Prophet John Veal: A Voice of the Times

What city and state were you raised in? Tell us a little about your childhood and how it impacted your ministry.

I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. When I was born, the umbilical cord became entangled around my neck like a python constricting its prey. As a result, every time my mother pushed and the doctor pulled, I was literally being strangled to death! When I came out, my skin was blue from oxygen deprivation. Consequentially, my lungs collapsed. As I lay in the incubator barely clinging to life, my mother caught the eye of the attending physician, giving him a hopeful look concerning the alarming state of her newborn son. The only response she received was a downward glance, portraying the death sentence that seemed, in his natural mind, a foregone conclusion. Upon hearing the terrible news, my family rallied together in prayer, believing God for a supernatural miracle. My father’s mother recited a specific prayer that I still remember to this day: “Lord, if you allow him to live, let him be a blessing to his family, friends and the world.” The next day, a miracle occurred! Despite the naysayers and prognosticators, I made a complete recovery. The doctors were amazed! My family rejoiced and gave glory to God! It’s ironic how commonplace this dreadful theme of almost dying at birth is among those God has ordained as prophets. I’ve met many with similar testimonies. It’s as if the enemy of our souls is privy to the future of those called by the Lord, and seeks to destroy them before they can mature into the mandate upon their lives. Being the coward that he is, Satan attacks when he feels we’re most defenseless.

As a child, I always felt different; not better, just different. I could be in a room full of people, and yet, feel utter loneliness. I learned later how this is typical of most who God has a divine plan for. I always felt as if someone was with me, guiding me, protecting me and even talking to me! For the record, I’m not crazy! I don’t hear voices, but I felt very close to God. I knew that I was special to Him and called to do a work in the Lord. This feeling was totally intrinsic in nature and value. I couldn’t explain it. I just knew it! I’ve had so many dreams about Heaven and my assignment. I would see myself ministering to many people, speaking the Word of the Lord! During this time, I discovered something about myself, I knew things, things I couldn’t readily discuss without causing concern in the hearer. I could tell others about their past and future. It frightened them almost as much as it did me!

Everyone has a “coming to Jesus” story. What’s yours?

At 19, I entered college and faced a whole new set circumstances. I attended North Carolina Central in Durham, North Carolina (the Bible Belt). Here, I was challenged by some of the most religious people I’d ever met! They would tell me that reading a worldly magazine was a sin, listening to secular music would cause me to be lost, wearing certain clothing was wrong and going to the movies was wrong! Almost everything I did was a sin! Every other word that proceeded out of their mouths was, “You’re going to Hell!” I literally got saved at 19, not out of love, but out of fear. I’m just being transparent with you. Love came much later. Spirit-filled? I received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in 1985, but I didn’t become Spirit-filled, accompanied by the manifestation of spiritual gifts, until I was thirty-two years of age. In 1998, I had just completed reading Mary K. Baxter’s book, A Divine Revelation of Hell, and had an incredible encounter with the Holy Spirit. I read her book in a day. The next afternoon, the Lord spoke to my spirit. He said, “It’s time for you to make a decision. I’ve allowed you to live by your own devices, but you have to make a choice now; choose to serve Me. If you choose not to, the protective hedge that has been around you will be removed and you’ll be left to your own devices.” I interpreted this to mean that I would be allowed to live as I pleased, but His divine protection/provision would be lifted from me. In other words, I’d be on my own. My response was, “I choose You!” All of a sudden, I immediately felt filled up, if that makes sense. I would compare this feeling to that of a partially filled glass of water being filled with more water to the brim. The joy that I had was indescribable. Later, I learned that I had been filled with His precious Holy Spirit!

Tell the readers about your ministry and your vision. How did you get started and what is it overall that you want to accomplish?

On March 17, 2002, I established Enduring Faith Christian Center. My greatest desire is to preach the Word of God with passion, power, love, understanding and compassion. I served as a Deacon for about one year at Grace and Truth A.O.H. Church in Chicago, then as an Associate Pastor at Speak the Word Christian Center for about three years. I received my Bachelor’s degree from Chicago State University in 1995 and a Master’s Degree in Special Education from Dominican University in 1998. I am a certified teacher with the Chicago Board of Education. I am also a licensed Real Estate Managing Broker. I was confirmed to the office of prophet on March 17, 2009. On June 26th, 2009, I received an Honorary Doctorate in Theology and Ministry from Healing Waters Biblical Institute and Seminary. I received a second Master’s degree in Educational Leadership on June 25th, 2011. I am a member in good standing with the International Ministries of Prophetic & Apostolic Churches Together (I.M.P.A.CT Network) under the leadership of Apostle John Eckhardt (Crusaders Church), who is also my spiritual covering. I am also a member of Sharpening Stones Ministries International, led by Apostle Greg Howse (Cornerstone Christian Center). I am passionate about educating, imparting and activating the prophetic DNA that is within every saint of God. I have been blessed to travel the nation doing a myriad of prophetic trainings and ministry.

As a prophet of the Lord, you’ve raised up and trained many prophets. What would you say is the greatest misnomer about the prophetic, and what three lessons would you say are the most important for budding prophets?

I would say that the greatest inaccuracy of the prophetic is that the gift is germane to the prophet. Whether you know it or not, as a Spirit-filled believer, you are inherently prophetic. Inherent is defined as belonging to the basic nature of someone or something. The gift of prophecy is quite literally embedded into your genes on a truly spiritual level. It belongs to you and resides in you! It should flow from you in a very organic and supernatural way. With continued ignorance of the gift at your disposal, stagnation and alienation of your God-given prophetic process occurs. Prophetically speaking on the Lord’s behalf is not germane only to the prophet, but it is a divine right given by God to every believer. I used to believe that only prophets could prophesy. I was absolutely wrong in regards to this uniformed deduction. In 1st Samuel, the 10th chapter, we get a biblical perspective regarding something prophetic happening to a person who was not necessarily a prophet.

Three lessons for emerging prophets

  • Don’t allow answers to questions to guide your prophecies: Every chance I get, I tell people not to ask a lot or any questions during prophetic ministry. It’s a recipe for disaster! When you just start moving in your prophetic gift, it’s somewhat understandable. But if you have to ask twenty questions while you’re personally prophesying to someone, you’re either a novice, false or not a prophet at all. When you ask questions, you are setting yourself up to give false prophecies! You’re allowing questions to dictate the direction and shape of your prophetic words, not God! Never do this! What if the person you’re questioning is lying? Your “prophetic” responses were predicated on deceptive replies, not the authentic and contagious truth that comes only from the Lord. Don’t use questions as a measuring stick of where you should go as a prophet! When you make statements that God actually spoke to you, you won’t have to worry about accuracy, you’ll have exactness. You will be one hundred percent exact, instead of just fifty percent accurate. In stating that, I’m very concerned with the lack of training among many “so called” prophets of God. Many are “prophelying”, instead of prophesying, and messing up a whole lot of lives!
  • Educate yourself in the prophetic: Many novice or emerging prophets need to be taught the how, when and where of prophecy. There are so many with the gift, but haven’t thoroughly read the instructions that came along with that same gift. I’ve seen this many times. People who have a prophetic gift, but don’t know how to use it or are fearful of using it. It’s similar to someone giving you a brand new Mercedes when you don’t know how to drive. You need driving lessons in order to use the gift. There was a school of the Prophets, established by Samuel, to train novice prophets in the prophetic and the mandates of God. There is so much more to being a prophet than just prophesying. That’s only one component. Some prophets are trained by God in the wilderness, some are trained by other prophets and others are trained throughout life. Just like any other gift, education is needed to use it properly.
  • Be mindful of your breath: There is a thing such as spiritually polluted prophecy, but what about the naturally polluted prophecy? If a prophet or prophetic person’s breath is foul, more than likely so will his/her prophetic words be! I’m telling you, I’ve experienced it many times; when the breath was rancid, the prophecy was off! Now, I’m not talking about the breath being a little tart. I’m referring to a putrid odor that you can smell six feet before you reach them! I’m also not referring to bad breath caused by illness. I’m talking about a lack of hygiene that causes a person’s breath to smell like a demon! You do know that devils are called unclean for a reason, right? The kind of smell I’m referring to is one that smells so bad that you consider taking them through deliverance! There is a correlation here! It’s happened too many times for it to be a coincidence! I want you to “Selah” on this one! Have you ever gotten a one hundred percent accurate prophetic word from someone whose breath was kicking? Stop laughing, because I’m serious! Check your hygiene, especially if you work in close proximity to others. I taught this during a prophetic activation class and a “multitude” of people ran up to grab breath mints from near the altar!

If you could list five people who’ve motivated you the most, who would they be and why?

(In no particular order of importance)

  1. Apostle John Eckhardt due to his wisdom, revelation, and intelligence regarding the apostolic, deliverance and the prophetic.

  2. Ruth Brown, wrote the book “Destroying the Works of Witchcraft by Fasting and Prayer” and she did the foreword for “Prayers that Rout Demons” by John Eckhardt. She was my spiritual mother for seven years. Mother Brown loved me, imparted in me, and is a major reason behind the success of my ministry today.

  3. Mary K. Baxter, author of “A Divine Revelation of Hell”, influenced me to rededicate myself back to the Lord after reading her book and meeting her.

  4. Andre L. Dunigan (my father) gave me a lot of intangibles that have benefited me to this very day.

  5. Beverly Veal (my mother) for bringing me into this world and keeping me.

What does the future look like for Enduring Faith Christian Center, and how do we reach you if we want to know more about your ministry?

The future is very bright for Enduring Faith Christian Center. We are growing in leaps and bounds. We are training up leaders and equipping them for ministry.

Biography

Dr. John Veal is the senior pastor/prophet of Enduring Faith Christian Center and the CEO of John Veal Ministries, Inc. He is passionate about pursuing God’s mandate to preach, teach, impart, and activate people within the prophetic. John is a regular contributor to Charisma Magazine Online, The Elijah List, IMAG, Spirit Fuel, Reformation Today and others. John has been featured on various media outlets, including an upcoming episode of Sid Roth’s It’s Supernatural (February 2020) and Elijah Streams. Dr. Veal is a highly sought-after conference speaker due to his uncanny prophetic accuracy, humor, candor, and unconventional preaching style. He has traveled the nations, presenting a myriad of prophetic training and ministry. John currently resides in Chicago, Illinois, with his wife, Elisa, and their three children.

If you would like to learn more about John’s ministry or contact him, visit his website at Johnveal.org or his church’s website at www.faith2endure.com. There, you can keep up with his schedule and find out where he will be speaking.

You can also reach out to him by mail:
Enduring Faith Christian Center
PO Box 19536
Chicago, IL 60619
For booking information, please visit
www.johnveal.org/bookings/.

Follow John Online

Facebook: @prophetjv
Twitter: @pastorveal
Instagram: @prophetjohnv

Interview by Tiffany Buckner

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