The Beliefs of John Robert Stevens

John Robert Stevens’ definition of prophecy goes back to the original meaning of the word in the Greek, propheteuo, which means “to speak for another”—specifically, to speak for God in declaring His Word. He defined it as such: “Prophecy is a supernatural utterance given by God to an individual in a language already known to the individual.”¹ He relied on I Corinthians 14:3 in explaining the use of prophecy in the church: “But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation….”

Stevens did not use the term prophecy to indicate the foretelling of events, but in the sense of speaking God’s Word to see it created into being. God’s Word created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1), and the Scriptures tell us that the Word is within us—even in our mouths (Deuteronomy 30:11-14). Stevens used the term prophetic proclamation for this kind of prophecy, saying, “It is prophecy that creates, brings down the walls… looses people from their circumstances, and brings them into the flow of the will of God.”²

The term prophecy appears 1,394 times in Stevens’ written materials.