Old Testament

God has always had a problem with prophets with horns. These are prophets who love war.

Horned prophets were a problem in Old Testament times (1 Kings 22). When Ahab asked him to join in a war against the Arameans, King Jehoshaphat requested guidance from the prophets. These were not prophets of Baal, because they spoke in the name of Yahweh (1 King 22:6), although they may have been influenced by them. These prophets of the Lord loved war, so they urged their kings to fight.

Their leader Zedekiah son of Kennaah was the original prophet with horns.

Now Zedekiah son of Kenaanah had made iron horns and he declared, "This is what the Lord says: 'With these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed'" (1 Kings 22:11).
Reading this account, I get a picture of Zedekiah with iron horns attached to his head, prancing round the court and shouting, "Go up and win".

A horn is a symbol of military power. Wearing horns on his head was a sign that he was a prophet who loved war. Horns are for kings, not prophets. When prophets put on horns, they open themselves up to a violent warring spirit. When he was challenged by Miciah, Zedekiah turned violent.

Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah went up and slapped Micaiah on the cheek (1 Kings 22:24).
The word translated "slapped" is "nakah". It is a strong word that means "striking to cause a wound". The violence of Zedekiah's response reflects his inner spirit. He carried a warring violent spirit, which made him love war.

Micah the prophet explained to the two kings that the Lord had sent a spirit onto the prophets to deceive them. We tend to assume that this was a spirit of deception, but that is not quite right. All spirits are deceivers. The spirit that God sent to the prophets was a spirit of violence and war. This spirit had authority to work in Israel, because Ahab had brought violence and war into his kingdom. The spirit of violence and war was able to deceive the King of Israel and the King of Judah into fighting a war that God did not support. Warring and violent spirits can deceive prophets who are infatuated with the power of the King. When this happens they becomes horned prophets who love war.

Miciah was rejected and put in prison. The two kings obeyed the prophets with horns and went to war. The result was a disaster. Jehoshaphat, who was one of the best kings of Judah, was nearly killed. Ahab was killed. The armies of Israel and Judah fled, and the Arameans won a huge victory.

Trusting the prophecies of a horned prophet is a mistake. Their words eventually release judgment, which destroys the leaders of the nation and defeats the people.

Two Horned Prophet

A prophet with horns appears again in the book of Revelation. John saw a beast with two horns.
Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon (Rev 13:11).
This beast does not exercise military and political power. It is a speaking beast, so it is prophetic.

The beast looked innocent like a lamb, so most people will think it has come from God to represent Jesus. However, John realised that it speaks on behalf of the dragon, who is the devil. This makes this beast a false prophet. Later in Revelation, the two-horned beast is called the False Prophet. It has two horns, so it is the ultimate horned prophet.

This two-horned prophet loves war. It stirs up the world to give power and authority to the political power called the Beast in Revelation. When the church and its prophets love war, human political power is released. The two-horned beast stirs up the nations of the world to fight against the people of God. He releases demonic spirits to stir up the leaders of the nations to get into a war that leads to a terrible judgment (Rev 16:13). The two-horned false prophet also stirs up the rulers of the nation to fight against those who have chosen to follow Jesus (Rev 19:19-20).

Zedekiah son of Kenaanah was the first horned prophet mentioned in the scriptures. The false prophet of Revelation is the ultimate horned prophet. However, there have been many horned prophets in between. Wherever there is faith in political and military power, horned prophets will emerge. They will stir up the political leaders to engage in military activities. Their prophecies will often cause a growth in political control and military force.

Political and Military Power

Horned prophets and political and military power go together (like the beast and the false prophet in Revelation). It is often hard to tell which came first. Confidence in military power opens a young prophet to a warring and violent spirit. The words of a prophet who loves war deceive the people into trusting the military strength of their political leaders. Political leaders are drawn to the horned prophets because their words feed their desire for more and more power. The people love the horned prophets, because their words make them feel good about their nation, but they eventually lose their freedom.

Initially, the words of the horned prophet are self-fulfilling, the leaders of the nation are successful, and the people prosper. However, the deceptions of the horned prophets are eventually exposed. God's judgment destroys the political leaders and the people who trusted them suffer defeat and terrible loss.

America has a problem with horned prophets. America has such immense military strength that some prophets get dazzled with it and fall in love with war. This makes them dangerous. Horned prophets tend to produce ruthless military and political power. They deceive the people into accepting big government and stir up their leaders to undertake grand military adventures. This seems to be happening now. However, the words of horned prophets will eventually be exposed, because military and economic disaster always follows close behind them.

Horned Prophets are really dangerous for America, as this is pivotal time for the nation. It seems to be poised on becoming a Beast that controls the whole earth. That might not happen, if there is a move back to God, but the political, cultural and military leadership seem to be going the other way. By supporting them, the horned prophets could be instrumental in making America into the Terrible Beast. That would end in terrible disaster.

America has too many prophets with horns. Their love of military force and passion for war prevents them from seeing the truth and opens them up to a deceiving spirit. America will never have a true prophetic voice while its prophets love military power. We saw horned prophets at work when America invaded Iraq. They acted as cheerleaders for American power. Now that the adventure has failed and Christians are being forced from Iraq, these horned prophets are silent, but they have not apologised.

Wrong Waggon

Prophets should be careful hitching their horse to the waggons that are going in the wrong direction. They could find themselves in a place where they do not want to be. American prophets have been passionate in their support of the nation of Israel. The support each action that they Israeli government takes, almost without thought. This is dangerous because they do not know where the nation they are supporting will end up.

Prophetic cheerleaders for Israel are opposing Jesus. He said that Israel would be desolate until it blesses those who come in the name of the Lord. This refers to those who come sharing the gospel of Jesus. The Israeli government is currently very hostile to those who bring the gospel, so that requirement has not yet been fulfilled.

Because they have rejected the gospel of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is shut out of Israel. While he is shut out, their house will remain desolate, because he is the only way that God is currently working in the world. While the Holy Spirit is shut of our Israel, their house will remain desolate, so prophets are foolish to prophecy that it is anointed and blessed.

One reason the horned prophets are so staunch in their support for Israel is their love for military power. They like seeing Israel demonstrate massive military power against its enemies.

God has promised to bless the children of Abraham. However, that promise was not unconditional. Prophets prophesying about Israel must understand their covenant and the conditions for blessing.

The current Israeli project in Palestine will fail. It has to fail because it is based on political and military power, and God is not into that. "Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit said the Lord" is his word for this season. God's purpose for the children of Israel is that they trust in Jesus and receive the fullness of the Spirit, but that cannot happen while they trust in political and military power.

It may not happen soon, but after few more of violent misadventures, the evil that has taken hold in Israel will be exposed. The world will be shocked, and the US and its allies will invade Israel to prevent them from creating carnage. Israeli military power will be powerless and their political system will collapse. The horned prophets who have acted as cheerleaders for Israel will see this as a sign of the second coming, but they will be disappointed. Israel will have many years in the captivity of the western nations before they come to faith in Jesus.

The horned prophets who have hitched their horse to the Israel waggon will be totally disillusioned. They will have promised military victory for Israel, only to see it being defeated. When it is defeated, they will have promised the second coming of Jesus, but they will be disappointed again. Many will be so embarrassed that they will lose their faith in Jesus. Like Zedekiah, son of Kenaanah they will go and hide in their inner rooms (1 Kings 22:25).

Prophetic Flaws

There are four reason why prophetic cheerleaders for the state of Israel are dangerous.

  1. Most Israeli leaders have been secular. They are ethnic Jews, but not religious Jews. Secular leaders will not lead a nation towards God. They will get some things right by accident, but mostly they will lead their nation away from God.

  2. The relationship between God and the Jewish people is defined by the Mosaic covenant. Jesus affirmed this covenant, so its conditions do not hold. The people did not have to be perfect to live under the law, because the tabernacle sacrifices provided expiation for failures to keep the law, which left them right with God and under the blessing of the covenant. Since the destruction of the temple in AD 70, access to the blessing of the covenant is not possible.

  3. Demons can read the scriptures (sometimes better then Christians). They know that when the Jews come to Jesus it will bring great blessing to the world. They are desperate to stop that happening, so a large number of evil spirits have gathered in Israel to blind Israel towards Jesus. Many of the martial spirits that used to operate in Germany, no longer feel at home there, as the Germans have lost interest in warmongering, so they have moved to Israel. These spirits plan to make the Jews blind to Jesus by encouraging them to but their faith in military force and political power. That strategy is currently working well.

  4. Israel is not a Christian nation. This seems obvious, but many Christians think and speak as if it were. Or the next best thing, that the Jews do not need Jesus, because their covenant is fine. But that is not true.

Calling of the Jews

The scriptures promise that all Israel will come to faith in Jesus. That event will bring great blessing to the world, because the devil will have lost one of his last small bits of authority on earth. However before that happens the children of Israel will have to go through one last desolation that will shake their faith in political military power forever. That is what the prophets should be prophesying.

Prophets will have a key role in the calling of the Jews, but they will not be prophets with horns. The true prophets will speak God's word against the gathered armies and their weapons will fall back on themselves and destroy their own military power. On that day, military power will fail before the prophetic word of the Lord. Military power will destroy itself and the power of the Holy Spirit will be released. The calling of the Jews will bring great blessing to the world.

Return to False Prophets.