A significant reply to Dr. Owuor

Expired Content: I may no longer hold the views espoused in this post. As a matter of integrity this link remains alive, but time has passed and my thoughts on this subject may have developed significantly.

The reference to this is found in a previous post of mine about an apparent prophecy by one Dr. Owuor concerning an imminent tsunami striking Tasmania.

It has been dismissed by many and dealt with theologically by some (I put myself in that category).  Amongst those who are part of the intercessor/prophetic community in Tasmania it has caused some angst and consternation.

The following is the content of an email has come from within that circle.  I think it’s honest, clear and right.

Thank you to all who prayed for the prayer meeting about Dr. Owuor’s prophecy. We were conscious of the prayers, and we believe the Lord answered them and spoke very clearly to us.

We believe it is important to forward on the results of this meeting, which was called on 12 March, 2011, at the YWAM base just outside of Sorrell, Tasmania. An invite went out to as many Christians as possible to attend.

We believe that the reason why Tasmanian Christians are concerned about this prophecy is because Dr. Owuor has prophesied various disasters in other parts of the world with great accuracy. According to his website and other related commentaries, this seems to be the case.

So naturally, a prophecy about Tasmania and the destruction of its northern shore is a grave concern to us Tasmanians. Dr. Owuor preaches a welcome gospel of repentance and personal holiness. Indeed, the Scriptures also warn us of earthquakes and other similar disasters in these Last Days.

We, as a group of Tasmanian Christians wanted to clearly hear the Spirit of God on the matter and not to settle for men’s opinions about the prophecy since the potential consequences of being mistaken could be disasterous. This is why the meeting was called.

The group consisted of believers from various Christian backgrounds. The group also consisted of those who supported the prophecy, those against the prophecy and those who were undecided.

After 2 hours of prayer and thoughtful discussion, there was still no clear sense that the Lord had spoken definitively to the group about the prophecy. Furthermore, everyone still remained in the same positions they held when they first came.

However, we as a group believed that God would speak clearly on the matter, so we purposed to wait on him further. When we did, the Lord began to speak to us.

As soon as the Spirit began to speak, it was immediately clear to everyone in the group that it was the Lord.

Though positions of for, against and undecided were held about the prophecy up until that point, within a matter of minutes after the Spirit began to speak, everyone was unanimously convinced that Dr. Owuor’s prophecy of a tsunami coming upon Tasmania because of the sin of the Australian church was NOT a prophecy from God.

Furthermore, after the Lord spoke, the peace of the Holy Spirit bore unanimous witness with everyone, and so we closed the meeting in prayer and thanksgiving.

The following is what came forth during those ten minutes where we felt God spoke to us:

In the Scriptures, Jonah was sent to Nineveh, despite his reluctance to warn the city. Jonah preached to the city and even to the hearing of the king, and all repented extraordinarily.

“‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish. When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.” (Jonah 3:7-10)

In the Scriptures, when the Lord has something to say through his prophets, he always sends his prophets TO the people to prophesy to them. In rare cases where his prophets do not go directly to the people themselves, a letter or another person is sent on the prophet’s behalf to adequately get the message across. When God has something to say to a people, true prophets of God are very earnest and thorough to get God’s message to them.

In contrast to the Scriptures, Dr. Owuor has not visited Tasmania to testify to us about this, nor are we aware of any earnest or thorough attempts he has made to directly communicate this alarming prophecy to the church of Tasmania, especially its elders who oversee the flock, so that we may repent and be spared. Rather, Tasmanians seem to have stumbled across this prophecy more by happenstance instead of hearing it as a direct message from God preached to them by the prophet himself.

Incidently, Dr. Owuor also did not state in his video that the tsunami was coming because of the sin of the church (sending out a warning for us Christians to repent so that God may spare Tassie). Instead, this information was later communicated as a private reply to an inquiring email.

Furthermore, the true words of God are dynamic and have cutting-edge spiritual power to them. Whether they are Scriptures the Holy Spirit quickens to us or whether they are prophetic utterances spoken by the Holy Spirit through his people, the true mark of the Word of God is that it has dynamic spiritual power.

“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Heb 4:12)

“‘Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?’ declares the LORD. ‘Is not my word like a fire,’ declares the LORD, ‘and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?'” (Jer 23:28-29)

If this prophetic word had truly been from God, it would have possessed this dynamic, cutting edge power, and its effects would have been apparent in the Tasmanian church. If a word from God brought the pagan Ninevites to repentance, how much moreso would the God-fearing in Tasmania have experienced the word cutting into their hearts, bringing conviction and repentance. Instead, this word has mostly brought confusion and fear–two things which the Holy Spirit does not bring to his people (1 Cor 14:33, 2 Tim 1:7)

Furthermore, it is not entirely the content of the prophetic message that is important but also the spirit through which it is given. A true prophetic message will be recognised by both its content and by the spirit (the Holy Spirit) through which it comes (1 John 4:1).

When Jesus rebukes some of the churches in Revelation 2-3, there is always commendation of the churches along with the rebuke (except for Laodicea). And with Laodicea, the Lord’s love is still evident for them despite the fact they are only rebuked and receive no commendation from him (Rev 3:19). The spirit of Jesus’ rebukes to the churches is one of love and of earnest desire for restoration. It is redemptive in purpose and not condemning.

Dr. Owuor’s prophecy seems to be condemning and threatening in spirit. The spirit in which it is given does not seem to be one of genuine love and desire for restoration back to Jesus. Regardless of whether or not the message, “the church is in sin”, is a true statement, the spirit which has rebuked the Tasmanian (Australian) church is different than the Spirit who rebuked the churches in Revelation. That spirit does not have the redemptive and restorative nature of the Holy Spirit. It seemed to be a spirit of judgment without much grace.

This is what we believe the Lord spoke to us during those ten minutes.

Upon closing, the group agreed there is still a great need for we, the church of Tasmania, to repent of our sins and to continue to persevere in intercession for the salvation and redemption of all the souls in Tasmania.

Lastly, the Scriptures concerning the Last Days do speak of earthquakes and famines in various places (Matthew 24:7-8), which are the beginning of the birth pains. Tasmania, like the rest of the world, is not exempt from this Scripture. We should expect to see an increase of these natural disasters, even in Tasmania, in accordance with our Lord Jesus’s own prophecies in the Scripture.

Thanks and praise be to our great God and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has been faithful to hear and answer our prayers by speaking to us so clearly. We pray the Holy Spirit will personally speak to you also.

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CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 A significant reply to Dr. Owuor by Will Briggs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.