Despise Not Prophesying?
By Nick Warrick
 April 2002

Despise Not Prophesying?

The question has often been raised "What is a false prophet?" The Bible says that a false prophet is,
"When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him." (Deuteronomy 18:22)
In other words, if a prophet speaks, and the thing does not come to pass, then it's not of the Lord. It is a false prophecy, because it didn't come to pass. We are not to fear a prophet when his/her prophecies do not come to pass.

    In the MO Letters, Volume 2, Letter No. 244 entitled Despise Not Prophesying! Moses David, the "end-time prophet", outlined HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE between a prophecy of God and one of the Devil, or your own spirit. He gave 5 points, as follows:
  1. Is it Scriptural?
  2. Is it approved by God's chosen leadership?
  3. Is it established in the mouth of several witnesses?
  4. Is it fulfilled?
  5. Is it helpful?
Four of the above points make complete sense. The one which does not make any sense if point number 2, "Is it approved by God's chosen leadership?"

    The reason this point makes no sense is because a true prophecy from God does not need the approval of any leadership! What does leadership have to do with prophecy? The spiritual leadership in the days of the prophets of old certainly did not approve of the prophecies that were spoken by the men of God. Why would a prophecy have to be approved by leadership? To say this places the leaders above the Spirit of God. In my opinion, David Berg said this to control anyone who might speak a prophecy that contradicted him. If a prophecy contradicted anything David Berg said, that person was a false prophet (according to David Berg and the leadership of the Family).

    To prove the point that David Berg did not put up with people contradicting him, and that this second point of "Is it approved by God's chosen leadership?" is simply a tactic to thwart the Holy Spirit, I quote from The Uneager Beaver (MO Letter No. 352, C. October 1975 by The Children of God and written by Moses David), "74. I'VE RECENTLY HAD TO EXCOMMUNICATE JOEL WORDSWORTH because his words were no longer worth what they used to be. From the time he forsook his interest in publishing MO Letters in the Northwest U.S. three or four years ago, when he was doing so well, he began to go astray.

"75. JOEL BECAME MORE INTERESTED IN PUBLISHING HIS OWN WORDS and peculiar interpretations and strange doctrines than the Words of the Lord, and from that time on he began to be deceived for rejecting the Lord's Truth. For a long time we just ignored his wild ideas and hoped he'd repent and come to his senses after several gentle rebukes and chidings, but instead he grew steadily worse.

"76. AT FIRST I JUST SAID, "LEAVE HIM ALONE. MY SHEEP KNOW MY VOICE, and a stranger they will not follow. Those who follow him are not my sheep, so it's best to get rid of them anyway. Give him enough rope and he'll hang himself-he'll expose himself and his false doctrines and disloyalty to God's Words, and the sheep will see who's right." "
 What I find peculiar about David Berg's accusation against Joel Wordsworth is this: Joel "forsook his interest in publishing MO Letters in the Northwest U.S. three or four years ago." Joel was "publishing his own words and peculiar interpretations and strange doctrines."

    If Joel's teachings were so strange, why did it take David Berg three or four years to excommunicate him? Also, how could Joel Wordsworth's words and interpretations possibly be stranger than David Berg's? Something doesn't jive with David Berg's accusations. I think that the key to understanding what David Berg was so upset about is when he says
"76. AT FIRST I JUST SAID, "LEAVE HIM ALONE. MY SHEEP KNOW MY VOICE, and a stranger they will not follow. Those who follow him are not my sheep, so it's best to get rid of them anyway."
WOW! Instead of attempting to save the sheep, David Berg simply writes them off, because they chose to believe Joel Woodsworth over him!

    It's no wonder that David Berg place point number 2 into his Notes on Prophesying! It thwarted anyone speaking out against him, or contradicting his words!

Fulfilled Prophecy by Moses David?

If David Berg were a true prophet, surely his prophecies would reflect this. In the MO Letter Our Shepherd, Moses David! C. January 1976 by the Children of God, Volume 3 of the MO Letters, the Children of God attempted to paint a picture of David Berg. In the picture they attempted to show him as a great prophet, who fulfilled various prophecies. Not only did they claim that David Berg was the Prophet and David prophesied in Deuteronomy 18:15-18 (which Acts 3:22-26 claims were fulfilled in Jesus Christ), but they point to various so-called prophecies of David Berg as proof that he was a true prophet.

    On page 3264 this particular MO Letter shows a chart of the last days. This chart was created to reflect David Berg's prophecies as found in The Little Book and The Times of the Gentiles, letter number 146 and 70 Years Prophecy of the end! Letter number 156. The chart shows 7 sets of years. They are as follows:
  • 1968-1969 - The End of the Time of the Gentiles.
  • 1968-1989 - Restoration of the Remnant of Israel in the Children of God.
  • Late 70's and/or early 80's - Rise of the Anti-Christ to Power.
  • 1985 - The Covenant Confirmed by the Anti-Christ.
  • 1985 - Seventieth Week of Daniel Begins - Last Seven Years of World History.
  • 1989 - Tribulation Begins.
  • 1993 - Jesus Comes.
I've heard some say that the above was not a false prophecy, but that David Berg was simply mistaken! Yes, I agree he was mistaken. But I also believe this was a false prophecy. The letter 70-Years Prophecy clearly carries the word prophecy in its title. David Berg was clearly claiming that this was a prophecy!

    Now, the question arises, "If David Berg was mistaken about any point in the 7 set of years listed, isn't it likely that the whole chart is wrong?
  • We know that the Anti-Christ didn't come to power in the late 70's or early 80's.
  • We know that the Covenant was not confirmed by the Anti-Christ in 1985.
  • We know that the last seven years of world history didn't begin in 1985.
  • We know that the tribulation didn't begin in 1989.
  • We know that Jesus didn't return in 1993.
So why should anyone hold any faith in the first two set of dates, namely: 1968-1969: End of the Time of the Gentiles, and 1968-1989: Restoration of the Remnant of Israel in the Children of God? If any of the prophecy is wrong, the whole thing is very questionable.

    David Berg clearly says that these dates were prophecies. In 70-Years Prophecy he says in verse 27
"JUST PLEASE DON'T GO AROUND TELLING EVERYBODY THAT I PREDICTED THESE DATES, BECAUSE I DIDN'T! The Lord did!"
David Berg clearly believed and taught that this was a prophecy!

    This prophecy (and many, many others) did NOT come true. David Berg clearly was a false prophet.

    Not only was David Berg a false prophet, but he expected his followers to live up to standards that he didn't keep himself (such as the 5 points on how to tell if a prophecy if from the Lord or not, as found in the Despise not Prophecy Letter).

    David Berg's prophecies consistently broke four of the five points. The only point that he never broke was point number 2, which was "Is it approved by God's chosen leadership?" Of course, David Berg was the ultimate chosen leader of The Children of God.


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