Religion / Christian Living / Spiritual Growth
Date Published: June 30, 2026
Publisher: Lucid Books Publishing
In today’s platform-driven culture, prophetic voices can gain influence almost overnight. But when charisma grows faster than character and authority operates without accountability, the Church becomes vulnerable to confusion, manipulation, and spiritual harm.
In The Self-Chosen One: When Prophecy Replaces Accountability, pastor Kevin P. Horath addresses this growing challenge. Writing from the perspective of a pastor who deeply values the work of the Holy Spirit, Horath does not reject prophecy. Instead, he calls the Church to restore it to its proper place within humility, character, and biblical oversight.
In this book you will discover:
The Self-Chosen One is a warning and an invitation—helping the Church recover a healthy balance between Spirit and Scripture, passion and discernment.
My encounter with a Self-Chosen One began with a text
message. It was not the usual kind that pastors get after Sunday service; there
was no prayer request, no call for a visit, no appreciation for the Sunday message,
no real question, and no real curiosity about Scripture. This one came to my
personal phone number. It was followed by another text and another.
I received multiple challenging texts after several of my sermons. Many
messages arrived after hours. There were frequent intrusions into weekends and
family time. Boundaries were crossed, but I would often still respond. What was
the sender’s goal? Well, it wasn’t to learn; it was to correct. That quickly
became obvious to me as I realized these messages were an attempt to either
bring me under subjection or to bring me down.
Why do I say that? Well, it’s a strange thing—the moment you realize someone
isn’t reaching out for discipleship; instead, they are seeking dominance. I
sensed a struggle for control in which I had no desire to engage. More than
mere immaturity, people like that aren’t seeking truth; they’re seeking
validation, even though they may not even realize it. Very quickly, the
conversation stops being about Christ and starts revolving around their
revelation, their private interpretation, their anointing, and their feeling
that they are the chosen one. You can almost feel the shift from feigned humble
inquiry to arrogant holy superiority. I sure did.
And then it came: the announcement that he was a prophet
and, along with that declaration, came an ultimatum. Either I yield to his
correction, or I would face the wrath of God, which included my destruction and
the downfall of the walls of our church.
Was he being literal or figurative? I didn’t know. But with
his confirmed checkered past, my protective mode was instantly activated. No, I
didn’t believe the things he prophesied were going to happen. Not from God
anyway.
But something did happen. I faced his wrath as he
insulted, gaslit, and harassed me relentlessly. Every message dripped with
spiritual superiority; each text contained attempts at subtle manipulation, and
many social media posts gave veiled (and not-so-veiled) physical threats
cloaked in “thus saith the Lord.”
No, this wasn’t one-on-one discipleship. It was a battle
for authority in the local church. It was his word against God’s Word, his
position against mine. At first, this wasn’t even about anointing. It was about
appointing. Specifically, it was his self-appointment without any spiritual oversight
versus my appointment recognized by the laying on of hands of my spiritual covering.
When one of his friends even suggested laying hands on me in a different,
violent way, I felt the situation was quickly spiraling out of control. This wasn’t
simply personal ministry anymore. It was a spiritual battle that was beginning
to feel more like a battle against flesh and blood. What should I do? What did
I do?
We will return to that a little later.
For now, I want to investigate what brought me to this
point. Initially, I thought this was just one person who was sincere but
misguided. I thought it was an anomaly, a one-off that I just happened to
stumble into. But as I researched his social media posts and his shared memes
and videos more thoroughly and as soon as I investigated this troubling mindset,
I quickly began to see a similar pattern in others. I found myself face-to-face
with a troubling subculture of Christianity.
When you are aware of it, you begin to realize that this
spirit of the self-appointed, self-anointed, and self-sent prophet is showing
up in many places, particularly online through social media.
It thrives on fire but avoids correction. It declares authority but rejects
accountability. It’s zealous, emotional, even sometimes eloquent, yet utterly
detached from any healthy community.
It’s what I’ve come to call “Vagabond Christianity,” meaning these are believers
wandering from truth to truth, church to church, emotion to emotion, never
rooted, never accountable, never truly anchored in doctrine or fellowship. They
sometimes call themselves the chosen ones. I call them the Self-Chosen Ones.
They are prophets with no pastors, warriors with no army, and voices with no
body. They preach freedom but live in rebellion. Perhaps anarchy is
an even better term. But they don’t see that in themselves. They claim divine revelation,
but display no fruit of submission, even sometimes using the words, “I submit
to no man,” and their words are laced with violent overtones.
Beyond that, they often misquote, misuse, and misunderstand
Scripture. Unfortunately, the Self-Chosen One’s constant misquoting and using
Scripture out of context is almost always couched with the claim that their
understanding of Scripture comes by way of divine revelation or private
interpretation. As one who is chosen, the meaning of Scripture has been
allegedly and uniquely disclosed directly to them by God.
The implication is, even if they are engaging in eisegesis
or an inappropriate use of Scripture, it is justified because God granted them
a new understanding, one that no one else has, despite centuries of
biblical discernment passed down to us. No, this is spiritual discernment
turned on its head or thrown out with yesterday’s trash. It is a troubling and
sobering trend.
In any case, the truth is this. A
perfect God does not contradict Himself, nor does He give people permission to
distort His Word for their own self-aggrandizement. Yet here’s the tragedy:
Many of these people were once desperate for God. Maybe they still are.
About the Author
Kevin P. Horath is the Lead Pastor of Hillside Bethel Ministries in Decatur, Illinois, where he also oversees Hillside Bethel Christian School. After nearly thirty years as a healthcare human resources executive, he stepped into full-time ministry with a passion for helping people apply biblical truth to everyday life. Kevin writes and teaches about healthy church leadership, spiritual discernment, and the practical work of building strong Christian communities. He and his wife, Kathy, live in Decatur and enjoy time together sailing on Lake Decatur and serving their local church and community. The Self-Chosen One reflects his heart for protecting the Church while preserving genuine spiritual vitality.
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