The Consequences of Prophecy-
Out of the Mouths of False Prophets
While it is easy to call out prophecies that fall short, it’s harder to recognize lying spirits that lead us into enterprises that will ultimately doom us. Our desires for greater wealth, renown, or influence to please ourselves and our egos can lead us into traps just as easily as culturally and self-imposed obligations to please others. Often lying tongues do not come from the mouths of false prophets, but from a guilt or desire to go down a path that you know is against His Will.
Three years after reconquering lands and cities that had been previously taken by the neighboring Arameans, wicked King Ahab sought to recapture a city that had not been returned under the conditions of the peace treaty between the nations. Ramoth-Gilead (Gilead Heights) was a Levitical city and city of refuge (Deuteronomy 4:43; Joshua 20:8; Joshua 21:38) in the Tribe of Gad’s territory, east of the Jordan River. While King Ahab of Samaria may have wanted the city back to cement his military victory over his defeated neighbors and secured a further foothold into their territory, he recognized that he could not reconquer the region without help from the Southern Kingdom of Judea.
King Jehoshaphat was a pious king and “the LORD was with him, because he followed in the early ways of his father David” (2 Chronicles 17:3-4) and recognized the religious need to restore the City of Refuge to the Levitical Priesthood, which he had given authority to teach the Book of the Law of the LORD to the citizens of Judea (2 Chronicles 17:7-9). But King Jehoshaphat was also compelled through political pressures to assist King Ahab as well, since Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram had married the King of Samaria’s daughter, Athaliah.
There is a great irony in the names of these two rulers’ children. King Jehoshaphat who had been blessed greatly by his trust and service to G3D, had named his son Jehoram meaning “exacted by Jehovah”. Wicked King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, who had introduced worship of Baal and Ishtar on a national scale and curated the anger of the G3D of Israel, fittingly had named their daughter Athaliah meaning “whom G3D afflicts”. Predictably, this mixed faith political marriage led to tragedy for both families.
Wicked King Ahab hatched an ingenious plan to get the honorable and righteous King Jehoshaphat to agree to side with him in the invasion to take back the Gilead Heights. He invited the King of Judea to come down to Samaria and declared that the city belonged to them and that it was their duty to take it back. He pressed King Jehoshaphat asking if he would join him in battle. But the G3D fearing king replied first “I am as you are, my people are your people, my horses are your horses”, before stopping to inquire of the LORD.
Ahab called forth prophets of Adonai, and Ahab’s Prophets, as Jehoshaphat referred to them as, were all in agreement that the two kings should join forces and that they will have victory in battle.
King Jehoshaphat questioned King Ahab’s yes-men and asked if there are any prophets of Jehovah from whom they can ask for insight.
Since Ahab’s prophets were from the Northern Kingdom and were not recognized by King Jehoshaphat as legitimate prophets, it is heavily implied that they were part of the cult that worshipped the golden bull idols in Bethel and Dan which had been established by Samaria’s first king Jeroboam. Zedekiah, son of Kenaanah, the de facto leader of Ahab’s prophets, conducted an empty prophetic performance using a pair of iron horns declaring “This is what the LORD says: ‘With these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed”. The use of metal horns further connects these false prophets with Samaria’s calf worship cult.
King Jehoshaphat pressed further till King Ahab agreed to summon Prophet Micaiah son of Imlah, despite the fact that all of his previous prophecies had been negative declarations from G3D for Ahab’s evil behavior. When he arrived before the kings, Prophet Micaiah was instructed to match his prophecy to Ahab’s 400 sycophants.
When asked what would happen if they went into battle, Prophet Micaiah responded sarcastically and taunted that if they go they will prosper for Yahweh will give the city to the king. King Ahab wanted to hear these words, but recognized that Micaiah is being blatantly sardonic and demands that Micaiah tell him G3D’s True Message. Prophet Micaiah predicted that King Ahab would die in battle and explained how a lying spirit had entered the mouths of King Ahab’s false prophets to entice him to go into battle so Samaria could finally be rid of their most destructive ruler.
False prophet Zedekiah who had done the performance with the iron horns, slapped Prophet Micaiah across his face asking if that was the ear that the Spirit of G3D left Zedekiah to speak to Micaiah. Micaiah predicted that like the false prophets of Baal which had been executed in mass during their confrontation with Prophet Elijah, Zedekiah would have to go into hiding to avoid a similar death.
Though King Jehoshaphat questioned the authenticity of the prophecies that Ahab’s stooges had presented, and requested an honest prophet of Jehovah, he still went into battle with King Ahab as his ally even after Prophet Micaiah predicted the devastation that awaited them.
Perhaps he felt compelled by family politics and obligations to help his son’s father in law or a sense of religious duty to reclaim the city that belonged to the priests. Maybe it was a sense of honor to not go back on his promise to Ahab to join him in battle before inquiring of G3D first. In any case, all of these whispers in Jehoshaphat’s ears were just as destructive as Ahab’s false prophets’ lies.
It is foolish to deeply entangle yourself into something and try to seek G3D’s Guidance once you’ve already made a decision. If you weren’t going to follow the advice that His Messenger delivered, it would have been less destructive on you to have never inquired of the Lord. The consequences of listening to these falsities over His Word are devastating. Seek first the Wisdom of the Lord or you will be crushed by the stupidity of Men’s Logic.
Prepared by, Kent Simpson, Apostolic Prophet & Eric Sepulveda, PMT Administrator
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Apostolic Prophet, Kent Simpson
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