Copyright 2018 Theresa Harvard Johnson
I wrote a book about 10 years ago entitled, Spiritually Critiquing Literary Works (www.scribalarsenal). It is a workbook that helps prophetic writers determine if a project is “prophetically inspired, demonically driven or born of the flesh.” (Jeremiah 8:8; Matthew 23)
The word “CRITIQUE” comes from Greek κριτικός (kritikós), meaning ‘able to discern’, which is a Greek derivation of the word κριτής (krités), meaning a person who offers reasoned judgment or analysis, value judgment, interpretation or observation. (Wikipedia)
I have grown so much in my understanding of prophetic ministry and the scribal mandate since then, that I plan to expand the book within the next year. One of our challenges, as prophetic scribes, is understanding our role as JUDGES and GATEKEEPERS. In its simplest sense, we should all be gatekeepers and judges over the area of our “SPECIFIC messages in our SPECIFIC sphere” in our MATURE places — no matter how small or wide that realm of influence may be.
What WE DO in that realm matters – especially if we claim to support the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. As such, it is IMPERATIVE that we can distinguish between:
- Spiritual maturity and spiritual immaturity
- What is of God and what is born of the soul?
- What is of God and what is from the demonic realm?
- What is biblically defined by God as good and what is biblically defined by God as evil?
This is imperative when SPIRITUALLY CRITIQUING literary works (movies, books, scripts, videos, songs, etc.). I believe it is so important that believers SHOULD EXERCISE their discernment at any given opportunity.
This discussion, however, is about US — not pointing fingers at everyone else and what they are doing. Rather, it is about making sure our PERSONAL IMPARTATION is correct FIRST… and ensuring that what we are PERSONALLY releasing to others is God’s best as PROPHETIC people.
Only then can we be proper keepers of the gate and judges in the earth within our measure/metron. Only then can we adequately position ourselves to pray and “guide those in truth of the Gospel” concerning what is happening around us.
The most critical foundation of a “prophetic” scribal project is this: “There MUST BE a redemptive purpose.” Now, we write a lot of things as believers. But in order for ANYTHING to be classified as “prophetic” as it relates to movies, plays, skits, poetry, spoken word, etc. — it must CONVEY the “heart, mind and will of the Lord.”
In this instance, we are not speaking of a prophetic idea — like an invention for chair or a bookshelf. While that may indeed be a prophetic, witty idea… it is not the same as telling a story. For the prophetic writer, INTENT must be clear….
Without it, we get mixture….
I know this is long, but I want to begin talking about the “levels of the lying pen as it relates to prophetic writing.” In my book, The Scribal Anointing, I talk about “writers who are Christians, Christian writers, prophetic writers and wolves in sheep’s clothing.” All are different. Let’s dig out this are of scribal ministry a little bit more.
(Read Part II: The Lying Pen of the Scribe)
