05 November 2008
Prophets
I'm doing a quick run through the Bible, looking for Prophets. I don't recall many popular ones... Most brought an uncomfortable conviction to most... Many were shunned by their people in addition to those to whom they prophesied...
It appears God establishes the 'office' of Prophet in Deuteronomy (13 & 18). Before this time it appears Moses and Aaron were the only prophets (God Himself excluded for this exercise). The people seemed to love Aaron, but he gave them a cow to worship. Moses the people hated one minute ('why have you brought us out here to die' 'where are the onions?') and loved at other times ('speak to God on our behalf and we will do all that you say').
Let's see:
Nathan the Prophet: condemned David for Uzziah's murder and David's adultery--uncomfortable.
Ahijah the Prophet: told King Jeroboam the nation would be split 10:2 -- uncomfortable.
I Kings UnNamed Prophet: Prophet One delivered uncomfortable message and headed home as directed by the Lord; Prophet Two stops him, says a message from the Lord, which gets Prophet One killed after doing the comfortable thing (not sure if second Prophet was of the Lord, or not).
Ahijah the Prophet: You gonna die. -- uncomfortable.
Jehu the Prophet: Prophesied against all the evil in the sight of the Lord! -- uncomfortable.
Ba'al's Prophets: People loved them -- comfortable.
Elijah the Prophet: Repent and return to the Lord! People tried to kill him -- uncomfortable.
Isaiah the Prophet: Set your house in order... you gonna die. -- uncomfortable.
and of course, Jesus said that Prophets are rejected... as He was.
OK, so then there are the prophets that prophesied good things, which were not true, but made people feel good about themselves... oh king the Lord is with thee, go to battle... at which point the other King asked if there were any other Prophets to consult and the unpopular one with the unpopular message was thrown into prison and put on bread and water until his prophecy 'did not come true?!!!' Remarkable.
Change is coming to America. I'm not a prophet in the Biblical sense of the word, but America as we have known it will change. I think people will like it and for a season they will feel good about themselves and the nation and socialized health care and poor getting money and those mean old rich people getting their due and... on and on.
People are comfortable, hearing things that tickle the ear.
Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah will be coming back soon. When He arrives, will He find faith on earth? Let's spread the uncomfortable message that God loves people and Christ died for people and the Holy Spirit is still in the life-saving, life-changing business.
Revival is the change we need. Repentance is the change we need.
Repentance that leads to heart change. We can't legislate morality, and obviously that won't happen any time soon, anyway.
God, who cannot lie, promised that if His people, who are called by His Name, would:
--humble OURselves
--pray
--seek His face
--turn from our wicked ways (that's still to us, believers!)
THAN
--He will hear from heaven
--He will forgive our sin
--He will heal our land
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Blessings!
a humbled ChaplainChas.
Labels: Abijah, Ahijah, America, change, False Prophet, Isaiah, Jesus, legislate morality, Nathan, Prophet, repent, revival, Uzziah
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