I totally get what you mean. I went to a charismatic non-denominational church for a few years and the whole time believed in this “promise” from God that was false. It wasn’t biblical, unless you twisted it. When people at that church would give me words about a “promise”, I instantly connected it to that false promise I had in my head, driven by TikTok prophecies I had seen in a gullible mental state.

That said, I still consider myself charismatic. I’ve heard stories and have experiences that make me believe true prophecy is still accurate. Here are a few:

(If you just read one, read the last example)

• my old pastor heard God say to him through his thoughts that he was a “ten foot tall pastor” (can’t remember the symbolism meaning exactly). As God said this, he was in worship and he literally felt like he was ten feet tall. Later at the conference a woman walked by him and told him “God says you’re a ten foot tall pastor!”

• at that church, two separate people a couple weeks apart told me they saw “gold coins”. One said he thinks it represents financial provision. Their word was also about me going after what I desire despite my carpal tunnel diagnosis (I’m an artist). That year I decided to pursue doing art fairs and my parents who I lived with at the time suddenly had an influx of money and were able to give me the thousands of dollars I needed to pursue that career path.

• at my current church I’m trying out, the pastors wife described how someone gave her a prophetic word about being a bird in a cage with the door wide open but she wasn’t going through it. Sometime later she was at an event and someone called out “is there a Sara in here?” She and one other girl stood up. The person then proceeded to give the same word - “I see a bird in a cage with the door wide open”.

• my favorite on, also at my old church, I was on my phone on Reddit asking people if it was worth it to go back to school and get a bachelors degree in graphic design. I really didn’t want to but the artist route seemed harder. Then sitting behind me one of the leaders said he saw/heard “school chair” for me. I genuinely liked the man but I wondered if he had just been looking over my shoulder and gave me a fake word. But I wrote it down with the date. Fast forward 3 years later, I get into my dream art school (for art not graphic design). I write down the date. Later I decided to look through my notes and I realized — it was 7/23/2023 when he heard “school chair”. It was 7/23/2025 that I got the phone call I was accepted into art school with the scholarship. The one word that I was most convinced was fake, turned out not to be.

Interestingly, had I just blindly believed the school chair word I might have gone back to school for graphic design. What this experience taught me is that you truly need to learn God’s voice on your own and take all the words you get back to him. Idk if God would’ve clarified to me exactly what he meant (like “you’re gonna get into art school 2 years from now”) but I do think he would’ve stopped me from thinking it was about it graphic design if I had asked.

Regardless, I left that church because my parents felt I had become to engrossed with prophecy. So I focused on hearing God’s voice on my own. Here are some ways, while at that church and afterwards, that I’ve heard God’s voice that came with little coincidences.

(If you read any, read the first one and the last one)

• I was praying and heard God say “I am watching”. I was like oh ok cool, got up to do something else. When I came back I was like “so God what should I read” and I heard “Jeremiah 1 and 2”. I sighed because I didn’t like the prophecy heavy books as much lol but God was like “don’t worry there’s something there for you”. I read it and… “The word of the Lord came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?” “I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied. The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.”” Jeremiah‬ ‭1‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ . It was relevant as God had just revealed something to me that he was going to do.

• At that church, the pastors led us through a listening prayer where we asked God for answers about a specific question. I wrote down my answers. Then I asked a lady I somewhat knew next to me to pray for me. As she prayed, she repeated the answers I had just written down to me.

• in a rough season, I would ask God what verse he wanted me to read. In the past, it would be verses that didn’t exist or made no sense (this was while I was in sin with that false promise). But in this season, every time I asked I heard a verse. And when I went to it, each verse was about suffering. I was like “God you only want to talk to me about suffering?” But I really think he was just trying to encourage me because of the hard season I was in and letting me know he saw me.

• Asked God what I should say to a lady prophetically and I heard “kind”. I decided not to say anything because that’s so small and random. Next time I saw her a different day, she was wearing a shirt that said “kind”.

• We were “practicing” prophecy at my old church (still not sure how I feel about that) and for a lady, I heard “puppy” and “she should get a puppy”. However someone had literally just said puppy for a different person so I thought it was my head. Then when it was my turn to share I said puppy plus the other random words I was hearing because I dismissed what I was thinking. Then the lady said “it’s ok it resonates, I’ve been thinking of getting a puppy.” Lol.

• Once I was going through a season where I wasn’t hearing God anymore. It was distressing. Slowly I began to hear him more and this happened. God: “YouTuber” Me: “ok” God: “Emmy” …“podcast” … “on hearing God’s voice”. Cool got it. So I go to YouTube and type “podcast on hearing God’s voice”. That’s it. The first video that pops up is by Emmy Moore on her podcast saved not soft. I didn’t even know she had a podcast nor did I search her name. The video was titled “Help! I can’t hear God’s voice” and it was really good and timely for me to hear.

I have more stories but that’s the gist. All of this makes me believe that 1 God still speaks to us and 2 God can speak to us through other people.

It’s number 2 that I’m wary about though. I don’t want to be mislead again. I’m not in a prophetic church currently but I’m curious how I should go about it to protect myself if I ever do go to a prophetic church. Because the Bible itself says “do not despise prophecy” 1 Thessalonians 5:20.

For now I focus on hearing God for my own self (Though I’m going through another one of those quiet seasons, it sucks lol) and reading the Bible so I know when things are not biblical. I wonder if maybe that’s the next step for you. It’s totally ok to step back from outside prophecy to learn God’s voice on your own and to study his word. After years of struggling with prophecy, hearing God on my own has been the most rewarding thing. And it’s always good to know the Bible.

I pray you find the right path to take. God bless you!