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We have refrained from posting about the Reverend lately, because he has been incessantly repeating himself regarding his distaste for the anti-lockdown churches protesting COVID restrictions. Now he has finally he changed subjects, but he's just gone back to his Bethel/NAR fixation.
Rev. Wade's articles are invariably incendiary and sisyphean, adding much heat but absolutely no light. Today's article is 1781 words (not including quotes) and not a single solitary Scripture is cited aside from the opening verse. No Scriptural principle is explained, no claim is documented, and no effort was expended to edify the reader.
This is typical of Rev. Wade.
And we note we are not here to defend Bethel or its people. We intend only to examine Rev. Wade's presentation.
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. - Matthew 7:15 (ESV)
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(Deleted irrelevant rant.)
This week's offering is an interview with Havilah Cunnington, a "female pastor" at Bethel who doubles as a prophetess. What can possibly go wrong?
"Have you ever questioned your ability to hear God's voice? Maybe you've even canceled yourself out and deemed hearing from God as something that is only for certain people. But, have you ever considered the specific and unique way the Lord speaks to you? I can't even begin to count how many times I've been asked the question, "Why can't I hear God's voice?" The truth is, God is always speaking and God wants to talk with everyone. Jesus did not just die on the cross to forgive our sins, but ultimately to bring us into a relationship with Him." - Kris Vallotton
Ahh, the old relationship over religion heresy. (There is no such heresy. A heresy is "any belief or practice that explicitly undermines the gospel and has been determined to be such by recognized ecclesial authorities, most importantly the decisions of the ecumenical councils." Rev. Wade invents a heresy out of a very common [and doctrinally minor] viewpoint.
"Have you ever questioned your ability to hear God's voice? Maybe you've even canceled yourself out and deemed hearing from God as something that is only for certain people. But, have you ever considered the specific and unique way the Lord speaks to you? I can't even begin to count how many times I've been asked the question, "Why can't I hear God's voice?" The truth is, God is always speaking and God wants to talk with everyone. Jesus did not just die on the cross to forgive our sins, but ultimately to bring us into a relationship with Him." - Kris Vallotton
Ahh, the old relationship over religion heresy. (There is no such heresy. A heresy is "any belief or practice that explicitly undermines the gospel and has been determined to be such by recognized ecclesial authorities, most importantly the decisions of the ecumenical councils." Rev. Wade invents a heresy out of a very common [and doctrinally minor] viewpoint.
The fact that the idea of having a relationship with Jesus rises to the level of heresy for Rev. Wade is illustrative.)
Bethel made it famous. Let me be perfectly clear up front. If your "relationship" with Jesus does not start with Master and servant then it is not Jesus you are in relationship with. (Having just branded "relationship" with Jesus to be heresy, he immediately admits there is an aspect of relationship.)
Just in case you are confused by the way - He is the Master in that relationship. He is not your wing man. He is not your buddy. I can hear the Bethelites crying already about the verses where Jesus calls the disciples friends. First of all, you were not one of the disciples. (This is probably why Rev. Wade does not quote the Bible, but rather contents himself with hysterical denials.
There is more than one context for "disciples" in Scripture. Rev. Wade ought to know this if he were a student of the Bible. There are many direct references to Jesus' inner circle as "His disciples" or "the disciples" [like Mt. 10:1], which most often are references to the Twelve [but not always]; there are references to the greater community of followers [like Mt. 10:42], and there are references to disciples as being anyone who followed Jesus [like Lk. 19:37].
It is clear from Scripture there are various kinds of disciples, and some of them are not the Twelve:
Lk. 6:13 When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles...
Here we see clearly that there was a group of disciples, and Jesus specifically chose twelve of them to be apostles. And only a few verses later we see this:
Lk. 6:17 He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there...
A large crowd of disciples is not twelve people.
Other verses where disciples are simply followers: Jn. 6:66, Jn. 8:31 Jn. 9:27, Jn. 19:38, Ac. 6:1, 2, 7, 9:10, etc, etc.
Now we have arrived at the unquoted verse referenced by Rev. Wade:
Jn. 15:15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
Based on our presentation, it remains for Rev. Wade to explain to us if the twelve disciples were the only ones who received this statement of friendship.)
More importantly, if you read the context of those verses, (Which verses, Rev. Wade? Why won't you tell us where they are? Why won't you quote them?)
Jesus says very plainly that we are His friends if we do as He says! (Now Rev. Wade has completely walked back his initial denial. So we are His friends if we're obedient.)
Now, does God talk to us all the time? Sure if you count things like His creation and His word. That is not what Vallotton and Cunnington are schmoozing about here. They are speaking about the audible voice of God and of course translating their feelings and random thoughts into direct words from the Lord. (Apparently God does not speak in this manner, but Rev. Wade does not document his claim. He purports to be a teacher, but simply issuing summary statements is not teaching.)
So we must understand that the majority of the time people question if they can hear from the Lord is because they have been taught so poorly within Charismania. They see their favorite preachers and false prophets speak about talking to God as if the two of them went out for a latte. They hear fanciful garbage like the testimony of Kim Walker-Smith from Jesus Culture who says Jesus visited her during a waking visitation and whisked her away to the throne room of God where she met the Father face to face. They are taught by Vallotton and Bethel to minimize the bible. (Undocumented claim.)
Sure, it is important but not as important as our own personal experience! (Another undocumented claim.)
Our hearts are wickedly deceitful beloved. (No, they are not, not if we are new creations.)
That is why God gave us His final revealed will in His word. (Undocumented statement. Where in the Bible does it say that the Bible was given because are hearts are deceitful? We cover this topic here.)
Do not buy the whisperings of the enemy from the mouths of Kris Vallotton and Havilah Cunnington.
"One of the greatest keys to any relationship is communication. John 10:27 says, "My sheep hear my voice"." The challenge can be knowing the ways He speaks and the unique ways you hear His voice. This past week I had the privilege of sitting down with one of my spiritual daughters and friends Havilah Cunnington a prophetess, teacher, mom, and wife. Havilah is the founder of Truth to Table, an organization that empowers female believers and equips influencers. Havilah is an expert at teaching on the different "prophetic personalities"; in other words, the different ways you might personally hear God's voice. In this week's vlog, you can hear the whole conversation on the different ways the Lord uniquely speaks to His people, the call of a prophet, and how the prophetic affects family and parenting." - Kris Vallotton
It is true that communication is the key to earthly relationships but Vallotton has taken the carnality of earthly relationships and applied it to a supernatural God. That will not work. (This might be true, but Rev. Wade never explains, and he never documents anything.)
Remember the foundation of this Master-servant relationship (Jn. 15:15 I no longer call you servants...)
and then you will know what to expect from your communication. The Master has told us how we need to behave in this world as His followers. How we are to treat others. How we are to reverence God. How we are not to fall for false teachers and prophets. Do you see this reference to "prophetic personalities? Havilah Cunnington just made it up. It is found nowhere in Scripture. (Amazing that Rev. Wade criticizes someone for the very thing he does himself.)
It sounds super-spiritual though doesn't it? As we will see, she sets this teaching up to expand the number of those she can convince they are prophetic.
"How and when did you discover that you had a prophetic mantle?"
"I don't think I set out knowing that I was a prophetess. I grew up in a prophetic home, but back in the 70s and 80s, there was normally just one prophet and they were kind of strange I wasn't sure if that was my call. But, my dad was a minister and had a prophetic gift; he would use his gift by giving one on one prophetic words that would normally lead to inner healing for the person receiving them. However, I remember thinking I could not hear God's voice. I began telling my dad, "Are you sure you are hearing God's voice when you give people a prophetic word because what you hear seems so obvious about their life." He told me: "It is obvious to you because you see the prophetic word over their life, sometimes the prophetic is calling out the obvious on someone's life." Once I realized that I was hearing God I began to practice giving prophetic words I always say growing in the prophetic is kind of like working out; you have to build your prophetic muscles. Now, I know there are people that are just extremely prophetic, but I don't think we have to change our personalities to hold the gift. God knew what he made when he created you we should be ourselves and allow God to use our voices in a natural way. When you are authentically yourself while operating in your prophetic gifting you will live a spirit-led life. However, when we try to become someone or something besides who we were created to be, we limit our gifting to a prophetic platform. - Havilah Cunnington
There is always this nebulous sense these false prophets have about hearing the voice of God. The notion of testing prophetic words runs contrary to the entire bible. (A Bible left unquoted. We shall do Rev. Wade's work for him:
1Co. 14:29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.
1Co. 12:10 ...to another distinguishing between spirits...
1Co. 2:14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Rev. Wade is an unspiritual man, fleshly and deceived.)
Either God is speaking to you or He is not. There is no middle ground. (Well, of course. That's what the gift of discernment is for.)
There are no "prophetic muscles"; only lying tongues. I do not recall the scriptures where Elijah was considered "extremely prophetic" while Elisha was merely average. (Ep. 4:7 ...But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.)
I do not recall Jeremiah working out his prophetic muscles. (How about young Samuel [1Sa. 3]?)
Look how backwards she has it! She claims if you are authentic while giving prophecies then you will lead a spirit filled life! Shouldn't it be the other way? (Good point, perhaps the first time we've been able to say that about Rev. Wade.)
Do you think God is going to give a prophetic word for His people to someone who is not being led by the Holy Spirit? This is ridiculous. (Again we long for the biblical case. Any Scripture at all, really.)
What is it like to be a prophetess in your own home with a young family?
"As you can imagine living in a house with 5 boys can be a lot, but probably less complicated than with 5 girls. Well, in terms of what it is like to be a prophetess and a mom, it kind of goes back to living that spirit-led life versus living off a prophetic platform. It also helps knowing which prophetic personality you are. There are four distinct prophetic personalities: knower, hearer, seer, feeler. The knower is intuitive; I think about how Paul became a mentor to Timothy instinctively. You might just know you are supposed to do something or go somewhere but lack a word or encounter to support the impression. The hearer is likely to hear God saying specific things. Maybe it's a verse or a phrase that just comes to mind. I like to call this the classic play-by-play. The Seer is a visionary, God gives them a vision for life, but sometimes they struggle with the details of life because they have a big picture that may take a lifetime to accomplish. The Feeler is often given an emotion by God usually so that you can partner with God to intercede for people, your family, etc." - Havilah Cunnington
(We would not endeavor to address this, since it is clear that Ms. Cunnington is making it up. Perhaps there are categories of people who predisposed to perceive in certain ways. We would find no relevance at all in knowing such a thing, or why it might be important.)
Who knew that you can have a multiple prophetic personality disorder! Seriously, let's go through these. So the knower is a rogue who does not actually operate under any word from God? They just "know" they are supposed to do or say something? By the way, Paul mentoring Timothy was not prophetic. (Again and again Rev. Wade makes claims like this with no Bible verse in sight. Apart from the fact that 1 and 2 Timothy are necessarily prophetic because they are Scripture, Rev. Wade clearly has never read 1Ti. 1:18:
Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight...
Paul himself is rendering his teaching according to prophecies, likely prophecies he himself made over Timothy!
1Ti. 4:1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
If this isn't prophecy, we don't know what is.
And Paul again prophesies in 2Ti. 3 about the last days. Rev. Wade is simply wrong.)
You do not need a direct word from God to do what you know is right. The hearer apparently does not even need to actually hear from God. Having a verse or phrase come to mind is not necessarily "hearing" from God and it most certainly is not cause to then assume that it is a prophetic word for others. There could be any number of reasons why things pop into our heads and hearts. We see this now in the trend of prophetic worship, which is not a real thing.
(Here comes an anecdote Rev. Wade has repeated endlessly every time this subject comes up, as if it is somehow representative of "prophetic worship.") I saw an itinerant worship leader once at my old church and during praise she obviously had the phrase "jump in the river if you want a hug from Jesus" pop into her mind because then she chanted it over and over again for 15 straight minutes. People rolling on the ground exclaiming they were soaked but I just shook my head in disbelief that so many could be so fooled, so quickly. This ridiculous phrase, which is not worship and did not come from God, was assumed to have by the woman who fancied herself a prophetic worship leader. This is not an outlier either as this nonsense goes on every single day in the charismatic church.
Do any of these personalities actually hear from the Lord? The visionary is supposed to be someone God gives a vision to with no direction? Can anyone think of a single example in the entire bible of a prophet operating under a vision but never hearing from God as to what to say to His people? I am amazed at how many people are deceived by this smooth talking with zero biblical foundation. The fourth example is just as silly and unbiblical. God apparently gives this prophet a feeling instead of actual words. You take this emotion and somehow intercede, without any instruction, for random people. Do not fall for such garbage. There are only two types of prophets. One that hears from God and one that does not. One is true and the other false. One should be heeded and the other dismissed.
"I am addressing this because my dad used his prophetic gift to parent us and I saw him operate in this from a very young age. He would often acknowledge that he "knew" something. For example, my dad was a minister and he would often travel to minister. One time he was traveling and my twin sister and I were at home and I was watching something on the TV. Suddenly, the phone rang and it was my dad. He had woken up from his sleep and knew that I was watching something I should not be watching. Through events like this, my parents modeled to me my whole life that you can allow the Holy Spirit to lead you in raising your kids. Just recently, this happened for me as a mom. I noticed one of my sons came home and seemed off, maybe I could have written it off as just tired, but I knew something else was going on. So, I asked the Holy Spirit what to do and in response, I heard Him say, "Get him away from his brothers and ask him what is wrong." I pulled him away from his brothers for a moment and asked if we could talk, but he said nothing when I asked what was wrong. Now, normally I don't say, "The Lord told me" or, "God said" when I am parenting, simply because I don't want to manipulate my children into opening up. Trust me though, I have not always done parenting and the prophetic perfectly, but the truth is the prophetic is not something to perfect; it is a tension to manage. In this moment with my son though I felt to say, "The Lord told me to ask you," then he began opening up about a situation that had happened at school. I knew then if I had not tuned into the voice of the Holy Spirit I could have totally missed it." - Havilah Cunnington
Seriously? So a parent is away and suddenly has a feeling that their unattended child is home, watching something they should not. This is not called prophecy - it is called parenting. It sure may be intuitive but hardly surprising and certainly not prophetic. (Why is it "certainly not prophetic?" How does Rev. Wade know? Upon what does he basis this pronouncement?)
Do any of these personalities actually hear from the Lord? The visionary is supposed to be someone God gives a vision to with no direction? Can anyone think of a single example in the entire bible of a prophet operating under a vision but never hearing from God as to what to say to His people? I am amazed at how many people are deceived by this smooth talking with zero biblical foundation. The fourth example is just as silly and unbiblical. God apparently gives this prophet a feeling instead of actual words. You take this emotion and somehow intercede, without any instruction, for random people. Do not fall for such garbage. There are only two types of prophets. One that hears from God and one that does not. One is true and the other false. One should be heeded and the other dismissed.
"I am addressing this because my dad used his prophetic gift to parent us and I saw him operate in this from a very young age. He would often acknowledge that he "knew" something. For example, my dad was a minister and he would often travel to minister. One time he was traveling and my twin sister and I were at home and I was watching something on the TV. Suddenly, the phone rang and it was my dad. He had woken up from his sleep and knew that I was watching something I should not be watching. Through events like this, my parents modeled to me my whole life that you can allow the Holy Spirit to lead you in raising your kids. Just recently, this happened for me as a mom. I noticed one of my sons came home and seemed off, maybe I could have written it off as just tired, but I knew something else was going on. So, I asked the Holy Spirit what to do and in response, I heard Him say, "Get him away from his brothers and ask him what is wrong." I pulled him away from his brothers for a moment and asked if we could talk, but he said nothing when I asked what was wrong. Now, normally I don't say, "The Lord told me" or, "God said" when I am parenting, simply because I don't want to manipulate my children into opening up. Trust me though, I have not always done parenting and the prophetic perfectly, but the truth is the prophetic is not something to perfect; it is a tension to manage. In this moment with my son though I felt to say, "The Lord told me to ask you," then he began opening up about a situation that had happened at school. I knew then if I had not tuned into the voice of the Holy Spirit I could have totally missed it." - Havilah Cunnington
Seriously? So a parent is away and suddenly has a feeling that their unattended child is home, watching something they should not. This is not called prophecy - it is called parenting. It sure may be intuitive but hardly surprising and certainly not prophetic. (Why is it "certainly not prophetic?" How does Rev. Wade know? Upon what does he basis this pronouncement?)
This is how we are taught though in church. We have a perfectly normal parenting experience and we super-spiritualize it. Then in the example she gives as a parent she claims an audible voice from the Holy Spirit to get the one troubled brother away from the others? Perhaps the most telling comment is that she believes the prophetic, which is again hearing from God, cannot be perfected but rather it must be managed? Is God not perfect? When He speaks does He stutter? The truly prophetic is already perfect because it came from God! (Rev. Wade has it backwards. Of course God is perfect. No one is questioning that side of the equation. It is we who are imperfect, we who cannot always hear or understand clearly, we whose discernment is faulty. The uncertainty is on the human side, Rev. Wade.)
The only tension that exists are when people are playing prophet and trying to decipher if the latest "word" they think they feel is from God or from the pizza they ate last night.
Which prophetic personality are you?
"I am a knower, but you know what I have found about knowers? They often feel like the least spiritual person. They are not having a vision where they see something or hear the audible voice of God. They often just know and that is what they have to lean into. However, when giving a prophetic word or ministering to someone I will often experience all four personalities the word might begin with a knowing, but then I might see something, hear a specific verse or feel a certain way about who they are that all help me to minister to them. Now, some people may be thinking to themselves, "I think I experience all of those personalities." This is the beautiful thing about God; He is not confined to a box in the way He communicates to us. However, this is something incredible about discovering the way that you may hear from the Lord the most; it builds your faith as you begin to trust that you too hear the voice of God." - Havilah Cunnington
Whoa, wait a minute. You just said you audibly heard from God regarding your son but now you are a knower? The personality that does not hear specifics from God? (Rev. Wade takes Ms. Cunninton's categories as if they are hard boundaries that cannot be violated.)
Oh I see, now she claims that you can have all four of these personality types at once, regarding the same prophecy! There is a psychiatric term for this - schizophrenia. The truly worst part is that you can have all four of these personalities and still have not actually heard from God! I hate to break it to Havilah and Kris but God designed the box He is contained in for our own benefit and it is called the bible. (Whaaat? God is contained by the Bible? In what way? Where does the Bible say this? Again and again Rev. Wade makes these pronouncements without so much as a sliver of explanation or exposition.)
So when people like you step outside that box to create absurd doctrine out of whole cloth we can know to dismiss you and your four personalities out of hand.
"The truth is the Lord is eager to speak to His children, whether you hear the audible voice of God, have angels visitation, or experience discernment through impressions, He is always speaking. I would go so far to say that if you have not heard the voice of God in the last 24 hours, perhaps it's not that He has not spoken, but maybe that you haven't recognized it. I encourage you to take a moment to become aware of the subtle, yet powerful ways that the Lord has spoken to you. Sometimes, we are unaware, because we do not even know how He speaks." - Havilah Cunnington
Yes, if you do not hear from God and His angels at least once per day then its on you. It's your fault. True discernment sees right through this scam being pulled off by Kris Vallotton and Havilah Cunnington. The last paragraph of this article is actually an advertisement for the school of the prophets we discussed earlier. Kris says that if you desire to operate with prophets, just sign on up and fork over your $400 bucks. Wait, I feel the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention. There is a shifting in the atmosphere. God is giving me a vision. Yes I can see it very clearly now. God is showing me Kris laughing while depositing your check. I have a feeling of great sadness for you even considering falling for this snake oil salesman. I am hearing God say Matthew 7:15 over and over, so I made it the key verse for today. I feel like jumping in a river and hugging Jesus because I realize He did not say any of this to me. I just know it. I must be a knower too. (Now Rev. Wade mocks. Such a thing is improper and unseemly for a supposed minister of the Word.)
"The truth is the Lord is eager to speak to His children, whether you hear the audible voice of God, have angels visitation, or experience discernment through impressions, He is always speaking. I would go so far to say that if you have not heard the voice of God in the last 24 hours, perhaps it's not that He has not spoken, but maybe that you haven't recognized it. I encourage you to take a moment to become aware of the subtle, yet powerful ways that the Lord has spoken to you. Sometimes, we are unaware, because we do not even know how He speaks." - Havilah Cunnington
Yes, if you do not hear from God and His angels at least once per day then its on you. It's your fault. True discernment sees right through this scam being pulled off by Kris Vallotton and Havilah Cunnington. The last paragraph of this article is actually an advertisement for the school of the prophets we discussed earlier. Kris says that if you desire to operate with prophets, just sign on up and fork over your $400 bucks. Wait, I feel the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention. There is a shifting in the atmosphere. God is giving me a vision. Yes I can see it very clearly now. God is showing me Kris laughing while depositing your check. I have a feeling of great sadness for you even considering falling for this snake oil salesman. I am hearing God say Matthew 7:15 over and over, so I made it the key verse for today. I feel like jumping in a river and hugging Jesus because I realize He did not say any of this to me. I just know it. I must be a knower too. (Now Rev. Wade mocks. Such a thing is improper and unseemly for a supposed minister of the Word.)
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