The Danger of Fanning the Flames of Prophetic Hysteria

The Danger of Fanning the Flames of Prophetic Hysteria

Osamwonyi Omozuwa

If you are a curious observer of trends, you may have noticed that there is an emerging prophetic tradition in Nigeria that is fairly unwholesome. It is a departure from prophetic advocacy for socioeconomic justice and national transformation. In times of sociopolitical turmoil, when prophetic warnings, directions, or consolations are needed, many self-acclaimed prophets hibernate. They fail to speak truth to power. But in the first few days of every year, they become hyperactive and inundate the public square with prophecies. `

More often than not, the content of their vatic messages are shallow, speculative, and sensational. Also, they are often the simplistic rehash of episodic news items. Or insipid attempts to put the divine stamp of authentication on a journalistic forecast.  Some act as if they do not know that prophetic revelation springs from fellowship with the Holy Spirit, not from observation. 

Prophets in scriptures are not trend-watchers. They do not study emerging fashions with the aim of predicting future trends. By the aid of the Spirit, they explore the depths of God.  Reveal what cannot be discovered by human faculties and scrutiny: God’s action plan. 

The timeliness and timelessness of prophetic messages are bound to be compromised when prophets are tyrannized by clock and calendar. There are no seasons of prophecies or seasonal prophets in scriptures. That, in part, is why I am disinclined to prophets who hear God at predictable moments.  For, they unwittingly create the impression that there is a season when God plays mute, and there is a season when God speaks volumes. The God of the bible is not governed by time. He is beyond time. He speaks to seekers always.  There is no such thing as divine downtime.

The eternal Spirit, the very energizer of prophetic ministries, is time-sensitive, but not time regulated. Those He has commissioned to function in the office of prophets are not slaves of time.  He does not have a particular time when He unveils God’s mind to them. He can prompt a prophet at any time, and show him unseen realities, cause him to hear the inaudible, or feel the immaterial.   

A true prophet is not inhibited by time-space barriers. He sees beyond spatiotemporal realities. Taintless vatic telescope captures the eternal now, that is, the past, the present, and the future.  Finitude is transcended whenever the prophetic unction is activated. It ushers man to the infinite, albeit, momentarily.  

Authentic prophets do not downplay divine intelligence. They make men wonder at the prescience of God. In other words, they demonstrate that God knows “the end from the beginning.” He does not simulate probabilistic scenarios. He does not work by guesswork. For, He is omniscient. Therefore, exactitude is a hallmark of a prophet that knows the mind of God about a season, situation, or people. Stated differently, pinpoint precision is a characteristic of the prophetic, not probabilistic predictions.  Recall, Elisha declared “by this time tomorrow” (2 Kings 7:1).

Prophetic protocol disallows sensationalizing the sacred.  Authentic prophetic ministries do not draw inspiration from the tabloid. They do not blur the line between divine revelation and human speculation. The prophetic is not sensationalistic, even though prophets do dramatize “Thus saith the Lord”. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and Hosea understood that potent tones and brilliant tableaux have the power to ignite the spiritual imagination of society. So, they dramatized their messages. Recall, Ezekiel slept on his left-hand side for 390 days to call attention to impending 390 years captivity of northern Israel. Hosea married an impetuous prostitute. One mark of a genuine prophet is that he is a “sum and substance of his message.” He embodies what he proclaims. He carries a burden. He speaks from the place of burden, not from the realm of imagination, or for sensationalism.  

Authentic prophets do not ignite firestorms of delusion. They are not agents of confusion or givers of false hope. They give direction, exhortation, comfort, and edification. Even when they are not positive they do not essentially induce fear. God reveals negatives to stir people to cancel it. Certain things are revealed to be canceled, not to fuel delusion and manipulation.  

The way some Nigerian prophets patronize the elite raises a question about the validity of their prophetic credentials.  The devil is the paymaster of an elitist prophet, particularly, those that manipulate by “Thus saith the Lord.”  Nathan was sent to the elite of his day.  But, he did not become elitist.

It is difficult for me to know the spiritual or social functionality of prophetic gravediggers. I mean those who craft obituaries of highly successful people in opaque terms. For example, “One top politician from the southwest is going to die this year”, “Two Nollywood stars will be disgraced this year.” 

Today, the cacophony of prophetic voices muffles the voice of truth, deadens the conscience of society, and animates the unprincipled quest for power and materiality.   Is it not worrisome that prophetic voices do not decry economic exploitations any longer? 

We need prophets like Amos, the fine ironist. His diatribe against the sense of entitlement that was like “narcotic for the elite of eighth-century Israel” was culture changing.  We need savvy court prophets like Nathan who will tell the denizens of Aso Rock that if they do not address the senseless killings of Fulani herdsmen the wrath of God will consume them.  Not prophets predicting the outcome of the 2019 elections. Genuine prophets are not cowards. They are not luxury-seekers or social butterflies. There is something clandestine about their ministry; hence, they often stay away from the front of the camera. 

We need apostolic radicals who will strengthen the church. So, the floodgate of mercantile prophesies will be shut. We need apostolic radicals that will articulate “pedagogies of engagement”. Thereby, guide the training of “the sons of prophets”; so, that they would not replicate the errors of their fathers. That they may know it is not in the place of prophets to fan the flames of mass hysteria, or make the spiritual climate of a nation hazy, so that religious manipulators can thrive financially.  We need a new breed of prophets that will lighten the public space, make it free of prophetic debris, instruct kings, provide succor for the vulnerable, and whittle down the influences of skeptics.