Painting of the Apostle John by Pyotr Basin, 1843, Wikipedia, Public Domain
FOLLOW OUR PODCAST ON (search opentheword):
Podcast notes:
- ESPAÑOL: ¿Qué es la Unción de Vidente?
Hi my name is Dean Smith and in this podcast, I want to discuss the seer anointing.
Several years back, I had started a new job with a nonprofit organization when I was asked if I would be interested in moving and helping set it up an office in another province.
We were attending a church, that we had been at for twenty years. We had long time friends there and it was our community.
As we were wrestling with this decision, I had a dream one night that I believed was from the Holy Spirit. In a nutshell, the dream warned that if my wife and I didn’t move, we would experience some very negative consequences.
Though I do get dreams, I knew this one was different, and based partially on this my wife and I decided to move as it confirmed what we were already sensing.
I don’t know what would have happened if we had stayed, but the benefits we received from moving were huge. We ended up going to a church which was led by one of the few full-blown prophets that I have encountered in my walk with God. His ministry impacted my wife and I in a powerful spiritual way.
But that dream was an expression of what is referred to as a seer gifting or anointing.
When we study the Bible, we see that there are two basic ways that the Holy Spirit uses to communicate to prophets.
The first involves actual words or messages from the Holy Spirit that they deliver to individuals or a congregation.
The second method that the Holy Spirit communicates with is through what we refer to as a seer gifting, which is the oldest expression of the prophetic gift found in the Bible.
In 1 Samuel 9:9, we read:
“(Formerly in Israel, if someone went to inquire of God, they would say, “Come, let us go to the seer,” because the prophet of today used to be called a seer.)”
The Hebrew word ‘râ’âh,’ translated seer, in this verse refers to “the ability to see, perceive, have a vision.”
This means that God communicates to seers visually and we see examples of this in the book of Genesis.
In Genesis 17:1, we read that “the Lord appeared to Abram” and in that encounter God changed his name to Abraham, and stated that he would be the father of many nations. The Hebrew word for appear is ‘râ’âh,’ which means this vision was an expression of the seer anointing.
In Genesis 28, Jacob had a dream of a ladder and angels ascending and descending from heaven, as God told Jacob and the place where he was sleeping would be given as an inheritance to his seed. He named the place Bethel, literally the House of God.
Later prophets, such as Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel and Jeremiah, received both types of revelation. They not only received direct words or messages, from God but also visually as God spoke to them via images through such mediums as dreams and visions.
We see a clear example of a seer anointing in Jeremiah when in chapter 1 verses 11, God asks the prophet, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
God did not ask what he was thinking or feeling, Jehovah specifically asked what Jeremiah was seeing.
When Jeremiah said he saw the the branch of an almond tree, God said he had seen correctly and then in verses 13-15, God explains what this vision or mental impression meant.
While some prophets received both messages and visuals expressions, we see that visual images were the primary method that God used to speak to prophets like Zechariah and Ezekiel.
So while we have some prophets functioning in both types of prophetic anointing, others were clearly seers and are designated as such:
We read in Chronicles for example:
“Now the acts of King David, from the first to the last, are written in the chronicles of Samuel the seer, in the chronicles of Nathan the prophet, and in the chronicles of Gad the seer,” (1 Chronicles 29:29 NASV)
In this verse, Samuel and Gad were referred to as seers and Nathan as a prophet, which defined the primary way that God communicated through them.
As I explained earlier, the Holy Spirit brings revelation to a seer visually and does it in four basic ways:
1. Images in the Mind
First they can come in the form of visual images that they receive in their mind about people or events.
I remember several years back, I was praying for a man, when in my mind I saw that he had video clips playing in his mind of negative incidents that happened between him and his dad.
In fact, I actually saw one of those video clips where his dad was standing over him yelling and screaming because of something he didn’t do. Unfortunately, it involved a situation, which because of his age, he simply wasn’t capable of doing it to his dad’s satisfaction.
These video clips that were rehearsing in his mind plagued this man and I felt the Holy Spirit was saying he needed to forgive his dad.
I suspect this is what Jesus had when the Lord told Nathaniel “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you” (John 1:48 NASV)
2. Dreams
The second way that God speaks to seers is through dreams.
We see an example of this when the Apostle Paul received a dream of a Macedonian, who was on the other side of the sea, crying out to him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” (Acts 16:9 NASV).
The next morning Paul immediately started planning the group’s journey to Macedonia, which resulted in the creation of the church in Philippi.
The Patriarch Joseph, who functioned as a seer, not only received a dream that his older brothers would one day be bowing down to him in Genesis 37:5-9, but he also had the ability to interpret the dreams of others in Genesis 40:5-14.
Similar to what happened to me, dreams often served as warnings. They are used by the Holy Spirit to warn us.
King Abimilech was warned through a dream not to take Sarah, because she was Abraham’s wife in Genesis 20. The Pharaoh of Egypt was warned about a drought that would dramatically impact his country in Genesis 41. In the Christmas story, the magi were warned in a dream not to visit Herod after they had seen Jesus and then Joseph was warned in a dream to flee to Egypt with Mary and Jesus to escape Herod in Matthew 2.
3. Visions
The third method the Holy Spirit uses is visions, which differ from images in the mind, that I mentioned earlier.
We read in Acts 10 that while Peter was praying on the roof of a house in Joppa as supper was being prepared, he had a strange vision of a great sheet being lowered from heaven with all sorts of unclean animals inside it, which he was told to “kill and eat.”
But this was differentiated from a thought in our mind, because we are told in verse 10, that Peter had fallen into a trance.
I suspect God did this because of the big ask, the Lord was making of Peter to not only preach the Gospel to the gentiles, but to accept them as equals with the Jews.
4. Pulling back the Spiritual Veil
The fourth way that God communicates with a seer visually is by pulling back the veil and letting them see what is actually taking place in the spiritual realm.
The prophet Zechariah received a series of visions, but one of them was a bit peculiar. In chapter 3, Zechariah saw, “Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.”
In verse 3, Zechariah also noticed that Joshua was wearing ‘filthy clothes.’ The word filthy literally means excrement. Yes, Joshua’s clothes were covered in poop.
Now I suspect Joshua was in the Temple making a sacrifice to God and he would have been wearing his elaborate High Priest clothing.
Zechariah was seeing all this temple activity from the perspective of those inhabiting the spiritual realm. Joshua, of course, wouldn’t have seen any of this.
Zechariah saw that the angel of the Lord was standing before Joshua to receive the offering and Satan was standing at Joshua’s side condemning the Jewish High Priest.
There was no way Joshua would have been wearing clothes covered in excrement, but this is how he appeared to those in the spiritual realm as it revealed Joshua’s spiritual condition as he was being accused and condemned.
Zechariah saw God rebuke Satan and an angel putting new clothes on Joshua. The High Priest was totally unaware of what was taking place in the spiritual realm, but the condemnation would have lifted and Joshua’s spirit would have suddenly lightened and revived .
But this shows us that the seer anointing can play a role in spiritual warfare. As mentioned, Zechariah saw Satan condemning Joshua. In 2 Kings 6, when the Arameans surrounded the home of Elisha, he prayed for the eyes of his fearful servant to be opened so he could see the chariots and horses of fire, angelic beings, protecting them.
According to the prophet Joel, the seer anointing will become quite prominent as the Holy Spirit is poured out at the end of the age. He said, “Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams and your young men will see visions” (Joel 2:28).
Dreams and visions are expressions of the seer anointing and they will clearly become more prominent as we come into the end times and the Holy Spirit is poured out.
Guidance on the Seer Anointing
So maybe you are getting images in your mind, perhaps dreams or even visions, and wonder if these are from God and what you should do?
The Same Rules for the Gift Prophecy Apply
First we need to understand that the seer anointing is simply one of the ways the gift of prophecy is expressed which the Holy Spirit gives to the members of the Body of Christ mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12.
We need to realize that the same rules that the Apostle Paul laid out for the gift of prophecy apply to the seer anointing.
In 1 Corinthians 14:3, Paul writes, that, “the one who prophesies speaks to people for edification, exhortation, and consolation.”
In other words, you must not give negative words or judgmental words. I believe we are told to do this, because as we function and learn about the gift of prophecy, we will invariably make mistakes.
By limiting our words to those that edify, exhort or console, even if we are wrong, the damage will be limited.
Now we do see examples of prophets giving condemning and judgmental words such as the time Nathan exposed King David’s sin. However, these type of words are reserved solely for those in the office of a prophet, and no, you can’t self-proclaim yourself as a prophet. You have to be recognized by your local body for that ministry.
So what happens if you receive an image or dream that would seem to be negative or judgmental? The Bible is very clear that prophetic words are subject to the prophet, so in this instance if this is a true prophetic revelation and that is a big if, the Holy Spirit may simply be calling you to pray about it.
Ask for the Interpretation
Secondly, when you receive an image in your mind, a dream or a vision if you are not clear on what you are seeing, you should ask the Holy Spirit for an interpretation.
Similar to the gift of tongues, seers need to have a gift of interpretation to understand the meaning behind the images that you are receiving.
We see how the Patriarch Joseph had the gift of interpretation which he used to interpret the dreams of the Pharaoh’s baker and cup bearer in Genesis 40. Daniel also interpreted the dreams of the Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2.
When Zechariah received a vision of gold lamp stand with a bowl on top of it, he simply asked, “What are these, my lord?” and the angel of the Lord told him.
When the Holy Spirit gives you a visual impression, He wants you to know what it means and there is nothing wrong with asking if you are uncertain. If you don’t receive an interpretation maybe you should hesitate in sharing it.
I have seen times, where people have shared a visual impression they received, but had not gone this second step and asked the Holy Spirit for an interpretation. They went ahead and shared it, but people had no idea what they were talking about.
As a general rule, if you get a vision or image don’t share it until the Holy Spirit gives you the interpretation.
However, sometimes these images, visions and dreams can also be prophetic and you are seeing things in the future that may not make sense until sometime later.
A friend of mine, who functions primarily in a seer anointing, had been invited along with other prophetic ministries to minster at a church. As they were traveling to their destination, he received an image of a young blond-haired man about 18 years of age, who played the drums. It was clear that he was supposed to minister to this person once they arrived.
But as they began ministering, he realized there was no one at the meeting who fit this description and began to think, he must have missed it.
But as he was praying for people, a 50-year-old blonde-haired man asked for prayer. Taking a bit of a gamble, my friend asked him if he played the drums?
When the man answered yes, my friend knew this was the man he saw in his vision, when he was just 18 years old. My friend also understood that the Holy Spirit wanted to minister to this 50 year old man about something that had happened to him as a young man.
In a recent podcast, author and speaker, John Bevere shared the time, he was at a meeting with Dr. Lester Sumrall 40 years ago.
Sumrall, who died in 1996, was an internationally renown speaker and evangelist and believed God gave him visions or images of things that would be taking place in the future.
At the meeting, that Bevere attended in the 1980s, Sumrall shared how he saw that people would be carrying around small boxes with them that “would control their life.”
When Sumrall shared this, Bevere thought, “Oh, bless his heart, he’s off his rocker.” Now four decades later, it was obvious that Sumrall had seen the rise of the smart phone. He just saw that people were becoming dependent on this box type thing in their hands, but he wasn’t completely sure what it was.
Similarly, the Book of Revelation is a vision that the Holy Spirit gave the Apostle John of events that would take place in the world leading up to the second coming of Christ. It was an expression of the seer anointing.
While people have spent years trying to interpret this vision, we probably won’t understand many of the events until they actually take place.
So in closing if you are praying for people or situations, and receive an image, don’t discount it, the Holy Spirit may be using it to communicate with you and through you.
Thanks for joining me on your podcast, and I will catch you again.
OpentheWord.org 
Leave a comment