The Heresy Hunter

Rick Joyner on Wheat and Tares

Morning Star's Rick Joyner has written an article on Discerning the Wheat From the Tares. He writes about mature and immature prophets. In this context he says, in part:

Young, immature prophetic people will often behave unskilled, and we will be tempted to think that they are really "tares" instead of "wheat." Those who do not listen to the wisdom of the Lord, and try to weed out the tares prematurely, often throw out the "wheat" and keep the "tares."

Many churches and church leaders want the prophetic, but only after it has become mature. Of course, this would be easier in the short-term, but would actually be very costly in the end. It is by going through the "maturity process," and learning the nature of each from the maturing of both the wheat and tares, that a church and its leadership are prepared to handle the responsibility of a mature prophetic ministry. It is also the way we will be able to discern the false.

I have watched a number of times as churches and ministries rejected immature prophetic people because they still had problems. These same churches and ministries are usually then deceived by a false prophet that inevitably causes much harm. They then blame their problems on "the prophetic."

I'm still looking for a scriptural reference to training schools for the biblical prophets. Joyner then sites the Apostle Paul as a maturing apostle, using him as an example of how an apostle can mature, and in the same way, a prophet can mature. He writes:

We should also begin to recognize the tares that are among the wheat in any movement as they mature. One of the great examples of how the wheat matures is the Apostle Paul. In one of his early letters, he stated that he was not inferior to even the most eminent apostles (see II Corinthians 11:5). He wrote about five years later that he was the "least of the apostles" (see I Corinthians 15:9). In a letter he wrote about five years after this, he stated that he was "the least of the saints"(see Ephesians 3:8. In one of his last letters, he declared himself to be "the greatest of sinners" (see I Timothy 1:15. He kept seeing himself as less important, though he was obviously growing in spiritual stature, and actually was one of the most important first century apostles.

I don't believe Paul was really bragging in 2 Cor. 11:5. According to most commentaries, in context, it would appear that Paul was referring to the term the false teachers used for the real apostles, where the false teachers mockingly referred to super apostles. He wasn't puffed up with pride, as Joyner would suggest.

Secondly, Joyner appeals to 1 Corinthians 15:9 to show that Paul was a little more humble than he was five years previously. Besides the fact that most people place the two letters not more than a year apart, Joyner has 1 Corinthians written five years AFTER 2 Corinthians! Correcting Joyner's error, and using Joyner's logic, that would mean Paul was backsliding, not maturing! So much for that theory!

Finally, it is faulty reasoning to think that, because an apostle can mature, a prophet can as well. Prophets were called on to be 100% correct 100% of the time.

Labels: Rick Joyner

posted by Bob Hunter @ Tuesday, February 27, 2007