Reclaming Prophecy

Is there a way to experience prophetic ministry in a God-honoring way—without all the mess and confusion? Prophetic ministry is the Holy Spirit's gift to the Church. Yet this gift has been abused, confused, and misused, making it difficult for today's Church leaders to embrace. With biblically sound delivery, Darin Slack offers a compelling perspective based on his thirty years of experience in prophetic ministry. He challenges indifference and complacency, while discouraging doctrinal disorder in the administration of the gift. Slack provides a powerful and much needed balance that will allow Church leaders to see the great potential for blessing in the prophetic while reducing the risk. Through Scripture, Slack offers leaders, from all doctrinal backgrounds, a faith-building process for realizing prophecy that leads to Church edification. (1 Cor. 14:3) This book is a must-have for every pastor or Church leader who desires to scripturally understand and implement prophetic ministry.

Is there a way to experience prophetic ministry in a God-honoring way—without all the mess and confusion? Prophetic ministry is the Holy Spirit’s gift to the Church. Yet this gift has been abused, confused, and misused, making it difficult for today’s Church leaders to embrace. With biblically sound delivery, Darin Slack offers a compelling perspective based on his thirty years of experience in prophetic ministry. He challenges indifference and complacency, while discouraging doctrinal disorder in the administration of the gift. Slack provides a powerful and much needed balance that will allow Church leaders to see the great potential for blessing in the prophetic while reducing risk. Through Scripture, Slack offers leaders, from all doctrinal backgrounds, a faith-building process for realizing prophecy that leads to Church edification. (1 Cor. 14:3) In Reclaiming Prophecy, discover: • How the Gospel opens the door to prophecy without all the problems • How the Spirit equips prophetic teams • How prophetic discipleship is the key to unlocking this ministry • How Church leaders can discern Christ-glorifying prophetic ministry • How to better understand the heart and mindset of the prophetic person • How to create meaningful training for prophetic growth This book is a must-have for every pastor or Church leader who desires to scripturally understand and implement prophetic ministry.

This book is a call for preachers to learn the importance of keeping their eyes on the vision of Jesus and biblical prophets when preaching - that of doing justice, caring for others, and being equitable. The book attempts to make a biblical argument for the importance and the content of prophetic preaching, and argues that the issue is not preaching from a text taken from the prophetic corpus but preaching on the themes that echoed over and over from the biblical prophets themselves.

Another Fall rapture frenzy will carry prophecy watchers through what has become an annual roller-coaster ride of emotions. Can these life rending cycles of prophetic expectation be what Christ had in mind when He told His disciples to ¿watch?¿ Authors Douglas Hamp and Chris Steinle have discovered a healthier view of the rapture based on extensive Bible prophecy and a literal interpretation of the Scriptures. It's time to rethink the timing and purpose of the rapture. The rapture was prophesied from Genesis to Revelation. Why have dozens of rapture prophecies been overlooked by mainstream theology? Explore the ancient texts and discover God's clear and consistent revelation of end time events. End-times Bible prophecy is like a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle partially done. Many godly people have come before us and have spent a great deal of effort establishing the borders of the puzzle. Parts of the faces and the landscape are taking form, yet without the box cover showing the finished product, no one really knows how it ought to look entirely assembled. The timing of the rapture is a puzzle-piece incorrectly placed. Many times, teachers will begin with the assumption that the timing of the rapture is fixed and non-negotiable. They then demand that the rest of the end times scenario fit that assumption. *Explore dozens of verses that clearly state the timing of the rapture. *Understand the logic behind Paul's eschatology. *Learn why God's indignation, the rapture, and the Second Coming are all part of the Day of the Lord. *Enjoy dramatic vignettes from the Millennium Chronicles that bring Bible prophecies to life. *Consider the connection between the rapture and the promised redemption of the body. *Discover God's plan to gather the Commonwealth of Israel, and how the Gathering applies to the Church. *See why Paul insisted the dead must rise before the rapture. *Know the biblical signs that will precede the return of Jesus. *Includes four charts and three vignettes to showcase the authors' conclusions. Reclaiming the Rapture represents a monumental and seminal revision to the Pre-Tribulation rapture theology of Darby and Scofield.

Naturally occurring DMT may produce prophecy-like states of consciousness and thus represent a bridge between biology and religious experience • Reveals the striking similarities between the visions of the Hebrew prophets and the DMT state described by Strassman’s research volunteers • Explains how prophetic and psychedelic states may share biological mechanisms • Presents a new top-down “theoneurological” model of spiritual experience After completing his groundbreaking research chronicled in DMT: The Spirit Molecule, Rick Strassman was left with one fundamental question: What does it mean that DMT, a simple chemical naturally found in all of our bodies, instantaneously opens us to an interactive spirit world that feels more real than our own world? When his decades of clinical psychiatric research and Buddhist practice were unable to provide answers to this question, Strassman began searching for a more resonant spiritual model. He found that the visions of the Hebrew prophets--such as Ezekiel, Moses, Adam, and Daniel--were strikingly similar to those of the volunteers in his DMT studies. Carefully examining the concept of prophecy in the Hebrew Bible, he characterizes a “prophetic state of consciousness” and explains how it may share biological and metaphysical mechanisms with the DMT effect. Examining medieval commentaries on the Hebrew Bible, Strassman reveals how Jewish metaphysics provides a top-down model for both the prophetic and DMT states, a model he calls “theoneurology.” Theoneurology bridges biology and spirituality by proposing that the Divine communicates with us using the brain, and DMT--whether naturally produced or ingested--is a critical factor in such visionary experience. This model provides a counterpoint to “neurotheology,” which proposes that altered brain function simply generates the impression of a Divine-human encounter. Theoneurology addresses issues critical to the full flowering of the psychedelic drug experience. Perhaps even more important, it points the way to a renewal of classical prophetic consciousness, the soul of Hebrew Bible prophecy, as well as unexpected directions for the evolution of contemporary spiritual practice.

Jesus is The Prophet. Every word that comes from His lips is prophetic. Every expression of His will is prophetic. Every work of His Spirit is prophetic. The Holy Spirit is the conveyer of truth to the church both in words and deeds; and the church is to be a picture of that very truth to its community and world. Prophecy is far more than words or visions. Prophecy is a life lived individually and in a gathered community that bears testimony to God and His redemptive work. Prophecy isn't restricted to the simple understanding of the prophetic ministry that most charismatics espouse. True prophecy always, without exception and in every way, lifts up Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

“This festschrift honors one of the most important Old Testament scholars in the modern Mennonite tradition, and the essays produced by colleagues and former students reflect Janzen's influence and productivity as both a scholar and a teacher.” —Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, Loyola Marymount University

The primary purpose of Prophetic Liturgy is to inquire into the prophetic dimension of the liturgy. Some questions addressed in the book are: How can a liturgy be prophetic? How can liturgy form and transform individuals and communities? In which sense does the liturgy facilitate a living participation in socio-political-economic life? How does the sacramental practice challenge the church to mediate God's gifts of grace, love, justice, and mercy to the world? Possible answers for these questions begin to emerge as we develop an understanding of religious praxis as an active and dynamic prophetic action, in which the community of faith claims its identity, promotes an engaged faithful Christian life, and affirms the sacramental life of the church as a source of formation and inspiration for prophetic praxis, mediating God's gift for the life of the world. There is risk in presenting an option for prophetic praxis, in that it may go beyond the comfort zone of a community and engender spiritual and political alienation. The most challenging ethical hope of this book is to provide the worshiping community with prophetic awareness of socio-economic injustice, while at the same time preserving the community's historical-cultural identity, its religious values, and its sacramental spirituality.