Debugging the Prophetic

Steve Shultz: "Debugging the Prophetic: Questions and Answers with Steve Shultz"
[from ElijahList.com]


History of "Debugging"

In 1946, when Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (Winner of the 1984 Woman of the Year Award, Young Women's Christian Association of the National Capitol Area) was released from active duty, she joined the Harvard faculty at the Computation Laboratory where she continued her work on early computers - the Mark and Mark III. She traced an error in the Mark II to a moth trapped in a relay, coining the term "bug." This bug was carefully removed and taped to the log book. Stemming from the first bug, today we call errors or glitches in a program, a bug - or the removal of the bug - the "debugging" process.

In 1946, Admiral Hooper joined the Eckert-Machly Computer Corporation (later called Sperry Rand). At Eckert-Machly she helped design the first commercial electronic computer called the UNIVAC. The UNIVAC operated a thousand times faster than the Mark I. "Debugging" came to mean fixing both computers and making things plainer when teaching.

Debugging Questions and Answers (Q&A) with Steve Shultz

Q. How and where do you find accountability for the accuracy and fulfillment of prophetic words delivered by the prophets today? Who can I rely on?

A. It is a double-edged sword to list every time a prophet is correct or accurate about a word. When we do that, people often criticize us for bragging, even when the word is accurate. At the same time, people can also accuse us of not having compassion, especially when it's a word of judgment.

We've found that it's up to the individual to decide for himself or herself if a word is correct, and leave it mostly at that. Scripture is clear that we are to "let" (that is, not disallow) two or three prophets speak and let the others pass judgment, or discern (see 1 Corinthians 14:29). That, of course, doesn't mean that a vote of five-to-four wins. The Church never voted on a word; neither do any roundtables I belong to hold the "power" (so to speak) to decide definitively if a word is correct ahead of time. We are a "too colorful" group of diverse prophetic people.

When we post any word at all on The ElijahList website - ANY word - some think it's from God and some think it's NOT from God. So, that's the way it's supposed to work. Over time, you will decide literally for yourself which words you feel are trustworthy for YOU and/or which prophets you feel have the least or best credibility.

I ask several people for counsel on many of the words we post on The ElijahList, but on the other hand, I don't ask for counsel on every word. So again, the Bible doesn't let the reader off the hook. You need to discern - not just our counselors. What if they are wrong, for instance?

We must also consider the riddle factor in most words, where God may speak in a parable or about a specific date. For instance, Hurricane Katrina seemed to be prophesied exactly one year to the date on August 29, 2004, by Chuck Pierce (one of my advisors). Katrina hit on August 29, 2005. We posted that word by Chuck Pierce one year to the date; and we posted a word by Kim Clement just weeks before Katrina hit - where he said bodies would float in the street in New Orleans (found in The ElijahList archives).

It would seem very low class to brag about such accuracy. And then sometimes we find that if we simply mention that a prophetic word turned out to be a correct year-to-the-date word, we receive comments about not being compassionate.

So, the bottom line is this: just work to decide for yourself which prophet/prophetess you most trust and which you don't and leave it at that. I believe this is the wisest course.


Q. How can we as Christians, know if a prophecy is true when it is not edifying, encouraging, or strengthening - especially when it sounds like judgment, and especially when it doesn't come to pass immediately?

A. This is the single most common question and the easiest one to "trip," or stumble over, than any other prophetic question in the New Testament era. First, a major point or two:

1. There are as many kinds of prophetic "downloads" that are revelation from the Heavenlies as there are personalities on this planet. So, there is no one form of delivery that can be discerned as being from God, or not from God. We have a glimpse of this in 1 Corinthians 14:3,"...everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort."

Likewise, we have another concept in the prophetic that makes properly discerning a prophetic word difficult:

2. Whether the Lord gives you a dream, a vision, a visitation, or any other type of seer experience with revelation included, HE often does not tell you if something you see and experience - is an evil plan from the devil - or planned by God; either way gives you the ability to stop it through prayer - if God is willing of course.

When I first got into doing The ElijahList, I would often get words sent to me like, America or the Church was a "stench in the nostrils of God." That became a key phrase that told me this person was not acting in accordance with the above Scripture, because who was strengthened by that?

So, I began to learn (and am still learning eleven years later) to discern which words are from God, and which are from the devil. Let me state it this way: When I wake up with an awful dream of something terrible happening and I wonder where that dream came from, I head straight to the "Throne of Grace" and ask God not to let that bad thing happen, be it personal, in my family, church, city, office, state, country and so forth. In most cases, I simply take the bad things to prayer and then those things don't come to pass.

For all I know, God has given thousands of people a similar dream and they are praying, too. This is good practice for all Christians. If you get a "bad" word, simply dismiss it or pray against it!

Even Abraham (prior to the Cross and prior to the time when we could say, "we have a personal relationship with God"), got in God's face when he was told directly that God would destroy an entire city, and said:

"Far be it from You (God) to do such a thing (that You've shown me or told me) - to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Genesis 18:25

Strange, isn't it, that with a personal relationship with the Creator of the world, we are afraid to get into the face of the Father and Jesus, His Son, and say, "Wouldn't You rather show mercy instead, God?" And then we can add, "Lord, I repent on behalf of the people for their sins and my own sins, but please don't destroy this city for the sins of the people."

There are times when God simply chooses to do His will and He just informs us of it, but I truly believe that most of the time, He is looking for a faith-filled man or woman to "stand in the gap" so that He won't have to judge an entire city or region.

Nevertheless, we are left with two principles:

1. Most prophecy is meant to build up and strengthen and encourage. The very fact that God is giving revelation can be encouragement enough to get you to pray. God only tells secrets to His Best Friends - and that's you and me.

2. There are times when God has sovereignly chosen to bring destruction after many warnings. In those rare cases, we can still affect the outcome - through prayer - by minimizing the destruction or saving many lives.

THE "ACID" TEST IF A PROPHETIC WORD IS TRUE:

Before I close out this long answer to a short question, let me give you a short answer by a wise prophet named Bob Jones. Here is his quote, which I love, "If a prophecy comes true, then you know it was right."

Whether you have to wait minutes or years for a prophecy to be fulfilled, ultimately, you'll discover if it was correct ONLY when it comes to pass!

Q. My Pastor allows several people to prophesy at church and I often get the exact same word those people just prophesied, yet my pastor doesn't want me to share it, even though it confirms what was just given prophetically. Please explain.

A. There is a term that I feel works well in the Body of Christ for this type of situation. It's called "resonate" or "resonation."

When the Holy Spirit is speaking, hopefully many people in the same room will be hearing the same thing at the same time. That is what makes them "resonate" with the word just given - because they are in fact hearing the same thing.

If you have great character, you will just be encouraged by the fact that you heard from God accurately. On the other hand, if you get upset because you are not allowed to give the same or similar word that was already given, you might be demonstrating prophetic immaturity.

We are instructed at any meeting to allow two or three - at most - to prophesy and let the others evaluate what was just prophesied. It doesn't mean that 57 people might not have gotten the exact same prophecy at the same time. If it's a large church, maybe more than 57 people were already hearing the same thing.

"Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said." 1 Corinthians 14:29

Remember that the Word is clear, God's sheep (that's all of us: you, me, and the whole group of us sheep, both mature and immature), DO in fact hear His voice. Therefore, in a large room there really should be a large number of people hearing and/or resonating with the word given up front - assuming that it's accurately given.

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." John 10:27

Q. Do I take a prophetic word given to me and just wait for it to happen? Do I pray into that word? Or should I try to help the prophecy happen?

A. The specific, technical and most helpful answer is, "Yes," to all of the above. I like to tell the stories about how I "stumble" into the prophetic.

Years before The ElijahList began, even before I was operating much in the prophetic, I was given a prophetic word that one day I would "connect the prophets by computer."

I thought how strange that was! You have to know this was the mid-1990's and the internet was barely known. The World Wide Web was just being heard about, but few were on it.

So, sure - I prayed into it. But then I went back to work with the work I was doing. Years went by. As that company began to wane, I starting playing around with the internet and prophecies I found on the web. For "fun," I sent a few prophecies to thirty friends. Just sending encouraging words - that's all I was doing. Someone sent back a request to subscribe, which shocked me because I wasn't looking for subscribers. Now, eleven years later, I have over 136,000 subscribers. Prophets, by the way, started asking me to connect them to each other.

So, I didn't rebel, and yes, I prayed, but mostly I forgot about it. I "stumbled" (with God's help) into the fulfillment of the prophecy.

Now, years later, being more educated in such things, I'd probably pray more and look for ways to "help" God by obeying my impressions more intentionally, rather than just "waiting" for something to happen. Other times, you have no choice but to wait until God moves.

But either way, I'm sure of this - I'm still surprised today with HOW God chooses to fulfill any prophecy I receive. He loves surprises!

Part of the surprise is sometimes how LONG you have to wait. I've seen prophecies take many years to come to pass. Sometimes the surprise is how a word comes true the very next day. It's all up to God how HE chooses to fulfill a word.

I would add this, based on what I've learned since then: Often, but not necessarily always, how you react IN FAITH at the very moment a prophecy is given to you, may depend on how quickly or how certainly a word will come true for you.

So, if you receive a good word and something inside of you, in faith, believes that word, then grab hold of that word with all that is within you! Obey impressions. Pray about that word. Decree that word. Remind God of His promise, or maybe His many promises. If you do that, you'll likely see more prophetic words come true more quickly.



Steve Shultz, Founder and Publisher
The ElijahList & ElijahRain magazine
http://www.elijahlist.com

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