Continuing the theme of how some multilevel marketing groups are using principles of the kingdom more effectively than the church at this time, I do realize that some seem to be building on greed and material attainment more than godliness. I don’t deny this and would never condone it even for business if we are Christians, but this does not negate the truth. I know people who pray in the wrong spirit, using prayers to preach or manipulate others, but this does not mean that we should stop praying because some are not doing it right.

          About the charge that all these multilevel groups do is talk about money, I must ask: How is that different from many churches today? If this is not the case with a church, more times than not, they have been reactionary to this and instead promote what is in fact a spirit of poverty. Remember, a ditch is on either side of the path of life, and if we react to one, we will usually fall into the ditch on the other side. It is also a sad fact that many who are in a spiritual ditch, stuck and going nowhere, often do not even realize they’re stuck. You can have a car putting out 300-horsepower, but if the car is just spinning its wheels, it’s still not going anywhere. Where is all of the energy we’re putting out really taking us?

          Again, I’m not trying to be an apologist for multilevel groups or attack the church—I am a deeply committed local churchman and always have been. I am only trying to provoke the church to understand why people are finding in outside groups, multilevel and others, what they should be finding at church.

          The church is supposed to be the ultimate society, a place of fellowship like no other. It will be this at the end of this age, and the change can come fast. However, our fellowship is not around a product or marketing plan but around something infinitely greater—the King of kings. We are all on a mission from God, and with God, and it is the greatest mission that was ever given to men—to proclaim the coming of His kingdom and to prepare the way for Him.

          The prophetic ministry and gifts are a big part of this as we see in many Scriptures. I will continue to share some of the experiences that we’ve had because there is much teaching in them, but it is necessary that we understand one basic principle before we go further. To a large degree, we will be limited in our ability to hear prophetically from the Lord by our lack of knowledge in the Scriptures. If Jesus, who is the Word, when He was challenged by the devil, would counter this by “it is written,” how much more do we need a solid foundation of biblical truth to stand on?

          One of the greatest prophetic people I’ve ever known is Bob Jones. He not only has one of the greatest prophetic gifts, but he is also great in character. He has made mistakes, like all of the other heroes including those in Scripture have, but he always grew through them and became even stronger in character. Bob is also probably more devoted to knowing the written Word better than anyone I’ve ever known, and I’ve known some of the great theologians and biblical teachers maybe of all time. I don’t know anyone who knows Bob that would not concur. He is fundamentally devoted to attaching every prophetic word he receives to Scripture, and he does.

          Once a Baptist preacher we know started having remarkable prophetic revelation. One day he received a word for a certain conference that he did not understand, but he was determined to be obedient, so he blurted out, “The Lord is going to kick a_ _ and take names!” As you can imagine, the congregation was about as shocked as you may have been when you read this, but Bob wasn’t. He just said to the pastor, “Now give them a Scripture for it.” The pastor protested that he did not know of a Scripture for that word, so Bob gave him one—“and he smote his enemies in the hinder parts” (see Psalm 78:66 KJV).

          Okay, that’s an extreme, but having worked with Bob for twenty-five years, it does seem that he can come up with a Scripture for anything. I think he can do this so well because of his devotion to the written Word, and for having his revelation so grounded in the Word that he won’t use a word until he can see it in the Scriptures. He’s had angels bring him messages, and he would ask the angel to give him a Scripture to confirm their message, putting them to the test to be sure they were true.

           Now you may have heard many bizarre things that were attributed to Bob Jones. I don’t know of anyone who has had what they’ve said more often twisted, misquoted, added to, or changed, and then spread all over the Internet as Bob has. However, I think Bob has done more to raise the level of prophetic integrity than anyone else I’ve known. If you take what he has actually prophesied, and not what others say he prophesied, he has an unprecedented level of accuracy, prophesying specifics on a level few others have ever done.

           If we love Jesus, who is the Word, we should have a love of the written Word. His Word is basically a history book of how He worked through and with people. For this year, I will also be using many examples of how the Lord spoke through the many prophetic people we have been privileged to know and work with. I think it will help all of us to hear Him better.