Copyright 2006 Theresa Harvard Johnson
Excerpt from The Scribal Anointing: Scribes Instructed in the Kingdom of Heaven
Not every Christian who writes is a prophetic scribe. Not everyone who prophesies is a prophet. Just as there are distinct signs of a prophet, there are also distinct signs that identify a prophetic scribe — and all the signs are available through scriptural study in the Word.
I have met many types of Christian writers over the past decade. Some were people who were inspired to write a particular item or work and then, once that assignment was completed they would never have the desire, inspiration or inclination to write again — at least not at a scribal level (meaning someone walking in the office).
You see, some believers are simply given assignments to write “a certain book” or to release “certain writings” by way of revelation at a particular time designated by the Lord. Once those assignments are completed they may never write in that capacity again or even desire to do so. You see, just writing a book or going through a poetic phase does not make a prophetic scribe.
All prophetic writings are assignments released from Heaven. There are souls who are destined to read and receive an impartation from what that particular scribe has released – whether it’s just one soul or thousands. However, some mistakenly think that writing one book makes them literary ministers and this just isn’t so. I love to dance, but in no way would anyone, much less me, call me a minister of dance.
A scribe will always have a consistent manifestation of their gift – whether it has always been there or just showed up one day. There will be a deep passion, desire, urgency and zeal that drives them to record or perform any of the MANY ASPECTS of a scribal gift. (While I’m focusing on writing here, the ministry of the scribe is not solely a writing ministry.) Sometimes, scribes aren’t even aware that they are walking under The Scribal Anointing®. For example, there was a woman in my church some years back who loved to read and who had a keen eye for content cohesion, grammar, spelling and punctuation and was almost to a point of obsessing over errors in documents when she saw them.
It bothered her so much that she would offer to help edit and proofread the drafts of documents I’d write. I was thankful for her because this was one of my weakest areas in scribal ministry. Pretty soon, people just started asking for her assistance in this area. She was very good at it, and didn’t boast to have any kind of professional training. But the anointing to “proofread and edit” just dripped from her. She simply liked doing it and often found herself acting like a kid in a candy store whenever she was working in this area.
I would be yawning because I had absolutely NO INTEREST in this area of ministry.
It was an honor and a blessing to reveal to her that she was walking under The Scribal Anointing in the area of administration. Today, this woman has a successful editing business — and specializes in letter writing, contracts, etc. To define her calling based on what we’ve discussed up to this point, I would say that: She is a prophetic scribe walking under the administrative anointing particularly in the area of an editor or proofreader.
Look at how Father walked out this aspect of her purpose!
Again, scribes who have been called into the ministry of prophetic writing will have a strong, unquenchable desire to hear the voice of our Father and write/record what they hear; or to complete scribal related tasks – similar to the woman in the example mentioned above. It will be more than a hobby to them! While I didn’t share this, the woman in my example also wrote on the instructional and creative level as well, but found that her greatest area of anointing was in editing and proofreading.
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SIDE NOTE: There is an entire untapped dimension in the area of DREAMS & VISIONS that is divinely attached to scribal ministry. The thing that you need to remember here is that for the SCRIBE who is a SEER (Dreams/Visions/Spiritual Eyesight) is pressed to record what they SEE. The reason behind this is powerful in that there is an UNVEILING OF REVELATION, INSIGHT, STRATEGY, DIRECTION, WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE & UNDERSTANDING that God wants to reveal.
It is IMPERATIVE that the SCRIBAL DREAMER RECORDS what they see consistently — because it is in the succession of dreams and the patterns of their dreams that TRUTH is revealed.
