A Prophetic Word: Ferguson, the Church, and, Specifically, the Charismatic Movement.

Back in late August, I was driving home from campus and heading down Illinois State Route 143 when I received a prophetic word from the Lord. It was a beautiful day, I remember, and particularly scenic as I passed one of the industrial plants on my right with the River on my left.

It took me by surprise, actually. Let me be straightforward with you here: I am not usually a "this is the Word of the Lord" sort of guy. I'll go six months and only be able to tell you: "Well, this is what I'm sensing from the Holy Spirit right now" or "This is my leaning" and not hear much otherwise.

But every now and again, the Holy Spirit takes the prophetic training that I've received from the churches I've been involved with, a little dash of Dallas Willard, and a big megaphone and shoots me straight.

I had been praying about what was going on across the River: a young black man had been shot by a white police officer. Something big was happening. So, I took my troubled soul to the Lord, and I began to pray for the situation on my drive home.

And then He said this:

When you spread out your hands in prayer,

    I hide my eyes from you;

even when you offer many prayers,

    I am not listening.

Your hands are full of blood!

Wash and make yourselves clean.

    Take your evil deeds out of my sight;

    stop doing wrong.

Learn to do right; seek justice.

    Defend the oppressed.

Take up the cause of the fatherless;

    plead the case of the widow. 

                                             (Isaiah 1:15-17)

And this made me very distraught. You see, God spoke this Word to me as I prayed for His Church in the midst of the crisis. I was praying that God would help His Church to seek Truth and Justice in the midst of the Ferguson crisis. But what God spoke to me during that drive was very clear: we are in an Isaiah sort of crisis in America right now. Isaiah spoke to a people who were a little before the final siege and destruction of Jerusalem. And here, in the early days of his ministry (near the reign of Uzziah = King Hezekiah), Isaiah's prophetic call to God's people was: "Repent of your Injustice! And if you don't: I will not listen to your prayers."

I knew at that moment that this was very important. So, as any of us should do when we receive a Word, I took to social media and challenged my brothers and sisters to consider God's view of Justice and to engage with the conversation that is being brought up via Ferguson. I even wrote a blog post about it.

Then there was a long wait. Folks got quiet about it. The Grand Jury took a little while to return the (non)-indictment. There was some social action during "Ferguson October," but for a little while there was not a lot of conversation (at least, from my social media perspective). I was keeping my ear open, waiting, listening, engaging as I had the opportunity.

And then the Grand Jury verdict came back on this past Monday. (Goodness, this week felt longer than that.) I had completely forgotten about this Word of the Lord from August. On Monday evening, I was engaging with the events 'cross-River via Twitter when a fellow blogger (By Their Strange Fruit) asked the question; "Hey! This is the first week in Advent! How can we pray in this season in light of what's happening in Ferguson?"

To which I replied: "Ah! Advent is the season of waiting for our Coming King, who will bring True Justice in His Coming Reign..." But I had not yet spent my daily quiet time with the Lord yet, so I proceeded to open up my Book of Common Prayer to the first week in Advent.

And there, staring me straight in the face, was Isaiah: "When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow." (Is. 1:15-17)

Immediately, I remembered the Word God had spoken to me on that sunny drive in August.


Now, why did I say this in this manner? Because I want to challenge one particularly subset of Christianity to repentance: the Charismatic Church.

Something that's been burning on my soul for a little while now has been a longing to see the Charismatic Movement really be a powerful demonstration of God's Love to the world. But also burning on my soul has been the numerous issues and problems within the Charismatic Church.

To be sure: there is a lot of great things in the Charismatic Movement. I was at Onething '09 when my friend's sister had her spine instantly healed from scoliosis. I've been to the Prayer Room at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, and I've stood on the wall as an intercessor before the Lord. I've been on a "treasure hunt" before and been in the midst of a company of prophetic words. I've experienced the fire of God's Holy Spirit in exquisite and powerful ways.

But I also have seen some great abuses within the Charismatic Movement. Without an understanding of historic Christianity, the Charismatic Church often loses touch with orthodox theology. Without a perspective on orthodox theology, the Charismatic Church often functions under extremely weak ecclesiology. I've met some folk who left Christianity directly because of bad soteriology in the Charismatic Church (worse yet: Pelagianism), and others who were frustrated because they were never healed or they didn't understand deliverance (= exorcism, for you non-charismatic folks).

I deeply love the Charismatic Movement. And I pray that she would grow into the beautiful, powerful, freeing voice of Christianity that she is meant to be.


But something bothers me, in the midst of what's been going on in Ferguson. As I look out on social media, I hear one of two lines from the Charismatic Movement: I either hear complete radio silence on the issue, or the same lines of rhetoric ("Well, if Mike Brown had just obeyed the law," or "this is not a race issue," and, even!, "you must understand: this is a Muslim plot...!!!") that I'm hearing from unsaved white folk.

And my question (and challenge) to the Charismatic Movement is this: Why haven't the prophets said anything? I've been watching a few Twitter feeds and Facebook accounts of some of the prominent prophetic ministries in the U.S. (the three major "streams": Bethel, IHOP-KC, and Morningstar), and they have all been completely silent.

That is deeply disconcerting to me. How can it be that something that pretty much every single African American church in America can't not talk about this coming Sunday is a subject matter that none of the "big name prophetic voices" in our country are speaking on? Is it that this "isn't really that important?" Or is there are bigger issue?


I'm sharing about this prophetic word the Lord gave me because I think there's a bigger issue. And I'm convinced that this is, in some sense, a "make or break" moment for the Charismatic Movement. I believe that God is serious, and I believe that He will begin removing fruit from the Charismatic Movement (and any section of the Church) until we begin listening to the warning that He's given us.

I'm sharing about this prophetic word in this way, telling of how God said it to me and how He confirmed it to me, because I've seen people stand up and give a prophetic word with less confirmation and less prayer and be listened to. I share it this way because, yet again, I love the Charismatic Movement, and I do not want her to become an unfruitful vine.

I'm sharing about this prophetic word because I have heard from the Lord on this matter, and He's given me a place to proclaim, and He's given me the tools I need to proclaim it. This is an Isaiah and Joel moment in our country. But if we don't ask the Lord and engage with Him now, it will pass us by and we will be under God's Judgment.

I'm sharing about this prophetic word because I want to see the Kingdom of God advance.

Hear, O Church. I love you too much to not share this with you.

***EDIT 9:41AM***

I felt I needed to clarify one point:

For my Charismatic brothers & sisters: I am not saying this as some sort of "Declaration of War" or "Strange Fire" (MERCY, NO!) or anything of that sort. I really do believe that God gave me a prophetic word for the hour. All I ask is that you would consider this Word, discern according to the Word of God and the Spirit who lives within you, and ask God about it, just like any other prophetic word that may be spoken.

But my warning comes in this sense: If you dismiss this immediately, I want to ask you: "Why have you dismissed this Word so quickly?" Was it because you knew inherently that it must be wrong? Or do you doubt my character? (For those who know me, I hope that is not the case!) Was it because it contrasted with your views on the matter?

The same would go for those (including myself) who would take this Word readily and rally behind it. Again, "Why accept it so quickly?" Is it because you know inherently that it must be true? Or because you so clearly trust my character? (Again, self-reflectively, I hope that is not the case either!) Was it because your views so agreed on the matter?

But here's one final question; Does this Word make you feel uncomfortable? Does it challenge you to pursue God more, or, were you to live it out, would it change our world in some manner? What would it look like if the Church, and specifically the Charismatic Movement in the Church, were to really grasp a vision of Racial Reconciliation being deeply important to God?

Me, I want to lean into my Father. And I believe that He's given me this Word to declare. And though it looks really really hard to speak it to a community that I love, I too feel "fire shut up in my bones" if I were to keep within the revelation He's shown me.

The Alton Observer.

In 1836, a judge by the name of Lawless looked the newspaper-man in the eyes and said to him: "Your newspaper was the reason that this man died."

But Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy did not stand down. You see, he was the owner and principle author of a little newspaper known as the St. Louis Observer, and he had dedicated a large portion of his life and his time to writing about the evils of slavery and the wickedness of racial hatred. By 1836, his printing press had been destroyed three times.

In that year, a free black man named Francis McIntosh was burned to death by a mob. Rev. Lovejoy attended the grand jury proceedings, decrying the manner of McIntosh's death. Judge Lawless blamed the Observer for the lynch mob.

In 1837, Rev. Lovejoy relocated to the city of Alton, right across the River. On November 7th of that year, his printing press was assailed and thrown into the River, and Rev. Lovejoy was murdered by a mob.

Rev. Lovejoy is a powerful symbol for me. I live in the City of Alton, and I too am a Christian and a writer. When I hear about Rev. Lovejoy's testimony before Judge Lawless, his consistency in standing for slave's rights, and his martyred death, I feel a strength to speak using that same prophetic voice.

Rev. Lovejoy was an abolitionist not because he was politically-motivated or because he wanted votes or popularity -- he was an abolitionist because he was convinced by the Gospel that all men were created equal and free, and he was empowered by God's Spirit to be a voice for the voiceless. He declared: "If the laws of my country fail to protect me I appeal to God, and with him I cheerfully rest my cause. I can die at my post but I cannot desert it."

Right now, Rev. Lovejoy is on my mind on a daily basis. Across the River, in the small St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, there is violent unrest and turmoil following the non-indictment of police officer Darren Wilson. And I've been finding myself asking one major question: "How would Brother Lovejoy have responded?"

There's a bit about Francis McIntosh that I didn't share earlier: he was a bad man. Lovejoy himself said of this man: "...a hardened wretch certainly, and one that deserved to die —but not thus to die." McIntosh had interrupted the arrest of two rowdy sailors by two police officers, and he wounded and killed those officers. But Lovejoy defended him because it was wrong for him to have died in the manner that he died: by lynch-mob and without a trial.

In the spirit of Rev. Lovejoy, I look across the Clark Bridge to St. Louis. In Ferguson last August, an unarmed black teen was shot and killed by a white police officer. No matter how you mince things, Mike Brown did not have a weapon, and he had never killed a man. Yet he was shot multiple times and left dead on the street for 4 hours.

We could probably have a conversation about Mike Brown posing a danger to Darren Wilson, about the theft from the convenience store, &c. &c. ... ... But my point (in this blog post) is that no matter how we look at this situation, Mike Brown was not a murderer and he was not armed. Brother Lovejoy defended McIntosh, an armed murderer, because it was wrong for him to have died the way that he died.

I've talked before about this case, but here I want to share another spin: Is it ever right for a man to be killed without trial? And if Lovejoy was willing to put his reputation on the line for, again, a bad man who died in a wicked way, then how much more so should the modern Christian (and the modern Christian writer!) speak out and cry out for Justice for an unarmed teen who died in an unlawful way.

I can see the Arch from my house, through the beams of the Clark Bridge. I can also see the Lovejoy Monument, which is just a few blocks from where I live. How can I not ask for Justice for the oppressed? How can I not cry out for Truth in this world of lies? How can I not say, as I have said before: "This is not right."

If I do not speak, the blood on the ground in Ferguson would cry out against me. If I do not speak, the blood of righteous Lovejoy would cry out against me. That is why I have been so vocal, and that is why I cannot be quiet on this matter.