic
function was in fact an expression of
personal opinion, fleshly interpretation of issues and really a reflection of a
heart that was not processed correctly before the Lord.
When I heard about this incident I wasn’t totally surprised, since I had
worked with him and the leadership team he was a part of; the problem was
that most of the guys on this leadership team were not deeply spiritual
people and their placement on the team was inappropriate. During one of
my visits a few years prior I gave a corporate word from the Lord to the
church on Sunday morning, and that same evening I sat with the leadership
team to discuss it. The Pastor / Senior Elder said a few words and then
asked for comments from the leadership team, and for the next 90 minutes
what I observed shocked me. Various ones wanted to know why their pet
issues had not been addressed by God, others expressed disagreement with
what was said or jumped ahead and began to debate how we would
accomplish what was said.
The discussion was not reasoned or filled with deliberate and thoughtfully
considered spiritual principles – it was riotous and carnal, filled with self-
will and so verbally loud and disorganized that at one point the pastor had to
raise his voice and say “everyone be quiet, I want to say something.” To my
further shock the pastor told me afterwards “I’m really glad you were in
that meeting so you could see the quality of my leaders and the lively debate
process that characterizes our team.” That secondary leadership team was
named the Leadership Assistance Council, and occasionally the new leaders
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 ISSUE 407 APRIL 13TH 2011

1 Kings 21:27
When Ahab heard these words,
he tore his clothes, put on
sackcloth and fasted. He lay in
sackcloth and went around
meekly. 28 en the word of the
LORD came to Elijah the
Tishbite: 29 "Have you noticed
how Ahab has humbled himself
before me? Because he has
humbled himself, I will not bring
this disaster in his day, but I will
bring it on his house in the days
of his son." (NIV)
and I joke that the team: a) was not made up of leaders b) provided no
assistance and c) possessed no counsel (you have to laugh or else you will
hold your head and cry!). We also joke that the acronym “LAC” was an
appropriate naming. We were able to transition that church through God can speak “hard words”
excellent response of the new leaders, some of whom had been on the LAC to us, but the true word of
team – there has been much spiritual labor and the help of the Holy Spirit,
and the church now stands as one of the core structures in our network. God is always intended for
our good and it points us
This incident was just one more example of a wrong view of the prophetic; toward a redemptive process
these experiences – and they are many – are an attempt by darkness to
stain the prophetic and pollute people’s minds in order to get them to reject which brings us closer to
the true voice of God that does bring adjustment, correction and Him. We have a right to
occasionally rebuke. In addition to these bad experiences, there are reject the alleged prophetic
associated issues and philosophies held by many which serve as the basis
for a wrong belief that God could never speak a hard word to us: a) the words of those who are
demand for blessing in the church and b) humanistic standards. unseasoned or warped due
to the distortion within their
e Demand for Blessing
own heart, but we have no
We must deal with another issue which twists the context of prophetic
operations, and that is the demand for blessing that exists within the wider right to pick and choose
church. Back in the early 1980s we didn’t start out trying to build a “bless from among what the Lord is
me club”, but over a period of time people came to expect that they could actually saying and keep only
get in a line to receive a good word from God. A big part of this was God
restoring the prophetic to the church and personal prophecy was a what we evaluate as “good”.
predominant manifestation of that, but as I said it degenerated in many If Ahab the notoriously
places to a carnal demand for blessing. wicked king could receive a
An extreme example, but true story, serves to illustrate this very well. A hard word from God and
colleague of mine was traveling into churches and he had a heart to come repent to the point that it got
alongside pastors and help them build the people under their care. At one God’s attention, then every
church he spoke with the pastor before the service and asked him if there
was anything he could teach that would strengthen the church at that believer today should learn
particular time. The pastor refused to answer and just said “whatever you from these examples and
feel led to do” and the visiting prophet pressed him for an answer so it open their heart to the voice
went back and forth several times. Finally the pastor became exasperated
and declared: “Listen, I don’t care what you teach tonight. In fact, I don’t of God – no matter what He
care if you get up and read names out of the phonebook for 45 minutes. As says!
long as when you finish, you prophesy over every one of my people.” That
context made it very difficult for a prophet to function correctly within the
© 2011 SCOTT WEBSTER MINISTRIES. Page 2 of 4
 ISSUE 407 APRIL 13TH 2011

body of Christ, and the demand for blessing also manifests in a wrong view
that God will only say positive things about a person, church, or nation; and A Developed PROPHETIC
that any other prophetic utterance is wrong. PERSPECTIVE
Humanistic Standards A fresh look
The second factor which supports the false premise that God could never at Prophetic
speak a “hard word” to a believer is the imposing of a humanistic standard Operations
upon the church which wrongly connects love and acceptance to not being from a
offensive because the most important thing is someone’s self-image. In this Kingdom
frame of mind there is almost a desperation for people not to feel badly Viewpoint.
about themselves and to know they are loved and accepted based on human
affection. Now
Available>
I was running some errands with Kathy the other day and we passed two
churches with sayings on the marquee. One said “It is important to be
nice”, and a few miles down the road another one declared “It is better to light a flame than to curse the
darkness.” Kathy and I drove along, talking about the philosophy behind the statements which clearly put a
premium on being positive, socially acceptable and only saying “nice” things. In the last newsletter we dealt with
God cursing man and Elijah pronouncing death to Ahab, both of which were redemptive and filled with true love.
I guess neither God nor Elijah would be accepted into these churches, and I honestly wonder how churches like
this deal with parts of the Bible which are direct, straightforward and not “nice” by their definition. I guess they
just ignore these parts and thereby twist the Word of God, presenting a false Christ that is similar to the twisted
perception of God behind the man’s public rebuke of the pastor mentioned above. Darkness doesn’t really care
how God gets twisted up in people’s minds, as long as they don’t find their way to the true God who brings life
and redemption. Too angry and condemnatory or too nice and politically correct – either one works for satanic
purposes.

The reason people feel that a prophetic word must only say “good things” is because the body of Christ generally
is spiritually soft and non-governmental. This lack of correct spiritual government has produced realities which
are killing the Church across the earth, including:

a) When leaders engage in gross sin they are swiftly forgiven because after all, who are we to judge. There
is usually no public rebuke and no true process of the person moving back to correct relationship with God.
The primary act of restoration is to get them back in ministry, when what is really required is to secure their
relationship with God. It is not their gift that is most important; it is their soul and their eternal destiny.

b)People are unwilling to change because “God loves me just the way I am.” There are countless people
who may be genuinely saved, but they are convinced that feeling loved is the most important thing.
Therefore, the call to change is rejected as harsh and lacking acceptance. The problem with this is that the
Word of God declares a changed person to be the primary indication of relationship with Christ (2 Cor
5:17, Mt 3:8, Jude 12), so this stance is unbiblical and it produces a very shallow church which lacks
spiritual mass and which is completely unable to change the world around it because it is in largely the
same spiritual condition they are.
© 2011 SCOTT WEBSTER MINISTRIES. Page 3 of 4
 ISSUE 407 APRIL 13TH 2011

c) Sin is generally not dealt with because it is not a “positive message” and rebuking people turns other
people off. It is a sad reality that within scores of churches people live in blatant sin that is never dealt with
correctly by leaders. Many (most) things can be dealt with privately and a public rebuke is only needed in
occasional situations – but neither private or public measures are taken in numerous churches which simply
refuse to confront those who impose their carnal lifestyles and thus rob the church of purity.

Example: How to Respond to a “Hard Word”

In 2007 a team of our prophets conducted personal ministry within a related church – these events are scheduled
opportunities which have a follow-up process included so people know how to respond to the speaking of God.
One man, a Secondary Leader in the church, had been saved about 7-8 years and radical changes had occurred in
his life since that time. He and his wife had spent the previous 20+ years as professionals, and a few years before
receiving this prophecy they sold the successful business they had built up, left their well established careers and
moved geographically to be a part of this church.

Now, God was dealing with their internal development and the prophetic word hit strongly on that: “You built life
to be safe. Your life was about being safe. And then God upset your nest, and He is making life for you unsafe.
And that is God. Your life is meant to be unsafe. He said perilous times will come, unsafe times will come. And
the solution is not to run away from the times - the solution is to find confidence in God. Your departure from your
career and moving across the country is simply an outward sign of the radical transformation that is taking place
inside. A lot of the stuff that served you in the former incarnation is not going to serve you in the same way now.”

His response to this word was very good and can serve as a practical example of how to respond to what some
might call a “hard word”.

“When I heard the word unsafe, something crunched inside. I knew that meant insecurity, shakiness, some type of
loss of what was previously built. I had a sense of dread. When I received this word I could identify with it very
quickly and I had a sense of the safety we had built. It was what the world told us we should do – get a degree,
make money, (the more the better), save for the future, plan on retirement – it was considered the responsible thing
to do. When God spoke these things to me I had a realization that I had not built the right foundation, and I knew
my world was going to be turned upside down.

Many things became “unsafe”: finances, job, demand in areas never touched before (leadership, marriage,
serving). Yet I see change inside of me, I see greater understanding of God and what He considers maturity.
There is a component of liberation inside of all this. I look back and think about how worldly safe everything used
to be. I also see how easily shaken it all was, and that I stand in a position of much greater strength and solidity
because my confidence in Him has grown.

I had no idea the extent of this word, I just knew it was not going to be
easy. At the same time I heard the redeeming side, or the purpose behind
these words….i.e. what God was after…“the solution will be finding
confidence in God”. What I could not have imagined was the process that
lay ahead. After 4 years, I have sight of what confidence in God looks like
and feels like. I am still in the midst of this word, but I see what it has done
and how a word has power to be long lasting; it does not depart until it has 2778 Cumberland Blvd
accomplished what it was purposed for. Suite 163
The example of our brother – shared with his permission – and his Symrna GA 30080
excellent response to the word of the Lord reinforces the premise that there Tel: 678.302.3052
is no such thing as a bad word from God. If it truly comes from the Lord it admin@scottwebsterministries.org
is filled with life, even if it is Jeremiah declaring captivity to Israel or www.scottwebsterministries.org
Elijah prophesying death to Ahab. God is redemptive at His core and His © 2011 Scott Webster Ministries.
speaking is designed to bring people to a place of correct standing before All Rights Reserved.
Him. People have to be taught and led into a correct posture from which to
hear God. It is a time of God speaking in the earth, and we MUST correctly © 2011 Copyright by SWM, copy and
duplication without permission is prohibited.
hear Him and respond appropriately!!
Releasing The New Prophetic Dimension • Activating The Capacity To Build • Obeying The Command To Finish
© 2011 SCOTT WEBSTER MINISTRIES. Page 4 of 4