The prophet's handbook

Chapter 6

The Church Prophet’s Role

In this chapter you will read about the difference between church prophets and itinerant prophets. It covers:

God’s plan for the church prophet Shamar prophets

General church prophet tasks Avoiding prophetic monopolies The watchman duties of the church prophet How Church Prophets Differ from Itinerants

To understand the church prophet’s role, we start by giving some fundamentals on the position. Our goal is to validate church or resident prophets by defining their role in the church. Of course, the best place for us to begin is in Scripture. The following material comes from an extensive study of Hosea 12:13. The passage reads, “By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved.” The relevance of this teaching centers on the two words used to describe what Moses the prophet did, and continued to do, in the life of the people God sent him to deliver from Egyptian bondage. Implications behind Israel’s exodus and Moses’ subsequent guardianship over the delivered people of God shed light on the prophet’s constant work following deliverance. Its inclusion in Hosea’s discourses instructs us further, beyond what we learned about Samuel’s ministry, on how the prophet may be utilized in the local church. From these meanings, it may be deduced that every church needs a prophetic guard. That is a force of seasoned prophets that create the shield of defense that keeps the church clean, pure, focused, and out of Satan’s reach. This shield takes the first hit, akin to what a government’s guard would do. Guardianship is the primary and standing purpose of the church prophet. Without one, the church is vulnerable to humanist and demonic victimization and can