 Hey my friends, David Digger Hernandez here. I'm just hanging out on the set, finishing up here at Encounter TV and I wanted to share something important with you. What I'm about to tell you can be noted and tested. A year from now you can revisit what I've said here in this video and you'll find it to be 100% accurate. I know that because I'm about to tell you what the Bible says. The word of God is true in every season of life. Nothing that God has said in his word will ever go out of date. Now, having made that clear, I want to use the scripture to address something that absolutely needs to be addressed. And again, I'm going to use the Bible to address it. I want to talk to you about prophecy. Concerning prophecy, the Bible tells us the purpose. But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them and comforts them. That's 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 3. Prophecy brings spiritual strength, encouragement and comfort. And let's not forget that sometimes in order to bring about strength, there must be correction. So prophecy also confronts and corrects. We are to embrace prophecy. Do not despise prophecies. 1 Thessalonians 5 20 tells us that. I love the prophetic. I use the prophetic. I have wonderful friends who are unbelievably gifted in the prophetic. But if you're like me, though you love the prophetic, you're tired of the counterfeit. God still speaks through his prophets. That's a fact. The prophetic is for today. That's a fact. But there's a dangerous practice that I pray you don't participate in. Because of the negative effect of social media influencer culture, many are using prophecy as a gimmick to gain clicks, views and popularity. Now in a moment, I'm going to tell you what I know. Not what I believe, but what I know God is saying for 2022. But I need you to hear this warning first. Beware of charismatic witchcraft. Beware of psychic practice being passed off as prophecy. Beware of educated guesses being confused for divine insight. Beware of people who are fortune telling and claiming to be prophesying. I know this isn't a popular thing to say, but the Holy Spirit doesn't always say what we want to hear. I know this will upset religious people who rely on systems and gimmicks. But please, let's be discerning. When someone isn't truly hearing from the Holy Spirit, there are three primary tricks that they will use. Number one, they'll use vagueness. Now, not every prophetic word needs to be ultra specific. Remember, the Bible teaches that prophecy can be used for encouragement and sometimes encouragement is vague. But when people say general things and pretend that this is somehow divine insight, you have to at least be observant. Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the Spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world that's 1 John chapter 4 verse 1. To say things like, this will be a great season where God moves or there will be an increase in power may be true, but that's a general encouragement, not a thus sayeth the Lord. One has to wonder how that could even be measured and therefore tested. It's not wrong to encourage as led by the Spirit. And again, not every prophecy needs to be ultra specific. But if someone is going to make a bunch of fanfare only to give a vague list of encouragements, you're not wrong to think, hmm, maybe they're better just saying, this is an encouragement I want to share rather than thus sayeth the Lord. And truly, only God knows the motives. Are you truly speaking for the Lord? Then prophesy and don't hold back. But if you're being intentionally vague as to avoid testing, then repent. Number two, they prophesy from imagination. The Bible says, and the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, hear ye the word of the Lord. Thus sayeth the Lord God, woe unto the foolish prophets that follow their own spirit and have seen nothing. That's Ezekiel 13, 1-3. Sometimes people prophesy what they want to be true rather than what God is actually saying. If they're invested in crypto, they'll prophesy a crypto boom. If they're in the healing ministry, they'll prophesy that God is going to highlight the healing ministry. If they, like me, are in online ministry, they'll prophesy that God is getting ready to highlight online ministry. If their name is David, they'll say it's a season for the Davids to arise and so forth. But I've learned that you can't force the Holy Spirit to speak. So many people, so many ministers, get themselves in unnecessary and big trouble by wanting a word so bad that they make one up. That's a dangerous game. I've seen this kind of presumption damage ministry's long term. Look, I'm not calling for perfection. I'm calling for humility. Sometimes we really do think we hear from God when we don't. I know I've made my share of presumptuous and even arrogant mistakes, but our posture must be one of actual listening. If God speaks, speak. If he doesn't, don't just make things up. Number three, trend watching. Trend watchers look at political, social, global, and economic climates and then capitalize on what they observe in the natural instead of relying on the Spirit's voice. I dare even say that sometimes the Holy Spirit will completely go against what seems to be happening just to expose these trend watchers. If I wanted to prophesy based on trends, I would say the government will try to regulate crypto, that the House and the Senate will flip, that mandates will start to be scaled back, that there will be a revival in the metaverse, things like that. Now, to be clear, I'm not prophesying those things. They will probably happen, but I'm not being informed by the Spirit. I can just see where the trends are going. Maybe those things might happen. Maybe not. My point is that making predictions based on trends is relatively easy. And all you would need to prove your word is one or two news articles that seem to align with what you've said. And then boom, there you go. You edit out everything else. You edit around just the one trend that you accurately predicted. You post it and you say, look what I prophesied. But what we need right now are not trend watchers, but trend setters. People who can see into the Spirit and not just the indicators of the natural realm. So concerning 2022, what is God really saying? Do you want a word for 2022? Then read your Bible. Am I saying we shouldn't embrace the prophetic ministry? No. I love the prophetic ministry. I host prophets in my services and on my program regularly. I prophesy whenever the Spirit leads me to do so. What I am saying is we must stop commercializing the prophetic ministry. Let's stop with the gimmicks. The tricks is God speaking to some about 2022. Yes, there are some who speak for him and they will be proven by their ability to be clear, specific and accurate. So I could say this is a year of breakthrough, but isn't God always the God of breakthrough? I could say this is a year of healing and deliverance, but isn't God always healing and delivering? I could say this is a year of power for the church, but isn't the true church always moving in power? Salvation, judgment, consecration, persecution, exposure, poverty and wealth, harvest and famine, health and sickness, life and death. Aren't these things always happening somewhere in the world? Isn't it true that every word God speaks hangs in eternity? Is not every word of God forever true? So what should we do? This is the year to live clean. Why? Because the Bible says so. To evangelize. Why? Because the Bible says so. Don't worry. Why? Because the Bible says not to. Embrace prophets. Embrace the prophetic. Pray persistently. Believe with faith. Love one another. Go to church. Be the body of Christ. Worship God. Know God's word. Use your spiritual gifts because that's what the Bible says to do. If God gives you a word to speak, speak it unapologetically. Speak it boldly. If he doesn't, then don't pretend to speak for God. Don't despise prophecy, but also don't commercialize it for clicks and views.