IF IT’S PROPHETIC IT’S PRAGMATIC

By James Wilson

            It was 1984 when outlaw biker Roger Ralston had a prophetic dream.  God told Roger to found a ministry of compassion for pregnant women in crisis.  A new Christian, he knew only to obey the voice of God, obedience was a new concept to him.  God said more.  If Roger and others would be faithful the ministry would become a full service medical facility, operate in three counties simultaneously, and one day take over the facilities of a local abortion referral service.

            Roger retired after a few years as the first director of Crisis Pregnancy Center in Shasta County.  Those who knew of his dream continued to pray it, and countless volunteers worked it whether they knew or not.  By 2006 the name had changed to Carenet Pregnancy Center, they were operating a medical facility with volunteer doctors and nurses, had expanded into Trinity and Tehama Counties, and taken over the facilities of the abortion service at the provider’s invitation.  The dream was as pragmatic as it was prophetic, and this is one of the principle reality checks to be passed by any legitimate prophecy.  If it is prophetic it is pragmatic.

            Carenet is now part of a national network.  Just as nationally well known is LifeLight; both have chapters in my city of Redding.  Their donor bases tend to cross-pollinate.  In 2005 they inadvertently scheduled their primary fundraisers for the same night.  Aghast at what seemed a disaster for both ministries in the making, they listened to my prophecy to leave the double scheduling intact and bless each other that the Lord might bless them both.  Each sent people to assist the other ministry that night and both ministries broke all previous records for fundraising.  Again, if it is prophetic it is pragmatic.

            The contemporary prophetic movement is an authentic move of God.  He has been speaking to and through His people from the beginning.  He speaks because He is a God of speech; He spoke the world and its creatures into being.  What changes with the incarnation of His Son is the disbursement of His words through the whole community of His Body and His Blood – with many voices contributing a panel to the tapestry – just as He promised in Isaiah 59, Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 39, and Joel 2.   

The role of the prophets in this fulfilled divine economy is to release and pastor the prophetic voice He has released over the prophetic community.  But the Old Testament prophets were ever focused on what was happening at ground level – whether they spoke of past, present, or future events.  No authentic prophet of Israel would have been content to speak in a rapturous tone of voice about some mystical and non-specific “shift” in the heavenlies, or to predict year after year that this was the year the Lord transfers all the wealth of the world to the saints and all our dreams come true.  The people tested the prophetic utterances then and we need to test the spirits now – as Paul insists in 1 Thessalonians 5:21.

            Proper testing of prophecy is not rocket science.  It must be consistent with the scriptures; God does not contradict Himself.  It addresses present, past or future events through the lens of God’s perspective.  And it includes a practical directive toward a pragmatic outcome.  That said, some prophecies deal with the apparently mundane while others deal in what can only be called grandiose.  The Alamo prophecy is downright grandiose and the jury is out on its fulfillment.

            On a 2009 visit to the Alamo God called me to pray fulfillment of His purposes for that 1836 battle in our nation today.  He said those purposes were fulfilled then in the crucible of encirclement, assault, and massacre.  He identified them as the garrison becoming one race – as Indians, Americans, Europeans and Hispanics came together in the common cause of freedom – and one faith – as a garrison co-commanded by a Baptist and a Catholic and representing every known Christian background learned to pray together as they fought and gave their lives.  The third purpose was personified in the thirty-two from Gonzales who rode in on the ninth day – they rode toward rather than away from the place of danger.  He says our nation struggles in that same crucible today; it is a spiritual, political, and physical assault, and in that order.  He says that what cost the Alamo defenders their earthly lives and brought them to eternal life is on the table for our nation today.  It passes prophetic muster; the question is whether it passes from our ears through our minds and into our hearts.