There were many prophetic preachers who missed God's word for 2020, which made Mario Murillo, an evangelist and prophetic minister, believe that 2022 should be a season of repentance.
"Everybody getting together to give each other words from the Lord is a waste of time and energy," he said earlier this month on Encounter Today with Pastor Alan DiDio.
When asked what he feels God is saying to the church, Murillo started by outlining how every prophetic word he read in 2019 predicted that 2020 would be the year of prosperity, a year of breakthrough, and the church would increase.
"Very few predicted the lockdown and the virus. And why is that?" he asked. "They were fooled by a mechanism of flattery and a culture that had lost its way. They had taken the circumstances of America and misread what it meant."
He then highlighted the irony of how, despite the pandemic exposing the church's shortcomings, these same vocal prophets do not seem to have learned their lesson.
"What is also disturbing is that, as soon as the pressure of missing it was lifted, look at them, they are reverting back to the words, the conferences, the focus, the emphasis that fooled them before," he pointed out.
"I look at them and I say, 'You were fooled by that before.' Everybody getting together to give each other words from the Lord is a waste of time and energy. Everybody getting together to pray for America and getting words from God on how to spare the nation-that isn't God."
The California-based pastor made no apologies for stressing plainly that 2022 is not a time of happy-go-lucky prophetic pronouncements but rather a time of contemplation and correction of the church's many failures to carry out God's clear commandments in the Bible.
"And so, I feel in 2022 is a year of repentance," Murillo said.
"I believe that the word from heaven is this: 'If you go back to what you were before now, you are due for double punishment. You deserve to lose your entire calling because of that.' This is no time for people to go back and do all of the silly things they were doing that fooled them before. This coming year, 2022, is a year of repentance and a year of God giving us marching orders."
"And I'm going to tell you, we've got a midterm election in 2022, and it's time for us to punish the evildoers by throwing them out of office," he continued. "It's time for church to have fire and glory in the name of Jesus. Amen."
Pastor Alan Didio agreed, noting how going back to church almost feels like they're breaking the rules. That in the context of regular church sessions, he and Murillo's ferocious sermons are almost seen as mere personal opinions.
"Like it's almost blasphemous what we're doing," he said.
Pastor Didio then inquired of Murillo how to overcome this and just submit to the Spirit of God.
"Find out who's mad for the right reason. Find out the people in your church who are angry for the right reason," Murillo advised. "If there are people in your church that are angry that you're having church when you ought to be home and not being a super spreader, those people are failures. They're fear mongers."
"The people who want to reopen the church and don't want to suffocate behind a mask and don't want the government telling them whether they should get a shot or not, those are the people to relate to in your church, they're mad for the right reasons," he said.
To understand more about Murillo's perspective on the modern church's role in this era, pick up a copy of his book, "Vessels of Fire and Glory."
