The Book of Romans pt 3

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

In my former blog post I talked about the Gospel according to the prophets. I mentioned how if you read the prophets, you can't really tell heads or tails about two comings of Christ, whether the Messiah was supposed to suffer or reign as King, that the Gospel would entail death and resurrection, or many other details that we think of as "the Gospel" today. It is all kind of a mishmash, and many details are just simply not there unless you're specifically looking for them. How do we make sense of all of this from the Old Testament?

Well, Paul does try to spell it out for the Romans. In this section of the epistle, Paul encourages the Church in Rome because their faith has been heard of throughout the world. He has not yet visited them, yet he has heard of their faith. It is mentioned later in Romans that Paul hopes to stop by Rome while traveling up to Spain. However, there isn't any significant historical evidence (that I've seen) that would say Paul ever made it to Spain. I believe it was Martin Luther that said 13 of the 12 apostles have their graves in Spain. It was a joke.

On a more serious note, the reason why Paul desires so much to visit Rome is mentioned here: "I am obligated to the Greeks and non-Greeks, both the wise and the foolish." We like to think of Paul as the apostle to the Gentiles, but it seems like Paul first and foremost went to the Jews. In verse 16 Paul even mentions that the Gospel is to the Jew first, and then to the Gentile. When I read Acts, I see Paul engaging debates in the synagogues and among the devout in the marketplaces. This brings up a couple questions to me: why would Paul be the apostle to the Gentiles and yet go straight for the synagogue, and what are the devout doing in the marketplaces?

The marketplace was not a place to get your groceries. It can be likened to a modern day mall. This is where people gathered and socialized. It was where you have an orgy of the senses. You go to behold the merchandise. You go to "meet" other people. Buying, selling, and trading were not the only things that take place in the marketplaces. This isn't a place for the devout. However, it does seem like in the places where culture and societies are most shaped, there is where we find the Jews. I'm not going to say any more than that currently.

So Paul wants to speak to the Church in Rome - some of which is Gentile and some of which is Jewish - and give an expression of what this power of God is. We will be diving into the power of God in resurrection when we reach chapter 6 of Romans. For now, lets examine the simple and brief statements made about the "righteousness of God." When I read this last (about 2 weeks before writing this) I had to stop when I reached this point.

Paul makes the statement that the Gospel shows forth the righteousness of God.

Yeah, I got that. I've heard that before.

What I haven't ever heard preached, nor exposited, was the next statement: a righteousness that is by faith from first to last... It makes sense when we're talking about the faith that we as humans have in Jesus Christ for salvation. It makes sense that there is the belief about Jesus, but that isn't enough and needs to be turned inward to a belief in Jesus. I've heard that message. I got to hear it a lot.

What I hadn't heard is what Paul is implying. Paul is making this statement about God. The righteousness of God is displayed in the Gospel - a righteousness that is by faith from first to last. Does anyone else see my conundrum? What does it mean that God's righteousness is also bound up in faith? Can we logically say that when we're talking about a man's righteousness we're talking about his faith in God, but when we're talking about God's righteousness we're talking about something else entirely?

And what happened to the definition of righteousness being about doing what is right or wrong? If you do the right thing you are righteous. If you do the wrong thing, you are not righteous. This is what I was taught in youth group. Paul flips the tables and says, "Righteousness is from faith and faith alone." He doesn't even mention doing the right thing.

But still, what does it mean that God's righteousness is bound by faith?

It sounds funny.

I didn't toss the idea aside right away. I think what is being expressed here is practical. Have you ever noticed how Jesus never once took credit or glory for Himself? His words were Spirit (John 6:63). He did nothing except what His Father had told Him (John 5:19). Jesus always defers the glory to another part of the Godhead. He never takes it up for Himself. He never promotes Himself. The Father promotes Him, and the Spirit promotes Him, but Jesus never speaks on His own account.

I wonder if this is what it means that righteousness is by faith.

When we can defer everything over to God, then we have obtained righteousness. When our deeds are no longer our own deeds, but we only do the things that the Father has shown us through Jesus Christ and our deeds are proven by the Spirit, then we have obtained this faith unto righteousness. We no longer brag unless it is boasting in the Lord. Everything has now been brought down to death so that it might be raised to life by God. If God doesn't give life, then it remains dead.

What would this imply for community?

We no longer take up a name. We continue to give credit and honor and glory to those around us. We boast in the God that is displayed in the faces of those whom we've surrounded ourselves with. We don't speak high and lofty things, but we remain humble. We take no glory in self, but glory in God alone - even when we esteem the godliness or statements of another brother/sister.

Faith is not simply taking a belief and making it personal. I can't simply say that I have believed in the Lord Jesus and now I am saved. Faith isn't enough. Belief won't sustain. The evidence that my faith has led to righteousness is that I defer any glory or self-satisfaction away from self and toward God. I guess this even gets into the debate of why God has laws. Does following the Law spelled out in the 5 books of Moses bind us? Is it oppression to obey God? The paradox is that God gives these laws that "constrain" us in every human sense, but we find the more we place ourselves under that Law we find freedom. It is freedom to not commit adultery or look at other women with lust. It is freedom to not boast about myself. It is freedom to not hate. It is freedom to love my enemies, bless those who curse me, and pray for those who mistreat me. It isn't oppression; it is freedom.

And thus I conclude that faith without works is dead. If our faith in God only goes to the depths of believing that the Bible is true and that Jesus died and rose again, but lacks the gumption to work out our salvation, then we have not truly been born again. Paul is right when proclaiming that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. I think this verse goes hand-in-hand with 1 John 3:3, "All who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure."

Anyone who has this hope of the Gospel that the prophets have spoken - there is a time when the antichrist will rule and oppress the people of God and the consummation of the age will be the return of Jesus and the Millennial Kingdom established here on Earth where nations will war no more against each other - will purify themselves just as Christ Himself is pure. To know the whole scope of it is liberating. To know the end from the beginning is empowering. We don't need to be afraid. This gives us something bigger to live for. We're in the midst of something larger than anything else the world has to offer us. This is a cosmic redemption that we get to be a part of. We actually get to help God in redeeming all of creation.

That is the power of God unto salvation: when we don't even fear death because we are so convinced of our own resurrection. Isn't that what Hebrews defines faith as? Assurance of things hoped for; conviction of things unseen? Our own resurrection from the dead and the seal of the Holy Spirit is enough for us to be eternally assured. This is what constitutes faith. We'll continue to look into faith as we reach Romans 4 and 5 and discuss Abrahamic faith. Until then, I think that this is a good foundation to start upon.

The Book of Romans pt 2

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

When I read the first section of any epistle I always try to glimpse what it is that the author is trying to express for this epistle. Each letter has a different introduction. I think that this is because of the subject matter that will proceed after this introduction. So when I read in the first few verses of Romans that Paul is referencing the Gospel quite heavily, I immediately strive to find out what this Gospel he speaks of incorporates.

He starts by saying that it is the Gospel of the prophets. We’ll dive into what all that entails, but lets first continue with what Paul has to say about it. The Gospel is the account of the Son of God, who is a descendant of David, and was resurrected from the dead by the Holy Spirit. “Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake.” The last statement there shows forth that this is a Gospel of grace through faith.

Now, this is all fine, but it seems a little shallow. I don’t mean shallow as in selfish. I mean shallow as in lacking depth. Obviously Paul is writing to those who have already been redeemed. This is written to the Church in Rome. It isn’t necessary for Paul to spell out all of the details of the Gospel (at least not at this first introduction) to those who have already received Christ.

So Paul’s motive is something else.

He starts with two things I want to focus upon: the Gospel of the prophets, and Jesus is the son of David.

What was the Gospel according to the prophets? If you take a casual glimpse at any of the prophets, you will find that we are taken into the gutters. We are taken down into the slop of society. The prophets cried out as loud as they could about the injustice and paganism of God’s people. They exposed in a Deuteronomic way that Israel has not kept its covenant with God, and therefore there would be judgment.

However, the prophets saw something else. In the midst of their emphatic exposure of sin, they also bring into focus a time when God would restore all things. The prophets spoke of what Jews know as the Messianic Age. This is a time when the Messiah restores the Kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6). He comes as King and destroys the nation of the north’s power. The immanent Northern Kingdom that is continually prophesied about is God’s judgment against His people Israel. However, the release of God’s people from this judgment is the coming of the Messiah.

This Messiah will take away our sins (Isaiah 53). He will establish world peace (Isaiah 2) where nations will beat their swords into pruning hooks and their spears into plowshares. There will be no more cold or frost – no more day or night – in the evening there will be light (Zechariah 14:6). Israel will be sifted through the nations (Amos 9), but will be brought back to the Land again (Ezekiel 11:17-21) together will foreigners that will be united with them (Isaiah 14:1). There would be a time when the powers of heaven above (demons) and the kings of the Earth below will together be thrown into a prison for many days after being released only to be punished (Isaiah 24:22; reference Revelations 20:2). The tabernacle of David will be restored (Amos 9:11, Jeremiah 30:9) and David will rule as King forever. There will be no more tears (Jeremiah 31:12, 15-16). The coming of the Messiah would mean the resurrection from the dead (Daniel 12:2, 13). Never again will Israel be an object of scorn to the nations (Joel 2:19). Many nations will stream to the mountain of the Lord so that they might walk in the path of righteousness (Micah 4:1-2).

This is a general overview of what the Messiah was to fulfill. Yes, there are many Scriptures that also relate how the Messiah must suffer. There are Scriptures that talk about how He will die and be raised again. The Psalms have many Scriptures about how the Messiah would be the redeemer. Micah 6:7 indicates that God had intention of offering His own Son. Zephaniah 3:13 indicates that during the Messianic Age there will be no lying and no deception to be found within Israel.

So my question becomes this: how much of this do we take literally and how much do we blow off as spiritual metaphor? Does God intend for all of this to be fulfilled toward Israel? If so, then when does this take place? If not, then are we the new Israel? Has the Messianic Age started? If the Messiah has come and His name is Jesus, then why have the last 2000 years been marked with wars, violence, and brutality? He didn’t bring world peace like has been prophesied…

We as Christians talk about how there are two comings. The first coming is to fulfill the Scriptures about how the Messiah should take away sin. There should be a great ingathering of Gentiles into the Kingdom. This has taken place. The second coming is at the end of the antichrist’s reign. He comes and destroys the rule of the antichrist and establishes His Kingdom on Earth for 1000 years.

However, we miss a couple aspects too. Moses prophesied in Deuteronomy 32 that God would take a people that are not His people and use them to provoke Israel to jealousy. Isaiah prophesied about how eunuchs and non-Jews would be found in the redeemed Israel. Ezekiel talked about Judah and Ephraim becoming one again (I wonder if this was also symbolism of those who are outside of the House of Israel being grafted in).

The second aspect I wanted to focus upon was that Jesus is a son of David. This is where these prophecies come together. God promised David that he would have a descendant upon the throne forever. David then prophesied in the Psalms that this Messiah would be God Himself. “The Lord said to my Lord…” Jesus references this by asking the Pharisees and Scribes what David is talking about.

So the Messiah must be God. Isaiah even hints at this. God shares His throne with no one. Redemption is God’s and no one else gets to share that glory. It must be God to redeem Israel and the Gentiles. Yet it must be from David that the Messiah comes. This is why the prophets spoke of the tabernacle of David being restored, by the way. David’s tabernacle is his throne, lineage, character, etc.

This is why the virgin birth is crucial. According to Numbers, the lineage of David for establishment of his throne can only come through the father. Joseph had to be a descendant of David and the father of Jesus. However, Joseph was neither a descendant of David nor Jesus’ father. In the same chapter of Numbers, it mentions that if there is not a father, that the lineage of the mother is valid. This is how Jesus can both be a descendant of David as well as be birthed by Mary. Joseph wasn’t the father.

Now the reason why I establish this early in Romans…

The book of Romans hits on a lot of subject matter. Paul was writing to Christians. They already knew of salvation. They already had obtained salvation. Paul is reiterating to them the same mystery that he speaks to the Ephesians about. We as Gentiles have been grafted into Israel. They are not forgotten. However, we aren’t to bring our Greek models into the Hebraic faith. So Paul establishes what it means to be a part of this Hebraic faith.

As we continue through Romans we’ll dive into some of the subject matter like sin, faith, salvation, justification, death, and resurrection. We’ll also reexamine the prophets and what they teach about Israel’s redemption and our part in that. We’ll move from there and discourse on how these things relate to everyday life. This is what the book of Romans does. Next we’ll examine verses 8-17 and some of the subject matter contained therein.

Romans pt 1

I have been spending some time reading through Romans. I thought I would thus write out a few of the thoughts I'm having. So to begin, I'll give a quick introduction overview of the book.

When we start in chapter 1, Paul is setting the stage for these believers in Rome that are asking a specific question: since the Jews crucified Jesus, does that mean we are the new Israel? Now, I'll admit that this is mere speculation. However, the more I read Romans the more I find that this is the central topic. Is God done with Israel? Are we the new Israel? What are God's purposes for Israel?

This might be why Paul starts by saying, "the Gospel he promised before hand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by the resurrection from the dead," Romans 1:2-4.

What is this Gospel that was given by the prophets? The Gospel is the whole spectrum from the beginning of time to the end when Jesus returns to this Earth and establishes His Kingdom. The scenario is apocalyptic. God must sift Israel through all nations and redeem them. They will be brought back to the Land with everlasting joy upon their heads - they will be God's people and God will be their God. They will no longer need to teach one another "know the Lord," because they will all know Him. It is the return of Israel to their Land in the last days that brings forth the Messiah. Their return will mean redemption for the nations. All Israel shall be saved. None shall transgress against the Lord their God anymore.

The question now becomes for us: has this happened? Was the establishment of Israel in 1948 the fulfillment of these prophecies or is there something else we need to look for?

The prophets spoke of an end time calamity that would come upon the People Israel from the "northern nation" (cannot be Germany) and that this final calamity would bring the people face-to-face with their God. He would provide for them miraculously. In fact, it will be such an event that they will no longer look back to God bringing them out of Egypt. The new exodus would eclipse the old. In the same way, this end time calamity will eclipse all previous catastrophes that God's people have suffered.

Well this is nice and all, but what in the world are we really talking about?

Paul uses the Gospel spoken of by the prophets to claim that salvation has come to the Gentiles. Romans 1 isn't so much about expressing what this Gospel is and what it encompasses as much as it is to help answer that nagging question: has God forsaken Israel? He makes the statement multiple times in Romans, "to the Jew first, and then to the Greek."

Paul then establishes the first part of the Gospel which we find at the end of the first chapter through chapter 3. All have fallen short of the glory of God. Paul puts all men, whether Jew or Gentile, in the same category: evil. There is no one good, no not even one. I love how Paul seems to major on the minors when it comes to calling people out. "You who say it is unlawful to steal, do you steal?"Do you say with your mouth that it is against the Law to steal while oppressing the poor?

It all comes to the pinnacle at Romans 3:23-26. Why do we need a Messiah? Why does God need a redemption plan for humanity? We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. God's first installment of this redemption plan was His own Son dying upon the cross and resurrecting from the dead. Because He has taken up our infirmities (Isaiah 53), we have been healed of our sins. We have justification before God. This is our redemption.

However, Paul then takes this up again later to show that God isn't finished with His plan of redemption. He shows later that this is just a part of a bigger story and plan.

In Romans 4-5 Paul stresses what it means to be the people of God. In one sense it is Paul speaking about the two Judaisms - real and false. In another sense it is beyond Judaism. Paul is pointing to what it means to be Hebrew. What does it mean to be the people of God? It takes faith. But faith of what kind?

We must do more than believe. Abraham had a faith that God would give all that He had promised. Abraham died without receiving the fulfillment of those promises. He looked forward to the fulfillment eternally. Abraham's faith is no one of simple belief. It isn't one that says that you trust God. It looks beyond time and into eternity. This kind of faith is what it takes to be truly Hebraic.

And so Paul contrasts the Jews and their traditions without conviction and the faith of Abraham. It all leads up to chapters 6-8, which are about the resurrection. The true faith - what it means to be the people of God - is to be resurrected from the dead. We are no longer subject the the Law of sin. We are now subjected to life. We have been freed from the bounds of death. This is what chapter 7 is all about. When we are still subjecting ourselves to the Law, and we are striving out of human ability to be holy and righteous, we continuously fall. Who can save us from such repeat transgression?

This is why Romans 8 starts the way it does. There is no condemnation. Yes it is a struggle. Yes I have my shortcomings. However, I am not bound by those shortcomings. I am no subject to sin. I am free from sin. I have been resurrected by the same power that resurrected Jesus from the grave. This is what it means to be the sons of God. We are no longer enslaved, but free. God is free, therefore His children must also be free.

When we reach Romans 9-11, Paul starts to express this mystery of Israel's final redemption and what it means for us to now be a part of it. He expresses how we aren't raised from the dead to continue living for same things we've always lived for. We are a part of something much bigger now. We are a part of God's plan to redeem Israel, which is the conclusion of the age. It is the redemption of Israel that means the return of Christ. They won't be redeemed if we are raptured out of the world.

It mentions in Romans 11 that Scripture that says God will take a people that are not His people to drive the Jew to jealousy. What is he talking about? He is talking about you and me. He is talking about those who are not Jewish by descent have been brought into the House of Israel to display the resurrection reality (the true Judaism) and drive Israel to jealousy. They are to actually be envious of what we have. This was promised to them. And yet they don't experience it. It is by this that they will be driven to jealousy - when we can display to them a mode of life that exposes their shallow religion and puts on view the resurrection reality of Christ.

That is why Romans 11 starts with, "I beseech you, therefore brethren by the mercies of God to lay down your life. It will cost you everything. If you have not truly died to self in order to be raised with Christ, then you cannot fulfill God's purposes for you. It takes nothing less than life from the dead. Romans 12-14 is thus a statement of what it looks like to live out of the resurrection.

We reach Romans 15 where Paul starts to express how we are one in Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile. Why? We have been grafted into their root. There isn't a separation. It isn't the Church over here and Israel over there. We are both Israel. We are both the people of God. The only distinction is that of election. Paul says that not all Israel are Israel. In the same way, Zechariah talks about how only a remnant will be saved.

Those who are God's chosen people are God's chosen people. It doesn't matter whether you are Jewish, English, Arab, male, female, black, white, or burgundy. If you are a child of God, then you are a child of God. There isn't any of this "I'm a part of the Church, but they are Jewish..." We're all part of the Church. We're all Jewish. We're all part of Israel. God has grafted us in, and when He regrafts them in, they are no less God's people than you are. The problem comes when we have a Western societal Christianity trying to force the Eastern culture to change their views. The Hebraic faith is Hebraic, not Greek. We can't take our Japheth ideologies and force them upon Shem, whose tent we are entering.

This is probably why Paul goes back into detailed account of the resurrection in the latter part of chapter 15. People have taken that faith that God established at the first and converted it into their personal lifestyle and their mode of being. Instead of being brought out of their lifestyle and mode of being and brought into the "Land that I will show you," we try to force the square peg into the round hole. I think this might be the biggest reason why there are so many stupid small debates about free-will or sovereignty, evolution or creation, eternal security, etc.

In chapter 16, we have Paul's final greetings. This concludes Romans. I'll try to go back in and reexamine each section piece by piece to help better further our understanding. For now, this is a good framework to get you rethinking about how to read and interpret Romans.

The Prophetic Call part 7

To the Nation

            The prophet does not speak to individuals typically. The prophet is to the nation before to individuals. He knows the proverb better than any other, “Righteousness exults a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any nation.” When the prophet speaks an oracle, though it might be to a certain audience, it goes beyond that audience. The prophet speaks as one speaking to the whole people and nation.

            Mankind continues to war against one another. It is the humanity of the nations that brings Rwandan massacre and genocide. It is in the lack of righteousness that causes many African nations to be poor and devastated and suffer severe famine. God has set up the nations and their boundaries. He is the one who has ordained their rule.

            What is strange to evangelicals is that the Proverb doesn’t even mention repentance or coming under the Lord. It is almost as if righteousness and justice and equity bring about a certain kind of living. In the righteousness of itself, we find the nation being exulted. But what is righteousness?

             We’re brought back to that discussion of morality. When a nation can implement torture on war captives, they have lost the righteous ground. When a nation can persecute a certain kind of person because of their race, ethnic background, or culture, we have already lost the righteous ground. The Middle Eastern nations that oppress any other people group that are not masculine dominated Moslems are going to continue to suffer war and famine and destruction.

            The European and American society that scoffs at religion and claims that godlessness (which looks a lot like Satanism) is the only formidable lifestyle will crumble. Righteousness exults a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any nation. Degradation of a generation comes from a national amorality.

            It is the for lack of a prophetic presence (which is supposed to be the Church) that the nations rage and conspire. If they do not follow the path of the Lord, they will follow the path of the gods of this Earth. This is why they are called principalities and powers of the air. They are the powers of the nations. They are the leaders and directors of the nations. This is why they lead the nations against God.

            It all stems back to the tower of Babel. Men made bricks instead of stones. They manufactured something when it was obvious that God had not given the area for something to be built. The generations past had built with stones, but this generation desired to make a tower unto them. They were going to make a tower that reached to heaven that they may crown themselves as gods.  It is the root of national pride.

            What is the root of World War 1 and World War 2? The nations were proud and arrogant. The ethnicities and cultures and differences in nationalities caused for a pride of kinds that would actually devastate and destroy one another. The prophet cries out against this pride. The prophet is identified with something greater than nationality, and therefore is able to oppose the nation and point out the root of its sin. When a culture can be raised on passing by the slums and not thinking anything of it, that generation is heading for destruction. How much more a whole world system that is designed to build slums?

            Of course, it also says something when the nations have their own religions and state churches that cannot oppose them. In Germany, you cannot receive your birth certificate until you have been baptized as an infant. In America, we have 501C3 forms to be tax exempt. In having this tax exemption, you sign over your rights to say anything against the state (meaning government). You no longer can speak truth.

            The government tells the church what they are allowed to say, do, and speak out against. Because of this, we have no power to oppose the demonic system that is government. How can you oppose something that you are a part of? The churches will not bite the hand that feeds them. Thus we have a regression.

            Then you have people getting up into the pulpit saying that there are no such things as prophets anymore. There are no apostles anymore. That was a 1^st century phenomenon. The prophets are only Old Testament. God doesn’t need prophets to speak to His people anymore. They miss the whole point. The don’t understand the function and role of the prophets. The Church is supposed to be prophetic. They lack this prophetic distinctive, and thus I would say that we need prophets very much. I would even use the word dire. They are a dire necessity to our world today.

            The Charismatic movement has set up a band of false prophets for the lack of the true. In this, they have distorted the crux of the faith. What is supposed to be a hinge and foundation upon which the Church is built and swings has now been torn down. If that foundation is false, how can anything true be built upon it?

The Prophetic Call part 6

Prophetic Perception

            The prophet sees God in all events throughout history including earthquakes, wars, and holocausts. This is another huge point. It is one thing when we believe that God has the ability to either allow or stop such things. It is completely different when we see God as being the very cause of it. Not only is He the cause, but He also has the power to ensure what kind of destruction and devastation comes to whom and for how long and if they will be utterly destroyed.

            Lets take the Nazi Holocaust as an example. There are very few options that can be taken. Many have commented on the Holocaust and few have said God was present. Either God was not present, or He was. If He was not present, then He is either not real or He is flawed in character to not intervene. If God was there, then we need to wrestle with the implications that that brings.

            The Nazi Holocaust challenges everything that we have supposed. It is nice and simple to get by with clichéd opinions and shallow perceptions of God. But when times of extremity come, we will either forsake the faith or be challenged to reconsider.

            So it was with the Holocaust. I believe that God was there. Any prophet would have to see it in this perspective. God caused it, and God was the one who ended it. He was the one who preserved Israel at all. What conclusion can be made?

            This can only be interpreted as a judgment of God. If we admit that God was present, then He was either judging Israel for their sins or trying to obliterate them completely. He obviously wasn’t the one trying to obliterate them completely. To Israel He has said many times in the prophets, “Because you have forsaken me, I will give you over to your oppressors. But if you will be humble and cry out to me in sincerity, I will hear from heaven and I will rescue you.”

            It begs the question of what God was judging. The message of the prophets always does beg this question. When we read our New Testaments, what exactly was Jesus so upset about when dealing with the Pharisees? Nicodemus visited him, and Jesus didn’t pronounce the woes against him. So Jesus wasn’t against all the Pharisees. He was against something else than their title.

            I think what God is against comes down to the religion that cheapens God. When we set up limits and restrictions and traditions beyond what God has said and willingly look for guidelines instead of God, we have set up a false religion. God said that we should follow certain dietary laws. What was the purpose? What was God’s intention? Instead we debate whether this Hebrew word means this kind of animal or that kind of animal. We debate whether Jesus has abolished such dietary laws and called them obsolete or whether we still need to follow them.

            Do you see the problem? God has spoken. Can He not speak and guide us? Why is there so much confusion? We have rejected God. We have utterly and totally neglected God and His Law, and in its place we have substituted a cheap forgery that will give us all religious obligations to feel satisfied. How have we neglected God and His Law?

            To this day the passages like Deuteronomy 15 aren’t taken seriously. Take care of the poor. Open your door to the foreigner. Give yourself beyond your limits. Don’t mistreat the orphan and widow. Instead, be their voice. Stand up for them. Rise against the powers that oppress them. When God delivers Israel out of Egypt, He tells Israel that there will be no poor among them. Why then were there laws about not oppressing the poor and taking care of those who cannot take care of themselves?

            God knew the heart. He knew they would be unable because they were unwilling. There will be no poor among you when you will provide for one another. When you share with one another and take care of one another and have all things common with one another, you won’t see poverty. There will always be an abundance given to the people of God. God will always give more than we can imagine.

            So you can understand the offense when you read in the prophets that the poor and the orphans and the widows are being crushed. This is a violation of God’s Law. Why did God send the Holocaust? He sent it for the same reason that Israel endured the Babylonian exile.

            That doesn’t let Germany off the hook. They don’t need to repent for being the ones who brought about the Holocaust. In that they take upon their own shoulders a blame that is not theirs to take on. But they are guilty of the same sin.

            Where was the Church in Germany? What was it doing? There are a few Corrie Ten Booms and Dietrich Bonhoeffers who opposed the Nazis. I know that. But by and large, where were the rest of them? Why was there such a small voice to stand up to this system? Why was there such a small amount to be willing to die on behalf of Israel? Why were so few in the Church willing to forsake their own lives for the lives of others?

            This isn’t only Germany’s sin. This is the sin of the whole Church by and large. The majority of us are all guilty of taking lightly the Scriptures. We are all guilty of putting self first. We are all guilty of forming our own religion in which we are at the center. We are all guilty of framing the Bible around our lives instead of our lives around the Bible. That is the same sin of Israel.

            The lack of power to stand up to such a demonic presence as Nazism is only a revelation of the lack of power that has always existed. It isn’t that we have power and we can feel the presence of God and we can pray down heaven until a massive demonic force is in our way. That is a lie from the pit of hell. Either you have the power and authority or you don’t. If the power and authority are lacking in the moment of terror, then they have been lacking the whole time.

            Now I’m not about to say that if the Church had responded with power that they would have stopped the Holocaust. What I am saying is that the lack of power and the lack of gumption shows too well that they never had obtained it ever. This was the age that declared, “God is dead.” This was the age that tried to fit the Bible into world culture. They tried to fit evolution and the Bible together. The historians and philosophers and scientists who are all atheists are telling us that the Bible is a joke. Well, to fix that lets take everything they believe in and try to reword the Bible so that it teaches it.

            We’re still guilty of it. We still have made humanism the religion. We have yet to pass beyond the flesh and obtain eternal life. This is why such events like the Holocaust happened. This is why in World War 2 the bombs were dropped on Japan. The same amount of casualties that Japan suffered from those atomic bombs is the same amount of casualties in China from the Rape of Nanking.

            God will not be mocked; a man reaps what he sows. The same goes for a nation. America has faced severe weather for the last 5 or more years. Don’t think for a moment that this is just “mother nature.” God is sending judgment. His judgment isn’t for the secular American atheists. It is for the Church that has rejected Him in the same way that Israel has rejected Him. They have desired so much to be Israel that they imitated even their sins. And now God has given the Church its wish. We will suffer the judgment to the extent that we reject the unbroken continuum of the authentic faith to embrace the Pharisaical religion.

Sensitivity to Evil

            It is at this point that we must now study the acute sensitivity to evil. The prophet doesn’t care a hoot about civilized society. The most “civilized” and the most prestigious are the ones who are the most in sin. The prophet comes like a bullhorn exposing the complete lack of morals. We pass by the poor and think nothing of it. We continue on in our daily lives pretending that nothing is wrong while CEO’s and banksters are getting rich by oppressing the poor. Society has been raised to pretend the slums don’t exist. We’re all middle class white Americans anyway…

            A prophet sees the most common everyday injustice and calls it a cosmic diablerie. Listen to the prophet Isaiah: “Hear oh Heavens! Listen oh Earth! For the Lord has spoken: I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its master, the donkey his owner’s manger, but my Israel does not know, my people do not understand… Your hands are full of blood; wash and make clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong; learn to do right! Seek justice; encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”

            How many orphans and widows do you think there were in Israel? How many in Jerusalem? How many people do you think suffered from oppression? I’m sure that it was probably the same percentage we face today. And countless people continue to go on and never even care. We’re taken from the high and lofty civilization where we don’t have to see the ghetto, and the prophets take us right into the heart of the slums.

            A prophet cannot stand sin. He cannot stand injustice. The problem isn’t that one poor person is being oppressed. The problem is that at the beginning of Exodus God said, “There will be no poor among you.” The very fact that there are poor is a statement that Israel has rejected the Law. They have forsaken certain aspects and oppressed one another. Someone somewhere has decided to neglect the laws that talk about setting the captive free and giving generously to the poor and taking the foreigner in and pleading the case of the widow and caring for the orphans. This is all found in Deuteronomy 15.

            It is almost as if entire passages of the Law had been ripped out and forgotten. God said there would be no poor among you. Why are there any poor at all? Has God not prospered Israel? We know that isn’t true. There are people who are getting wealthy off of taxing and oppressing others. This was forbidden in the Law. Yet, the rabbinical and Pharisaical traditions were promoted to keep people “holy.”

            Maybe this will help explain why Jesus was so fierce. People have purposefully held such a high standard on these laws that they are now impossible to obey, and then neglected other laws completely. The prophets were called hysterical. They were over exaggerating. But if we call the prophets hysterical, what then shall we call the blatant indifference of the multitude?

            This leads us to the understanding that in the prophet’s mind, few are guilty, but all are responsible. God holds each man who sees such things as responsible for not ever standing up. No one ever raises a voice. No one ever stops in the midst of everything and asks the simple question, “What are we doing?”

            Day by day we continue to go through the motions. We continue to live our lives according to the many habits that we have formed. We continue to ignore the homeless man we pass everyday. We continue to ignore the man who has the sign saying that he is willing to work, but can’t find a job. We continue to walk past the coworker who is struggling to make ends meet. We continue to block out the cry of the oppressed. We continue to dull our ears to the ever present nagging that the system is killing people.

            Though we might not be a part of that system that is destroying many lives, our lack of response to it shows that we are indeed responsible for it. Every day we continue to harden ourselves to it. Every day we continue to live as though it doesn’t exist. In New York City, the gangs are mostly teenagers. By the time these kids are in their 20s, they’ve wound up in prison or are simply drug dealers forming more gangs to be hooked on.

            We continue to ignore the silent screams. Wisdom cries out in the streets. She wails upon the wall. She shouts from the hilltops. She proclaims her words from the marketplace. We never hear. We never listen. We never stop.

            Few are guilty; all are responsible. It is because of the lack of voice that we have against such things that we are held accountable. Though we might not be the ones who are actually oppressing others, we are given the same rebuke. You might not be the one who is causing for millions to go into debt, but you also aren’t the one who protests the credit card industry or the loan offices or the housing industry or the IRS.

            The prophet brings it all to the attention of the hearer. He exposes everything. He lays it bear. He cries out and is considered a madman. “What am I supposed to do?” Are we really not saying that we fear the industry? Are we really not just saying that things will never change? How big is your God? Is He too small to take down the corporations? Is He too small to bring freedom again?

            It exposes more than just our lack of voice. It exposes our true opinions. Where does your faith lie?

            The prophet starts proclaiming his message, and the people will either be struck to the core or they will be hardened even further. Something happens. Either we will join in the voice of the prophets and cry out with them, or we will be the same people who oppose the prophets and rejoice over their deaths. The Beast at the end of the age will slay the two witnesses (Revelation 11). The whole world rejoices. “These are the men that tormented those who live on the Earth.”

            But lets be honest… they never torment anyone. The prophet is accused of torment and speaking blasphemy. He speaks against God. He speaks against the people. He speaks against the Temple. Anywhere they can blame the prophet, they do. Why? His message is not a well received one. In this, we find out who are really the people of God.

            Those who will kill the prophets and rejoice over their death, are the very ones who have given alms to the system that oppresses and torments. The prophet takes upon himself the sins of the people. They were the tormentors; he is the one called a tormentor. They were the oppressors; he is the one called the oppressor. They were the ones promoting injustice; he is the one called unfair. The cycle continues throughout history.

            The prophet takes upon himself the very sin of the people. They called Jesus a blasphemer. Jesus is God in the flesh. Who is really blaspheming? Who is really oppressing the people? Who is really casting out spirits by Beelzebub? Who is really leading the people astray? And yet Jesus did not open His mouth on the cross at all. He took it all upon Himself. All of the names, all of the sins, all of the threats, all of the mocks, all of the scorns.

            In this the prophet is the priest. It is intrinsic to them. They will take up the sins of the people and repent for them. They will die on their behalf. 

The Prophetic Call part 5

The Gift of Prophecy or The Prophetic Call?

            We have reached in deep enough to now discuss the prophetic. There is a distinction between the prophetic call and the prophetic gift. This is one of the many tragedies in the Church today. We are unable to separate the one from the other. Anyone who is able to exercise that gift in a fluent way is considered to be a prophet.

            What is the main distinction? If you want to discern the difference between the gift and the office, you merely need to look at the role they play. The gift of prophecy isn’t permanent. It’s only role and function is to bring a word from Heaven, whether a revelation of our situation or a future prediction. I want to be very careful with my words.

            The gift of prophecy can come in many different ways. The man or woman who receives this prophecy receives it once. It could be anything. It could be a revelation of an interpretation of Scripture. It could be a prophetic view of things to come. It could be personal prophecy concerning a certain individual. But it is only a prophetic word. It never branches out beyond being a statement. It might be anointed. It might have power when it is spoken. That doesn’t mean that it has validated the person as a prophet.

            The prophetic office is quite different. A prophecy could come to anyone. It might come once in a lifetime; it might come frequently. It is the Spirit that has liberty with choosing how, when, to whom, and how often prophecy is given. When we look to wrestle with what a prophet is, we come to conclusions that it is so much more than that.

            The prophet doesn’t bring a word that gives light to a certain situation or speaks directly to an individual. A prophet challenges an entire framework and system. The prophet’s word doesn’t come as some sort of blessed revelation. It comes and lays bare everything. It devastates. And example of this is Moses before Pharaoh. Moses didn’t go to Pharaoh because the problem of Israel being beaten and suffering. The word of Moses and the miracles that God performed through Moses challenged an entire system that is built upon oppression. We gain wealth by oppressing those people.

            The prophets of Ba’al had the same story. Elijah didn’t come into the picture challenging the system of Ba’al because it was a foreign god. That is only an outward manifestation of the problem. The problem was in Elijah’s words, “How long will you waiver between two opinions?” There was a system set up where it both eliminated God as God and gave way to announcing any other things claiming to be god was also valid. The system that King Ahab had built with Jezebel using the power of Ba’al is one of extreme religious devotion. But a religion of what kind?

            Here lies the prophetic office. The prophet stands in the place that can discern the spiritual reality. But he doesn’t just give a word concerning that spiritual reality. He doesn’t simply point it out. The prophetic word and the prophetic office are intertwined. When the prophet is sent from God, he is sent to Pharaoh that binds and oppresses. He is sent to King Ahab that enforces a religious system bent on ungodly religious fervor. He goes straight to the core and proclaims, “Let my people go!” This is why the prophet has such power. He is a force to be reckoned with.

            The true prophet of God will come and destroy everything that is false. He will expose and utterly cut through all of the garbage theology and all of the junk institutional system that has been set up. I can’t understand how it is when you go to prophetic conferences there are never messages about Israel. Israel is always brought up in a cheap and glib fashion. How is it that Israel could be the very crux of the Bible in that their redemption means the return of Christ, and yet they are barely ever even mentioned? How is it that there are never messages that challenge the very system that the conference is set up upon? You donate to this or that ministry to be blessed and receive the word of the “prophet.” And not one word is ever spoken against it.

            We don’t have prophets being employed. In fact, many of the supposed prophets aren’t even anointed by God. They haven’t heard anything, yet they run onto the platform to give the word. How many of these prophets are real if they are only too eager to share what the Lord has spoken? Does the Lord not have an indictment against anything that we are doing in modern Christendom? Or is it only those other denominations? We are the perfect faultless ones, right?

            We have glib, cheap, knock-off prophets that have no backbone. They are eager to tell you your license number or give you a word that will let you know that God knows you, but they can’t interpret the times. Many so-called prophets today think that Israel will come to know Christ during the Tribulation after we have been raptured out. The view is that it is their sin and their problem.

            Does that sound like humility? Does that sound like God’s character? How is Israel supposed to come to the knowledge of God? They come up with ridiculous theories on how maybe rabbis will learn and teach people. Or maybe they will just come into awareness and that will be sufficient. They have not a prophetic understanding of the Bible. How then, can they be prophets at all?

Prophetic Proclamation

            If we are going to understand prophetic proclamation properly, we need to first understand the formation of such a man. The prophet is not a romantic. I don’t mean this in a sense of relationship. I mean this is his view and perception of the faith. He doesn’t have a romantic view of what it means to be a prophet. There isn’t anything about the prophetic call that would draw him to desire it.

            Such a calling and office lends itself to pain and non-comfort. The man’s word is as much a part of the man who speaks, as his skin is part of his body. God comes upon the man and ruthlessly purges. The prophet is the prophetic office. This isn’t something that comes separately.

            If the prophet is to speak a word of judgment, the prophet must undergo judgment. If the prophet is to then speak a word of redemption, the prophet must undergo redemption out of suffering. The prophet and his word are one. If you reject the word you reject the man, and visa versa. This is why a prophet is not born in a day.

            Maybe one of the biggest evidences of whether someone is truly a prophet or not is their desire to be a prophet. When they are only too excited to be called a prophet and be cherished as a prophet, then it is too much a sign that they have not that office or calling. However, when someone is willing to take on that office and doesn’t have eagerness for or against it, they are the real candidates.

            A prophet must first be uprooted out of the system. They can’t remain within the context of any sort of institution. Camel’s hair and locusts are intrinsic metaphors for any and all prophets. The false prophets ate at Jezebel’s table. Elijah was fed by ravens in the wilderness. So it goes for the true prophet. God must first take you out. That doesn’t mean you get cut off from fellowship. That does mean that any kind of church building or congregation is less than satisfactory.

            This is another sign between the true and the false. The true prophet cannot remain within the walls of church structure, as we know it today. God might call them to remain there. That doesn’t mean they enjoy and delight in it. When the man of the hour is only too excited and eager about the congregation they are a part of, it is most likely a sign that they are not separate from the false religions of this age.

            God takes the prophet out to relearn everything. He reshapes the man. He rebuilds and reforms everything from the doctrines to the great words of the faith to eschatology. Just like Abram was brought out of his father’s house, so the prophet must be brought out of the establishment. They find God in the wilderness. They undergo their metamorphosis on the backside of the desert.

            Ruthlessly and exactingly the prophet is dealt with. Everything in life, speech, conduct, belief, dogma, action, reaction, faith, opinion, character, etc is destroyed. You no longer have a life. You no longer represent an opinion. Your life is God’s life. Your opinion is God’s opinion. Your word is God’s word. Your doctrine and faith and belief and dogma are God’s view. Nothing more and nothing less will suffice.

            But it doesn’t stop there. The prophet isn’t taken out of Jerusalem so that he might stay at the Jordan all the days of his life. He isn’t taken out of Egypt so that he can find a wife and live away from his people. God reshapes the man and sends him right back into the heart of the problem. He must be his message, but beyond that he must be able to bear the reproach of such a message. God tears him down, but then builds him back.

            This is why the prophets have some of the most amazing passages in all of Scripture. They are the message. This is why there is such power and authority in their speaking. This is why there is such conviction. God doesn’t lead the prophet to believe a certain view of the end times because He says it and that is all. God constantly shows in the life of the prophet that this is how God works. The prophet’s message is a Deuteronomic message. Every aspect comes straight from Deuteronomy.

            If you obey the Lord your God, then such and such blessings will come. If you disobey the Lord your God, then such and such curses will come. They have experienced in their own lives this very message. That is why I can say with complete conviction that Israel will soon be uprooted and in exile once more. It is their history as well as mine.

            The prophet isn’t only one who is brought out and in. There is something else that is also developed into their character. They don’t fear men. Now, this is slightly assumed with bring made into the kind of people who can take rebuke. But what this also brings is a connotation that they could care less about the esteem of men as well.

            We all enjoy to be esteemed. We all enjoy when others will pat us on the back and tell us that we did a good job. We all enjoy when others who are prominent will acknowledge our efforts. This is a natural sensation for humanity. But it can also be the most dangerous and poisonous thing to the Spirit. If we find more fulfillments in hearing the praises of men than the praises of God, we have already come to a place of apostasy.

            Maybe this is why Samuel’s first prophetic word was to Eli. It wasn’t “nice.” God was judging to house of Eli, and it took a young boy named Samuel to expound that God was not pleased. Can you imagine what it would feel like to go to the man who raised you and tell him such a message that God is cutting you off from the Earth?

            There needs to be both reverence and sympathy for such men. They are to be reverenced because of their deep sincerity and willingness to bear the message. We ought to sympathize because many times their message of judgment means that they too must suffer that same judgment. Elijah proclaimed that it would not rain except at his word. That doesn’t mean that Elijah is free from the drought. It actually places Elijah right in the midst to suffer with the rest of Israel.

            When we ask what the prophet’s message will be, we need to see it from this perspective. The prophet will only speak what the Lord has spoken. That could be blessing or curse. Either way, the word itself is an event. It is the word that actually brings about the completion of it. When the prophet is obedient to speak the word that has been given, the judgment or blessing has already begun.

            It is for this reason that the prophet’s task isn’t to simply expose. The prophet will set up an alternative that has never been considered. Why has it never been considered? It is the heavenly alternative to a world steeped in the earthly things below. That which is from the earth cannot consider the things of heaven.

            When speaking a prophetic message, or when hearing a supposed prophet, if we don’t hear of some alternative way to live and breath and have our being, then we are being lied to. The primary task of the prophet is not to bring prophecies concerning the future. The primary task is to expose the false reality that we cling to by presenting the authentic and revealing the glory of God in it.

            There might be some sort of prophecy given. There might be an oracle displaying future events to soon take place. But that oracle will not be presented in a way to educate. The purpose is not to say, “Prepare yourself for this!” The point is first and foremost to present the authentic reality and perception of God. From that reality and perception might then come the statement of preparation.

The Prophetic Call pt 4

Morality and its Necessity

            I’m sure that it isn’t a startling thing to hear that morality is a necessity. The reason this is even being mentioned is because I have found that much too often we don’t have a grasp on morality at all. We think that morality is living life in a way that we dodge the “big sins.” Yet, we lack the understanding that morality doesn’t stem from what we do. It stem from who we are.

            The grotesque sins that we can commit aren’t always connected to something obviously vile. I’ll give you an example. I know a family that has two kids. Both of them have grown up to be hellions while still being involved in their church. She is quite sexually active, and he is always doped up on drugs. What caused this? When you take a look at the family as a whole, the parents are very lenient. They have the attitude that you can’t decide for yourself until you try it. So they allow their kids to be demons and hooked on drugs and sexuality with full expectation that they’ll grow out of it. But then it doesn’t stop with the sex and drugs. Now they disrespect their parents. Why?

            The question doesn’t start with the disrespect. That is what the parents are so offended about. It doesn’t start with their lack of obedience. The place to start looking is the parent’s lack of love. It was their lack of being parents that led their children to find some other fill. It was that drive to find another fill that led to the bigger problem: a hatred of their own parents. The hatred isn’t the problem. That is a side effect of the problem.

            I’ll give another example. I know someone who is divorced. They had a child out of wedlock. Their relationship to their ex-spouse is rocky. What came first: the rocky relationship or the divorce? Well, common sense would say the rocky relationship. That isn’t the case though. They had both divorced one another before even having trouble in the relationship. I don’t mean that they left one another. I mean that they were still allowing their interests in other men or women dictate. They were still flirtatious. They were still willing to show their love to another at their spouse’s expense. This was from both sides. The sin wasn’t the divorce. It wasn’t the child out of wedlock. The child out of wedlock and the wedding were both attempts to try to keep the relationship going. The downfall was that neither one of them were devoted.

            What am I getting at with this? We need to be people who are willing to plumb the depths of our sins. We need to be willing to see it for what it really is. Morality doesn’t start with a question of right and wrong. Morality starts with devotion and determination that nothing will go unchecked and unnoticed. Everything that we do in life will be observed carefully to see if there is anything behind it that is evil in disguise.

            It is a nice thing to pick up the check for someone else at the dinner table. What is the motive? Are you trying to be nice? Are you trying to show off? Are you trying to hold it over their head so that next time you can say they owe you? The righteous does righteous acts and doesn’t even realize they have done it. You can bring it up to them that the way they conduct themselves is very righteous. They wouldn’t have noticed.

            For example: it says in Deuteronomy 15 that we are to take care of the orphans, widows, foreigners, traveler, family, and that we should not knowingly try to oppress anyone. This isn’t hard for the righteous. They just live in that kind of lifestyle. They are generous. When someone is seen without a coat, they give him or her their coat. They don’t even have to think about it. That is just who we’re taught to be by God. You see someone in need, so you supply the need.

            This is where morality starts. It starts with motives and core actions. If you are an introvert, there are certain things that you need to be careful of. You need to be careful of not keeping quiet when it is necessary to speak. If you are an extrovert, you need to be careful not to speak when you need to be quiet. It isn’t about whether it is right or wrong. The issue is over a love of truth.

            There are certain situations where it is more loving to keep quiet and allow someone to suffer and ask, “Why would God allow this?” There are times where if you keep quiet, you are now doing disservice. It takes discernment. It also takes a lot of agony. God will form you. I won’t say that I have arrived because this is the biggest struggle I have. Trying to find the absolute root of things is tough.

            But this is what morality is. Morality is searching to the root. It is digging up everything until you find that first initial problem. This doesn’t always involve your own life (although that is most frequent). Would it have been the moral thing to do if Dietrich Bonhoeffer would have succeeded in killing Hitler? Hitler was a monster, but the Bible says to submit under the governmental authority. It says that vengeance is the Lord’s.

            Probing the depths of morality takes effort. It takes more than effort. It takes a certain kind of moral stamina. It is easy to raise questions of whether it is “right or wrong.” It is much more painstaking to not be content with right or wrong but digging to the root to see where the issue really lies. Is it okay to kiss before marriage? Is it okay to display any kind of physical affection outside of marriage?

            When we have a moral deficiency in any area, that deficiency will expose itself somewhere. This is certain: your sin will find you out. Moral deficiency isn’t about addictions to cigarettes or pornography. Moral deficiency is about a lack in even believing that there is a right or wrong in certain matters. Where were those parent’s morals when they allowed their children to grow up watching sex and drug filled movies? Where were those parent’s morals when they allowed their kids to go out partying all night? Now suddenly when they don’t have respect from their kids they want to play the morality card. You forfeited your morality when you allowed blatant sin and corruption to be displayed before their eyes daily in your own home.

            I see a lot of people who have pictures of their whole family in a certain sport jersey. Then they want to talk about how their lives are devoted only to Jesus. You can’t have them both. If you have that severe of a pride for your favorite football team that your kids are forced to wear the jerseys before they even understand the sport, then you aren’t devoted to God. You can take your pick.

            Morality must issue from God. He is the only fully moral being. Anything that will block us or keep us from seeing Him clearly and expressing Him clearly to others through our actions is not moral. Any kind of deception, whether inward or outward, is amoral. To be amoral is to reject morals. It is to say that morality doesn’t exist. There are no morals; there are only my own desires and lusts.

            The prophet will stand in the place where he can see through the front. He will see through the mask. The prophet is the little boy who speaks up and says the emperor is naked. He displays the truth of our spirituality. He brings up and roots out the inner sins. He is able to cut to the core because he himself has been cut to the core. The prophet must live his message. The reason the prophet’s words are so exacting is because God has been exacting with him.

            When we are talking about morality and probing the depths of where sin comes from, we’re talking about a very characteristic of the prophetic man. This is something that the prophet is ruthless about. A prophet cannot tolerate sin. They see the situation for what it is. Anything less than the glory of God is not sufficient. This is the first and primary call of the prophet: to expose the reality of the spiritual bankruptcy. Before the prophet is one who hears future predictions or knows your past, he is one who discerns the truth of your spirituality.

            The prophet cuts through all the junk that we set up to show how spiritual we are. Sometimes they don’t even realize what they’re doing. Out of their mouths a certain phrase comes, and everybody is now offended. Or the prophet just seems to think that it is the best way to handle a situation like this, and now everyone is angry. A good example of this is in 2 Kings 5. Naaman comes to Elisha to be cured of leprosy. Elisha doesn’t even leave his house, but sends his servant out to tell the man what he must do. The man is outraged. It seems like it was calculated to offend.

            I doubt if Elisha even realized what he did. It just seemed like the right way to handle it at the time. The man expected Elisha to come out and respect his title and to wave his hand over the leprous spot and to call on the name of his God. What is Naaman expecting? He is expecting the same show that many of our modern day so-called prophets perform. They wave their hands and say, “IN THE NAME OF JESUS!” but it is all hype and in the end there is no fire. There is no healing. There isn’t anything.

            Elisha’s response seems to be calculated to offend, and yet it also seems to be the very thing that later brings the man back to admit the Lord is the only one and true God. A prophet will almost always offend. You are a blessed saint indeed if a true prophet comes and says something that should be taken offensively and you are humble. That doesn’t mean that the word spoken will always be rude. It means that it will be truth.

            There is a natural response to truth that many people have. Our first reaction is to be appalled. This is because of our lack of morals. Somewhere we have let a breach in and have desperately not paid any attention. When Jesus spoke to those around Him, He didn’t sugar coat. To some He had good things to say. To others He had only hurtful things to say. In both cases He spoke the reality and the truth. Our lack of love for the truth has driven us to be less than true and less than wholehearted.

            It is for this reason that we lack prophets in our land. The prophet will only speak the truth that he sees. He won’t continue on with many words. He is exacting. When we go to prophetic conferences and the speaker can just go on and on, it is a sure thing that they are not truly prophets. A prophet doesn’t speak unless told to speak. What does that mean for community? In my own life, I have experienced that there is a vast difference between the prophet within the context of community and a prophet within the context of apostasy. When in the midst of other prophets or a community of saints where God is pleased, a prophet can only flourish.

            It isn’t so much that a prophet will not say a word, but more like what Proverbs says over and over again. The wise are prudent. Prudence is not the act of not speaking; it is the act of knowing when to and when not to speak. The prophet doesn’t speak unless he is told to speak, but that doesn’t mean they have to always be silent. I’m speaking now outside of the Bible. This isn’t entirely necessary to probe. What is more important is to understand the depth of prudence and know that the prophet will only speak truth. They are truth. Truth is the substance of reality lived out. A statement of truth can only be true when it is lived by the individual who says it.

            And so we’re back to morality. I have only scratched the surface. When we read the prophetic texts, we see that many times what the prophet says (or what God says to the prophet) gets at the heart of the matter. They can see the sin of Israel and know exactly what it stems from. The words of judgment and redemption don’t come until we are able to see this. If we cannot see past the outward sin and into the heart, we cannot speak to that heart. Thus, we cannot be to Israel in the last days Tribulation what we ought to be unless we have this prophetic distinctive.