Last week, we noted that there is a battle brewing between the various self-proclaimed “prophets” who guaranteed that Donald Trump would win reelection in 2020 and a group of conservative Christian leaders who are concerned that the refusal by these “prophets” to acknowledge they were wrong is harming the church.
Right-wing pastor Hank Kunneman has been one of the most obstinate of these supposed “prophets,” refusing to apologize for his mistaken prophesy, instead promising that God will reward those who stand with him, and attacking those who have dared to criticize him.
Last Thursday, Kunneman appeared on the “His Glory” program, where he lashed out at the Christian leaders behind the recently released “prophetic standards” declaration—a document signed by such luminaries as Steven Strang and Doug Stringer—saying that none of them are qualified to criticize him because they are not prophets like him.
“It’s amazing,” Kunneman said. “Nobody wrote a letter and thanked me for all the years that I prophesied the other presidents and even President Trump. No, but as soon as something didn’t look like it happened, boy, they jump on the bandwagon to attack you. And my question is: How many of those people that are attacking; A) Are you a prophet? The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 14 that the prophets are to judge the prophets. ‘If a prophet is to prophesy, let the others judge’; the other prophets, that’s what he was speaking about.”
For the record, the passage from Corinthians that Kunneman cited does not say that only prophets can judge other prophets. 1 Corinthians 14:29 says, depending on the translation, “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.” The reference to “the others” in this passage does not refer to the other prophets but rather to those who have gathered together to worship and hear from the prophets, so it is perfectly biblical and appropriate for ordinary believers to judge the reliability and accuracy of those who claim to be prophets.
Kunneman went on to argue that even if another “prophet” has standing to criticism him, they are still not qualified to judge him unless they have been “assigned by Jesus” to serve as “a prophet to the nations,” as he supposedly he has been.
“Are they prophets?” he asked. “Do they have a positional grace and an authority by God? Just because you’re a prophet doesn’t mean that you might be called to be a prophet to the nation. There’s different rank and file and responsibilities that are given to the prophets or to any five-fold office. So, you look at the list of people. Are they prophets? Yes or no? Second, if they are prophets, have they been assigned by Jesus—the Lord of the church, this is a holy thing—to prophesy to a nation?”
