It is sometimes difficult to read Scripture and to make sense of it (sometimes?)… my reading yesterday included that of the lone prophetic voice of Micaiah who spoke in opposition to 400 other prophets:
Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred of them, and said to them, “Shall we go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” They said, “Go up, for God will give it into the hand of the king.” (2 Chron. 18:5).
The vast majority of prophets were aligned with the political power of their day; their voice being unanimous that God is with you to bring you success. The story goes on that Micaiah comes reluctantly with a contrary word, and then also gives insight into the behind the scenes that took place in the heavens with a discussion between God and various spirits, including a lying spirit. I am not sure what to make of that part of the narrative and am aware of a move to take the ‘heavenly counsel’ as literal – I am really not sure about that. Regardless the outcome is that a ‘lying spirit’ comes into the mouths of the prophetic counsel. That is the sobering part.
Can God speak a word to power that contains ‘God is with you to bring you success’? Yes indeed, but at the heart of the prophetic has to be a challenge to power and when Scripture is read with regard to an inbalance of power the challenge is always to those who abuse power. The call is to ‘repent’ to those with the power and to those oppressed that the day will come when they will be rewarded.
Can a lying spirit come into the mouths of those who prophesy? Maybe. Lying spirit or not what seems clear is whenever we are bought (financially or emotionally) there will always be the possibility (the inevitability?) of declaring success to power.
Out of the mouth of 2 or 3 (or 400) witnesses let every word be established. Or maybe we could suggest something along the lines of align yourself to those who are in the power position and the echo chamber will be strengthened.
Some while back I had a dream in which there was a group gathered from a European context and they were discussing what should be the ‘protocols’ in place for a fresh wave of prophetic expression. Into the dream a prophetic figure from the USA materialised. He materialised as a 40 year old which would coincide with the time that he (with others) were laying foundations for a prophetic expression that is now being (rightly) critiqued. He knew that what they did was, with hindsight, insufficient. What is for certain one of the biggest flaws in any prophetic foundation is an uncritical alignment with power.