Warning: 4 Dangers in Supernatural Evangelism

For many years, I was personally involved with numerous prophetic/supernatural schools and churches from around the USA who would weekly go out to do prophetic and supernatural evangelism in different cities and regions. I can honestly say that the first 10 years were incredible and nothing less than exhilarating. I was dedicated! Watching people encounter the love of God for the very first time is amazing. We saw too many physical healings, demons being cast out and powerful words of knowledge go forth to count. From setting up “free spiritual reading” tents to simply handing out bottles of water and asking people if we could pray with them to try to lure them in for a supernatural encounter with God, I have experienced, led many teams and seen a lot!

However, at about the 10-year mark of walking in this realm on a consistent basis, I believe God began to open up my eyes to great danger concerning what I was doing, and I still consistently see and hear what I am about to share across the country today. It deeply breaks my heart. My hope in sharing what was revealed to me is to help those going out to do supernatural evangelism and even those teaching it to make some course adjustments and seek the Lord personally on these matters. Again, this post is to better equip those going out to do supernatural and prophetic evangelism, not discourage them from going out!

Here are four areas of danger that were revealed to me by the Holy Spirit concerning what I was doing and teaching in the supernatural/prophetic evangelism realm:

1. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

As I took a hard look at the role of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, I was shocked at what I found. The gifts of the Holy Spirit were only used for two purposes: One was in a community and relational context among saints to promote unity and help them draw near to the presence of God, and the second was in an evangelistic setting to draw saints into community. In other words, to demonstrate the gifts of the Holy Spirit on the streets without intending to bring people into community and relationship with the body of Christ is unbiblical and can be misleading.

And to take it a step further, 75 percent of the people with whom I did supernatural evangelism for many years did not attend a local church faithfully and knew nothing of Christian community living. Therefore, it is dangerous to demonstrate the supernatural to the world without clearly trying to draw them into a community setting where relationship and unity can be formed. If you are going out trying to win souls, prophesy to people and lay hands on them for healing without strongly encouraging and providing them with the correct avenues to get plugged into a community of believers where strong discipleship is taking place, I ask you to repent and turn from this deception.

2. Healing and Prophetic Showmanship

I cannot count on how many occasions I have seen people healed and prophetic words given without a presentation of the gospel that includes asking people to repent of their sins. I have personally (which I have now repented of) and also taken teams all over the USA where we laid hands on the sick and crippled, saw them healed as we talked to them about the love of God and the work of the cross but yet never told them that they had to repent of their sins and live a consecrated life unto the Lord. It’s almost as though we developed a culture where people were addicted to prophesying and healing the sick and “demonstrating the love of God,” but got more of a kick out of watching people encounter God rather than lead them to Christ. (I hope that makes sense).

Over the years among many of us who were “gifted,” it became like a game as to who could prophesy the most accurate, in-depth word or who could get the best healing. Please, if you are reading this, take this seriously. I will not name the supernatural schools or leaders, but this type of thinking is so rampant, it would make you sick: healings and prophecies and the love of God without a mention of holiness, righteous living or the need to repent of sins. It produces people who are seeking an outward touch but reject inward transformation. They want goosebumps and stimulation but run from trials and testing. If you are praying for healing and prophesy to people but are not preaching the gospel by telling them that they must die to their flesh and pick up their cross and follow Jesus, I ask you to repent and turn from this deception.

3. Worshipping Miracles or the God of Miracles?

Another area of deception that God showed me I was walking in was my obsession with the miraculous outside of a true obsession of Jesus Christ. I found myself more eager to pray and release miracles than I was to pray to the God of miracles. I began to point people more to miracle power than the God of miracle power. Even in my language and speech, I had little to no revelation of the person of God, yet I had no problem “demonstrating” His works.

It all culminated for me when I went to sleep one night and was taken to hell by the Holy Spirit. There He showed me not only miracle workers who went to hell because they never knew the Lord, but he showed me thousands of people who had received his miracle-working power when they lived but had never truly given their hearts and lives to Him. If you are addicted to miracles and the prophetic and do not possess a true obsession with Jesus Christ, I ask you to repent and turn from this deception.

4. Prophetic Activation and Impartation

Probably the strongest area of deception that I walked in was the zeal to activate and impart to people the prophetic anointing without spending any time teaching them about the character and nature of God or the need for their own character transformation. I was or they were so eager to lay hands or have hands laid on them to show them how to do the “stuff” that holding their feet to the fire regarding their own sin and lack of revelation of who God is was never addressed.

I realized over the years that I was actually launching collateral damage rather than releasing assets to the world. Many of these people “walked in the supernatural” for a season but ended up embracing loose living and no longer even serve the Lord. They were totally unprepared for real-life situations where trial and testing simply do not go away with one prayer. If you are training and activating students into the prophetic and supernatural without preaching holiness and living righteously before the Lord, I ask you to repent and turn from this deception.

I have repented and will continue to repent of those years of walking in the deception that plagues so much of the “supernatural evangelism” we witness today. If but one person wakes up to the reality I am talking about and sees their own deception or helps another see theirs, it will be well worth it to me!

I will close with the words of a prophetic father of mine, R. Loren Sandford, and pray that those who have read this will be awakened to the danger involved in prophetic and supernatural evangelism and allow God to bring refreshing to your heart as He did mine.

“If the goal is to be supernatural, you will end up in shipwreck. But if the goal is intimacy with Jesus, you will end up supernatural.” {eoa}

Jeremiah Johnson is a gifted teacher, prophet and author of multiple books. He travels extensively throughout the United States and abroad as a conference and guest speaker. Jeremiah has been a guest on Christian television and radio shows including The Jim Bakker Show, Sid Roth’s It’s Supernatural and “Ask Dr. Brown,” as well as on networks such as Daystar, TBN and GodTV. For more information, please visit jeremiahjohnson.tv. or check out the fivefold full-time school of ministry Jeremiah leads in Lakeland, Florida, called Maranatha School of Ministry at maranatha.school. Purchase your copy today of his new book, Trump, 2019, and Beyond at jeremiahjohnson.tv/trump-2019-beyond.