SELF-PROFESSED prophet Dr Phillip Phinn has closed his door to media interviews, but his School of the Prophetic is open twice weekly to anyone who is desirous of training to become a prophet.

Phinn’s Word of Life Ministries International believes that although the Bible declares prophecy as one of the nine gifts imparted by the Holy Spirit, merely having the gift doesn’t qualify one as a prophet, as there is need to be ordained in the office of the prophet. Getting there necessitates teaching and instruction.

“Word of Life is called to raise up an army of overcomers, train them and send them out to the nations,” declared Phinn’s assistant, Rev Sharon Hall, in an interview with the Sunday Observer.

Dr Phinn’s rise to national attention after his controversial prophecy in January that Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller will win the 2007 parliamentary elections, is apparently giving momentum to his school for prophets, also called the School of the Holy Spirit.

Classes are being held in Kingston every Tuesday and Friday and in Mandeville on the first Monday of each month.

“Seventh Prime Minister, you will be elected in ’07 to rule over a land with seven letters (JAMAICA) with 7×2 parishes, that has the seventh-largest natural harbour in the world,” Phinn’s prophecy said, triggering heated debate over his perceived role in influencing the outcome of the elections.

But Phinn insisted to his critics that he has been prophesying for near 20 years with little national attention. Since 1987, Word of Life Ministries has been hosting an annual international prophetic conference where persons with the gift of prophecy are trained in how to prophecy.

When the Sunday Observer sought to speak with Dr Phinn about the school for prophets, he declined, saying he was forbidden to speak with the media “until after the elections” because he had been “lambasted” and too often “misquoted”.

His assistant, Rev Hall, granted the interview to the Sunday Observer reporter, but later declared she would withdraw it, unless Dr Phinn was left out of the discussions.

“I don’t want any damaging statement published against our church or the prophetic ministry, which is the word of God. The only way I will agree with it being published is if you leave Dr Phinn out of it,” she said.

In the interview, Rev Hall explained how the organisation dealt with the ministry of prophesy.

“A number of prophets from overseas will come down (for the annual conference) so if you feel you have the gifting and if you feel there’s a calling on your life, you can come. There is basic teaching of the gifts from Dr Phinn’s book (Understanding Prophets and Prophetic Ministries), we give instructions on how to start prophecy. you are being trained how to prophesy.

We tell persons how to build up and how to declare things over people’s lives,” she said.

Hall said that there was a difference between the gift of prophecy and the office of prophecy. The gift is given to exhort, comfort and edify the church. The office, on the other hand, is for guidance, instruction, rebuking, judgment and revelation.

“Anybody can receive the gift, but once they do, they need training and not everyone can attain the office. In the office, there is no limit, but there is a limit with the gifting. Persons with the gift are sometimes ignorant and not taught,” Hall said.

She said the individual would get a prophetic word from the Holy Spirit that he not only had the gift, but was also called to the office of the prophet. The senior prophet usually gets this word as well and upon observing the candidate’s character and how he responded to the prophetic gift, he “releases (the office of the prophet) on him”.

“The prophet will [then] mentor you and watch over you until you are accurate. If you make a mistake, he’ll correct you. That’s how he mentors.

But two ministers, one from the Seventh-day Adventist church and the other from the apostolic faith, disagreed with this “teaching” of prophets.

“I don’t know if I want to say that there is an office,” the SDA pastor, Milton Gregory, said.

“In Israel there was a school of the prophets, which I think is the concept for this [school of the prophetic] but the young men went there to learn about God and who He is. They didn’t go to learn to foretell,” he told the Sunday Observer.

He said there were two purposes of prophecy, foretelling, which is to declare that something will happen beforehand, and forthtelling, which is to speak messages from God based on an interpretation of the Bible.

“You can learn to tell forth by interpretation of the Bible, but to foretell is definitely a revelation from God. I can’t study to be able to foretell,”

he said.

Pastor Gregory pointd to a “four-way test” of determining a prophet’s integrity. The prophet should himself take heed to prophecy, he should have the fruits of the spirit, he should confess that Jesus is come in the flesh and his words should come to pass.

The Apostolic minister, who asked not to be identified, said that while he had no problem with the office of the prophet, he didn’t think persons could be taught to be prophets.

“Persons who have the office must first have the gift and it’s a development of the gift that qualifies you for office,” he said. That development, according to the Apostolic minister, comes from being in an environment where the gift is being exercised.

But World of Life is undeterred by disagreements with their beliefs.

Hall said that outside of the annual conference, they held public meetings and ongoing training sessions in different areas, which were geared towards the prophetic.

The services, according to Rev Hall, teach how to create wealth, how to get healing and how to function when one receives a prophetic word.

The Sunday Observer visited two of the Tuesday evening services which were not in a typical classroom setting, but a church service with particular emphasis

on prophecies.

On the first occasion, we got there for the scheduled 7:00 pm start. A woman was already at the podium praying, interspersed with speaking in tongues and pacing the floor, for 45 minutes. Then there were praise and worship choruses for 15 minutes and after that, more lively ones for 55 minutes. Near 9:00 pm, one prophet Burke took up his position at the podium.

Dr Phinn, we were told, was off the island.

Prophet Burke proceeded to rebuke “strangers and enemies”, but did not name anyone specifically. He concentrated largely on financial wealth in his presentation on “The Realm of the Brand New” and supported his arguments with biblical texts such as Isaiah 43:18 & 19, Psalm 40:3 and 96:1, which made various references to “new”.

After his preaching, the prophet called individuals up to the altar and prophesied over them. When he asked, “Who wants a shop?”, several women went forward and he told one that he saw her in a shop in Spanish Town. She would be coming into a lot of money soon and the rent she owed would be paid, he prophesied.

She admitted that she did owe rent and that she was from Spanish Town. After he had prophesied over a number of other persons and said the benediction, a long line of persons needing special prayer went forward. Shortly after 11:00 pm, the reporter left.

A female member of the Mandeville group, who also did not want to be named, explained how the sessions were carried out at that location.

“Just like you’re taught Spanish, you’re taught how to use the prophetic gift,” she told the Sunday Observer.

Asked if it was more like church or school, she replied, “You have to come for yourself and see because different people come away with different opinions.”

Another Mandeville member explained the necessity for her church’s School of the Prophetic.

“In everything people need teaching. For you to be prophetic you must be taught, you must know the Greek, you need to know the Hebrew, you need to know the root of it. It’s just like in Spanish or French where you have to know verbs and grammar,” she added.

“You cannot be prophetic without being taught,”

she reiterated.