Jack Deere's View Of Prophecy
Jack Deere's understanding of the gift of prophecy reflects the twisted teachings of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) of which he has been a part since the days of John Wimber, Paul Cain and C. Peter Wagner in the early formation of the Vineyard and Toronto Blessing movements. Deere speaks of a prophet he met early on after he had been converted by the Latter Rain.
"He (a prophet) began to tell me five facts about my past life, and the purposes that God had behind those facts and how He would make up the loss of my fatherhood to me. Then he began to tell me things about my future and, you know, I believed him because he had been so accurate...before that morning was over, I found out that my mind was no match for the prophetic heart...Then he started on my wife ...then he started on our friend Karen Davis...and then he spoke over one of the other people in the room and gave this wonderful, grandiose prophecy, about the future and all of that. and, uh, I should have known at the time that that one wasn’t right. Ummm, I should've known by watching the person he was prophesying over. He began to prophesy these vast roles of leadership and all that, I was looking at the guy and the guy was smiling. If he'd had the heart for that find of leadership he'd have been trembling inside. I should've known that that was not true but at the time, this is my first introduction, we go 'oh that’s great'. That’s awesome! That one turned out to be really destructive. But three out of four were right on. We walked out of there super excited about the prophetic ministry." (Jack Deere, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS "Mobilizing the Prophetic Office", May 11, 2000 11:30 AM tape #3)This raises some questions. Right at the beginning of Deere's experience with the prophetic movement he is already deep into error. (1) Why wasn't this false prophet rebuked? (2) Why did Deere think getting three out of four prophecies right is acceptable to the Lord? (3) Why did they leave "super excited about the prophetic ministry"?
First of all, what this man was doing was not biblical prophecy, but fortune telling, personal prophecy. This is exactly what the Assemblies of God called unbiblical and heretical back in 1949 regarding the New Order Of The Latter Rain movement, which is what Deere got himself involved in.
In 1949 at the General Council of the Assemblies of God held in Seattle, the Council overwhelmingly approved a resolution that was prepared by a committee that dealt with the Latter Rain Movement. The resolution adopted disapproved of the following practices of the Latter Rain, and the action was made necessary as a result of the movement invading the Assembly of God churches: 1. The overemphasis relative to imparting, identifying, bestowing, or confirming of gifts by the laying on of hands and prophecy. 2. The erroneous teaching that the Church is built on the foundation of present-day apostles and prophets. 3. The extreme teaching as advocated by the “New Order,” regarding the confession of sin to man and deliverance as practiced, which claims prerogatives to human agency which belongs only to Christ. 4. The erroneous teaching concerning the impartation of the gift of languages as special equipment for missionary service. 5. The extreme and unscriptural practice of imparting or imposing personal leadings by the means of the gifts of utterance. 6. Such other wrestlings and distortions of scripture interpretations which are in opposition to teachings and practices generally accepted among us. (Anointed To Serve, William Menzies, Ph.D., Gospel Publishing House, 1971.)Personal prophecy was not practiced in the Bible. Personal words are called divination (Lev. 19:26, Deut. 18:10), sorcery (Deut. 18:14) and consulting a medium (Lev. 20:27, 1 Chron. 10:13). The only people to receive prophecies personally in the Bible were those whose lives impacted the nation of Israel (such as kings, high priests, prophets, judges) or in the New Testament the whole Gentile church as in the case of Paul. These were not personal words, but words impacting the whole Church. The Holy Spirit today speaks through God's written Word (Eph. 6:17) for the Bible IS prophecy (Rev. 22:10, 18-19). He leads and teaches people individually (1 Cor. 2:12-13, 1 John 2:27). He leads the Church of Jesus Christ through the proper exegesis of the living written Word of God (Ps. 119:169, 2 Pet. 3:16, Heb. 13:7), from which always comes direction for the Church as a whole. Anyone who does not continue in the teaching of Jesus Christ and the Apostles in directing the Church should be avoided (2 John 1:9). So what Deere had exposed himself to in the Latter Rain was an unbiblical practice, more like psychic readings or fortune telling. This is why it was not 100% accurate, evidenced by the fact that one unbiblical prophecy was quickly followed up by more false prophecy and not challenged or rebuked. We are to rebuke false prophets.
Matthew 7:15 "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.Then Deere left the meetings "super excited" about what he saw. He should have been "super grieved" if he were an obedient believer in Christ. He then tries to make a case that these false prophets are just misunderstood and the church doesn't want them.
1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Titus 1:13 This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith
Luke 17:3 So watch yourselves. "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.
"But the religious people didn’t want those people! Do we want them today?...as I look around the church today, I'd say the church has done a pretty good job of fulfilling this prophecy, of rejecting the wise men and the prophets and so on. I mean, for instance where’s the wise man in the church?.." (Jack Deere, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS "Mobilizing the Prophetic Office", May 11, 2000 11:30 AM tape #3)Are false prophets now to be considered "wise men"? When I watched the video from the conference and Jack Deere, I was struck with how cynical he was against the Church. He assumes that churches reject prophecy. But since his understanding of prophecy is deficient, this is why he has a cynical view of anyone not jumping into the Latter Rain with him. He fails to understand that only when the written Word of God, which we are not to go beyond (1 Cor. 4:6), is exegeted properly does true prophecy come forth for the church.
2 Pet. 1:19-20 - 2:1-2 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them— bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.Notice four points in the above passage. (1) The word of the prophets made more certain is the Word, Jesus Christ, and His Word, the written Scriptures. We must pay attention to the Word, first and foremost, and not treat it like "past truth". (2) No true prophet comes to his own interpretations, but follows what the Spirit has to say. Even Old Testament prophets prophesied things based on written prophecies from the past, as in the case of Daniel and many others. (3) Prophecy does not come from the will of men, therefore if it is God's Word it will ALWAYS come true. Otherwise it is from the will of men or demonic soureces and is therefore false prophecy. (4) We are given an example of what to expect in the end times. There will be many false prophets and false teachers. They will bring the way of truth into disrepute by telling lies in the name of the Lord. This is exactly what Jack Deere experienced at his very first Latter Rain conference, yet he came away "super excited". He should have come away offended! Whenever you get away from the written Word, you get into heresy. The written Word of God is living and active (Heb. 4:12), not past truth, as Deere and his collaborators continue to teach.
It came to be taught that the “Latter Rain” revival of 1948 was to be the first in a series ofC. Peter Wagner, Bill Hamon, John Eckhardt and Tommy Tenney are all members of the International Coalition of Apostles (ICA) along with Jack Deere, which is part of the NAR. The ICS is by invitation only. They all share the same disdain for the written Word, for what the Church has accomplished through history, and a lack of understanding of New Testament prophecy. The Bible is not "past truth". It is alive and is our only reliable source of truth today in this postmodern subjective world.
“restorational moves of God” that would restore to the Church all of the truths that Satan had “robbed” her of. The five-fold ministries of apostles and prophets would also be restored to the church. These restored “apostles” and “prophets” would lead the Church into “present truth” and the “last great moves of God.” (Anointing Or Apostasy - The Latter Rain Legacy, by Charles Greives)"The difference between the Truth of God and revelation is very simple. Truth is where God has been. Revelation is where God is. Truth is God's tracks. It is His trail, His path, but it leads to what? It leads to Him. Perhaps the masses of people are happy to know where God's been, but true God Chasers are not content to study God's trail, His truths, they want to know Him. They want to know where He is and what He is doing right now.....There is a vast difference between present Truth and Past Truth. I am afraid that most of what the church has studied is past Truth, and very little of what we know is present Truth." (Tommy Tenney, Introduction to God Chasers)
“Their ministry will be clarified and amplified until all the present-truth church world recognizes them as ordained by God and gifts of God to the Church” (Prophets and Personal Prophecy God’s Prophetic Voice Today p. 53 by Bishop Bill Hamon, Destiny Image Press, 1987).
As IMPACT's influence rapidly increases across the nations of the world, it is already becoming a major apostolic movement in a number of places, powerfully positioned as a catalyst to break the church through into new kingdom positions. Through identifying emerging apostles and prophets, teaching present truth revelation in conferences and seminars, conducting prophetic presbytery, along with the ministry of impartation and the laying on of hands, there is released an acceleration of apostolic grace and anointing to build strong governing territorial "Antioch" churches, along with releasing relevant cutting edge apostolic and prophetic ministries that are facilitating change in the spiritual atmosphere over their nation and region. (John Eckhardt, Impact "About Impact", http://www.impactnetwork.net/Store/sitepages/about_impact.htm)
It is so exciting to know that God has prepared you for a great ministry. Many throughout the church age have failed in fulfilling their destiny. But, now you have that privilege because you are part of the present truth. If you attend these conferences you will learn how to avoid the pitfalls and become a national, yes even an international leader in God's kingdom. (C. Peter Wagner, Brochure, The Wagner Institute with Glory of Zion presents: National School of the Prophets Conference. Mobilizing the Prophetic Office for the next Century. The World Prayer Center, Colorado Springs, Colorado - January 28, 29, 30, 1999.)
The Church is entering into times of complete change...not just revival, but a major revolutionary change. We have entered the 3rd year of the 3rd Day Church. It is an interesting study to discover what happened on the 3rd day throughout the Bible. In 2003 the Church will begin moving into Phase 3 of The 3rd and Final Apostolic Reformation. This Final Apostolic Reformation contains 5 movements or they can be called 5 phases. The Church which is walking in present truth is moving into Phase 3 in 2003 which is the Saints Movement. (From Christian International Word of the Lord for 2004, Bill Hamon)
"I mean teachers, they teach the Bible right? They get up on sunday and they explain the Bible, just teach the Bible right? umm, I’m writing a book on prophecy- the gift of prophecy in the church and I looked up every reference in the Bible to 'prophets' and I was looking at this passage and I said 'You know I’m gonna look up every reference to teaching in the Bible. so I just punched it in my computer concordance, looked up every single reference 'taught, teacher, teaching,' every single reference in the New Testament and its astounding. Did you know not one time, not one time does it say that Jesus taught the Bible?.. isn’t that interesting not one time does it ever say that. It says He taught about the kingdom, taught about God, preached the Gospel of the kingdom, and the Good news. Not one time does it ever say He taught the Bible ...Well I thought I’m going to look it up for the apostles so I looked up all the references with the apostles and did you know that with only one possible exception, it never says the Apostles taught the Bible?... Here’s the last verse in the book of acts, verse 31. Here’s how it ends with what Paul’s doing. V.31 "boldly and without hindrance he preached" not the Bible, the kingdom of God. And he taught, not the Bible, but taught about the Lord Jesus." (Jack Deere, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS "Mobilizing the Prophetic Office", May 11, 2000 11:30 AM tape #3)Deere makes a distinction here between God and His Word. How can you do that? God's Word is just as eternal (Ps. 119:89) as Himself (Jer. 10:10). Virtually everything Jesus Christ and the Apostles taught was based on the written Word, and in many cases a fulfillment or further enlightenment of the written Word. Jesus answered the temptations of the devil with Scripture (Luke 4:1-13). He taught the people from the Scriptures constantly (Matthew 21:42, 22:29, 26:54, 26:56; Mark 12:24, 14:49; Luke 24:27, 24:32, 24:45; John 5:39). The Apostle Paul based his entire presentation of the gospel on the Old Testament prophesies regarding the Messiah (Acts 18:28). Either Deere is incapable of using a concordance search engine properly, or he is willingly trying to subvert the truth. But he goes on with this theme:
"I just say to some of you who are teachers: Beware of studying for messages. Beware of doing that. I study more than I ever have but I don’t- I rarely study for a message anymore. I try to spend a large part of my day just with the Lord, meditating, opening up my spirit, praying in the scriptures, and what I want is for Him to infuse me with something and then I want to speak out of that experience. (Jack Deere, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS "Mobilizing the Prophetic Office", May 11, 2000 11:30 AM tape #3)If your teaching and "meditation" is not based on the Word of God, your experience is going to be skewed, in fact can be so corrupted as to mislead people and give an opening to the enemy to deceive. Deere wants to be "infused" with the truth, but how can you be infused with it unless you study it? What Deere continues to propose is that you can bypass the written Word and get your sermons out of thin air. But Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit used and continue to use the written Word of God to teach (Rom. 15:4, Luke 24:45). If it's good enough for God it should be good enough for us. There is no guarantee that when you depart from the written Word you will arrive at truth, and in fact it can easily open the door to fleshly error and demonic ideas - like this one. Study to show yourself an approved workman (2 Tim. 2:15)!
One of the reasons for prophets is that prophets are messy. Prophets are really messy. Prophets make mistake; And sometimes when a prophet makes a mistake, its a serious mistake. I mean, I know prophets just last year that cost people millions of dollars with a mistake they made (Jack Deere, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS "Mobilizing the Prophetic Office", May 11, 2000 11:30 AM tape #3)(1) True biblical prophets NEVER make mistakes (Deut. 18:20-22). (2) False prophecy is not a mistake, it is a sin (2 Pet. 2:1). Read this article called "Mistake Or Sin?". (3) Only false prophets are "messy", and there is plenty of evidence of this from the Bible. Remember the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:28)? But Deere dismisses Deut 18 as not being about false prophets at all!
And then some people might say 'oh those are false prophets." they're not false prophets. A lot of people think that Deut. 18 means that if you make one mistake, you're a false prophet. Now that is not true. That is simply not true. Deut. 18 was not about prophets. Deut. 18, Moses said 'a prophet like me'.- a theocratic mediator - a leader of the people of God -that prophecy ultimately referred to Messiah. That’s the way they took it in the New testament. Moses was not saying if a prophet makes a mistake, you kill 'em. He wasn't saying that at all. He's saying, the one who presumes to be like me and then tells you to go after false gods, that’s the prophet that killed, not the prophet that makes a mistake ...A prophet that makes a mistake is not a false prophet., any more than a teacher that teaches something wrong is a false teacher... (Jack Deere, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS "Mobilizing the Prophetic Office", May 11, 2000 11:30 AM tape #3)(1) Deut. 18 is ALL about false prophets. (2) If Moses had meant "theocratic mediator" or "leader of the people of God" there are Hebrew words he would have used to say this. What he was talking about were false prophets. (3) Worse yet, Deere not only claims there are no false prophets when the Bible warns us over and over against them (Isaiah 44:25, Jeremiah 50:36, Matthew 7:15, 24:11 & 24, Mark 13:22, Luke 6:26, 2 Peter 2:1, 1 John 4:1) but also claims that teachers who teach falsehood are not false teachers. The Bible is clear when it labels both false teachers and false prophets.
2 Peter 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them— bringing swift destruction on themselves.First of all notice the Bible says there are clearly false prophets and false teachers. What they do is introduce false teaching and false prophecy to the churches that is "destructive heresy". This is speaking of consistent teaching that denies the core doctrines of the Faith explicitly and/or implicitly. It is not talking about a teacher making a single mistake. It is talking about heresies, like those introduced by Deere and his NAR associates, that degrade the basic tenets of the Faith. For a refresher course on the core doctrines of Christianity, go here. However, any prophet who claims the Lord told him something and it is either unbiblical or a lie, is a false prophet because he is saying the Lord told him something the Lord clearly did not.
Jeremiah 27:15 ’I have not sent them,’ declares the LORD. ’They are prophesying lies in my name. Therefore, I will banish you and you will perish, both you and the prophets who prophesy to you.’"It is interesting, then, that Deere does not get the point the Lord has been trying to show him and his NAR false teachers. It is staring them in the face. When you allow false prophets to ply their trade, you end up with big unsolvable problems.
The carnal prophets in the church – that’s a lot bigger problem right now. The immaturity in the prophetic ministry, that’s a lot bigger problem in the church right now, but, listen, why is the prophetic ministry immature right now? It didn’t have a church to grow up in. It’s sitting outside the church right now. (Jack Deere, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS "Mobilizing the Prophetic Office", May 11, 2000 11:30 AM tape #3)The problem is not that prophecy is outside the church. The problem is false prophets inside the church that are being labeled as simply "carnal prophets". There is no such label in the Bible. Prophets are either true prophets of God, or the are FALSE PROPHETS.
“Is it from God? How do ya know? ...teach them this: Never go on another persons light. I’ve been given hundreds of wrong prophetic words over the years but I’ve never been victimized by a single one. (Jack Deere, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS "Mobilizing the Prophetic Office", May 11, 2000 11:30 AM tape #3)Jack Deere was victimized to the hilt when he allowed Paul Cain, John Wimber and C. Peter Wagner to fool him into thinking that Latter Rain theology was biblical. This is one reason he was dismissed from Dallas Theological Seminary. He has not taken his own advice seriously. He has listened to other people's "light" instead of the prompting of the Holy Spirit to get away from the false apostles, false prophets, false anointings, and false teachings of the NAR. I don't think Christians should be taking advice from a man who can't even make use of his own advice.
When the prophets arrive, the traffic in unlived experience comes to a halt, and the wrecks begin. (Jack Deere, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS "Mobilizing the Prophetic Office", May 11, 2000 11:30 AM tape #3)The biggest wreck of all is what the NAR is doing to the churches today with the aid of Jack Deere. The wrecks have begun and there is no way to stop this billion car pileup on the freeway of Christendom. The false prophets have been let out of the box and the only way to avoid this crash is to get back to the written Word of God and ask the Holy Spirit to help us find a good detour. If you are following Jack Deere, you are headed for traffic and a catastrophe of Biblical proportions. The end of this NAR journey will culminate in the woman who rides the beast. We all know where she ends up!