Exactly, it's an absolute disgrace. I was thinking this morning if some of this stuff is how some of the elect will be deceived.
The elect won't be deceived. At least not in a permanent way. The lying signs and wonders of the Antichrist administration will probably be much more convincing. Fire from heaven seems a bit dramatic. Even then it says "if it were possible, the very elect would be deceived" which suggests a strong delusion but the elect will still see through it. The tares and pretenders, not so much.
This roll of the dice guessing who will win an election and being right is proof of nothing.
Even telling people "This is your season of change, expect a breakthrough" is not the gift of prophesy. It is fake pretense at being a clairvoyant and they aren't even that impressive.
Those that had familiar spirits could tell people where they lost something and other such details that shocked their client because they were conversing with demons and the evil spirit actually know things in the present that they can convey to a person. But even they could not tell the future they just pretend to tell the future using the same methods of these that claim to be prophets in the church but aren't. "Something good is going to happen to you this year" They have a pretty good chance of being correct. Or "Someone you know that is close to you recently went to the hospital, God is saying they are going to recover from this" That has a good chance of being true.
"You're going through a difficult time in a relationship right now aren't you?" Oh wow... how did you know? (Frankly the ones falling for this stuff are such a nut job there is a good chance they are always suffering in some kind of drama as it relates to their relationships)
This is not New Testament gifts of prophesy and those that do it if they really believe they are operating in the Spirit were taught to "say whatever comes to your mind" and think that it is how the gift works. They were taught hogwash and fell for it. That is not how the real gift works.
There is such a thing as New Testament prophecy and some seem to operate in this gift more than others in the Church but they don't call themselves prophets. They seek God in prayer and know the difference between the voice of the Spirit and their own imaginations. An example in Acts was prophesying a famine that would cause great suffering and to be able to prepare for it and help those that would be in the most need IN THE CHURCH.
We also see them prophesying bondage for Paul if he went to Jerusalem. So I do believe these examples tell us that we can expect this gift in the church. This other false prophesy is being used by the enemy to discount all prophesy and make people closed to any of the real manifestations of the Spirit in the church. But God knew this kind of fakery and false gifts would always be with the church and that is why there is so much in the scriptures to give us guidance and direction concerning the actual gifts of the Spirit. We know from the misuse of the gifts in the very beginning of the church not to be surprised when we see them misused or faked today.
I have seen the real gift of prophesy in action. Times Square Church had these food trucks that went around the city and distributed food and much needed supplies to homeless and desperate people and they would preach the gospel to them. There are pastors today that were saved from that ministry. The Holy Spirit told the pastor (David Wilkerson) to not send out the trucks for several weeks or months I forget how long exactly they were held back. People who were involved in that ministry kept asking him "when are we going to start going out again" and he would tell them "I am praying and I just keep hearing the Lord telling me to wait and to keep them stocked up." Then 911 happened and he heard the clear direction of the Spirit tell him to "Go" take them to ground Zero and minister to the first responders. The first responders were meeting at the trucks and getting free water and food and using them as meeting locations before they even had their own trailers and other equipment brought in for the long haul. The volunteers that normally used the food trucks to minister and pray for homeless were ministering and praying for the first responders. This is a new testament example of real prophesy that prepared a local assembly for real life hands on evangelism and meeting human needs in a crisis.
They did not make a big deal about this story or try to get on the news or seek glory or get on TBN. Every time David Wilkerson was asked by the News media to be interviewed, he refused.
Since that time this story has been retold by some Christians who are of the false prophesy camp and they have exaggerated the facts and made up things trying to impress people (as they do) and that has caused others to discount the story having any truth to it but I remember when it happened. The story does not need any embellishments, it was a great encouragement to that local church about the power of prayer and listening to God. It was not intended that it be used to convince skeptics. This was simply a case in point of being prepared to meet a need by listening to God.
Fake prophets can't stand to keep a prophesy private to a local assembly. As soon as they hear about a real manifestation of the Spirit they will broadcast it to the world and add all sorts of embellishments to the story rendering it a lie and setting themselves up for ridicule and exposure. Next thing you know stories are being told about how God told David Wilkerson about 9/11 and that he warned his church about it. That did not happen. But God did warn him to prepare the trucks for something and to not send them out on their normal ministry and he did not know why. Why can't the real story be enough? No they want to convince skeptics so badly that they think they have to embellish the truth and all they do is drive people further away.