The Vision by Rick Joyner
Infallibility of Scripture ElISODE 80
Though there are many places where I tried to write the exact words of the Lord as they were spoken to me, this is not Scripture, and I do not believe that any prophetic experience is intended to carry the weight of Scripture. Even so, prophecy is very important for the church or we would not have been exhorted by the Scripture itself to "Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy» ( Corinthians 14:1). We are told that "But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation. One who speaks in a tongue edifies himsell, but one who prophesies edifies the church" (I Corinthians 14:3-4). Never are we told that prophecy is for the purpose of teaching doctrine-we have the Scriptures for that. Never are we told that prophecy is infallible, which is why we must judge prophecy. However, prophecy does edify.
Because prophecy is a gift of the Holy Spirit, we must treat everything that comes from Him as holy, but because it comes through humans, it must not be considered infallible.
The Scriptures, as they were originally written, are infallible. They are the rock of truth and pure revelation of God and His ways upon which we can build our lives with the surety that Scripture will stand forever. I view prophecy more like the manna that the Lord served in the wilderness.
It is from the Lord and will help to sustain us in our day-by-day walks, but if we try to keep it longer than intended, it will become foul.
The Scriptures are permanent and given so that we can build our lives upon truth, while prophecy is given for edification and encouragement, strategically keeping us in the day-to-day will of the Lord. The quality of any relationship will be determined by the quality of the communication, and any relationship that does not have continuing communication is a dying relationship. Prophecy does help to keep our day-to-day relationship with the Lord fresh, which is why I believe that the Scripture encourages us to "especially" seek this gift.
I have sought the gift of prophecy for many years. I did this out of obedience to the Scripture that exhorts us to do this because I love the prophetic gifts. I love prophetic experiences, even though all but a few have been major rebukes for me. Even so, I have prayed much more often for wisdom and the gift of a word of wisdom than I have for any
of the other gifts. That is why I think that the Lord almost always appears to me in these experiences personified as Wisdom. I also think that a truly wise person loves rebukes, because "reproofs for discipline are the way of life" (Proverbs 6:23). In every one of these experiences, I received a profound and badly needed correction in my life.
In this book, there are also some very basic corrections for the church in general. Except for the churches for which I have personal responsibility, I try not to see the problems that are afflicting the body of Christ. The church is the Lord's bride, and I am very cautious about any way that I would presume to bring correction to her. Just as Paul explained to the Corinthians, we have spheres of authority within which we must stay.
It is not right for me to correct someone else's children, but as a friend, I may speak to the parents and hope that they also would feel the liberty to speak to me if they see things which need correcting in my children. However, in the experiences included in this book, the Lord showed me that the church today is headed for some terrible catastrophes if we do not make some very basic course corrections. I consider myself as having these problems, too, and therefore if you ask me what we should do about them, all I can say now is that I also am trying to work them out. I am seeking more revelation, a greater understanding in the interpretation, and the wisdom to apply all this correctly.
I encourage you again to keep in mind that even though the prophetic experiences I had when I received these messages were very real when they took place, they would often seem unreal to me only hours later. That was sometimes a problem when I tried to really cord these experiences. I did my best to write them as faithfully as I could, but I by no means claim that these are the exact words spoken to me or that everything written about these experiences is written exactly as they occurred. However, even though I may have forgotten some of the details or did not always get the wording right, the message is true, it is from the Lord, and the time is near.
Rick Joyner
November 1998