The Seer

Aspects of the Prophetic Office - The SeerBy Lars WiderbergTo be sent in portions...1. Long ago, prophets were called seers, 1 Sam 9:9. The prophetic dimension is by no means ruled by laws of evolution and change, by laws of coincidence and impermanence. The prophetic office includes the activity of a seer. The change of title indicates by no means any change of function or objectives. Rather, the linking of the two titles builds a bridge between different aspects of the office and broadens the definition. It constitutes continuation and duration.A prophet is a seer, which implies that the basic nature of his commission is characterised by observation and watchfulness. There is no element, no connotations of spiritistic character in the Hebrew concept. There is no element of fortune-telling implied. Shamanistic connotations may not be added. Shamanistic methods and techniques belong to another, entirely different kingdom. Trance states and altered states of consciousness belong to the realm of magic and is a sign of the flesh in charge and in operation. The practices of the diviner are, and have to be, sharply renounced and rebuked by a true seer. Prediction for the sake of establishing a track record, for the sake of seeming to be able to know and to have been divinely commissioned, is no valid evidence of the prophetic. Predictions do not substantiate claims of representing Heaven.

2. The Seer represents the prophetic dimension by means of his ability to observe, by his inclination towards watchfulness. He is a watchman, he is the protector. He walks the narrow paths of the border areas of the Kingdom, drawing strength for this isolated work of defence from the vivid visions and experiences of the heartlands of God’s domains. The prophet’s home is a Mizpah, a watchtower, a place for proper judgment and discernment, 1 Sam 7:6.The watchfulness itself becomes a prophetic sign and a prophetic force. It does so in an ever increasing measure as we are moving closer and closer to the final stages of our age. ”Be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer”, 1 Pet 4:7. Sober praying is indeed prophetic intercession. Sound judgment is indeed a sign of the prophetic dimension. Sober discernment is the cutting edge of the Church of the end times. This sequence of time marked by the absence of absolutes encounters a challenge by the Absolute. This terrible time of total alienation will, in and through the prophet, be countered by a revelation of Fatherhood. God, the Father is the absolute protector. The time of moral and emotional subjectivism is to be confronted by sober intercession. This is indeed a stimulating prospect.

3. The basic attitude and fundamental approach of a seer is expressed in his eagerness to watch and listen, to wait and observe. He is made able to cope with silence. He is made able to keep silent. He is made able to listen and obey. The prophetic dimension brings obedience, Rom 16:26. The seer is a man of the Cornerstone, of proper mental and moral alignment. He is made ready to demand obedience and correction. He waits for proper timing.Out of necessity the presence and the quality of a prophetically disposed people will develop in our time, the time of apostasy. The general moral condition in our day forces true Christians to react with tears and intercession. The moral enablement, the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is the dynamics of the prophetic dimension. The particular condition in the Church defined by the horrifying word ”Apostasy” cannot but generate an extraordinary pain among the watchmen, driving them to the heart of the Father. Out of necessity the false and the true will grow alongside each other. Only the seer will avoid mixing the two. Only the watchful will succeed and live. Only the sensible and the sober are able to move in the prophetic dimension.

4. The seer has learnt to live the Book, the seer has learnt to pray Heaven. He is a man of correspondence and agreement. Things seen must be prayed into existence. ”As in heaven, so on earth”. The things defined in Heaven as rule and standards must be applied on earth. The seer is a man of definitions. Like Ezekiel, any seer is compelled to watchfulness and analysis by the Father’s urging words: ”Do you see, are you able to identify, look what they do”, Ez 8:6-15.The seer gathers experience, not like any of those with ears itching, not like those who never care to draw conclusions and never learn. Prophets are old men, experienced men, men who have taken time and opportunity to unveil and unmask the glittery and sensual moves and modes of the world without and within the Church. The seer has learnt to stay silent until the proper work of defining and labelling is finished. Prophets wait until they have received a word from the Lord, and they keep on waiting for proper timing. Prophets are men who have seen Heaven, have learnt to pray Heaven, have begun to live Heaven. Such men will be able to speak on behalf of Heaven.The ministry, the office of a prophet takes learning, it takes the toil of gathering experience, but it does not necessarily require the gift of prophecy. The seer is marked by intellectual capacity and maturity. Spiritual giftings does neither guarantee truth nor constitute maturity. The spiritually gifted Church in Corinth was led to accept individuals as equally gifted, who allowed themselves the strange and dubious luxury of cursing Jesus Christ, 1 Cor 12:3.

5. The prophetic office is given to the Church for the sake spiritual maturity as well as intellectual and moral integrity, 1 Cor 14:28. Dividing the two elements – the spiritual and the intellectual/moral – is in it self a sure sign of the operation of the forces of apostasy. The operation of the gifts of the Spirit and Christian character produced by the Holy Spirit is but the two sides of a coin. The glorious grace shown by God through the operation of the gifts leads to full and total submission to the law of the grain of wheat, John 12:24.Watchmen are men able to give answers as Heaven answers. ”Watchman, how far gone is the night?”, Isaiah 21:11. What time is it, what kind of time is it? Watchmen serve their time and their church by understanding and defining the mentality of contemporary phenomenon. The prophet is a man of foundations, able to analyse the results of a common trend in society by looking at its roots. He is skilled in the art of deduction, interpretation and discernment. He, himself becomes a force against the mentality of the time and he offers understanding of how to avoid the influence of its atmosphere. This imminent force of separation and purity is the prophetic dimension.

6. Seers are men of revelation. Seers are men of enlightenment. Seers are men of intellectual maturity. The Father speaks to hearts for the sake of increased knowledge, The Father reveals himself to the inner man for the sake of mobilisation of discernment and for proper decision-making. The seer sees as the Father sees and corrects and instructs accordingly.The prophetic dimension is marked by submission and obedience. The prophetic climate produces obedience. Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, Prov. 29:18. Where there is no seer, there is no discipline. Where the people are unruly, where the people hail subjectivism and the sensational, the cursing of Jesus Christ is not far from entering in. Where the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of prophecy is not welcome, one will not easily find any respect for the word of God, for order and heavenly protocol.

7. The prophetic dimension is marked by submission and obedience. The prophetic climate produces obedience. Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, Prov. 29:18. Where there is no seer, there is no discipline. Where the people are unruly, where the people hail subjectivism and the sensational, the cursing of Jesus Christ is not far from entering in. Where the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of prophecy is not welcome, one will not easily find any respect for the word of God, for order and heavenly protocol.The seer is made able to read the spiritual climate. He is made able to identify the prevalent motivational force. His role is to see through masks and veils of pretension, to expose man’s folly and evil, for the sake of seeing the poor and needy through. The watchman is set over men’s hearts to discern motivation, and to pray for and to call forth correction. The seer is set over men’s hearts to call them to heavenly living.The prophet is a seer. The basic nature of his commission is observation and watchfulness. He is prone to contemplation and skilled in the art of deduction. He is certainly not of a passive nature. As the time draws to its conclusion by increasing its malicious efforts, his words, definitions and prophetic statements develop in exactitude and veracity. As the society draws close to its final cursing of Christ, the seer turns even more definitely away from fantasy and the fantastic and sensational. He will focus all his energy and capability to bring the people back to the Lord, back to the Book, back to Holiness and back to prayer.

your quote "The prophetic dimension is marked by submission and obedience. The prophetic climate produces obedience. Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, Prov. 29:18. Where there is no seer, there is no discipline. "Thanks Lars. This is such a valuable insight. The original is 'where there is no revelation the people cast off restraint' and was a reference to the revealed will of God in the Law, but the principle holds true into the present time. It reminded me of Paul's statement "I would that ye all spake in tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater...etc. A local church cannot afford to be a 'non-prophet' organisation.I tend to see real prophecy and real prayer has having the same essential foundation of revelation. Real prayer not beginning with our decision or prayer-lists but flowing out of communion with the Head of the Church. I am always challanged by God's recommendation of Abraham as a pray-er. "he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee and thou shalt live". Gen 20:7 God's man praying in God's will guarantees God's response.Thanks again