How to Judge "Year Prophecies" Part One

January 1: NewYear’s Day! And with a New Year comes a new rash of “ Year Prophecies.” During the 10 years that my family and I were in the Word of Faith movement, such prophecies became common at the beginning of each year. They ran the gamut from brief messages (anyone remember “1996: The Year of the Fix”?) to some that were several paragraphs long. So how does one know that a prophecy given about the New Year is really from God? Here are a few tips to see if your Man of God’s prophetic word passes muster.

1. It is delivered at the start of the year
If someone gives a year prophecy in July, proceed with caution. That is not a year prophecy; it’s a half-year prophecy. However, giving a year prophecy at the Jewish New Year is okay.

2. Rhyme Scheme
A prophecy becomes all the catchier and memorable if it rhymes. Then the Praise and Worship team can set it to music (see article Play That Funky Music )http://theautonomyofthebeliever.blogspot.com/2009/03/play-that-funky-music.html

3. No Rhyme
There is nothing written anywhere that says a Year Prophecy must rhyme. Don’t limit God by your unbelief or your iambic pentameter. The longer the prophecy, the harder it is to rhyme, although I have seen it done.

4. Has Grammatical Errors Consistent with the Way Your Man of God Speaks
If your prophet or pastor says for example, “dispazootions” instead of “dispensations”, “tooken” instead of “taken” or has a strong Midwestern or Southern accent, the prophecy will sound like that. It’s just God's way of letting you know that every time this man speaks, it’s God speaking through him.

5. Lack of Specifics
Remember that book that gave 88 reasons Christ would return in 1988? If you do, then you realize that a Year Prophecy isn’t going to set any dates or name names or give too much specific information. It only needs to bear witness with your spirit. It’s not going to be really negative either, you can read Jeremiah if you need a rebuke. It will be something to the effect of “God has a blessing for you, and it might get tough for some of you this year but hang in there and we will all be blessed before it’s over with.”

Charles Capps Wouldn't Buy Any Green Bananas

It's funny the things that remind you of the past. I happened to notice some green bananas on a table of fruit in our house and was reminded of Charles Capps coming to our church in the late 1990's. He was preaching from his then-recent book End Time Events. I remember that although he said he didn't want to set dates on Christ's return, he wouldn't be buying any green bananas. It was meant to be a humorous comment, even though he all but said that the year 2000 could see the return of Jesus based some kind of mathematics involving the Jewish calender. There was much "year 2000" speculation amongst WOFers during 1999. Kenneth Copeland and Capps were on Believer's Voice of Victory at length discussing the topic. Everytime the topic was preached on, everyone would say "Now, we aren't setting dates here..." and then make reference to the book that gave reasons why Christ would return in 1988. After that disclaimer, they would go on to speculate on what big thing could be coming in 2000 (apart from Y2K hysteria).

It makes me think of all the failed prophecies I heard in the WOF. Anyone remember Oral Robert's "Wake Up Call" discussed at length by the Copelands and Billye Brim on BVOV? Remember Jerry Savelle's interpretation of a prophecy given by Kenneth E. Hagin Sr. during a family holiday dinner regarding 1996 through 1999. It was the beginning of a trend of annoying rhyming prophecy slogans: "1996 The Year of the Fix, 1997 Will Be Like Heaven..." (He also said 2000 would see miracles like we've never seen. I thought 2000 was a big letdown.).

I also remember a prophecy our pastor gave that was printed in the church bulletin the year we left. It was all glory and money and heaven, nothing real specific. Funny enough, the only spectacular thing that happened at our church that year was the exposing of a scandal that caused most of the congregation to leave and has resulted in one prison sentence (so far).

So much for prophecy!