Marko Joensuu's Blog, page 2

What is the meaning of the white stone in Revelation 2:17?

In Revelation 2:17, For the overcomers in Pergamum, God promised hidden manna, and “a white stone, and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.” The meaning of hidden manna is clear. God will give the Christians hidden strength to get through the spiritual wilderness they are in. He is not asking them to leave Pergamum but to endure a lengthy time of difficulties.

But there have been many questions about the meaning of the white stone.

Isaiah 56:3-5 prophesies:

Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and do not let the eunuch say, “I am just a dry tree.” For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.

In the context of the list that speaks about everlasting rewards, it seems clear that the name the overcomers will receive is everlasting, as prophesied by Isaiah. But what is the meaning of the white stone?

If we follow the hermeneutical principle of seeking the explanation first in the Bible, we must go to Acts, as apart from Revelation, the Greek word for stone or pebble is only mentioned in Acts, and only once.

In Acts 26:9-11, when giving a speech in his defence in front of King Agrippa, Paul uses the Greek word pséphos (stone, pebble), in the casting of a vote against Christians:

Indeed, I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is what I did in Jerusalem; with authority received from the chief priests, I not only locked up many of the saints in prison, but I also cast my vote against them when they were being condemned to death. By punishing them often in all the synagogues I tried to force them to blaspheme; and since I was so furiously enraged at them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.

Casting a white stone meant “Yes”, but casting a black stone meant “No”. Paul, who was being judged by King Agrippa, says that he himself also once judged the followers of Jesus by casting a black stone against them.

Following the theme of overcoming to gain an eternal life, John seems to say that the judgment of God is to give the overcomers an everlasting life with an eternal name, and the giving of the white stone means that they are declared not guilty.

There are alternative explanations to the meaning of the white stone, but they all seem to point to the theme of God giving us an eternal glory through giving us an eternal name. 

Tessarae gladiatoris were four-sided prisms of ivory or bone that were bestowed as an honour on gladiators. On the four faces of this white token were inscribed the name referring to the gladiator, a name referring to the patron, a Roman date, and the year in the form of consul’s names. (Banducci 2015, 203)

If the house of Satan, using Tertullian’s expression, was the amphitheatre, then it would be fitting that the victorious Christian gladiator would receive a white stone, but with a new name. So, the white stone could symbolise either the triumph of the Christian martyr at his death, or as we have seen earlier, that he was declared not guilty. Perhaps it symbolised both.

And in the Old Testament, God often renames His people. Their new name will reveal their eternal identity. No matter what people have called us, this is what God will know us as—through eternity. This might be one of the reasons why there will be no jealousy over rewards in heaven; if part of our reward is visible only to God and ourselves privately, it will form part of our eternal identity, but it will be a secret between God and us.

I love the idea that I will have a secret in heaven that will only be known to God and me! Our new name will be the eternal bond that will make my relationship and your relationship with God utterly unique.

But the white stone is given to the overcomers in the end of their life, which means that it will reveal the fullness of their identity in God for all eternity. God calls us, but who we are will be made fully manifest only when we enter eternity. That is why it is unwise to define yourself fully by your current roles or gifts. God might be doing something new in your life in the last day of your life! That was the fate of the martyrs.

For more on the Book of Revelation, you can read my book Understanding Revelation.

Sources:Banducci, Laura M. ‘A Tessera Lusoria from Gabii and the Afterlife of Roman Gaming’. Herom 4, no. 2 (November 2015): 199–221.
Tertullian, Ad Martyras

Leadership lessons: Moses and the algorithms of rage

Why can a leader be nice and polite when you meet him in the church, but behave like an idiot when you meet him or her online? At least a partial answer might be algorithms.  

There is a lot of rage online. What escapes the awareness of many is that this rage is partially fed by algorithms. Social media algorithms are built to increase engagement by utilising the behavioural stimulus-response loop. They don’t recognise the concept of sinful nature, and this can have devastating consequences.  

Today, many Christians are trapped in the stimulus-response loop designed to increase rage. The algorithm itself is blind, but each time you express rage online, the algorithm will lead you to content that will enrage you even more. If you like to watch dancing kittens, it will give you dancing kittens, if you care about abortion, it will give you more content that will enrage you about abortion. 

It is important that the stimulus-response loop is always psychological, and it has nothing to do with the life of the Spirit. But this stimulus-response loop, when it begins to reinforce anger, can have costly consequences in your life.   

James 1:19-20 says: “You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness.” 

James 3:6 says, “And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell.” 

The way we speak online can stain the “whole body”. Anger cost Moses, one of the greatest leaders of all time, everything – twice.   

Moses’s kills the Egyptian 

Why did Moses kill the Egyptian who was beating a Jew in Exodus 2? The killing must have been triggered by anger. The consequences of his outburst were not liberating for the Jews but devastating for Moses, as he had to flee and spend forty years in exile. 

Moses had been raised by the Pharaoh’s daughter. The Pharaoh must have had many daughters, as he would have had many wives, so we can’t know Moses’s exact rank.  

But whatever his rank in the Pharaoh’s court, Moses would have been raised in an environment where most of his needs and desires were responded to immediately. His Egyptian education would not have been designed to curtail all his sinful desires.  

Romans 13:14 says, “Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” 

Like the Egyptian court, the algorithms don’t know the concept of flesh  – our sinful nature  –and if you give your flesh an inch online, the algorithms begin to feed the flesh, and soon you will give flesh a mile.  

Unlike pornography, the sinful nature of online rage is not always obvious, and if it is connected to a just cause, it can take a righteous appearance. 

Anger is very deceptive, as at the moment of feeling anger, it can feel fully justified. When Moses killed the Egyptian, he probably felt that he was fighting for a righteous cause. 

In the social media ecosystem, media often creates the morsels of rage which are then pushed to your social media feed by the algorithms that detect you responding to their stimuli. If you respond, algorithms begin to feed you with content that makes you even angrier.  

Moses’s strikes a rock 

Moses’s second outburst of anger comes in Numbers 20:7-13, 

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”  This was the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and He was hallowed among them. 

Just before, in verse 6, the glory of the Lord has appeared to Moses and Aaron, as they approach the Tabernacle after the Israelites have complained about their plight. 

In Exodus 17, Moses struck a rock as instructed by God. It seems that in his anger Moses resorted to the method that he used in the past rather than following God’s new instructions. We can see how anger is regressive and connects with our past experiences. 

The cost of this seemingly small mistake was that Moses never made it to the Promised Land himself; he was only allowed to look at it from a distance. 

Why did God judge Moses so harshly?  

Numbers says that the reason for the punishment was that Moses did not believe in God. 

Instead, Moses reacted angrily and used the last method that had worked. This shows that godly leadership is never regressive; it does not react in anger. 

A God-given vision does not give us the right to react angrily against church members even when they don’t abide with that vision. We need to respond prayerfully in difficult situations and not assume that we already know everything. Only God knows fully how the vision He has given to us will be fulfilled.  

Even if God Himself is angry, that doesn’t automatically mean that we have the right to react in anger.  

Leading a church is not running a perfect system and forcing people to comply with the order demanded by the system. Instead, it is travelling together, and although there is repetition and similar days, the situations, circumstances and the people we lead can all be different.  

It is the most deceptive moment when the water flows from the rock after we have reacted in anger. It might look like God is endorsing our leadership – when He only responded because He wanted to meet the needs of His people. 

I have met many leaders who for a long time seemed to achieve godly outcomes through anger. But in the end, they have always paid a heavy price.  

You can connect with Marko on Twitter @markojoensuu and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mpjoensuu/ or by visiting markojoensuu.com. 

 

Overcoming the wrong side of mediated authenticity

We often bemoan the corrupting influence of contemporary culture on the Church. But many of these concerns are superficial and not related to how the surrounding culture really affects us on a deeper level. For if the medium is the message, then our central message seems to be that the most important thing is a great stage performance. And this centrality of the stage performance is the logical outcome from the architecture of most modern church buildings.
If you compare the church buildings built until the late 19th century with the churches built today, you will see a remarkable difference. In the old churches, the pulpit was elevated high above the pews for largely acoustic purposes. The priest spoke to us from above, which emphasized the supremacy of the Word. Unfortunately, this also made the distinction between the priest and the congregation evident. 


Today’s pulpits are mostly on stages in auditoriums with effective sound systems and visual extravaganza. Our open stages can give an appearance of informality and intimacy, but their intimacy is often illusory and carefully managed—much like in TV talk shows where the host and the guest embrace each other like old friends—even when they are really meeting for the first time.
Media theorists describe mediated intimacy as distant, non-reciprocal intimacy. It is projected intimacy, and today it is an integral part of the Western culture. For example, a politician who is unable to project this kind of intimacy will probably not be elected. Unfortunately, mediated intimacy is not real but illusory. It makes us feel that we have a genuine relationship with someone on stage, but in reality, that relationship remains one-sided.  No human being can have a meaningful, intimate relationship with thousands of people. Megachurch model dominates even smaller churchesIn 1923, Aimee McPherson opened the first megachurch modeled after a theater in Los Angeles.  Thousands of megachurches and countless of smaller churches have since copied the most basic ingredient of its architecture—the division between a stage for performers and seats for an audience. Aimee built a theater, so now we have thousands of churches built like theaters. And in theaters all that matters is maintaining an illusion. 
Reporter Don Ryan wrote in Los Angeles Recordof January 2, 1923 about the opening of Angelus Temple, 
“If Aimee Semple McPherson had not chosen to be a revivalist, she would have been a queen of musical comedy. She has a magnetism such as few women since Cleopatra have possessed . . . Standing beneath the dome the revivalist explained her inspiration for the temple. ‘I wanted it like God’s own outdoors,’ she said. ‘So the gypsies and people of that sort would feel more at home. The churches seem to have lost the intimacy we get in theatres. I tried to get that intimacy here . . . The cheerful intimacy of the theater had been achieved. The building is much like a theater. It has numerous foyers. The seats are opera chairs. The only churchly touch is in the windows.’” 
In an interview in 1978, Aimee’s daughter Roberta said, “All she had was drama lessons in High School. So she read the Bible as an actress. She put back the drama that was already there.”
Aimee was very aware of entertainment as her main competition, and she taught young preachers, 
“Remember you have competition. There are the movies and the boxing-galleries and the bowling allies. Students, beat the old devil at his game and come prayed through, with the power of God upon you and every means you can at your disposal to get the message over.” 
This change would probably have happened even without Aimee, but it seems no coincidence that the megachurch was birthed near Hollywood.
We can perceive megachurches as the only churches with stage production problems, but, in fact, the prevailing stage performance culture affects all churches: large and small, contemporary and traditional. The main differences are the differences of scale between a Broadway, regional or village theater experience.
Uri Geller, an Israeli illusionist, once said, “In entertainment, there is a kind of acceptability to deceive. It is like there are two Picasso paintings on the wall. One of them is real. One of them is fake. But it doesn’t really matter. There is no harm in that.” 
The stage knows no difference between a hypocrite and an authentic Christian leader. Perceived intimacy is deceitful"The medium is the message" is a phrase coined by the media theorist Marshall McLuhan. It means that the form of a medium embeds itself in the message, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived.  For example, TV is primarily the medium of entertainment, and this will affect everything we see on TV, including the news.
Nearly everything we see on TV is carefully stage-managed. And we have expanded this careful stage management to our church services. Whereas in the traditional churches this rigorous stage management has been used to create liturgies that create a separation between the clergy and the congregation members, in contemporary churches it is often used to create an illusion of intimacy. 
Some churches have a rock band, others a medieval choir. But in both, the Church mostly operates like a stage production.Hyperreal religious experiencesAccording to media theorists, we live in a media-saturated world where media profoundly shapes the way we perceive reality. This complex intertwining of an event and its mediated representation is called ‘hyperreality’. Unfortunately, many Christians might confuse their experience of religious hyperreality with a genuine spiritual life.
We experience a transition from hyperreality into reality when we walk out of a dark cinema into bright daylight. We have been immersed in a manufactured emotional experience. As the emotional effects of that particular movie are not real but manufactured, they fade quickly, leaving behind a sense of emptiness. We can also experience a transition from hyperreality into reality on Monday morning when the great church experience we had on Sunday night has faded, and we feel we have no faith left.  Stage performers as church leadersOur church setup favors good performers. That’s because the stage belongs to them. No one wants to watch a bad actor. In this environment good performance skills are more important than a good character. We might bemoan the celebrity culture, but the reality is that even our building architecture is designed to manufacture it.
On stage, what matters is perceivedauthenticity. Fake or real, it doesn't really matter! Hyperreality doesn't differentiate between them. Our stage performance culture is one of the main reasons for the inability of our churches to make a difference in society—or even in the lives of our congregation members. Whilst we protest loudly against our secular society from the pulpit, we perpetuate its operating logic in our services.
When a stage performer becomes a church leader, his team will consist of stagehands that can help him look good on stage and supporting performers who will participate in his performance.  The stark reality is that most of our churches are run according to the logic of a stage and event management company. We have been caught in the wrong side of mediated authenticity. How can we escape all this?I have heard many Christians say that we should escape all this and no more meet in church buildings. But small groups and emerging church models have their own problems.
And large churches and Christian media can have an important role to play in evangelism and society that simply cannot be delivered by home churches. For example, in the last year, our work with converts from Islam has been expanding to over ten countries in Europe and the Middle East. A large part of this work in the Middle East is happening through house churches, but these house churches wouldn’t even exist without the help of the Christian media and larger Western churches that have access to financial resources and people power.
It is helpful to see that the problem of mediated authenticity is by no means a new problem; it is an ancient problem that has only become bigger.
In Matthew 6:5, Jesus confronted this performance culture head-on when he admonished the hypocrites who liked to pray in street corners. Today, the street corners might have become church stages, but the temptation remains the same. Our problem is that stages have been designed for hypocrisy, as they are places for performance and acting. 
The only way to deal with the dark side of mediated authenticity is to let the Word of God inspect our lives on a daily basis. We must relearn to read the Bible for ourselves first rather than only for a sermon.
James 1:23-25 says: “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.”
The solution James offers might sound simple, but it works.  It is remarkable how much in our lives depends on us remembering that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 

10 tests for judging general prophecy

Each day the Charismatic Church encounters a deluge of general prophecy predicting anything from a revival to trends in global politics. But it seems that we are giving our people very few—if any—tools for assessing these prophecies.
General prophecy differs from personal prophecy in that it is not concerned of individuals but of churches, regions, nations, world events and so on, although, if genuine, it will often impact individuals indirectly. 

The Trump prophecies are a form of general prophecy, as although they concern an individual, the main emphasis is on the impact of choosing one individual on a nation.
One of the things I have been astonished about is how millions of Christians have been willing to desert any biblical standards when it comes to the Trump prophecies. For biblical standard is not just about guessing the name of a president right, but it is also about revealing God's purposes behind the world events. 
The purpose of these ten tests is to help Christians assess general prophecy when it has been proclaimed, so that they don't have to wait until the fulfilment or failure of these prophecies. Clearly, there are many tests we can use, and although there are prophecies that will have to run their course before clarity emerges, at least we should be able to sift out clearly wrong prophecies through testing them

Proverbs 30:5-6 says: "Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar."

False prophecy is like adding to God's words; speaking in a manner of as if God has authorised us to do so—but God is not bound by our words, He is only committed to fulfilling His own words.



Before we get started, here is a list of articles I have written previously about the Trump prophecies.
Prophecy as propaganda: the Trump prophecies as political persuasionIs God finished with the current prophetic movement?Don't lose your prophetic calling for partisan politicsThe Trump prophecies and the urgent need for prophetic reformationCan we judge general prophecy?The first hurdle we must overcome in judging prophecy is a teaching that doesn't seem to take false prophecy that seriously. Instead, this teaching instructs us simply to align with the 'recognised' prophets, and accept their word as given—with not much explanation if the word turns out to be wrong, as prophecy is seen as partial and fallible. But we are left with a paradox: why should we listen to prophets who have a prophetic 'office' if their words turn out to be fallible? Isn't it the accuracy of their words that should give these prophets their office? But instead, in today's prophetic movement it is an alignment with 'apostles' and other 'prophets' that seems to give these 'prophets' authority.
But this kind of thinking is based on misunderstanding 1 Corinthians 13. This misunderstanding probably started from a mistranslation of a singular word in KJV. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:8-11 (NKJV), 
“Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”
Because Paul says that we prophesy in part, many prophets aren’t really that bothered if their words turn out not to be fulfilled. And if the standard to be used is that prophecies don’t need to be fulfilled 100% accurately, then getting them 50% right (for example, for Trump to win the election but not turning out to be the prophesied purger of corruption in Washington D.C., but rather a corruption automatum), then it is not a big deal, as even a partial fulfilment is considered adequate.
In this view, hitting the bullseye isn't necessary; sometimes it seems enough to be able to throw the dart in the right direction, even if it doesn't hit the target at all. 
I write about the historical development behind the reduced standards applied to prophecy in my book Supernatural Love: Releasing the Compassion of Jesus Through the Gifts of the Spirit.
But this kind of thinking is based on reading the Bible carelessly, as the Greek for “fail,” katargeo , is defined as, “1. to render idle… 2. to cause to cease” (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon ). This has been translated much more accurately in other translations. For example, NRSV says, "they will come to an end". This one of the verses where both KJV and NKJV fail us, unfortunately.
Consequently, once the prophecy is fulfilled, it ceases in a sense that there’s no longer a need to wait for the fulfilment of the prophesied event. They have no more use, apart from the encouragement a fulfilled prophecy can bring. For example, prophecies about events preceding the return of Christ will cease, or become idle, after His return. Said another way, prophecies are helpful for a limited time, in contrast to the eternal benefit of love. So, when the prophecy has been fulfilled, its intended benefits have ceased. But a genuine prophecy should still be fulfilled accurately.
The verse 12's statement of seeing in a mirror dimly doesn’t refer to prophetic word, but to our subjective experience of Jesus in this age. Now we experience the presence of God dimly, but one day we will see Him face to face. Hence we shouldn't idolise or sometimes even fully embrace our supernatural experiences, as they are somewhat subjective and distorting God's reality.
This is in consistency with the rest of the Bible that always teaches that genuine prophetic words are meant to be taken accurately, although they don't mostly give us a full picture. In essence, seeing and knowing in part—when it comes to prophecy—is like having only some of the pieces of a large jigsaw puzzle—we are often unable to see the whole picture, but what we can see in the individual pieces is still accurate. For example, we might see some of the pieces of the sky and clouds, but we don’t have any pictures of the landscape. Often, over a period of a time, we will begin to receive more pieces, and then we might be able to see the landscape and its relation to the sky.
But it is typical of the present-day prophetic movement to ignore most of the Bible and instead insist on misinterpreting and misapplying a singular Bible verse.
Both Paul and John command us to test any prophecies.
The apostle Paul says, “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.” (1 Corinthians 14:29)
The apostle John says, “Beloved, do not believe every Spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1)
So, as we are exhorted by both John and Paul to test the prophets and their prophecies, we should safely be able to do so, especially as Jesus and the Old Testament prophets also warn us of false prophets.What is the purpose of prophets?Much of the thinking behind prophets having the ability to predict general world events and events related to a nation comes from the Old Testament. It can be argued that the prophets still have this function in the New Testament Church, but it has clearly been somewhat repurposed in Paul’s thinking, as he introduces a new function for the prophets. 
Paul writes in Ephesians 3:1-9, 
“For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery.”
One of the main purposes of prophets in the Church is to make plain the administration of salvation in their generation, and sometimes in future generations. We know that it is God’s will to bring people from all nations to Him, but the administration of this plan must be done according to His will. We can see this in Acts 16:6-10 when Paul sees the vision of a Macedonian man:
"Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them."
It was the Holy Spirit who obstructed Paul from following the general commission to preach the gospel and showed him how he should administer the gospel at that time. 
This same principle applies to our generation. To see how that can work please read 12 lessons from a fulfilled vision (although this article should really be updated, as God has already accomplished so much more!)Prophets combat false doctrineOne of the prophetic functions that we have missed nearly completely in the Charismatic movement is combating false doctrine. In fact, we often justify the poor or false doctrines of the prophets by saying that they are prophets! But the Bible doesn’t give us permission to have this excuse, as Ephesians 4:11-14 demonstrates.
"So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming."
One of the main functions of the prophets in the New Testament is to combat wrong doctrines and help Christians hear God for themselves—by being built into the head, who is Christ. Many today seek to replace the ministry of aligning to the Head with aligning to the prophetic and apostolic ministries themselves, teaching that this is the way Church will be blessed, but in fact, the Church will only be blessed when she is aligned to Jesus. The job of the prophets is not to make the Church obedient to themselves, but to Christ, and as Paul says, their job is done when the Church has reached full maturity and knows Christ.
But how can we assess prophecy that predicts the future? Do we simply need to wait until the prophecy has clearly been fulfilled or unfulfilled? Thankfully, there are many measuring tools that we can use that will help us to understand which prophecies we might need to take seriously, and which ones, clearly not.10 tests for judging general prophecy

Here are 10 tests for judging general prophecy.

1. You will know them by their fruits

Jesus says in Matthew 7:15-16: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.” 
Looking at the Trump prophecies, we are beginning to see their fruit now, as many Christian leaders, still believing in the Trump prophecies, still feel forced to defend racism and clear lies. But we shouldn’t have waited until Trump became President, as these issues were clearly visible earlier, only the Trump prophecies blinded millions to ignore them.
Linked to this is the question whether the prophets display the fruit of the Spirit or not. For example, Lance Wallnau writes in a Facebook post on 17 January 2018:
"'OUT!' CNN reporter Jim Accosting cast out after badgering President.The President didn't even raise his voice, he spoke calmly and pointed to the door. Cast him out with a word.Reminded me...When evening came, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils, and he cast out the spirits with a word.' (Matt 8:16)Sorry. Couldn't resist."
In this story Trump is like Jesus and CNN reporter is like a demon. 
But this goes clearly against the teaching of Jesus about loving your neighbour and even your enemies. If the fruit of a prophecy is hatred, and the prophets spread hatred, they are clearly not bearing the fruit that comes from being part of the Vine.
Unfortunately, the biblical Jesus has largely been replaced by a Republican Jesus in large part of the American Charismatic Church.
But we don't have the right to make Jesus into our image. Instead, our calling is to be transformed into His image.2. What is their worldview and theology?Again, Lance Wallnau provides us with a good example. He writes about Trump:
“It’s the year 20 million Christians watched a deliverer fight, seemingly alone in the center of the Coliseum. That’s going to change in 2018”.
Lance paints a picture of a world where a leader who doesn’t even pretend to profess Christ becomes the deliverer—not through accident, but as if he were anointed by the Holy Spirit. It is a worldview of a thoroughly politicised Christianity, where the opposing political party has become akin to the devil, and where the saints have been replaced by the Republicans.
Now, you might agree to this worldview. But it is not a biblical worldview or biblical theology.
3. Do they have a strong agenda?
When you inspect a prophet and he or she has a clear political agenda, it is possible that their political agenda will blind them, as they can begin to prophesy from their political assumptions. But that is not the voice of the Lord, only the voice of the political assumption. 
Personally, I have come to understand that a strong agenda or framework can make us deaf to to the voice of God.
2 Samuel 7:1-5 tells about King David intending to build a temple.
"Now it came to pass when the king was dwelling in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies all around, that the king said to Nathan the prophet, 'See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside tent curtains.' Then Nathan said to the king, 'Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.' But it happened that night that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, 'Go and tell My servant David, "Thus says the Lord: 'Would you build a house for Me to dwell in?'"'" 
The prophet Nathan made an assumption that because God had anointed David, he would automatically make the right decision, so he didn't even inquire the Lord. Today, the Charismatic Church is full of these assumptions based on the perceived calling of a party, leader or denomination, and those assumptions are blinding us. 
Basically, we don't inquire the Lord, because we think we already know the answer. But no matter who you are, you don't have the right to add to God's words.
God hasn't given us the right to speak on His behalf—not until we have heard His voice clearly.4. What is the fruit of their previous prophecies?What is the fruit/outcome of their previous prophecies? What is their track record? When they prophesied last time, what happened? This doesn’t refer to not yet fulfilled prophecies but clearly expired, unfulfilled prophecies.
Here, you can often 'cheat' a little, in a sense that you can also inspect the prophecies of the prophet's friends.  
For example, in 2012, well known prophets such as Rick Joyner looked into Mormon prophecies to justify voting for Mitt Romney. I wrote about these prophecies in Why did so many prophets get the US election wrong?  
If a prophet has got a main prophecy wrong last time, it probably means that we shouldn’t automatically believe their next major prophecy. And also, if he or she clearly stands in agreement with prophets who have got their prophecies clearly wrong, it is only rightful to question their judgment. I know that this is a tricky area, as you can stand in agreement with someone on, say evangelism but not on prophecy, so I might stand in unity with someone in an evangelistic campaign, but not when it comes to their prophecies. On the other hand, if your read my writings, it will become clear to you pretty quickly what I think about their prophecies, although I might not name an individual.5. Who are their friends? Proverbs 22:24-25 says, “Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn their ways  and get yourself ensnared.”
This is one of the main reasons why I have stayed away from much of the prophetic movement, as we can so easily be ensnared by our friends. 
When it comes to the present-day American prophetic movement, it is useful to perceive it as a fairly unified block that tends to agree with each other, especially when it comes to political prophecy. You will never hear any one prophet within the prophetic movement criticise the prophecies of another one. 
Put simply, we need more prophets who are ready to lose their friends, if necessary. But if someone spends twenty years in close fellowship with clearly false prophets, it is unlikely that their prophetic gift remains pure.
Jeremiah 23:30-32 says “'Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,' says the Lord, 'who steal My words every one from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets,' says the Lord, 'who use their tongues and say, "He says." Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,' says the Lord, 'and tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all,' says the Lord."
Don’t share people’s prophetic words unless you have seriously prayed over the and felt the release. According to Jeremiah. you might be held accountable for false prophecies that you share, even when they are not your own! 7. Is it in clear contradiction to the Word?Again, Lance Wallnau says, "Jesus chose a businessman to give him governmental keys to restore the kingdom. Jesus is putting his hand on a Peter right now; like you’re just saying, it’s a businessman. Trump is a businessman with the keys of the kingdom right now to wreck what hell has been doing over the United States.”


This is in a direct contradiction to the Word and in direct contradiction to what Jesus teaches about the Kingdom. Only the disciples of Jesus can have any spiritual authority of the Kingdom, and here Lance gives Trump the apostolic authority of Peter. 7. How carefully or carelessly does it handle the Word?This is slightly different from the prophecy clearly contradicting the Word. Is the way the prophecy uses the Scripture prophetically in consistency with the intended use? How casually does the prophet handle the Word? Does he or she even care about the intended use?
For example, "I heard the Lord say, 'Donald Trump is a wrecking ball to the spirit of political correctness,'" Wallnau says. "After I met him I heard the Lord say, 'Isaiah 45 will be the 45th president,'" he explains. "I go check it out; Isaiah 45 is Cyrus."
But this shows a huge amount of disrespect when it comes to the Bible. To begin with, Lance should know that the chapter and verse structure of the Bible was added in the Middle Ages, and it was not there originally, so at best, this could be a ‘prophecy’ by a medieval clerk. Also, the Hebrew Bible also gained the chapter and verse structure only after the Christians introduced it in the Middle Ages. This is something he should explain, but he doesn't either know about it or care about it. But telling that would seriously damage the credibility of his prophecy.
The prophetic movement is full of careless reading of the Word. In fact, it often relies on the fact that most Christians don't know their Bible! But if prophecy is God’s word, it should be in consistency with God’s Word, so we should study the Bible diligently. But much of the time, the prophets seem to twist the Word of God for their own purposes.
2 Peter 3:14-18 says: 
“Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.”8. How seriously do prophets take the accuracy of any prophetic words?Often, prophets refer to other prophets’ words or their own prophetic words as if they had been fulfilled. But how accurately do they do it? For example, it has been said that Kim Clement prophesied that Trump will be the president in 2007. You might have heard the recording that allegedly proved that.
So, did Kim Clement prophesy that Trump will be the president? NO. This claim is based on a very poor listening of the actual prophecy. 
According to Kim Clement’s prophecy, Trump will become the trumpet and Bill Gates will open the financial realm to the Church. What follows is a prophecy about a president—who Kim Clement doesn’t name—who will rule for eight years. 
As Kim Clement never names the president, the only prophetic thing about this “prophecy” is that there will be a president who will stay in White House for eight years.
But how did Kim Clement himself interpret this prophecy? Unfortunately, he is no more around, so we must go with what he has said or written. At least on April 9 2008, he clearly seemed to think that the president he prophesied about was Barack Obama.
Kim says, “For they have unfairly spoken against an African man, and I'm not talking about Jeremiah Wright; I'm talking about Obama. For God said, ‘Even though you may think this or that, there is an element of righteousness inside of him to reach out for Jesus. Therefore, I will sway it next week,’ says the Spirit of God, ‘and I will cause My man, My power—to exalt in the White House what is necessary to declare victory. For this time, I shall rise up and I shall make known who I am in a way that I have never done it in this nation,’ says the Lord. For the Spirit of God says, ‘Do not say, “Is it this one or is it that one?” Hear me out. I am raising up My mantle, My voice. This nation shall be awakened to a spiritual activity that has been dead for 42 years. Listen to Me,’ says the Lord. ‘I will take over in a way and in a fashion that will bring a force of spiritual unity in this nation for the first time. You can believe it or not. I will take white and I will take African, and I will bring a unity in the Church between the two of them,’ says the Spirit of God."
So, if the prophecy itself doesn’t state it clearly, and the prophet himself didn’t clearly believe in this interpretation, I don’t think that we have the right to use this prophecy the way it has been used. 
If prophets don't take their own words seriously nor take the words of other prophets seriously, but they twist them, it is unlikely that they have ever prophesied God's words.9. What is its relationship with reality?Jeremiah Johnson, one of the prophets who prophesied quite early about Trump, didn’t prophesy clearly that Trump would be elected, but that he would become a trumpet and that “Trump does not fear man nor will he allow deception and lies to go unnoticed.” 
But Mark Taylor, the fireman, prophesied clearly about Trump becoming president,  “The Spirit of God says, I will protect America and Israel, for this next president will be a man of his word”.
By any reasonable fact-checking standards Trump has lied perhaps more than any other American presidential candidate and now president. Ever. In fact, he seems to be in a continual war against reality. But this was all clear already when Trump's presidential campaign started.
Mark Taylor, the fireman, also prophesied, “For I will use this man to bring honor, respect and restoration to America. America will be respected once again as the most powerful and prosperous nation on Earth.”
But the survey of opinion in 134 countries showed a record collapse in approval for the US role in the world, from 48% under Obama to 30% after one year of Donald Trump—the lowest level Gallup has recorded since beginning its global leadership poll over a decade ago.
Isaiah 5:20 says: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

Woe to us when we call a lie the truth and a truth a lie! And if we need to do that to justify a prophecy then it is likely that the prophecy is false.
Proverbs 24:23-24 says: “To show partiality in judging is not good: Whoever says to the guilty, ‘You are innocent,’ will be cursed by peoples and denounced by nations.”
God always acknowledges reality, but He has the power to transform people and reality, hence the Bible is full of words "nevertheless" and "but". 10. How seriously does it take the meaning of words?False prophecy often redefines words, much like propaganda. For example, what did it mean for Cyrus to be anointed in the Old Testament? Here many read the current-day Pentecostal meaning of the word 'anointing' back into the Old Testament. 
But the 'anointed' one in relation to Cyrus has a completely different meaning that the 'anointed' One when it comes to the Messiah. Again, the way we use the word 'anointed' is often rather different from the New Testament times. 
But here, people like Lance Wallnau quite deliberately abuse the contemporary meaning of the word 'anointing' without explaining the biblical context they are referring to, knowing that although they are technically right when they use the word 'anointing', most of their followers will read the current-day Pentecostal meaning into the ancient context. That means that the word 'anointing' when it comes to Cyrus has effectively been redefined.
Unfortunately, the Charismatic Church is full of these kinds of wilful redefinitions of words. That is why proper exegesis of the Bible is necessary before we attempt to teach it. 
If you find prophets continually using biblical and contemporary words in an unconventional way, there is a chance that they are in the business of redefining words, which often means the difference between an unfulfilled and 'fulfilled' prophecy.
You can connect with Marko on Twitter @markojoensuu and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mpjoensuu/ or by visiting  markojoensuu.com .

Thank God for His Arab Spring!

Kensington Temple has partnered with various Arabic ministries now for around ten years, starting with the translation of Colin Dye’s Sword of the Spirit books into Arabic and broadcasting of his programmes on the KingdomSat.

In the last six months our Arabic ministry has expanded greatly, and the refugee crisis has also brought it close to home. Also, we are now partnering with more Arabic ministries than ever before, and we are really excited about seeing thousands of Arabs giving their lives to Jesus both in Europe and the Middle East.

Since August we have donated over 7,000 copies of Arabic translations of Colin’s books to churches and ministries working with refugees in Europe. In September, in one European city, hundreds of books were given out to nearly 500 ex-Muslim refugees who have given their lives to Jesus.


The situation in the Middle East might seem dire, but it has been the atrocities perpetuated by the Islamic State that have been turning Muslims to Jesus in large numbers. What the devil meant for evil, God is using for good!

Many refugees have already accepted the gospel in their homeland as they have watched Christian programmes on TV or accessed Christian teaching via the  internet, but until becoming refugees they have lacked the opportunity to be part of a local Christian church. In one European city, a former Islamic State soldier who had blown up a church in Iraq was baptised by the very pastor whose church he had attacked!

In another European city every imam refused to participate in a debate with a well-known Christian apologist. But one did. Soon after that, his daughter fell ill. Half of her body was paralysed, and her heartbeat rose to 240 beats per minute. She was about to die. In despair, the imam prayed to Jesus.

The daughter recovered immediately. The imam realised that the god he had prayed all his life had done nothing to help him, but Jesus whom he had been fighting against had been willing to heal his daughter straight away. He is now a Christian.

There seem to be five main reasons why Muslim Arabs are choosing Christ: supernatural dreams and visions about Jesus; falling in love with Jesus when they read the Gospels; healing miracles; practical love expressed by Christians; and disillusionment because of the Islamic State.

It seems that we are witnessing the beginnings of a seismic spiritual earthquake that will change the spiritual landscape of the world in decades to come.

In 2005 God gave us a vision of four combine harvesters that would soon begin to bring the Middle East to Christ: satellite TV, internet, small groups in home churches and large evangelistic events. What has become evident is that those combine harvesters are now all at work, and hundreds of ministries are working together to bring the harvest in. What is particularly encouraging is that much of this work is now led by ex-Muslims, who burn with zeal to bring their brothers to Jesus!

If you want to know more about this vision, please read 12 lessons from fulfilled vision.  
The Arab church is discovering the importance of discipleship, and Colin’s teaching materials that have been translated into Arabic have been well received
both in Europe and the Middle East.

We have also seen that the general principles of ministry we have learnt through cell vision are mostly applicable in the new Middle Eastern churches, as there men disciple men and women disciple women, and new churches gather mostly in small group setting. Pray for us, as our work is expanding rapidly in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East!

The Christ4Arabs meeting that we are hosting in our church on Saturday 4 November is but a small, visible part of this mostly invisible, underground work.

It seems that the God-given Arab Spring is finally arriving, as the new Arab Church consisting mainly of ex-Muslims is rising!

This article was published originally in the November 2017 issue of Revival Times.

You can connect with Marko on Twitter @markojoensuu and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mpjoensuu/ or by visiting  markojoensuu.com .

10 ways God will fulfil a prophetic word for your life

Over the last 25 years I have come across 10 ways God will fulfil a prophetic word for our lives. In this audio message I explain them.


You can connect with Marko on Twitter @markojoensuu and on Facebook at  facebook.com/marko.joensuu  or by visiting  markojoensuu.com . 

What is the spiritual future of Britain and Europe after Brexit?

As a European in London and a principled Remoaner, I find it rather tragicomic to discover only this week that I have given out a prophecy in January 1999 that seems to predict Brexit. But I am also thankful that prophesying is not a popularity contest, as this prophecy is unlikely to make me any more popular than before. But I believe that, nevertheless, it is a word for this season.

In 1999, I gave out series of rather lengthy prophecies to some Christian leaders. I stored them in a folder and put them in a storage cupboard after a house move, as I thought that my task of delivering them had been done. I only found them again around two years ago.

A few days ago, when I was writing about prophecies I have received for Italy, I became disturbed about an apparent contradiction between what I see God is already doing in Europe and something that in my prophetic understanding should already have happened before that. So, I read through those prophetic files again to find out if I had missed something important.

Sandwiched between two other prophecies was a section on what I believe is applicable to Brexit. But more importantly, the prophecy is really about what will happen after Brexit rather than Brexit itself. Unfortunately, I am unable to share the whole prophecy, which is around three pages long, as much of it concerns the private matters of individuals. And that was the reason why I had never revisited these prophecies, as I had thought that my business was delivery only.


The Brexit part of the prophecy I gave out in January 1999 says: 

“I shall bless England with an awakening, but I shall also judge her. Even when the direction of this nation will seem to have changed, the same powers of hell that shall break loose in the Continent, shall also break loose in the UK. The resistance against the gospel shall be taken away for a moment, in order to bring the great harvest in. After that hell shall break loose, and church shall be faced by tribulation after tribulation. But My genuine servants shall rejoice because of the great harvest, that will keep on coming into the Kingdom.”

Now, after this prophecy, which I received over 18 years ago, I have received many other prophetic words, such as a prophecy about 30 years of reformation in Europe, and more recently, a  full interpretation of the prophetic words for Italy, so I have always looked at the near future of Europe positively, although I have always believed that in the long run, dark clouds will be gathering over Europe. But it is our task not just to prophesy what will happen in the next generation, but also to do the work tasked for this generation, hence I have always been more focused on the work we can do in this generation than prophesying what will happen to the next, work such as bringing the Middle Eastern refugees coming to Europe to Christ.

First of all, at the time when I received this prophecy, I had zero understanding of it. And at the time of the referendum I didn’t even remember it, as the more recent prophecies about Europe were fresh on my mind.

Before the Brexit section of the prophecy, the prophecy forecast the increase of Christians in London (which has now happened), and issues linked to the Parliament. 

Then the prophecy moves to talking about England, and the seeming change of direction of the nation. We should always read the wordings of prophecies carefully. And the wording of this prophecy is significant, as after England it moves on to talking about the UK, for it was England that voted to change the direction of this nation, but the decision is affecting the whole UK. And it says that it will "seem" that Britain will take a different direction than the Continent, which is where we are now.

But this prophecy is not a political commentary about whether the Brexit decision was right or wrong, but a reminder that the real battle we are in is not against the EU or any other political system, but against the power of principalities. What this prophecy is saying that no matter what, we are still under the influence of the same principalities and powers that Europe is under, and no amount of political decision making will change it.

In essence, what the prophecy is saying is that this opting out from the EU won't matter much, at least on spiritual level. God is saying that Britain will be unable to opt out from the spiritual battles over Europe. It remains to be seen what this means on political level, but that is not really my concern here.

I fear that much of the British Evangelical Church has embarked on a political battle, when it really is a time of harvest. This very weekend when I am writing this, around 600 converts from Islam into Christianity are gathering in a church in Finland, and we are supplying some of them with resources for discipleship. This shows that we can either prophesy against the islamisation of Europe through the flow of refugees, like many do, or we can focus on winning these people for Christ. I think we should rejoice in the Harvest. 

I believe that we are entering a season of harvest in Europe, and that there will be a window of opportunity lasting about 30 years. 

This is one of the only two prophetic words I have received about Brexit. The other one I received around a week before the referendum, and it troubled me greatly. The Holy Spirit asked me to read Jeremiah 27 when I was praying over the coming referendum. In essence, I believe that Jeremiah 27 gives us an appropriate interpretation of where we are as a nation related to the EU.

'In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord to me: ‘Make for yourselves bonds and yokes, and put them on your neck, 3 and send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 4 And command them to say to their masters, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel—thus you shall say to your masters: 5 ‘I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed proper to Me. 6 And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him. 7 So all nations shall serve him and his son and his son’s son, until the time of his land comes; and then many nations and great kings shall make him serve them. 8 And it shall be, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish,’ says the Lord, ‘with the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. 9 Therefore do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon.” 10 For they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land; and I will drive you out, and you will perish. 11 But the nations that bring their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let them remain in their own land,’ says the Lord, ‘and they shall till it and dwell in it.’”’” 12 I also spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live! 13 Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14 Therefore do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a lie to you; 15 for I have not sent them,” says the Lord, “yet they prophesy a lie in My name, that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you.” 16 Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, “Behold, the vessels of the Lord’s house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon”; for they prophesy a lie to you. 17 Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city be laid waste? 18 But if they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, do not go to Babylon.’ 19 “For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, concerning the Sea, concerning the carts, and concerning the remainder of the vessels that remain in this city, 20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem— 21 yes, thus says the Lordof hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem: 22 ‘They shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall be until the day that I visit them,’ says the Lord. ‘Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.’”'

I know this is not the word many will like. But it seems to me that like Babylon, God has instituted the EU to rule nations, at least on the Continent, in our time. Like with Babylon, this might be an ungodly rule, but it is a rule that will, nevertheless, last for a season. The historical context (see this article) to Jeremiah 27 is that at the time, Babylon was suffering from a civil war and the false prophets were encouraged by that, prophesying the imminent collapse of the whole empire. In a similar way, many Christians claim, falsely, I believe, that Brexit will lead to many other exists from the EU. They understand that being outside the EU can be economically harmful, but their support for Brexit has been based on the idea that Brexit will ultimately lead to the collapse of the EU, the “evil empire”. 

But even if that scenario were to happen, we would still be fighting against the same principalities and powers than before, for according to the Bible, our battle is not political but spiritual. But it is because of the politicisation of the Charismatic movement in America and their influence here, that many are increasingly seeing the battle against principalities and powers as a political battle.

But I believe that God is saying is that no matter what we want or not, we will have to be living with the empire next door, and that we shouldn’t make our future plans through pretending that it won’t exist tomorrow. 

I don’t assume that I understand everything that will happen in Europe and the UK because of Brexit. Neither do I think for a moment that when Jeremiah says in the verse 17: “Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city be laid waste?” that those words left his lips easily. 

I am sure that his preferred option was for Jerusalem to be the capital of Judah, a free and independent nation. But that option was not on the menu. 

As for me, whatever happens next politically, my focus will be on enabling the Church to bring in the harvest that God has promised will come. For the prophecy I was given was never about Brexit but that when it would happen, we should get ready to bring in the harvest—in Britain and Europe.

I believe that we are coming to a season of 30 years of reformation in Europe, and that millions of Europeans, including Britons, will find Jesus at this time. And that should be the main concern of the Church—if we still believe that there is a difference between the destinies of people in eternity and not just on earth.

You can connect with Marko on Twitter @markojoensuu and on Facebook at  facebook.com/marko.joensuu  or by visiting  markojoensuu.com . 

It is God's time for Italy! (and Europe)

Over the last few years the Holy Spirit has been speaking to me regularly about Italy. This has painted a rich picture of what He is planning to do. But it was only after I visited Milan this August that I have the full picture, and I understand what God is saying. 

It is my firm conviction that in the next few years God will begin to confound the negative expectations of both the world and many Christians, and begin a new move in Europe. And I believe that one of the major centres of this new move will be in the northern Italy.



The primary functions of prophecy in the ChurchProphets can speak to individuals, encouraging them, warning then and helping them to find direction from God. In this process, the prophets should never usurp the position of God—after all we all have only one Father and Master, and we all have been given the same Holy Spirit. If you want to learn more about this, please read my book Five Movements: Winning the Battle for Your Prophetic Gift. 

But here I am concerned of the function of prophets when it comes to the mission of the whole Church.

Perhaps the clearest picture of what are the major functions of the prophets—and apostles—in the New Testament Church can be found in Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. 

Most Christians in the Charismatic Church are familiar with the existence of the fivefold ministry, but we often miss the primary purpose of these ministries. According to Ephesians 4:11-16, the purpose of the fivefold ministry is to connect the body to the Head. And what is fascinating is that, according to the apostle Paul, this is mainly achieved by dealing with false doctrines!

What Paul seems to say that is that it is easy to hear from God, once you remove the false doctrines and teachers that disconnect the body from the Head. So, the Church needs the prophets, together with the apostles, teachers, pastors and evangelists to deal with the false doctrines, and in their respective areas, help to connect the Church to Jesus. The fivefold ministry is like a surgeon that reconnects the body to the Head, and after the job is done they are redundant. They only have authority to align to the Head, not to themselves.

But unfortunately, so many ministries today, seeking to profit from the body, attempt to connect the Church to themselves rather than to the Head!  The end result is that the body will feed them and wither rather than the Head energising, growing  and directing the body—this results in a partially paralysed zombie body!

But there is a second primary function for prophets in the New Testament. Paul writes in Ephesians 3:1-10:

“For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles—if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;  to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places". 

According to Paul, the function of the apostles and prophets of his time was to make known the mystery of God that the Gentiles would also be coheirs of salvation. This function was primarily fulfilled by the apostles in the Early Church and by the prophets in the Old Testament and the Early Church.

But there is another function linked to this function: make known the administration of this mystery of salvation. And this function continues today, as each generation needs to know how God’s grace to the Gentiles is administered in their generation.

Unfortunately, the verse 9 is where NKJV fails us, as it speaks about “the fellowship of the mystery”, whereas most other translations use the words “administration” or “stewardship” of the mystery.

The Greek word Paul is using is oikonomia, the economy of the mystery. But to use the word economy today would be misleading, as in Paul’s times it had a slightly different meaning than today, so that’s why the translators seem to avoid it.

In Paul’s times the word economy referred primarily to the stewarding of the household finances, with household referring to the economic unit of family, servants and perhaps slaves—all the people depending on the finances of the household. 

So when in Ephesians 2:19 Paul writes, “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”, he refers to all the people who are part of the Church and part of God’s economy.

It is great to know that we are part of God’s rather than the world’s economy!

It is to the apostles and prophets that God will give the major revelation on how to administer this mystery in their generation, and perhaps in some future generations to come. Now, this doesn’t mean that God doesn’t give any strategies of mission to people who doesn’t call themselves apostles or prophets. Of course He does. But if God has given you great strategies in the area of mission that are being implemented by the Church and not just by yourself personally, there is a fair chance that you are ministering in a prophetic or apostolic anointing and calling without perhaps realising it.

The function of the prophets is to reveal to the Church that this is how God will bring the Gentiles (and Israel) to Him in this generation. The door to the Kingdom is open, but like with Paul, sometimes God is redirecting our mission through prophecy, much as He redirected Paul to go to Macedonia through a prophetic dream.

The apostles and prophets operate in the revelation of how God will administer His grace to the Jews and the Gentiles now and in near future.

Unfortunately, many prophets and apostles have begun to build castles on the temporal sands of this world rather than on the eternal bedrock of the Church—Jesus. They will receive their reward in this time—money, power, fame—but they might be left empty-handed in the age to come.

If you want to understand how this works, please read this post on the work we have been doing in the Middle East. Since then, this work has expanded to facilitate the discipleship of refugees who have converted from Islam in Europe and to helping many Arab churches and ministries in Europe. This is another work we couldn’t have foreseen, but which we had prepared for, faithfully, not fully understanding what we were preparing for.

God is able to use anyone who is dumb but obedient! The dumb know they are dumb, so they don't even think that they can understand God's plan; they simply obey it. Whereas the intelligent often need to understand God's plan before they obey it. And because they will not be able to understand it without obedience, they will never step into it.

The main currency of the household of God is obedience, not intelligence!

So, what I am sharing now is in the context of the Holy Spirit revealing the administration and management of His salvation to the Gentiles: it is time to plant new churches and evangelise in the northern Italy.
Church that looks like Starbucks and GucciI had begun to pray for Italy specifically after I had visited Rome and my friend Claudio Ferro in April 2013. Claudio pastors a church in Rome and another one near Viterbo.  As Claudio took us to the Papal Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, the official ecclesiastical seat of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, the Holy Spirit gave me a clear prophecy for Italy. 

According to the prophecy, God would raise a new church in Italy that to the Italians wouldn’t look like a church at all, but more like “Starbucks and Gucci”, and that church would become very large in Italy. God would use the fact that the new church won't initially look like a church to most Italians to attract especially the youth.

I only understood the meaning of this word better when I visited Milan in August 2017. It has been said that even the beggars in Milan wear Gucci! It is also a city of great creativity, fusing many things together in new ways. The new church would seem very contemporary, and it would be a mixture of Italian and foreign influences. This is not a mission that will be achieved by the Italians alone, but they will be teaming with other nations. 
Light coming from the northern ItalyIn winter 2014, I saw a vision of Italy. It was a satellite map of Italy, and in the beginning, the whole map was completely dark. But then, the northern part of Italy lit up, and this light spread rapidly from the northern border down to the area of Florence. Then the spreading of light stopped for a while, until it began to spread slowly toward Rome.

At the time, it was clear to me that a wave of revival would begin to spread from the northern Italy. 

I have visited the northern Italy regularly over the last few years. And I must say that the spiritual atmosphere there is very open. I end up talking about God without even trying to talk about Him. It seems that the northern Italians are very open to contemporary expressions of Christianity, although many of them steer away from Catholicism. Also, when my friend Claudio launched a new church near Viterbo, it has been growing much faster than the one in Rome, with new converts joining the church.
“I have been waiting a thousand years!”A few years ago, the Holy Spirit started speaking the same words to me again and again: “I have been waiting a thousand years!” 

Unfortunately, He never gave me any clear explanation at the time, although, somehow, I sensed that this word had something to do with Italy. There aren’t many things as frustrating as the Holy Spirit speaking to you clearly about something and then refusing to clarify the issue. But I guess waiting for a thousand years might be even more frustrating!

Again, it was after I visited Milan in August 2017 that the Holy Sprit gave me final clarity on this. On the plane to Milan, I felt that the Holy Spirit was saying that Milan was important and that He would show me why it is important.

The first reason why Milan is important is that it seems that Milan was the birthplace of the first wave of reformation in the early 11th century—nearly 1,000 years ago. 

The Patarine movement was the first reform movement in Italy and probably in Europe. They were a medieval group of lay craftsmen, tradesmen, and peasants who organised in Milan about 1058 to oppose clerical concubinage and marriage; the group later widened its attack to oppose generally the papacy’s moral corruption and temporal powers. The Patarine movement was so called because, under the leadership of Arialdus (Arialdo), a deacon of Milan, its members used to assemble in the Pataria, or ragmen’s quarter of the city (pates being a dialectal word for “rag”). Viewed by the church as heretical, the Patarines, though short-lived in terms of organised activities, became an impetus for a large number of religious-reform movements that arose during the decline of the feudal system and the beginnings of the aspirations to power of the peasant and middle classes.

As far as I know, this was the first significant reform movement in the Church. In many ways, it was only a partial reformation and also at least partially misguided, but so was the Reformation of Luther and Calvin also only a partial reformation. In fact, every reforming movement up to this point has been only partial. The Patarine movement was followed by reformers such as St Francis of Assisi. 

But why would God look into the past when He is speaking about the future? The answer is simple. Christ is the tree and we are the branches. When a branch has been growing in the wrong direction for a while, it is sometimes necessary to go to the beginning of that growth to understand what happened, and if possible, to straighten the branches. That is why the prophets often speak about the reformation of the past,  and renewal, at the same breath than talking about the future mission of the Church. 
“The blood of the martyrs has already been shed”Another word that the Holy Spirit has been speaking to me about Italy is that the blood of the martyrs has already been shed. 

Milan plays a significant part when it comes to the blood of the martyrs in Europe. The Edict of Milan is a proclamation that permanently established religious toleration for Christianity within the Roman Empire. It was the outcome of a political agreement concluded in Milan between the Roman emperors Constantine I and Licinius in February 313.

 The proclamation, made for the East by Licinius in June 313, granted all persons freedom to worship whatever deity they pleased, assured Christians of legal rights (including the right to organise churches), and directed the prompt return to Christians of confiscated property. Previous edicts of toleration had been as short-lived as the regimes that sanctioned them, but this time the edict effectively established religious toleration.

This was the first time when the persecution of Christians had been permanently illegalised, and it was the establishment of any religious freedom that we have had in Europe for the last 1,700 years. 

I believe God remembers that and will revisit Milan for this reason alone.

Unfortunately, the persecuted soon became persecutors, and it was Como and the area of Milan, being near the borderline of Switzerland and Italy, that fought against the Reformation especially hard. If you read the history files, you find out that the Reformation in fact spread to all parts of Italy, including Rome and cities and places in the south such as Naples and Sicily, but it was crushed ruthlessly with crucifixions, killings and burnings of thousands of reformers.  

The inquisitor of Como, a town by the Lake Como near Milan, was rewarded for his ruthless work for crushing the Reformation in Italy by giving him the position of the Pope! 

So, Milan is the place where our relative Christian freedom was gained for the first time. Milan is also the place where the first steps of reformation were taken, inspiring other reform movements. It is also the place where the spread of the Reformation into Italy was stopped.

I believe that God will once more visit Milan and bring what He started a thousand years ago to fulfilment. 
Two separate visions—both linked to Italy In 1996 I saw a vision whilst in London. It began with a map of Britain, and a bright fire burning inside M25 that circles London. Out of that fire flew sparks that travelled to three areas in Finland—to Helsinki, the capital, to Tampere where I studied, and third to my hometown Pori. The spark travelled between these three locations, and suddenly, the whole nation burst in fire. Then, the spark headed to Africa.

Then I saw a man, in the beginning of a long road. There was a beautiful rose by the roadside. He picked it, glanced at it, and tossed it away. The rose died instantly. I understood it was poisonous. It was a bright day and you could see to the end of the road where there stood a huge black figure that resembled the evil Darth Vader from Star Wars films. It released a swarm of demonic bats against the traveller who looked like Luke Skywalker. He pulled his sword out and tried to fight against the bats. The bats completely clouded his vision. The traveller could never defeat the bats with his sword. He should focus on progressing along the road instead. After all, the bats couldn’t hurt him, no matter how ugly and nasty they looked, but they could obstruct his vision.

“The beautiful rose is the sin of spiritual pride,” the Holy Spirit said. “You will pick it up but see that it is worthless. The devil will release a fierce demonic attack against you. The only way you will be able to see will be by listening to My voice.” The vision troubled me. There were elements that seemed clear from the outset. It seemed clear that the fire referred to a coming revival in London, Finland and perhaps elsewhere. In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker has to stop trusting in his natural sight. The Jedi Master Yoda teaches him to fight blindfolded, so that he would learn to rely on the Force rather than his sight. It seemed to me that God was telling me that, likewise, I would not win my future battles if I relied on my natural eyes.

I also knew that Beelzebub, one of Satan’s names, means ‘the lord of the flies.’

So, since 1996 I have been expecting a move of God that will somehow touch London and Finland, and also make some sort of impact in Africa. And I have expected that this move will be greatly opposed by Satan even before its birth.

In 2009, I saw another vision that I know now is linked to Italy. I was in prayer on Sunday night in September 2009 when the Holy Spirit spoke to me. “I’ll show you the throne room and you will see why we’ll win the war. There are certain rules. What matters is who wins.” I was eager to see the throne room of the Lord. “Please Lord, show me the throne room!” I said. Then I fell asleep. When I woke up, I saw a vision but not about the heavenly throne room I had expected.

“This is a mountaintop vision so that you will be able to see what will happen,” the Lord said. I saw an arena for gladiators. There were no fighters alive. The arena had a circular form and no exit or escape routes. It was surrounded by stalls. I stood in the arena, the blood-soaked sand touching my feet. At the centre of the arena there was a large floating sword created from indestructible material. It was the heaviest of all swords but also the lightest. I understood that anyone wielding that sword would be able to crush any resistance, and that nothing could withstand its power.


Hundreds of lightnings struck all around the arena through the performance at the Verona Arena.
It was the most powerful object in the whole universe.

I looked around. All around the arena, there were little thrones with all kinds of disgusting figures seated on them. These were the demons and principalities responsible for attacking people with sins such as pedophilia, adultery and sins of the deepest darkness.

Further away, sitting on the stalls, there were golden pharaoh-looking figures sitting on their larger thrones. They observed me. They were the ones that controlled the demons on the little thrones. These figures were covered with gold and wore the death masks of pharaohs.

“Two things unite all these principalities,” the Lord said. “They all spread filth. They all spread fear.” I could feel the filth and fear oozing from them. “The fear that they spread will paralyse and immobilise the fighters so that they will fall in the trap that has been set before them. The fear emanates from their leader, the devil, and spreads right through the ranks, to the smallest of them.”

The vision ended. The next few months I faced the most intense demonic attack I had ever experienced. Slowly, I was getting weary but two things gave me courage to believe that one day the battle would end. 

Some weeks later I was taken back to the arena in another vision. Two massive angels, around fifteen metres tall, entered the arena and began wielding their mighty swords. The heavy enemy thrones were crushed as if they were made of paper. No one had taken the indestructible sword. The angels’ swords were smaller and less shiny than the indestructible sword. “Who will take that sword?” I asked.

Suddenly, a huge figure, dressed in a white robe, descended into the arena. It was Jesus.

“I’m the Warrior King. I’ll take this sword,” He said. “I’ll fight this war. When I fight a war, I never lose.” Then the Lord, the Warrior King, picked the sword. I realised that the sword had been there for centuries, waiting for Him. The sizes of angels, demons and Jesus in the vision aren’t realistic but illustrate their power in relation to each other.

The angels that went to war were larger than the demonic principalities but Jesus was a lot bigger than anyone else. No one could stand against him. The vision relates to the spiritual shift that has begun to take place in the Middle East. Jesus has gone to war and He will bring millions of Muslims to Him.

When I saw this vision it was clear to me that it primarily concerned the Middle East, but not exclusively. Since then we have seen the rise and the imminent fall of the Islamic State, more terrorism in Europe and the huge influx of Arab refugees in Europe. And in many ways the spiritual destinies of Europe and the Middle East have become mixed.
Two visions merge in VeronaIn August 2015, we were at the Verona Arena in Italy to watch Tosca, an open-air opera. The Verona Arena is the most preserved Roman arena in Italy, and it would have been a place where many Christians were martyred. 

A year earlier we had been in Genoa, and we had seen a poster of the Arena on the hotel wall. On the poster,  the arena looked exactly like the arena I had seen in the vision years earlier. The floor of the arena was also covered with red carpet, which resembled the blood-stained sand I had seen in the vision. 


The large prop representing Napoleon, which I saw over 20 years ago in a vision.Since visiting Genoa, my wife had been dreaming about being there for a long time, and we had finally made it to Verona, but unfortunately, we had booked our non-refundable tickets for an evening when it started to rain in the beginning of the opera. As it is an outdoor arena and the instruments the orchestra uses are invaluable, the show can get cancelled even if it rains a few drops.

The first part stopped and restarted a few times, as it began to rain heavily, and the orchestra kept on leaving and returning with their instruments when the rain started and stopped. We began to pray, as they were considering cancelling the show altogether. But then the rain stopped altogether. The second and third part played uninterrupted. But all around the arena, there were hundreds of lightning strikes, as the thunderstorm ravaged the surrounding area, but stayed away from directly above the arena. It was a bit like what we saw in Trafalgar Square but late at night, with the storm avoiding the arena. But the nearest lighting strikes kept on hitting the ground less than a mile away.

When the main set was revealed it shocked me. It was a huge portrait of Napoleon who had conquered most of Italy. The prop had the exact face of the man I had seen in the vision in 1997, holding the sword, like Napoleon was holding the sword, and walking down the path.

When I had seen the vision in 1997, I had understood then that God was using Star Wars as an allegory, but the man’s face wasn’t Luke Skywalker’s face.

But when I had walked in, I had seen the pharaohs I had seen on the arena in the other vision, but now outside, as they were props from another set. It was as if the pharaohs representing principalities had been pushed out from the arena by the huge figure holding the sword.

That night, the Holy Spirit brought together elements from two major visions I had seen. And they were illustrated by the arena which I had seen in a vision and by props I had seen in a vision—in different times in my life. I had a clear sense that God was calling me to pay very close attention to what was taking place. 

The interpretation of this is now clear to me. God would raise a Church that would have the spiritual authority to dominate the arena of Europe. The pharaohs had been displaced and they were now outside the arena. They were no more dominating Europe. Through the prayers of the saints, the destructive forces of thunder would now be kept outside the arena for a season. The expensive instruments of revival would now be played in Europe like never before. 

There is another aspect to this stream which concerns the influx of the Arabs and other refugees to Europe from the Middle East: the spiritual destinies of Europe and the Middle East are now merged.


Pharaohs from 'Aida', another opera playing at the Verona Arena, pushed aside outside the arena.It is now when I understand that there was a message through the intervals as well. The first wave of the reformation which was triggered in the 11th century Italy never really took off properly. There were starts and stops, and what was achieved before the Protestant Reformation was rather piecemeal. In one sense, the reformation was nearly cancelled. 

The second stage of the reforming of the Church in Europe advanced uninterrupted. But there is a third stage of the reformation that is yet to come, and it concerns Italy and other “unreformed’ European nations. 

There will be a short season when God’s glory and salvation power will be fully displayed in Europe. And like Napoleon at the gates of Rome, this move of God is at the gates of Europe right now. 

I have really tried to figure out what God would show me many visions over the years and then bring it together on a stage of an opera. Why would He do that? Well, He just did, "to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places". 

In many ways, this arena and bringing together of all these elements visualises how through the Church God will make known His manifold wisdom to the principalities and powers.

It is my firm belief that God will  now finish the job that was started nearly one thousand years ago in Milan and bring the fullness of the reformation to Italy. This won’t probably mean that the Catholic Church would be reformed. But it will mean that there will be a significant presence of new reformed churches in Italy.

Part of this reformation will be the return of spiritual gifts to the body of Christ in Europe, but the new context will be love rather than the stage performance based ministry model that dominates our understanding of the gifts today. I have written about this reformation of our understanding in my book Supernatural Love: Releasing the Compassion of Jesus Through the Gifts of the Spirit.

Now comes a serious warning to us: what has always troubled me about the vision linked to London is that I could only see a fire in London, and not in the rest of Britain. This seemed to imply that we are not talking about a national revival in Britain but about something more limited. I have come to the conclusion that perhaps it is not a revival as such at all, but preconditions for one. 

As I was writing this, the Holy Spirit reminded me that He has in fact, fulfilled the first part of the prophecy, namely that there would be a fire inside the M25. Quietly, almost invisibly, London has become the most religious city in the UK when it comes to sheer number of believers, and also, when it comes to the percentage of believers in the population.

But this religion, including Christianity has mostly been imported. Regardless of denomination, from the Catholics to the Anglicans, the Methodists and the Pentecostals, the church growth that is taking place in London is sustained almost exclusively by immigration. If you go to a Catholic church, it might be Asian, to Hillsong, white, to a black church, African, but it is the immigration flows that are keeping the church of London alive.

For example, between 2005 and 2012, church attendance in London grew from 620,000 to 720,000. The number of churches grew at roughly the same rate. 

So, a great reversal has taken place. White England, Scotland and Wales have largely turned away from God, whereas a zealous fire for Jesus within the M25 is kept burning by a steady flow of immigrants. Like in my vision, the fire is contained, as it is kept alive artificially by adding more and more immigrants into the mix. 

But neither did I see Italy in the original vision, so I don’t think that it is an all-encompassing vision. In fact, I don’t even think that there will be a major revival in London at all preceding it. But this is a European revival and to some extent, the ability of Britain to be part of this revival will be dependent on their relationship with the rest of Europe. Now, Brexit doesn’t mean that Britain won’t be part of Europe, but I have seen many attitudes in the Charismatic Church harden when it comes to Europe. 

I have heard many demonise Europe in Britain, at a time when we are losing our nation. According to a recent survey, 53% of Britons have no religion at all. 

I have made my views on the EU and its institutions clear in this post that deals with the teaching that seeks to demonise the EU. But to those who consider the EU to be an anti-Christian organisation, please remember that the Early Church grew and prospered under the Roman Empire, which was definitely a lot more ungodly empire than any of the post-Roman European empires—perhaps apart from the slave-trading nations of Europe, which include the British Empire. And before we are ready to condemn the Germans, we must remember that Britain was also guilty of starving tens of millions of Indians to death. The truth is that nearly every European nation, including Britain and Finland, have at least in one part of their history done terrible things. 

Much has been made of the non-religious nature of the EU institutions in Britain. But in fact, like with the USA, this has all to do with the separation of state and Church. And in fact, it is the EU and its push for religious freedom that has enabled Charismatic churches to grow in Eastern Europe. If you don’t believe me, just compare the situation in Eastern Europe between the nations that are part of the EU and those who are not. In those countries that are not part of the EU, the persecution of Protestant Christians is still rife, whereas in the Eastern European countries that are part of the EU, the Protestant churches, by and large, have the freedom to grow and prosper.

And it is this same EU and its demand for equality that is enabling the Protestant churches to penetrate the Catholic heartlands without fear of persecution. The last time a wave of reformation tried to push its way to Italy many Protestants were crucified by the Inquisition. This time, it will be different! It will be the EU that will protect the new wave of reformation. It might protect many other things as well, but it will also protect the reformation against any state churches. It might not be the primary purpose of the EU by its designers, but that is the way God is using it.

Things might look different from the British Isles, where it has been centuries since dissidents have been persecuted. But it is only slightly more than 25 years from the end of persecution of Protestant Christians in parts of Eastern Europe. My mother used to smuggle Bibles to Russia, so I am all too aware of this.

So, it is my conviction that although the EU is far from a the perfect institution it could be in the ideal world, God has instituted it in Europe for a season to further religious freedom and enable the coming reformation. 

My advice to the British Church—no matter what you believe about Brexit—is to stay open to the move of God in Europe. You might not accept the European institutions—but the Church and the expansion of the Church have always been universal by nature. So, whatever your political views, don't let them skew your sight when it comes to what God is and will be doing in Italy. 
Why does it sometimes take so much time to receive  and understand prophecy?I have really struggled with that. Why has God used so many channels and ways to put together one clear message? Why hasn't He just given it to me in one download? 
1. Time is not yet ripeDaniel 9:1-3 says, “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.”

Prophets have to learn to wait for extensive periods. Usually, by the time the prophetic word comes true, it has been forgotten by everyone else. Daniel must have been studying the writings of the prophets for years, seemingly in vain. But then one day Daniel grasped it and then he started praying in line with the prophecy.

Daniel 12:8-10 says, “Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, ‘My lord, what shall be the end of these things?’ And he said, ‘Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.’”

So, Daniel finally understood Jeremiah’s prophecy, but he didn’t understand his own prophecy! And even when the events prophesied would eventually happen, only the wise would understand.

The same thing happened with the disciples. John writes in John 20:9, “For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.” So John believed that Jesus had risen, not because he understood the Scripture, but because Jesus had risen! Often, we begin to fully understand prophecy when its fulfilment is already starting, as the fulfilment begins to explain the prophecy.

It was only after the resurrection of Jesus that the disciples began to see that there are multiple prophecies in the Old Testament foretelling the death of Jesus and His resurrection. They had heard Jesus foretell His own death and resurrection, but nothing like that had ever happened. Yes, Jesus had raised Lazarus, but now Jesus Himself was dead.
2. We don’t have the spiritual authority yetPaul writes in Ephesians 3:14-19: “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

This is something that we don’t fully understand about revelation—receiving and understanding it takes the strengthening of the inner man through the Holy Spirit—in other words, spiritual authority. 
3. God demonstrates His sovereignty Through all this God demonstrates that He is in charge. He is fully in charge of the revelation He gives to us, and without His Spirit we remain unable to understand even the prophecies we have spoken out ourselves! But also, as He is in control of the revelation and its explanation, we have the confidence to share His word, as we know that there is no way we would have even subconsciously manoeuvred our life in such a way that we could have reached the desired end result. In fact, most of the time, we don’t even know what the intended end result is!

But today, I am expectant. I believe that in the next few years we will be finally stepping into something the Holy Spirit also revealed to me in 2009: a season of around 30 years when a wave of reformation and salvation will sweep over Europe. 

You can connect with Marko on Twitter @markojoensuu and on Facebook at  facebook.com/marko.joensuu  or by visiting  markojoensuu.com . 

Why it is important not to believe every dream

I have come to the conclusion that our dream world is one of the main entry points from where the enemy seeks to deceive us and disrupt the flow of God-given revelation in our lives. I have come to this conclusion after a number of years of operating in the gift of discerning spirits.

It is so vital to be able to discern which dreams have been given by God, which by the enemy and which are simply the product of our subconscious dealing with the issues, events and worries of your life.

I know an internationally well-known minister whose calling and ministry were wrecked, because he accepted the definition of himself given to him in a dream. It never occurred to him that this dream might have been given to him by the enemy. 

I know another minister who saw a dream about an important member of his team leaving. Presumably, this dream had been given by God, but when the team member left, this led to bitterness in his heart, which hampered his ministry for many years to come. Rather than blessing the team member and sending him on his way, which he would have done, had he subjected his dream under biblical principles of loving his neighbour, he took this probably God-given dream as justification of his own position and ministry and the act of his former friend as rejection of his own calling. 


We need to be careful with the prophets that put too much weight on an individual dream. Jeremiah 23:28 says,

“‘The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?’ says the Lord.”

On one level, God seems to make a huge contrast between a prophetic dream — chaff — and hearing from the Lord. Yet we see God using dreams powerfully everywhere in the Bible, so this can't be a blanket denial of God giving dreams. But what this verse really does is to hit at the heart of false prophecy. It seems that in Jeremiah’s times many false prophets declared their dreams without applying any discernment. If the dream seemed good enough, they would certainly declare it. They didn’t really care too much about the source of the dream, as long as it was exciting and promising enough.

If I look at the Charismatic Church today, it sounds like a marketplace where individual traders shout and proclaim about the dreams and visions they have presumably seen. No one gives much thought to discernment at all.

Forgive the marketing analogy, but it seems that many prophetic people perceive the dreams and visions they have seen as part of their brand differentiation and their bragging rights. It is the dreams and visions that they have seen that enable them to differentiate their ministry, to make it into a product and to monetise it. Hence, on the prophetic marketplace, to make money and to build your brand, it is vital to have a dream of your own. And in these times that demand continual communication to build more awareness for the brand, it is the ministers who have a continual flow of dreams and visions that are able to monetise their brand the most effectively. And applying discernment slows down this process of proclaiming dreams and becoming famous too much! So, if these dreamers dream that God will give them an international ministry and they will see a dream about it, you can be certain that they will announce it quickly!

Just because your dream has some Christian content, it doesn’t mean that it came from God. If you spend a lot of time in churches, they will probably feature in your dreams.

It seems that we haven’t moved on that much from the times of Jeremiah.

But let me illustrate why the process of discerning is so important with a dream I saw around a week ago. On surface, it seemed like a dream from God. But after the application of the process of discernment it was clear that this dream was anything but a dream from God. 

In this dream I was in a large tent half-full of people. An African pastor approached me, gave me a microphone and asked me to lead prayer.

In the dream, I took the microphone and walked to the front. I started praising God, and when I started praising God, miracles and wonders started happening all around the tent. I kept on praying and praising, and the impact was great.

I woke up. 

Now, initially this might have seemed like a God-given dream, encouraging me to step into new areas in my ministry. Let me be direct here — most Charismatic ministers would have received this dream as a mandate and an encouragement from God!

But there are three details that bothered me in the dream. As I prayed in the dream, the microphone got glued in my mouth, and I was unable to remove it. I wanted to stop praying publicly. But the microphone was glued into my mouth, and as the result everyone kept on hearing my prayer and they were impacted by it.

Many would interpret this as some sort of prophetic mandate: God will make your voice heard no matter if you want it or not! 

But there was another detail that bothered me. When I started praying, a woman fell on the ground, and as she did, the ground around her collapsed so that she dropped into a hole. All the congregation gathered around her, amazed  at what had happened.

That detail troubled me mostly because — even when in the dream — I didn’t like the atmosphere. I could see signs and wonders, but God’s presence was distinctly missing.

Finally, what troubled me most was that although I woke up immediately after seeing the dream, I didn’t sense God’s presence or peace at all. Instead, there was a sense of a spiritual vacuum around me. This troubled me most, as when God speaks like that in my dreams, it is mostly accompanied by a sense of deep peace created by His presence.

So, I pushed the dream aside in my mind and started praying, Perhaps five minutes into the prayer, I felt how something like an invisible dark cloud around me began to lift. Through the gift of discerning spirits I have learnt that this lifting of the dark cloud usually means that I have been under an attack and influence of demonic forces.

It became evident to me that rather than being a sign of God’s power, the ground falling under the woman was more like a disturbance in the dream that was perhaps not even meant to be there: the enemy was trying to give me a coherent dream, but either my subconscious or the Holy Spirit were warning me through creating an inconsistency in my dream.

When I inspect the dreams declared by many Charismatic leaders today, I can see many similar warnings signs. Something in their dream is odd, but rather than subjecting the oddity and their dream to the Word of God, they end up creating a new doctrine out of that oddity! 

Now, why would the enemy try to give me this kind of dream? In 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 Paul writes: “And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness”.

You could say that therefore it is no great thing if Satan’s dreams also transform themselves into dreams of righteousness. But the enemy’s cloak of deception is never complete, simply because he can’t manufacture God’s presence. He also knows that we can discern his presence, so he seeks to remove his own presence from our awareness as much as possible, which leaves a sense of vacuum and emptiness. 

If you work with sound, you know that removing all the background noise from a recording can leave the recording sound unnatural, as we can actually hear the absence of the background noise that used to be there. And in a sense, it was the absence of the background noise in the dream that troubled me most.

The purpose behind this kind of deceptive dream is to make you begin to accept false revelation. If you become excited about what you see in a dream like this, and begin to see it prophetically, you will be vulnerable to accepting false revelation in the future. By and large, this is what I believe has happened to the contemporary prophetic movement. 

That is why it is so important to reflect on the dreams you have seen, take them to the presence of God, test them with the Word, and to reject them if they are not from God, or to seek for an interpretation prayerfully before acting on them.  Otherwise even the clearest-looking dream will in the long run lead you to confusion, as your ability to hear from the Holy Spirit has been disturbed by you accepting other voices.

11 ways to know if a dream is from God



You can connect with Marko on Twitter @markojoensuu and on Facebook at  facebook.com/marko.joensuu  or by visiting  markojoensuu.com . 

11 lessons I have learnt through the use of the gift of discerning spirits

The apostle Paul teaches that we don’t fight against flesh or blood, but against demonic principalities and powers. Intriguingly, in 2 Corinthians 10:11 he also says that we aren't ignorant of the devil's devices—or at least, we shouldn't be.

I am convinced that it must have been at least partially through the gift of discerning spirits that Paul became familiar with the devil's devices—after all, it is only the apostle Paul who actually names that gift in the Bible. Nevertheless, it seems that many Old Testament prophets operated in it, as did the apostle Peter at least infrequently (Acts 5:1-11). 

My journey into understanding the gift of discerning spirits started in 2008, when I began to work on a book with Rami Kivisalo. Rami is an ex-criminal who became demon-possessed and worked with the Russian mafia before giving his life to Jesus in prison.

The book was originally published in the USA by Chosen Books, as so far, it has been translated into Swedish, Norwegian and Romanian.

Over a period of perhaps 18 months I encountered many inexplicable and physical demonic phenomena in our house, such as knocks on the walls, windows and doors, and so on. Once I witnessed a postcard moving by itself as if moved by an invisible hand. 

Amongst many other things, every single computer—altogether four of them, two brand-new—that I used to write the book, experienced the feared Blue Screen of Death. 

It seemed to me that the spiritual resistance against writing the book was somehow taking a physical form. It took me a while to attribute all this to writing a book, and initially, I discounted these phenomena as strange coincidences. Then, once our landline phone started ringing relentlessly when I was praying. This had been going on for a few days. Finally, I got up to check who is calling. It turned out that the landline was calling itself!

But the worst thing of all was the fear. I began to be intimidated by the smallest of things, situations and events. 

After around six months of experiencing deep and horrendous fear every day, there was an event that made me realise that the origin of this fear was not natural but supernatural. It was the moment of revelation, and the beginning of a long way back to normality. 

It was like being woken up and realising that all your life there had been subtle influences of an invisible hand around you that you had never noticed—and that those influences had not been benevolent. I began to realise that when Paul was writing about powers and principalities and the prince of air, he wasn't writing about some abstract, metaphysical theory or the Roman rule, but about his daily experience of demonic oppression in cities.

It is said that you are never more than six feet away from a mouse or a rat in London. It was as if, figuratively speaking, I could now sense the presence of these demonic 'rodents' wherever I went. It took me a long time to discover that this gift is actually rather useful and not meant to depress you.

The gift of discerning spirits is a heavy gift to carry. The other gifts of the Spirit are centred on God’s power and His presence and emotionally rather delightful. But the gift of discerning spirits not like that. It is all about sensing the presence and operations of the enemy. And that makes it emotionally rather taxing. 

It really is the other side of the gift of prophecy. The nasty side. If you can sense God's presence, you will also be able to discern the presence of His enemies.

Because we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we can all operate in the gift of discerning spirits at some level, much like we can all operate in the gift of prophecy at some level—simply because we all need to hear from God, which also means that we need to know when it is not God speaking to us. That is the foundational level of discerning spirits—knowing when it is God’s Spirit speaking to you and knowing when it is not, and when it is not, whether you are dealing with a supernatural or merely a human influence.

And this supernatural, demonic influence is everywhere around us.

When Paul writes about principalities and powers in the epistles to the Ephesians and the Galatians, he is not writing some abstract theology, but he is writing based on his observations. He is writing about powers he has encountered and wrestled with—and not just intellectually. I have read a lot of academic theology written on principalities and powers, and although much of it is useful, it mostly misses the point that Paul was writing about his experienced reality.

It seems to me that the apostle Paul had a high level gift if discerning spirits. 

But the gift of discerning spirits is a tricky gift, and I have seen so many leaders being distracted and deceived by their gift of discerning spirits. Rather than subjecting what they have discerned under the authority of the Bible, they have begun writing theology based on what they have experienced.  They have lost their way in the dark. 

You must discern where the darkness is, but you must never listen to the darkness. For the darkness always lies. The king of darkness is the father of all lies. And the kingdom of darkness has been built on fear, sin and deception.

Here are 11 lessons I have learned through operating in the gift of discerning spirits. I hope you find them useful. I know there are many more, so this is not an exhaustive list. And this is not God's Word, but some wisdom and principles based on experiences in the war zone. 
1. The enemy attacks your faith through attacking your emotionsThe enemy is the master of attacking your faith through manipulating your emotions. This is because our emotions are more intertwined with our beliefs than we often realise. 

Through affecting our emotions, the devil can affect what we believe and influence our behaviour.

If you feel depressed, it will automatically affect your perspective and your belief system. So, the enemy surrounds you with a spiritual atmosphere of depression—in fact, his mere presence feels depressing and intimidating, if you are used to living in the light—which will begin to affect your soul, mainly because our sour and our ‘spirit’—your spiritual interface, are so intertwined. 

When you feel depressed, it is not just an emotion. Depression and fear are also a belief system, or a force that begins to affect your belief system. Suddenly, what seemed entirely possible only a minute ago now seems impossible, and even the smallest of obstruction begins to seem insurmountable. 

Like the presence of God is enough to trigger joyful and peaceful emotions, the presence of darkness will trigger many destructive emotions. So, through his mere presence the devil can affect our emotions.

Paul writes in Ephesians 4:26-27, “‘Be angry, and do not sin’: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.”

We can see how long-held emotion of anger is closely linked to the works of the enemy. But this is also applicable to many other emotions. 

Looking back at my life after I began to operate in the gift of discerning spirits, I could discern long patches of time and moments when I had either felt deep loneliness or depression and anxiety—or anger—and discern that lurking behind those emotions that felt natural was in fact a venomous supernatural force trying to trap me in those emotions.

This is because I can now discern between natural emotions and demonically influenced emotions better.

And I could now see the fingerprints of the enemy, not in all of them, but in many of them, because my mind is well capable of tripping over itself even without the help of the devil!

This doesn't mean that all negative emotions are demonic, and also that there are many medical and health reasons that affect our emotions. But the gift of discerning spirits helps to discern what is natural and what is supernatural.

If you are doing anything meaningful for the Lord, you will have encountered the attack of the enemy on your emotions. 

Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

The gift of discerning spirits operates in a slightly similar way. For example, you might wake up in the morning feeling low with no apparent reason. You might put it down to staying up late at night and having low energy levels. You might get a cup of coffee and feel instantly better. Often, what happens to me is that after that cup of coffee I go to pray and read the Bible. After a few minutes, I feel can like there is something like an invisible, dark cloud that is being lifted. This is almost a physical sensation, but in essence, it is spiritual in nature. I realise that I have woken up in a negative, demonically infested spiritual environment. Or rather, I have slept in a demonically infested spiritual environment, which has seeped in through the night. It is only when it is being lifted that I notice that it was there.

Now, I am not attempting to demonise every negative emotion. We feel bad for many reasons, and some of the reasons are entirely natural. And sometimes, it is the coffee that is enough to make me feel better.

I am not asking you to micro-analyse your emotional life. But the students of the Spirit must also be the students of the soul—to know the difference between soul and the Spirit.

When I was studying at the university many years ago, I often woke up with a sense of deep loneliness. Often, I could spend an hour in prayer to get rid of that emotion. Very infrequently, I can wake up today and feel that same emotion. But through the gift of discerning spirits I have come to realise that this this deep sense of loneliness has always been an attack of the enemy.
2. The enemy attacks your faith through flawed logicIn 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 Paul writes:

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.”

The enemy attacks our faith through false arguments and reasoning. He is the master of flawed reasoning. He bombards us with thoughts that often seem factual, but they always come with a spin. And that spin means that if you follow the devil's reasoning you will end up with the conclusion that he has already prepared for you. This is because if you follow his reasoning, it means that you are also accepting his premises—and his premises are false. 

We can see this process clearly in the Genesis 3 story about Satan tempting Eve. 

Genesis 3:4-5 says, 

“Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”

Here Satan casts doubt on the motivation of God—according to him, God has banned eating from the tree because He wants to withhold immortality from Eve. But that is flawed logic. If God created the garden, He could have simply left it out, if that was the reason! But Satan casts doubt on God’s motivation and also on His position as the Creator. It sounds nearly as someone else but God had planted the tree, which implies that He is not omnipotent after all.

It is the same flawed logic Satan applied when he himself rebelled against God. He mistook God’s kindness and humility for weakness. He must have genuinely believed that he could defeat God; otherwise he would have never rebelled.

Had Eve stopped for a second, she would have realised that this was flawed reasoning. If God planted the garden, the fruit from the tree could never make anyone like God. But in this one issue Satan was partially right—eating from the tree did make Adam and Eve know the difference between good and evil. Up to that point, they had known only good, now they also knew evil! But the lie in the devil’s argument was that Adam and Eve would become gods. But rather than becoming immortals, the tree brought death for them. 

The implied but hidden premises of the devil’s argument were that God is not the creator of all things and that He has selfish motivations. 

Have you heard arguments that imply the same premises recently?

What I have learnt through the gift of discerning spirits is that the devil’s faulty reasoning has real spiritual force. If I am not full of the Holy Spirit, his arguments seem reasonable to me, as they are full of spiritual force that has the power to convince and deceive my natural mind.

When I am under the influence of the “prince of air”, these arguments pummel me with compelling power. It is only when I am full of the Spirit that I fully see the unreasonableness of the devil’s arguments.
3. The enemy attacks your relationshipsPaul writes in 2 Corinthians 2:10-11:

“For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.”

We can see here how the devil’s target is our relationships. 

It is often when I am on my way to meet someone that my mind is being bombarded with negative thoughts about the person I am about to meet. These thoughts can easily feel like my own thoughts. But I resist them and when when I pray with that person, I feel like a dark, demonic cloud is being lifted, and I realise that the enemy has been trying to bring a wedge between that person and myself.

Often the enemy achieves this the same way than when he spoke to Eve in the garden: by casting doubt on the motivations of people.

But God’s command to us is clear. He has called us to love even our enemies and not just our neighbours, so no matter what their motivation is, we have been called to bless.
4. The enemy always has one more attack in storeOne of the tricks of Satan's effective warfare against you is to always keep another attack in reserve—usually apparently stronger than the previous one. Hence when you think that you have already won the battle, you will face an unexpected attack from a different direction—perfectly timed to rob you of hope generated by your victory!

You thought that the war was over, but suddenly it feels that rather than it being over, you are in fact faced with a world war with no end in sight. This can be quite depressing, and it must be what the prophet Elijah experienced after he had killed the prophets of Baal—and then found out that Queen Jezebel was now chasing him with newfound determination.

Objectively speaking, the same God who gave Elijah a victory on the mountain is the same God who was able to protect him against attacks from the Queen Jezebel. But when it comes to the emotional impact, the hope created by a victory was gone. It must have felt like you have gone one inch forward and then ten yards backwards!

Through one more attack after your victory the enemy’s message is clear: he is prepared to fight you all the way, so that you will never have any rest.

But in truth, your rest is not based on whether the enemy is attacking you or not. It is based on God, and He is well able to prepare you a feast in the presence or your enemies (Psalm 23).
5. The enemy attacks your restIn Psalm 55:6 David writes, “I said, ‘Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.’” At the time he was being attacked from all sides. 

The intent of these kinds of attacks is to disconnect you from the flow of God’s power and presence that rises within you each time when you rest in the Lord.

If the devil can disconnect you from the power and presence of God, he will be able to disempower you. But Paul who had experienced many of these attacks, writes in 2 Corinthians 4:7-13:

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”

Each time the enemy disturbs your rest in the Lord, you should become even more determined to find that rest. This will lead in the strengthening and intensification of God’s presence in your life, as the only power strong enough to keep the enemy’s disturbing presence at bay is the presence of God. Hence the mystery of the Kingdom of God is that the enemy's attacks keep on strengthening you!
6. We are helpless without the WordIf you look at the list of armour and weapons that God has given us against the enemy in Ephesians 6:10-20, you will realise that all of the pieces in the armour are one way or other linked to the Word of God. The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and word of God—they all derive their power from the confidence we have in Jesus—the Word of God. 

On practical note, when the enemy questions our righteousness and salvation, or when we must defend ourselves with truth, the starting point is always remembering the written Word of God. It is the Word of God and our knowledge of it that protects us against the lies of the enemy. 
7. We are helpless without the Holy SpiritBut it is not enough to know the Word of God as a literary text. What we can learn from the temptations of Jesus is that the devil also knows the Bible, and doesn’t hesitate to use it against us.

We also need to know the voice of our Good Shepherd—and the voice of our Good Shepherd is the Holy Spirit.  In John 10:1-5 Jesus says,

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

When the enemy speaks to us—even if he were to use the Bible—something feels not right. There is a discrepancy between the voice of the Word and the voice of a spirit. The words might sound right but the voice doesn't sound right.

What we are talking about here is the devil’s deceitful use of the Scripture. 

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:2,”But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully”.

With the temptations of Jesus, the devil twisted the meaning of the Bible verses he quoted by removing them from the original context. That's how the devil often twists the Scripture. But the gift of discerning spirits can alert us to that. This often happens to me when it comes to false teachers. I can't discern the presence of God in them, and when I study their teachings in more detail, I will soon find out that they are handling the Word of God deceitfully, to make it fit their own purposes.

Our gift of discerning can alert us of that, but it should lead to more thorough Bible study, to know the Scripture better, rather than ignoring the Scripture.
8. Sensing what people are going through before meeting themOften, when I am about to meet someone, perhaps about half an hour before meeting them, I might sense an oppressive spiritual atmosphere, and it is often accompanied with negative thoughts or emotions. When I meet the person, I will find out that they are struggling or under attack in the areas directly linked to the nature of the negative spiritual atmosphere I have sensed.

The gift of discerning spirits helps me to prepare for the meeting, so that by the time I meet the person, I am ready to minister effectively rather than feeling overwhelmed. I will have processed all the negative emotions before actually meeting the person, so that I won't be full of confusion but ready to bring hope, discernment and deliverance to that person.
9. Gift of discerning spirits makes your public ministry more effectiveOften when I go to preach or teach in a new place, I will sense a strong sense of resistance in the spirit. It is like speaking but your words facing an impenetrable wall. My gifting is prophetic, but in those situations, I don’t prophesy before I have broken that spiritual wall. 

In Mark 4:15 Jesus says, “And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.”

In 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 Paul writes, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”

In these ministry situations, I try to make sure that Satan won’t be around and able to come immediately to rob the hearers of the word. The gift of discerning spirits helps me in that. It helps you to minister in such a way that you will know when there is spiritual freedom to share anything meaningful. 

Sometimes, you will simply have to wait until through worship, prayer and preaching of the Word a favourable spiritual environment has been created. Otherwise, receiving a prophetic word can be harmful to the hearer, as the enemy might not just rob it but also twist the word, so that the hearer will let the devil's interpretation of the prophetic word sink deep in their soul. 
10. There can be 10-20 minute transition time or prayer to activate the giftIt can sometimes take 10-20 minutes of prayer before you begin to discern the influence of demonic spiritual forces around you. In a similar way, if you don’t pray, you can desensitise your gift of discerning spirits temporarily. So, for example, one minute you can be joyful, but in 20 minutes you can suddenly feel depressed, without any apparent reason. It is only after some time of prayer that you will discern that what you feel is not a natural emotion after all, or that the thoughts that you thought were yours, aren’t your own at all.

The gift of discerning spirits needs a lifestyle of continual prayer to operate effectively.
11. The enemy will seek to harness your gift against youIf you aren’t careful, what you feel and discern will drag you down. There are so many negative emotions and experiences linked to this gift. But unless you are careful, the enemy will seek to use this gift to deceive you. I believe that this has happened to many ministers who, for example, cast demons out of believers. All the enemy needs to do is to give them a bunch of negative emotions, and they will begin to cast demons out of believers! That’s why it is so important to know the Scripture. The Word of God is always more truthful than whatever you can sense or discern. 

Some Christians seem to feel bad vibes everywhere. Then they attribute them to the people or situations around them, without praying first for understanding and guidance. But the gift of discerning spirits never gives us the reason for a demonic influence or presence. It only alerts us of them. But unless we are careful, we will begin to listen to the darkness to explain itself, assuming that the gift of discerning would also give us the reason behind the operation of the enemy. But that is what the other prophetic gifts are for—especially, the word of knowledge. 

Never ask the devil for the reason why he is in the room—he will only lie to you. Always ask God! 

So, just because you can discern the darkness, it doesn’t mean that you should listen to it or be influenced by it. Many false doctrines have come to the body of Christ when Christians have not really understood how the gift of discerning spirits operates and what it is for. 

There is a lot more on the gift if discerning spirits in my book Supernatural Love: Releasing the Compassion of Jesus Through the Gifts of the Spirit. But I hope you have found these notes useful.

You can connect with Marko on Twitter @markojoensuu and on Facebook at  facebook.com/marko.joensuu  or by visiting  markojoensuu.com .