September 28 Christchurch Earthquake Prediction: If in doubt, suppress it!?

Dust rises from Christchurch immediately following the February 22 earthquake

While discussing the September 28 earthquake prophecies I was amazed that some were advocating that such prophecies should be suppressed on the grounds that many people were not well positioned to process them maturely.  Hiding people in a cupboard is no way to deal with the situation.  Besides, talk of the prophecies has reached talkback radio and national radio.  No church can stop its people from watching television.

The right way forward for church leadership to deal with the situation is to train and equip its people on how to maturely process prophecies as they come to hand.  Censorship isn't the answer. 

This is the raison d'etre of leadership in a Christian Church:

(Eph 4:11)  And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,

(Eph 4:12)  to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

(Eph 4:13)  until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

(Eph 4:14)  so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.  (Eph 4:11-14)

This is where church leadership often falls down. 

Instead of training the saints and equipping them for the work of the ministry leaders often attempt to do the work of the Ministry themselves.  Consequently burnout is common.  Often leaders lack the patience to nurture new leaders and step in too early when they judge that they can do the task better themselves.

Leaders with churches that have members with sufficient biblical education and who have the gifting to do so, shouldn't be doing most of the preaching.  Instead, they should be discipling others and training them in that ministry.  The same can be said for each church role be it apostleship, prophecy, evangelism or pastoral care.

The Christian leader faces many temptations that can prevent him or her from taking up this responsibility.