The prophet's handbook

did, as told by Luke in his early chapters. Luke stated that a prophet on the order of Elijah would come and turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers. This is a fulfillment of John’s goal; it is essentially to prepare the people to receive and participate in the next phase of the Lord’s plan. As forerunner, John’s task was to clear the heart path of the debris, fallout, and calamities the people had grown accustomed to living with every day for the Messiah. John preceded Jesus, as was foretold, preaching the word of repentance and baptizing with water to foreshadow the Lord’s baptism with the Holy Spirit. When John effectively recognized and confirmed Christ as the Messiah, the focus of ministry activity shifted from him to Jesus. After that, the normal course would have been that John’s disciples submit to Jesus, which some of them did. Once this happened, John would have served as chief prophet under Christ, the Great Apostle, and participated in helping the world understand and adopt to His message. This all could have happened if John had not lost his head. The Lord allowed this because the Old Testament prophet’s economy had to give way to apostolic leadership and governance. Under this dispensation, the apostles assume that place above the prophets, as is their right. How Prophetic Movements Begin Prophets usually start their movements with calls for repentance. They invoke the people of God to renounce their sins and abandon their secular and humanist contests with the Most High and Holy God. Elijah’s Mount Carmel contest was no less than this. Prophets do this today to prepare people for the coming of the apostle, who prepares them for the coming of the Lord. Prelude to Apostleship When the truth and righteousness of God have been reinstalled, the ground is ready for the apostle to come forward with the next phase of God’s plans. Here is where previous moves that limned the upcoming apostolic move take shape. Prophets begin the arduous interpretive process of linking the now word of God to its preceding move to propel saints forward into what God wants to set in motion. Thus, the mold is sculpted for the architecture of what the Lord will do next. The apostle then takes up his or her place as the present generation’s principal stronghold of the Lord Jesus Christ in human form. Ideally, the two team up and take the next leg of the ministry’s journey onward in the race, with the prophet paving the way before every step.