Prophetic Art - Art and worship

Prophetic Art is a term that I've been running across for a while. Usually it is used in relation to painting as a form of worship, especially painting whatever comes to you during a worship service. I've often wondered what prophetic art means. It just sounds sort of odd to me and I dont quite get it. Recently, I came across this comment on a Youtube video of a church's arts event:

"Besides just serving in a visual capacity, I believe that art can also be used for communication just as the spoken or written word. So just as you can "speak" prophetic words, you can also create "prophetic" art that communicates a message. So how do you define "prophecy"? According to Strong's, the word propheteia's primary use is "not predictive in the sense of foretelling, but interpretive, declaring, or forth-telling, the will or counsel of God."

When I use the word prophetic art I am referring to something that God has laid on my heart to communicate visually. Sometimes that is simply scripture. Sometimes it is what He is doing in my own life. I am not trying to foretell the future, just communicate God's unboundless love that has set me free!" -- anonymous comment


Seems to me like "prophetic" is just a fancy way of saying, "I felt led to paint that." Isn't that sort of unnecessary? Isn't that just setting you up to get in an argument or even turn people away? "Prophetic" appears to be a easily misunderstood or disputed term. Let's not have the words we use to describe spontaneous or inspired art get in the way of adding art to the worship experience. The focus of creating a painting during the worship service is really no different than singing, preaching, and prayer. It's all about communicating God's message and impacting others.

My suggestion is to keep it simple.