We Have Lost Our Prophetic Voice

We have lost our prophetic voice.

Sometimes, we run too far away from the world, finding ourselves in a place where the sins and injustices that should be surrounding us can no longer glare at us. We round the corner away from their presence and use the tactic we have been trained to use since childhood - out of sight, out of mind. In this sense, we feel that we are good Christians who have separated ourselves from the world. We sit around working - if we're not just talking - on being a perfect church. When in reality, we are just hiding our light in the midst of the wilderness. A light that doesn't penetrate the darkness is not a useful light at all.

We have lost our prophetic voice.

Another approach that I observe Christians take is to cloister our spiritual lives up in religiosity. This allows us to keep our spiritual lives separate from our secular lives. We still do the religious things, but we have bought into the American concept of separation of church and state so much that we believe our religious views are to be confined to our private life while our secular views are to be confined to the public arena. Bible study, prayer, church and God's will are all elements that should remain private. While our views on government, economics, and politics should not be shaped by those private elements. This view leads to a compartmentalized faith that is powerless to transform lives. If your private views don't influence your public views, then you really don't believe your private views. They are just fanciful ideas and concepts that you are using to help you feel good about yourself and sleep well at night.

We have lost our prophetic voice.

Maybe my recent post on the decrimalization of drugs is the wrong stance for a Christian to take. I was writing about our sin in the treatment of addicts, not the possible or probable sin of those addicted. I'm still not writing about that sin, so please don't misconstrue what I am saying. Maybe my view that those who claim to follow Jesus shouldn't be complicit in supporting a system that imprisons addicts is misguided. I don't think it is, or I wouldn't have written it. But maybe it is. I do concede that. The point is that something is wrong. Without acknowledging that and discerning what we, as Christians, do to help cause that problem and discovering what we can do to help solve the problem, we become accomplices in an unjust system.

We have lost our prophetic voice.

But the thing that struck me in writing it and the conversation that surrounded it was that we, especially pastors, are terrified to point out an injustice in our society. We fear offending the supporters of the injustice, especially those in our pews who can get us fired or may leave because we upset them.

I received a message from a good Christian friend who is a pastor. He pointed out that he agreed with me, but that he didn't say anything on my post expressing his view or even like the comment he specifically wanted to like for fear that he would lose his job. I had the same hesitancy in writing the article. I'm actually putting it in our local paper, and the fear I have in doing that is nearly enough to call them up and ask them not to publish it. I don't think the church that I have the honor of serving at as a pastor would fire me over something like this because I believe that we are consciously and deliberately trying to discover and help with social injustices in our society, but the potential to have this message blow up is always there.

We have lost our prophetic voice.

Now, I want to clarify that our society can continue down the path it wants. But my dear brothers and sisters in Jesus shouldn't complicity support the injustices of the society around us. At a minimum, we shouldn't be supporters and promoters of the injustices in our society. If there are no prophetic voices pulling us back from the precipices, then we will just fall over. It seems to be society's natural inclination to just keep running, like Wile E. Coyote, long after the ground it is running on has disappeared. We are the salt of the earth. But if we've lost our saltiness, then what?

I have a young one learning to talk. It may just be me, but she seems to have more going on in that brain of hers than she can properly communicate. Sometimes she blurts incoherencies. Other times she will say a sentence as clear as the day. She is learning to talk.

We must learn once again to be prophets.

The Basics Of Conditional Prophecy

Prophecy in the Bible is one of the most misunderstood genres. It is popular to view prophecy as an exercise in predicting the future. People will try to decipher all of the hidden meanings in Daniel, Revelation, or some other book. But the purpose of Biblical prophecy was typically focused on transforming the original audience into who God wanted them to be.

Let's look at a few Bible stories to see how prophecy worked.

Jonah went to Nineveh and prophesied that God would destroy their city in forty days. The people of Nineveh responded by believing in God, fasting, and repenting. The story goes on to say, "When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it" (Jonah 3:10 ESV). God relented from his prophetic declaration to destroy the city because the people changed.

Or another story.

When the Israelites built the Golden Calf, God told Moses that He was going to unleash His wrath on the Israelites and consume them. Moses responded by pleading with the Lord: "Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people"(Exodus 32:12 ESV). The story continues, "And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people"(Exodus 32:14 ESV). The Lord once again relented from a disaster that He declared He would bring about. This time, the punishment was averted by the prayers of a righteous man and not the repentance of the people, but there is no way to get around the prophetic declaration of the Lord did not happen.

And another story.

Jeremiah went to the rulers of the house of Judah at the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim and gave a prophecy that actually showed them and shows us how prophecies from God actually work. There is an explicit condition stated in this prophesy unlike the unspoken condition we saw in the two previous stories. Jeremiah proclaimed to them, "Mend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you" (Jeremiah 26:13 ESV). God overtly told them that He would not inflict the punishment that He pronounced on them if they would change, turn back to Him, and obey Him. They were not destined to the fate of the prophesied disaster of being conquered by Babylon. God followed His initial prophecy of punishment with a prophecy of hope.

This statement of hope is an unspoken idea that is contained within every prophecy of punishment. God always responds graciously to sincere repentance.

With this in mind, the way we view prophecy throughout Scripture should change. The purpose of prophecy is not for us to get hung up on the future predicting nature of prophecies. That exercise leads to massive speculation and fruitlessness. We need to focus on the life-changing nature of prophecies.

Jonah was sent to declare God's wrath on Nineveh so that they would repent and begin to follow God. Jeremiah did the same with the royal court of Judah; however, they did not repent and they were inflicted with the prophesied punishment. Both prophecies had a conditional nature to them. Prophecies need to be viewed as instructional messages from God.

We could say that God's prophecy of punishment on the Israelites at the time of the Golden Calf and the Ninevites during the time of Jonah were failed prophecies because the declared punishment didn't occur. But they were actually successful prophecies because they brought about repentance.

The failed prophecy is the one that actually happened. Jeremiah prophesied punishment upon Judah if they didn't obey God. The goal was obedience, not punishment, yet they remained rebellious and received the prophesied punishment. This was a failed prophecy. Not because the events predicted came about but because the word of Jeremiah did not bring about faithfulness.

God's plan doesn't change, but the path to His plan adjusts based upon the faithfulness or faithlessness of people. Who will He use? Who will He punish? Will He relent His disaster? Will He unleash His blessings?

Which brings me to a question to ponder. Will I turn to God, be faithful, obey Him, and let Him use me to bring about His will?

Will you?

Last Article Due to the End of the World

In case you haven’t heard, a lot of money was spent by Family Radio Worldwide telling people that the world was going to end on Saturday, May 21. I write this on Friday before the presumed end, but if you are reading this, then you will be chuckling, along with me, about another mistaken end times prediction.

It is really baffling that Christians - and I use that word loosely here - constantly want to predict the coming of the end. In recent years, these predictions have been coming in rapid fire. There was a movement by Ronald Weinland who predicted that New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles would be destroyed in April 2008 in his book 2008 – God’s Final Witness. His website is now predicting that the world will end on May 27, 2012. Hal Lindsay, in his Late Great Planet Earth, predicted that the end was to come in 1988. The revised edition, after missing the mark, predicted 2007. Now, he is predicting in 2040. One would think that the punishment for predicting wrongly would be that the predictor would have to shut up, but it seems that the actual punishment for predicting wrongly is that you must make another prediction and go through the whole process again.

Around the turn of the millennium, nearly every crazed prophecy fanatic was predicting the end. It was a crazy, paranoid time, yet most of us got along just fine, ignoring most of the paranoia while continuing on with our lives. Then a tragedy happens like the earthquake/tsunami in Japan and some begin to wonder if this is the prelude of the end. Others read a story about Israel or Iran and begin to wonder if that is a sign of the end.

Jesus taught that the end times would be marked by wars, rumors of wars, famines, and earthquakes. One of my favorite preachers had this to say on the subject. It’s a little lengthy, but I thought it’s appropriate to share during this time.

“I do not wish to force any one to believe as I do; neither will I permit anyone to deny me the right to believe that the last day is near at hand. These words and signs of Christ compel me to believe that such is the case. For the history of the centuries that have passed since the birth of Christ nowhere reveals conditions like those of the present. There has never been such building and planting in the world. There has never been such gluttonous and varied eating and drinking as now. Wearing apparel has reached its limit in costliness. Who has ever heard of such commerce as now encircles the earth? There have arisen all kinds of art and sculpture, embroidery and engraving, the like of which has not been seen during the whole Christian era.”

“In addition men are so delving into the mysteries of things that today a boy of twenty knows more than twenty doctors formerly knew. There is such a knowledge of languages and all manner of wisdom that it must be confessed, the world has reached such great heights in the things that pertain to the body, or as Christ calls them, ‘cares of life.’ Eating, drinking, building, planting, buying, selling, marrying and giving in marriage.  Everyone must see and say either ruin or a change must come. It is hard to see how a change can come. Day after day dawns and the same conditions remain. There was never such keenness, understanding, and judgment among Christians in bodily and temporal things as now-I forbear to speak of the new inventions, printing, firearms, and other implements of war.”

He goes on to talk about the spiritual depravity of the world he lived in. If it wasn’t for the “new inventions” of the printing press and firearms, I would think that Martin Luther, who preached that message in 1522, was talking about modern times.

Jesus taught, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matt 24:35-36 [ESV]). Despite these teachings, people continue to become distracted with end times predictions. Jesus didn’t even know the day or the hour, but we trust the man on the television or the radio who is asking for our donations that he knows what Jesus, Himself, could not even know. People are missing the point.

Approximately 6,700 Americans die every day. That means that Saturday, May 21, 2011 was the end time for over 6,000 people. Some met their end suddenly in an accident or a heart attack.  Others concluded their long struggle with cancer.  It was the end for many on May 21.  Yet each one of those people who died needed to be prepared to meet God.

Too often, we get hung up on the end times rather than focus on God during events that appear like those that Jesus taught would be signs of the coming end times. Those signs have filled the ages since Christ, and in every age people thought their age to be the last. That doesn’t mean that ours won’t be, but it does seem to point out that we need to not focus on the end times but upon the God who brings about the signs. The signs are just that – signs. They are pointing to God, not the end. God is always at work in us, trying to mold us into who he intends us to be. The earthquakes, the wars, all of the great catastrophes of mankind should be seen as opportunities, albeit devastating and saddening, for us to focus more on Him.

We Are In The End Times - Or So They Would Have Me Believe

Jesus says the end times will be marked by wars, rumors of wars, famines, and earthquakes. One of my favorite preachers has this to say on the subject. It’s a little lengthy, but I thought it’s appropriate to share here. And if you can guess who the speaker is before the end, I will give you a Bucky Beaver Badge of Greatness next time I see you.

“I do not wish to force any one to believe as I do; neither will I permit anyone to deny me the right to believe that the last day is near at hand. These words and signs of Christ compel me to believe that such is the case. For the history of the centuries that have passed since the birth of Christ nowhere reveals conditions like those of the present. There has never been such building and planting in the world. There has never been such gluttonous and varied eating and drinking as now. Wearing apparel has reached its limit in costliness. Who has ever heard of such commerce as now encircles the earth? There have arisen all kinds of art and sculpture, embroidery and engraving, the like of which has not been seen during the whole Christian era.

In addition men are so delving into the mysteries of things that today a boy of twenty knows more than twenty doctors formerly knew. There is such a knowledge of languages and all manner of wisdom that it must be confessed, the world has reached such great heights in the things that pertain to the body, or as Christ calls them, ‘cares of life’, eating, drinking, building, planting, buying, selling, marrying and giving in marriage, that every one must see and say either ruin or a change must come. It is hard to see how a change can come. Day after day dawns and the same conditions remain. There was never such keenness, understanding, and judgment among Christians in bodily and temporal things as now-I forbear to speak of the new inventions, printing, firearms, and other implements of war.”

He goes on to talk about the spiritual depravity of the world he lived in. If it wasn’t for the “new inventions of the printing press and firearms, I would think that Martin Luther, who preached that in 1522, was talking about modern times.

Too often, we get hung up on the end times rather than focus on God during events that appear like those that Jesus taught would signs of the coming end times. Those signs have filled the ages since Christ, and in every age people thought their age to be the last. That doesn’t mean that ours won’t be, but it does seem to point out that we need to not focus on the end times but upon the God who brings about the signs. The signs are just that – signs. They are pointing to God, not the end. God is always at work in us, trying to mold us into who he intends us to be. The earthquakes, the wars, all of the great catastrophes of mankind should be seen as opportunities, some of them devastating and saddening, for us to focus more on him.