HERALD OF HIS KINGDOM
Platitudinous Prophets
July 2009
July 2009
Clo DiPilato
PO Box 153
Windsor, CT 06095
All Rights Reserved, 2011
PO Box 153
Windsor, CT 06095
All Rights Reserved, 2011
The kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. Luke 16:16
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. Isaiah 9:7
A Herald of His Kingdom Article
Dearest Friends in Jesus:
Note: Many who think they are prophets, are not. I’m using the term “prophets” very loosely in this article. I think most reading this have been around long enough to know the difference between a prophet, and one having the gift of prophecy, or the “spirit of prophecy” falling in a meeting.
I honestly don't know whether to laugh or cry. If it weren't such a serious matter, it would be amusing.
Some of the things the prophets are saying and doing makes it almost sound like the kingdom of God is far more about being successful and feeling good than about being a kingdom where His righteous rule reigns supreme. It's as if God is constantly slobbering over me like He created me always to need a constant soulish stroking of my ego.
Whatever happened to the Church finding her joy in glorifying the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ?
These prophets are bringing a foreign sound coming from a foreign spirit, and not much that resembles words found in the Bible!! Why do I think it’s a “foreign sound coming from a foreign spirit?”
Because the agenda is to keep the saints from being equipped and battle ready when a sound of war goes forth from the Master that we should be able to heed at a moment’s notice! I’m talking about a spiritual warfare whether it be against serpents and scorpions, hordes of demons right straight from the pit of hell, OR something in unrepentant flesh that must be beaten back and even crucified in order to obey the Captain of the Lord of Hosts. Who else would want to render us ineffective but an enemy?
The biggest strategy of the enemy is to bring delusion into the Church by mixing the false with the real, the vile with the precious, the profane with the holy, and the silly with sober!
When the saints see something GOOD and encouraging in what is being heard they are too often willing to overlook that which is questionable. It seems there is a decision to swallow it whole because it’s just too taxing to take the sharp two-edged sword of the word of God to divide soul from spirit, even to the very joints and marrow of the bone!
The body of Christ is currently dealing with an area where the sword of the Spirit, the word of God needs to come in power to make a sharp distinction between that which is soul, and that which is spirit.
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
There are true prophets coming forth with some things fresh and powerful in revelation for the Body of Christ. These men of God are ground-breakers who have paid a price in prayer, obedience, and other sacrificial acts behind the scenes that the masses are usually very unaware of. All the rest of us see (except we get invited to take a “behind the scenes glimpse” into the pioneering prophet’s life) is the outworking, that “eternal weight of glory” that was purchased in the secret place with great price. These are the men of God, the servants of the Lord, the true prophets and prophetic teachers you should desire to follow if you're going to follow someone. They have the words that are worth hearing, and receiving until they become in your life the “ingrafted word, able to save your soul.”
Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. James 1:21
But this is a time when the ministry of those who have labored before God in the secret place is being eclipsed by those who have cavorted about in the public place with little in the background of their lives that can be recognized as the handiwork of God genuinely propelling them forward.
I call these the “platitudinous prophets”.
What is a “platitude”? According to Webster's dictionary, it is a flat, dull, or trite remark, especially delivered as if were fresh or profound.
The platitudinous prophets want that special “oomph”, that sense of hitting the ball out of the park that the pioneering prophet has achieved without the hard work of first blazing the trail to get to that place. This is where you might want to Google Daniel Boone, or Lewis and Clark. They believe they can affect the church, and usher in a new day of a quality of life for their hearers by offering up scripted “prophetic sound bites” that are to set the hearers in awe of their spiritual acumen.
In reality, they are empty cisterns that are holding no water.
For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. Jeremiah 2:13
I’m feeling embarrassed for these prophets. It’s not a pretty picture to see someone who should have the spiritual dignity to just be quiet and wait on the Lord until He really says something of substance instead throwing out prophetic one-liners, as if God has released the “Henny Youngman” or “Rodney Dangerfield” anointing on the body of Christ with hearty applause expected after every line delivered.
It’s like watching a grown man or woman playing dress-up like we all used to do when we were children!! If you are one of these prophets, you don’t sound anointed, you sound SILLY!! Anyone with an ounce of discernment is seeing right through the charade!!
I say that with utmost care and kindness for you so you can get in the secret place, and get quiet before the Lord and turn it all around before your ministry is reduced to nothing but a circus-like side show!
There is a characteristic that is common of true prophets. They realize to be silent when God is not really saying much of anything at all is every bit as important as speaking up when the Lord wants a true word from His heart to go forth. They are willing to pay the price to do either one. They aren’t running around with a “prophet’s itch”. There are times when God just sets a prophet on the shelf, and for His own arbitrary reasons, chooses to use someone else.
So, what are you supposed to do?? Strain until you reach the string to the lightbulb in your brain, pull it on and see what brilliance cometh forth from cerebral gymnastics? No. Just simply be quiet. That’s all. Be quiet.
How did some Biblical prophets react when they had to either “hold it” or “release it” according to the will of God.
Jeremiah prophesied at great peril to his life. But because the word of the Lord was like a fire shut up in his bones, he knew he had to obey the Lord and speak forth what God was saying. In reality, he wanted to be quiet, but he had to speak because of the heavy hand of God upon him:
7 ¶O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.
8 For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. Jeremiah 20:7-9
On the other hand, Ezekiel was commanded to keep silence by the heavy hand of the Lord upon him, until God said it was time to give the word of the Lord. Notice, God was filling Ezekiel with true information from the throne of God, but he had to come to an understanding of the plight of the people before he was released to speak what God was telling him. (See Ezekiel 3, paying particular attention to verses 15 and 16.)
When true prophets go quiet, it’s time to start wondering what is working within that prophet. Time to pray that you have ears to hear the word of the Lord when that prophet opens his mouth to speak because that one has been spending REAL time in the presence of the Lord to hear from God!
The “platitudinal prophets” are coming over the hills in droves and swarms. They have a spiritual mission, and it’s to totally dilute the true word of the Lord that you need to hear in order to be fully equipped to trust God in the troubled times ahead. They are filling your head with so much nonsense so that you can’t even think clearly!!
Here is just a a little idea of the kind of stuff (paraphrased) these prophets are coming out with, so NOT from the nature and spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, and certainly without basis in His Word.
1. When God is having a bad day, all he needs to do is think about you in order to cheer Himself up because He just made you SOOOOOO wonderfully special!!
What the Bible says:
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Psalm 51:5
They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Psalm 14:3
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 1 Peter 1:24
2. Hey, you’re so special and you have RIGHTS so if you give something to someone, you should expect….no DEMAND that they give you something in return!! Do the following verses suggest that God’s people get their britches in a bunch with an attitude of DEMANDING anything from anyone??
What the Bible says:
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. Matthew 10:8
38 ¶Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Matthew 5:38-42
3. God made you to be great. He made you with greatness inside of you. It’s important to God that you become great. Are you finally getting the picture about just how GREAT you are??
What the Bible says:
¶And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.
2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
cause no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereo3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereo3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
n.n.
5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. Rev. 5:1-5
10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Rev. 4:10,11
He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30
7 But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?
8 And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?
9 Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.
10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. Luke 17:7-10
Friends, there is absolutely NOTHING great about us!! There is only ONE who is worthy, and ONE who is great, and it’s the Lord Jesus Christ!!
And do you know what the Bible tells us WILL make us great, if we’re striving for greatness?? It’s not becoming “all that” in the business community. It’s not your Olympic-like devotion to being so self-disciplined you accomplish all your goals before you’re 30 years old. No, it’s His GENTLENESS that will make us great!!
Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. Psalm 18:35.
What does the aforementioned verse intimate besides the fact that God’s gentleness would make us great? It conveys to us our need of Him!! We need His salvation to protect and shield us. We need His right hand to hold us up!! We are so very dependant upon the Lord!!
The “platitudinal prophets” aka “motivational prophets” who are determined to puff you up with the hot air of empty flatteries are so far removed from the humility this scripture bespeaks, how can a servant of the Lord read the Bible, and not be totally grieved over all of it!!
Beloved friend in Jesus, the Bible tells us that prophecy is unto exhortation, edification, and comfort! The Word of God is FULL of powerful scriptures meant to encourage the discouraged, uplift the downtrodden, exhort the weary. Scriptures of His love and mercy are in bountiful supply in the word of God. He is our loving heavenly Father, and He knows when one of His own are in need of encouragement. But the soulish diatribe being spewed forth in the Laodicean Church from those who have not recognized the nakedness of their spiritual condition is NOT God’s best in prophetic “edification, exhortation, and comfort”. It’s coming from a lower, shallow, soulish plane, and is not the higher level of truly anointed prophetic utterance that will equip God’s people, and carry them through!!
Ask the Lord to give you ears to hear the difference between TRUE prophecy, and powerless pontifications that will do nothing but puff up flesh that in reality needs to be crucified. Drive these “platitudinal prophets” out of business. Don’t buy their books, don’t read their websites, don’t be in awe of them!! They are deceiving you, and will cause you to be rendered ineffective and powerless in the fight against the world, the flesh and the devil!!
I believe I am warning the body of Christ about this matter by the word of the Lord!!
Always in the Love of Jesus,
Clo DiPilato
Note: Many who think they are prophets, are not. I’m using the term “prophets” very loosely in this article. I think most reading this have been around long enough to know the difference between a prophet, and one having the gift of prophecy, or the “spirit of prophecy” falling in a meeting.
I honestly don't know whether to laugh or cry. If it weren't such a serious matter, it would be amusing.
Some of the things the prophets are saying and doing makes it almost sound like the kingdom of God is far more about being successful and feeling good than about being a kingdom where His righteous rule reigns supreme. It's as if God is constantly slobbering over me like He created me always to need a constant soulish stroking of my ego.
Whatever happened to the Church finding her joy in glorifying the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ?
These prophets are bringing a foreign sound coming from a foreign spirit, and not much that resembles words found in the Bible!! Why do I think it’s a “foreign sound coming from a foreign spirit?”
Because the agenda is to keep the saints from being equipped and battle ready when a sound of war goes forth from the Master that we should be able to heed at a moment’s notice! I’m talking about a spiritual warfare whether it be against serpents and scorpions, hordes of demons right straight from the pit of hell, OR something in unrepentant flesh that must be beaten back and even crucified in order to obey the Captain of the Lord of Hosts. Who else would want to render us ineffective but an enemy?
The biggest strategy of the enemy is to bring delusion into the Church by mixing the false with the real, the vile with the precious, the profane with the holy, and the silly with sober!
When the saints see something GOOD and encouraging in what is being heard they are too often willing to overlook that which is questionable. It seems there is a decision to swallow it whole because it’s just too taxing to take the sharp two-edged sword of the word of God to divide soul from spirit, even to the very joints and marrow of the bone!
The body of Christ is currently dealing with an area where the sword of the Spirit, the word of God needs to come in power to make a sharp distinction between that which is soul, and that which is spirit.
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
There are true prophets coming forth with some things fresh and powerful in revelation for the Body of Christ. These men of God are ground-breakers who have paid a price in prayer, obedience, and other sacrificial acts behind the scenes that the masses are usually very unaware of. All the rest of us see (except we get invited to take a “behind the scenes glimpse” into the pioneering prophet’s life) is the outworking, that “eternal weight of glory” that was purchased in the secret place with great price. These are the men of God, the servants of the Lord, the true prophets and prophetic teachers you should desire to follow if you're going to follow someone. They have the words that are worth hearing, and receiving until they become in your life the “ingrafted word, able to save your soul.”
Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. James 1:21
But this is a time when the ministry of those who have labored before God in the secret place is being eclipsed by those who have cavorted about in the public place with little in the background of their lives that can be recognized as the handiwork of God genuinely propelling them forward.
I call these the “platitudinous prophets”.
What is a “platitude”? According to Webster's dictionary, it is a flat, dull, or trite remark, especially delivered as if were fresh or profound.
The platitudinous prophets want that special “oomph”, that sense of hitting the ball out of the park that the pioneering prophet has achieved without the hard work of first blazing the trail to get to that place. This is where you might want to Google Daniel Boone, or Lewis and Clark. They believe they can affect the church, and usher in a new day of a quality of life for their hearers by offering up scripted “prophetic sound bites” that are to set the hearers in awe of their spiritual acumen.
In reality, they are empty cisterns that are holding no water.
For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. Jeremiah 2:13
I’m feeling embarrassed for these prophets. It’s not a pretty picture to see someone who should have the spiritual dignity to just be quiet and wait on the Lord until He really says something of substance instead throwing out prophetic one-liners, as if God has released the “Henny Youngman” or “Rodney Dangerfield” anointing on the body of Christ with hearty applause expected after every line delivered.
It’s like watching a grown man or woman playing dress-up like we all used to do when we were children!! If you are one of these prophets, you don’t sound anointed, you sound SILLY!! Anyone with an ounce of discernment is seeing right through the charade!!
I say that with utmost care and kindness for you so you can get in the secret place, and get quiet before the Lord and turn it all around before your ministry is reduced to nothing but a circus-like side show!
There is a characteristic that is common of true prophets. They realize to be silent when God is not really saying much of anything at all is every bit as important as speaking up when the Lord wants a true word from His heart to go forth. They are willing to pay the price to do either one. They aren’t running around with a “prophet’s itch”. There are times when God just sets a prophet on the shelf, and for His own arbitrary reasons, chooses to use someone else.
So, what are you supposed to do?? Strain until you reach the string to the lightbulb in your brain, pull it on and see what brilliance cometh forth from cerebral gymnastics? No. Just simply be quiet. That’s all. Be quiet.
How did some Biblical prophets react when they had to either “hold it” or “release it” according to the will of God.
Jeremiah prophesied at great peril to his life. But because the word of the Lord was like a fire shut up in his bones, he knew he had to obey the Lord and speak forth what God was saying. In reality, he wanted to be quiet, but he had to speak because of the heavy hand of God upon him:
7 ¶O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.
8 For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. Jeremiah 20:7-9
On the other hand, Ezekiel was commanded to keep silence by the heavy hand of the Lord upon him, until God said it was time to give the word of the Lord. Notice, God was filling Ezekiel with true information from the throne of God, but he had to come to an understanding of the plight of the people before he was released to speak what God was telling him. (See Ezekiel 3, paying particular attention to verses 15 and 16.)
When true prophets go quiet, it’s time to start wondering what is working within that prophet. Time to pray that you have ears to hear the word of the Lord when that prophet opens his mouth to speak because that one has been spending REAL time in the presence of the Lord to hear from God!
The “platitudinal prophets” are coming over the hills in droves and swarms. They have a spiritual mission, and it’s to totally dilute the true word of the Lord that you need to hear in order to be fully equipped to trust God in the troubled times ahead. They are filling your head with so much nonsense so that you can’t even think clearly!!
Here is just a a little idea of the kind of stuff (paraphrased) these prophets are coming out with, so NOT from the nature and spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, and certainly without basis in His Word.
1. When God is having a bad day, all he needs to do is think about you in order to cheer Himself up because He just made you SOOOOOO wonderfully special!!
What the Bible says:
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Psalm 51:5
They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Psalm 14:3
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 1 Peter 1:24
2. Hey, you’re so special and you have RIGHTS so if you give something to someone, you should expect….no DEMAND that they give you something in return!! Do the following verses suggest that God’s people get their britches in a bunch with an attitude of DEMANDING anything from anyone??
What the Bible says:
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. Matthew 10:8
38 ¶Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Matthew 5:38-42
3. God made you to be great. He made you with greatness inside of you. It’s important to God that you become great. Are you finally getting the picture about just how GREAT you are??
What the Bible says:
¶And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.
2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
cause no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereo3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereo3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
n.n.
5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. Rev. 5:1-5
10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Rev. 4:10,11
He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30
7 But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?
8 And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?
9 Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.
10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. Luke 17:7-10
Friends, there is absolutely NOTHING great about us!! There is only ONE who is worthy, and ONE who is great, and it’s the Lord Jesus Christ!!
And do you know what the Bible tells us WILL make us great, if we’re striving for greatness?? It’s not becoming “all that” in the business community. It’s not your Olympic-like devotion to being so self-disciplined you accomplish all your goals before you’re 30 years old. No, it’s His GENTLENESS that will make us great!!
Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. Psalm 18:35.
What does the aforementioned verse intimate besides the fact that God’s gentleness would make us great? It conveys to us our need of Him!! We need His salvation to protect and shield us. We need His right hand to hold us up!! We are so very dependant upon the Lord!!
The “platitudinal prophets” aka “motivational prophets” who are determined to puff you up with the hot air of empty flatteries are so far removed from the humility this scripture bespeaks, how can a servant of the Lord read the Bible, and not be totally grieved over all of it!!
Beloved friend in Jesus, the Bible tells us that prophecy is unto exhortation, edification, and comfort! The Word of God is FULL of powerful scriptures meant to encourage the discouraged, uplift the downtrodden, exhort the weary. Scriptures of His love and mercy are in bountiful supply in the word of God. He is our loving heavenly Father, and He knows when one of His own are in need of encouragement. But the soulish diatribe being spewed forth in the Laodicean Church from those who have not recognized the nakedness of their spiritual condition is NOT God’s best in prophetic “edification, exhortation, and comfort”. It’s coming from a lower, shallow, soulish plane, and is not the higher level of truly anointed prophetic utterance that will equip God’s people, and carry them through!!
Ask the Lord to give you ears to hear the difference between TRUE prophecy, and powerless pontifications that will do nothing but puff up flesh that in reality needs to be crucified. Drive these “platitudinal prophets” out of business. Don’t buy their books, don’t read their websites, don’t be in awe of them!! They are deceiving you, and will cause you to be rendered ineffective and powerless in the fight against the world, the flesh and the devil!!
I believe I am warning the body of Christ about this matter by the word of the Lord!!
Always in the Love of Jesus,
Clo DiPilato