The Prophetic Pitfall: Testing the Spirits in an Age of Celebrity

Discernment Over Prophetic Hype

I remember sitting in a room with a woman who was a psychic. She charged a lot of money for her sessions, and famous people would quietly come to her for readings. There wasn't a smell of incense, but there was a power—a spirit—that was just coursing through my soul. I was writhing. I couldn't... I don't know how to explain it, but there was this energy coming through my solar plexus. It was like she was sucking information out of my soul. She started rattling off names of my relatives and friends—names she couldn't possibly have known—and details about my past and about my friends that made the hair on my arms stand up. At the time, I thought it was a "gift." I thought I was touching the divine.

She told me things about my past that were so specific I felt naked before her. I remember the rush of adrenaline, that sense of being "known" by the universe. I was hooked. I wanted more of that feeling, more of that secret knowledge. But there was a coldness behind her eyes that I didn't notice until much later. There was no love there, only information. There was no life, only a ledger of facts.

But after I met Jesus, I realized I wasn't touching heaven; I was shaking hands with a familiar spirit. When the Holy Spirit entered my life, the atmosphere changed. It wasn't about "information" anymore; it was about transformation. The "knowing" wasn't a party trick; it was a piercing light that led to repentance and a deep, abiding peace that the New Age could never mimic.

That experience taught me a hard lesson that many in the church are still struggling to learn today: information is not the same as anointing. Just because someone knows your mother's maiden name or your street address doesn't mean they are hearing from the Holy Spirit.

Lately, the body of Christ has been rocked by the controversy surrounding Bethel and the allegations involving Shawn Bolz. I’ve had many of you reaching out to me at ConradRocks.net, wondering why I’ve been quiet. The truth is, I don’t like to dance in the graveyard of gossip. I’ve seen too many ministries destroyed by "he said, she said" drama that lacks substance. I waited for actionable facts. I waited for leadership to speak.

Now that Kris Vallotton has publicly addressed the four-hour confrontation and the ongoing investigation at Bethel, it’s time we have a serious talk about the state of the "prophetic" movement. We are seeing a mixture of the holy and the profane that would make the prophets of old weep. If we don't learn to discern the source, we will continue to be led astray by every wind of doctrine and every "prophetic" personality that hits the stage.

Introduction: The Seduction of the Stage and the Pain of Deception

The pain point in the church today is a desperate hunger for the supernatural that has bypassed a hunger for the Savior. We are living in a culture of "immediate gratification," and unfortunately, that has bled into our spirituality. We want a "word" but we don't want the Word. We want the shortcut to God's plan without the sacrifice of the secret place.

People are enamored with the prophetic stage, thinking it's a shortcut to influence or a way to get "lucky" with a prediction about their bank account. It's quite common to see people asking for a "word" as if seeking spiritual fortune-telling. They aren't looking for God; they are looking for a sign. They are looking for someone to tell them they are special without having to do the hard work of carrying their cross.

The agitation comes when the prophecy fails. When the "prophetic word" about that house, that spouse, or that check in the mail doesn't manifest, people don't just lose money—they lose faith. They feel betrayed by God because they couldn't tell the difference between a man's imagination and the Spirit's inspiration. They are left wandering in a desert of disillusionment because they were fed a diet of fluff instead of the meat of the Word.

The solution isn't to throw out prophecy—Paul told us to desire it—but to return to the biblical standard of what a prophet actually looks like. A real prophet isn't a psychic in a designer suit; a real prophet is a signpost pointing directly to the cross of Jesus Christ. We need to stop looking for a "word of the year" and start looking for the Word that was in the beginning with God. If the prophecy isn't the testimony of Jesus, you need to start asking questions.

The Pit, the Persecution, and the True Price of Prophecy

We have created a "prophetic" culture that looks more like a talent show than a tabernacle. Everyone wants the mantle, but nobody wants the furnace. You see someone catapulted onto a stage with lights and music, and you think, "I want that." But look at the biblical pattern.

In the scriptures, the prophetic office wasn't a career path; it was a death sentence. Do you want to go through the pit like Joseph? He had a dream from God, and it led him directly into a hole in the ground, sold out by his own brothers. The "word" didn't make his life easier; it made it harder. It tested him until the time that his word came.

Until the time that his word came: the word of the Lord tried him. (Psalm 105:19 KJV)

Are you ready to wear camel’s hair and eat locusts like Elijah? Are you prepared to be made a eunuch in a foreign land like Daniel, serving a pagan king while maintaining your holiness? True prophets in the Bible weren't celebrities; they were outcasts, martyrs, and men of sorrows who were intimately acquainted with grief. They didn't prophesy birthdays and addresses to get an offering; they prophesied repentance to a nation that wanted to kill them.

Familiar Spirits vs. The Holy Spirit: The Source Matters

The biggest deception happening right now involves "words of knowledge." Because I came out of the New Age, I have a different perspective on this than most. In the occult world, I saw mediums do the same things we see on some "prophetic" platforms today. They give addresses, birthdays, and personal details. They tell you things about your dead grandmother that make you weep.

But that isn't the Holy Spirit. The Bible warns us about "familiar spirits." The root word there is family. These spirits are assigned to families. They have been watching your bloodline for generations. They know your secrets, your sins, and your specific details.

If a "prophet" is giving you information that a demon could easily know, but there is no call to repentance, no exhortation to holiness, and no exaltation of Jesus, you are likely witnessing a psychic act dressed in "Christianese." A demon can tell you your social security number; only the Holy Spirit can tell you the condition of your soul and lead you to the feet of Jesus.

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1 KJV)

We have to ask ourselves: Why are we so impressed by data? If I walk into a room and tell you your phone number, does that make me holy? No. It makes me a person with access to information. But if I walk into a room and the presence of God falls so heavily that people begin to confess their sins and turn to Christ, that is the prophetic at work. This is exactly what Paul described when he wrote that if an unbeliever or unlearned person comes into the assembly and all prophesy, "the secrets of his heart [are] made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth" (1 Corinthians 14:24-25 KJV). The true prophetic doesn't just reveal information—it reveals the heart and brings people face-to-face with the living God.

The Spirit of Balaam and the Greed for Gold

Another red flag in this movement is the constant tie-in to money. Every time some of these "prophets" get on certain well-known platforms, they are selling something. It's always a $40 "prophetic activation kit" or a promise of a financial "breakthrough" if you sow a seed into their ministry right now.

I remember reading about Elisha and the Syrian general Naaman. Naaman was healed of leprosy, and he tried to give Elisha a massive gift of silver and gold. Elisha refused it. He knew it wasn't the time to receive money. But his servant, Gehazi, saw the gold and got greedy. He ran after Naaman, lied to him, and took the money.

What happened? The leprosy of Naaman cleaved to Gehazi and his children forever (2 Kings 5 KJV). God does not take it lightly when we merchandise the anointing. When we turn the house of God into a den of thieves, we are following the "way of Balaam," who loved the wages of unrighteousness.

Balaam was a man who could hear God, but his heart was for hire. He wanted the prestige and the payment. You’ll notice in the scriptures that God eventually had an angel standing in the way with a sword to stop him. If the "prophetic word" you receive is always followed by a sales pitch, you aren't in a holy service; you're in a marketplace. Jesus flipped the tables in the temple for a reason.

The Problem with Hearsay and the Need for Actionable Facts

Regarding the Shawn Bolz controversy, one thing that bothered me throughout this process was the amount of gossip. I've said it before: don't receive an accusation against an elder except on the testimony of two or three witnesses (1 Timothy 5:19 KJV). But let me be clear—this means credible, truthful witnesses, not false witnesses, hearsay, or gossip. There's a massive difference between someone with firsthand knowledge who can testify under scrutiny and someone who "heard from someone who heard from someone." The biblical standard isn't just about the number of witnesses; it's about the integrity of those witnesses and the veracity of their testimony.

When I first heard about it, everything I heard was emotional hearsay. People were mad, people were "feeling" things, but there were no concrete facts. If there is actual criminal behavior or systemic deception, that is a matter for the court system and church leadership, not the comment section of a YouTube video.

Gossip is a distraction from your calling. It keeps you focused on the speck in your brother's eye while you have a log in your own. However, now that Kris Vallotton has publicly acknowledged there was a four-hour confrontation and an ongoing investigation, we have leadership stepping forward to address the situation. While Kris has wisely kept specific details private—likely to protect victims and avoid further harm—and while Shawn has denied the allegations, the fact that leadership is taking this seriously and investigating is significant. This isn't about having all the details made public; it's about recognizing that leadership is engaged in a process of accountability. That is the time to speak—not to tear down, but to call for truth, transparency, and proper handling of serious matters.

The Danger of Gifts Without Character: My Journey

I haven't always had perfect discernment. I’ve missed it. I’ve been in meetings where I felt the "hype" and got swept up in the emotion, only to realize later that the spirit in the room wasn't the Holy Spirit.

In my book OPEN YOUR EYES, I share about my words of knowledge gifting. For about seven to ten years, my gifts were ramped up and it felt like the heavens were wide open. I was getting words of knowledge for people everywhere I went. I could walk up to a stranger and know what they were struggling with. It was an incredible season, but it was also a dangerous one.

I began to realize that people were starting to look to me instead of looking to God. I had to pull back. I had to realize that if my gift wasn't leading people to a deeper relationship with Jesus, it was just "clanging brass." After I left Florida in 2005, that specific "flow" of words of knowledge waned quite a bit. At first, I was upset. I thought I had lost something. But Jesus corrected me. He showed me that He wanted me to focus on the Giver, not the gift.

I've had open visions, and I've seen things in the spirit that would make your skin crawl and things that would make you weep for joy. But through all of it, the lesson remains: The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus Christ.

I've also dealt with the darker side. I've been demonically attacked. I've faced spiritual warfare that has tested my faith and discernment. I talk about this in Overcoming Night Terror: Making the Demons Leave. One of the ways you tell the difference between the Holy Spirit and a familiar spirit is the "aftertaste." The Holy Spirit leaves a spirit of peace and a desire for holiness. A familiar spirit leaves a spirit of pride, confusion, or a craving for more "information."

I've watched a famous televangelist—one that pretty much everyone knows—prophesy "words from the Lord" for decades that never came to pass. He'd say, "The Lord told me this will happen this year," and when it didn't, he'd just move on to the next one. Yet people still called him a prophet, and what's worse, they kept coming back year after year asking for more prophecies, even though they flat-out knew he had missed them repeatedly. We have become too tolerant of failure in the prophetic. If a man says "Thus saith the Lord" and it doesn't happen, we need to stop listening to that man until there is deep repentance.

Biblical References: The Jezebel Warning and the New Testament Standard

The Lord doesn't take mixture lightly. We see this most clearly in the letter to the church at Thyatira. Jesus was speaking to a real church with real leaders, and His words were chilling:

Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. (Revelation 2:20 KJV)

Look at the characteristics of this spirit:

1. Self-Appointed: She calleth herself a prophetess. She didn't have the fruit; she just had the title.
2. Tolerated: The leadership suffered her. They let her stay because she likely brought "excitement" or "crowds" to the church.
3. Seductive: She led people into immorality and compromise.

We see this today. We see "prophets" who are living in fornication, who are greedy, or who are using their platforms to manipulate people, yet they are still given a stage because they "draw a crowd." This is the Jezebel spirit at work in the modern church. It wrecks lives, destroys marriages, and brings a reproach upon the name of Jesus.

And let's talk about what a "New Testament prophet" actually does. Many people today say, "Oh, New Testament prophets only edify, exhort, and comfort. They don't correct or predict." They point to 1 Corinthians 14:3 to limit the prophetic to "encouragement only."

But let's look at what that verse actually says:

But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. (1 Corinthians 14:3 KJV)

The Greek words here tell a different story:

• Edification (οἰκοδομή): "Building up"—strengthening believers in truth, not just making them feel good.
• Exhortation (παράκλησις): This includes urging, admonishing, and convicting—not just encouragement. It's the same root word used for the Holy Spirit as "Paraclete."
• Comfort (παραμυθία): Consolation through truth, not false reassurance.

Paul is describing the general function of prophecy in corporate worship, but read the rest of the chapter! In verses 24-25, prophecy convicts unbelievers of their sins and reveals "the secrets of their hearts." That's not a "feel-good" moment—that's conviction and correction.

Modern teachers have isolated verse 3 and created a "prophecy-lite" doctrine that avoids correction or prediction. But the full biblical picture—including New Testament prophets like Agabus—shows that true prophecy can include warning, correction, and prediction alongside encouragement. The Greek doesn't support a sanitized version of prophecy. It supports prophecy that builds up the body—sometimes by encouraging, sometimes by correcting, and sometimes by warning of what's to come.

But that’s not what the Bible shows us. Look at Agabus. He was a New Testament prophet. In Acts 11, he prophesied a great famine that would come upon the world—and it happened. In Acts 21, he found the Apostle Paul, took Paul’s girdle, bound his own hands and feet, and said:

Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that oweth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. (Acts 21:11 KJV)

That wasn't exactly a "positive, encouraging word." It was a warning of coming suffering. Agabus wasn't trying to make Paul feel good; he was telling Paul the truth. True prophecy often prepares us for the cross, not the couch. If the only prophets you listen to are the ones who tell you you’re going to be rich and famous, you are listening to a false gospel.

Key Takeaways for the Discerning Believer

• Prophecy must point to Jesus: The ultimate goal of any prophetic word is to reveal the heart and nature of Christ. (Revelation 19:10 KJV)
• Accuracy is non-negotiable: A prophet who is consistently wrong is not a prophet; they are a deceiver or someone speaking from their own soul.
• Character is the foundation: Miracles and "knowing things" are never an excuse for immorality, pride, or greed. God values your heart more than your "hits."
• Avoid the "Familiar" trap: Just because someone knows your past doesn't mean they are from God. Test the source. Does it lead to repentance?
• Facts over Gossip: Don't jump on every scandal bandwagon. Wait for witnesses and actionable evidence before you cast stones.

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Conclusion and Call to Action: Returning to the Source

The Shawn Bolz situation, the Bethel investigation, the Mike Bickle tragedy—these are all wake-up calls. They are "shakings" in the body of Christ. God is shaking everything that can be shaken so that only what is of Him will remain.

It’s a call to stop being "enamored" with celebrities and start being enamored with the Word of God. We’ve turned men into idols, and God is toppling the idols. We need accountability. We need leaders who aren't afraid to have those four-hour meetings, to bring things into the light, and to say, "We were wrong."

Don't let these controversies become a distraction from your individual calling. Don't spend your days scrolling through YouTube comment sections looking for the latest gossip or drama about a ministry. That's just gossip in a modern form. Instead, get into your prayer closet. Open your Bible. Learn to recognize the Voice for yourself.

If you are struggling to discern the voices you're hearing, I invite you to go back to the basics. I’ve written about this in my books and spoken about it in many podcasts. We have to know where the information is coming from.

What is your experience? Have you ever been "prophesied" to by someone who turned out to be off-track? How did you handle it? Let’s talk about it in the comments below.

If this post challenged you or helped you, please consider subscribing to the newsletter at ConradRocks.net and following the podcast. We need to stand together in truth in these last days.

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Action Items for Spiritual Discernment

• Audit your "Prophetic Diet": Look at the ministries and influencers you follow. Do they emphasize money and "fortune-telling," or do they emphasize the Lordship of Jesus and the need for holiness? If they don't produce the fruit of the Spirit, hit the "unfollow" button.
• Study the "Old Paths": Read the books of 1 & 2 Kings, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. See what biblical prophets actually did. They didn't live in palaces; they often lived in caves. They didn't seek the favor of kings; they sought the favor of God.
• Pray for the Gift of Discernment: Explicitly ask the Holy Spirit to give you the gift of "discerning of spirits" (1 Corinthians 12:10 KJV). This isn't just "having a bad feeling"; it is a supernatural ability to see the source of a spirit.
• Verify before you Amplify: If you hear a rumor or a scandal, don't share it until you have seen evidence or a public statement from the leadership involved. Be a person of truth, not a person of gossip.
• Practice Contentment in Silence: Stop seeking a "word" from a person for one month. Instead, seek the Voice of God through the Scriptures alone. If you can't hear God without a middleman, you are in a dangerous place.
• Read the Canon: Pick up a copy of OPEN YOUR EYES or Overcoming Night Terror to learn more about the reality of the spiritual realm and how to protect yourself from deception.

Stay tuned, stay grounded, and keep your eyes on Jesus. He is the only One who will never let you down.

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