I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and the Lord would put his Spirit on them. (Moses, Numbers 11:29)
Who are the prophets? What do they look like? Where are they found? What do they believe?
When the average person hears the word “prophet,” it conjures up all kinds of images. Long-haired, wild-eyed crazies, living off the grid or standing on main street with a sandwich board sign announcing the end of the world.
Many imagine the prophets in the Bible as entering into trance-like states, jotting down the words of God as he dictates directly to them. Many evangelical churches and their pastors teach that prophets no longer exist, at least not in the same way as they did in “Bible days,” whatever that’s supposed to mean.1
The truth is prophets are living, breathing, and, I might add, ordinary human beings. They have hopes and dreams, doubts and fears. They like television and movies. Some play video games. Cold beers with fiery chicken wings may not be their inspiration, but they sure go down good on Friday night after a long work week.
But the question we need to ask is, “What exactly is it that makes a prophet a prophet.”
For starters, a prophet is a seer. He or she “sees” beyond the surface of things. They are intuitive. They recognize the signs of the times. Those signs may be seen in world events or family relationships. But while others never really bother to reflect on these things, asking the deeper questions beneath the obvious external events, prophets cannot help but reflect on the less obvious but more important issues beneath the surface.
All prophets also share two things in common, and these two things are inseparably intertwined. All prophets have a calling from God, and all prophets are yoked, bound to that calling. They can’t help it. As Jeremiah said, it’s like a fire in their bones.
Now, just maybe you’re thinking to yourself, “Well, that counts me out as a prophet; no calling from God in my life.” Don’t be so sure.
I remember, like it was yesterday, the intense struggle I faced as I wrestled with my calling to leave the business world and serve as a pastor. “Is God really calling me?” I asked. “How can I know for sure?” In my desperation, I began asking God for a sign, something that would “prove” God’s calling. That sign came but not how I imagined it.
I was literally on my knees in an empty church, agonizing in prayer, straining to hear from God. “O God, please be calling me. I can’t think of anything I’d rather be than a pastor devoting my life to you and others. Please give me a sign.”
Suddenly, a hush fell over my heart. Words came to me, but they weren’t audible words. They were louder than that, exploding in the deepest part of me: “Your passionate desire to serve me is the sign you are seeking.”
There’s one thing of which I’m absolutely certain. Your calling won’t be like mine. There is no one-size-fits-all.
Here’s what I can tell you. If you are totally disillusioned with the culture-bound American church; if you are sick to your stomach with the politicization of Christianity; if the haughty narcism of Christian leaders turning stones into bread, spectacularly casting themselves from the pinnacle of their self-made temples, and greedily gobbling up all the kingdoms this world has to offer disgusts you, then, like it or not, you’re probably a prophet.
Like I said, there’s no one-size-fits-all. The only thing prophets in the Bible seem to have in common is that they are all out of step with religion as usual.
As I urge you to consider the possibility of a prophetic calling from God, or at the very least, the truth that subway walls both in “Bible days” and today are the medium through which prophets communicate, I’d like to share a few stories from those magical Bible days when prophets roamed the world.
This will take a few posts. I’ll begin today with Amos.
Amos was a businessman. He was confronted by Amaziah, the powerful high priest in charge of the prestigious temple of God at Bethel. Amaziah had powerful political connections - a hotline to King Jeroboam. “Amos,” he warned the king, “is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words.”2 The result? Amos was thrown out of the country!3
And I might add that it was the prophet Isaiah, a contemporary of Amos, who said this - “Do not call conspiracy everything these people call conspiracy.”4 Hmm, sounds familiar. Especially when you add the rest of the quote, “Do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it.”
Politics of fear have always motivated the masses.
You may be wondering if there is a modern-day parallel to this story of Amos. Yes, there is.
Dr. Russell Moore was president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. During the presidential election of 2016, Moore called into question evangelicals’ support of candidate Donald Trump. Was the passionate support of Trump by evangelicals representative of Jesus and God’s kingdom?
Moore’s was not the only voice among evangelicals to question Trump’s support by conservative Christians. But when other voices fell silent after Trump won the GOP nomination for president, Moore continued to speak out.
It wasn’t long before the powers-to-be in the Southern Baptist Convention threatened to withhold millions of dollars in support from the Cooperative Program, which provides financial support for Southern Baptist missionaries.
Think about it. Christian mission work was threatened because of a disagreement over a political candidate.
Wickedness, pure and simple.
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.5
After his election, President Trump took to his Twitter account to call Russell Moore a “nasty” guy. In time, Moore was pressured out of his position.
It was a few posts ago, but you may recall these words from the prophet Jeremiah -
And among the prophets of Jerusalem, I have seen something horrible: they commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers so that not one of them turns from their wickedness.6
The book of Revelation sets forth a great truth that will forever distinguish those prophets who speak for God from those who do not. It tells us that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”7 What this means is that the words, actions, and behavior of a true prophet, one who genuinely speaks for God, will always be in the “spirit” or “attitude” of Jesus. They will reflect the heart of Jesus.
“Be careful,” warned Jesus, “watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”8
Next Time, Hosea. Love trumps law.
In Christ,
Dan
Coming Soon: Where is the God of Elijah: Overcoming Spiritual Drought in Our Lives and Churches.
What most evangelical churches mean by saying there are no prophets today like there were in “Bible days” is that the words of the prophets recorded in Scripture possess an exclusive authority that the words of so-called “modern-day” prophets do not. While there is truth in this, it creates a dangerous dichotomy between “Bible days” and modern times. The magical days of the Bible are gone. But the truth is that God is the same God today as he was then, and the issues the prophets addressed have been and will always be relevant to our lives, our countries, and our world.
Amos 7:10.
Amos 7:12.
Isaiah 8:12.
Isaiah 5:20.
Jeremiah 23:14.
Revelation 19:10.
Mark 8:14.
I've been reflecting on Abraham Lincoln's exhortation: about restoring the bonds of brotherhood. It occurred to me that accusation serves one purpose: disenfranchisement. It seems to me that both Moore and Trump may have been victims to some extent of political hit jobs by the political machines of church and Washington. Trump has been painted quite the psychopathic, sociopathic megalomaniac, and perhaps he's wired a bit that way. But the late Rich Mullins observed how little we revere one another as humans. I pray for Biden. And Hunter. And Trump. And I will never go along to get along, that would be lying. I supremely enjoyed watching Donald Trump sit down across from Kim in N Korea and tell the murderous dictator, whose people are forced to believe he is starving, as the stunted man baby puckered up: "Let's all try to look thin." Trump is an imperfect vessel, as is Biden. But Scripture is pretty clear that when you get to that level of power a king's heart falls into the hand of God. We are to pray for our leaders. So I pray for Biden now, or whomever is controlling him, that invisible nail scarred hands will guide him into the will of God. All is grace. Abraham Lincoln- We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.