The Words of the Prophets

The prophets are poets. When they speak, they don't pour forth a profusion of words. In such small statements, they make massive utterance. The prophet is gifted in oracular declaration, but more specifically, they are gifted with perception. It is the perception of the prophet that matters. What the prophet declares is the spiritual condition, no matter how contrary we might think, that prophet is speaking God's heart. This takes discernment. There are many false prophets that speak words that are glib. They are full of perversion and idolatry. With their words they speak peace and comfort, and with their lives they burn death and hellfire into the hearers.

How a prophet words something should be equally noted with the content. It is not just what they say, but also how they say it, and even what they don't say. When Ezekiel tells Israel and Judah that they have been adulterous with the other nations and have gone after those nations that have penises the sizes of horses that ejaculate like stags, the wording is purposeful. As vivid and explicit as this word might be - not to mention uncomfortable - that is exactly the point. We need to be uncomfortable when reading this. We need to let it sink in as disturbing and disgusting. God sees it as disturbing and disgusting, because when there is idolatry, there is sexual salacity.

For a prophet, the word given has an intention. It utterly devastates. All of our pomp and boastfulness for and about the Lord is both vainglorious and frightening. Nonplus is not the word to use. The Church in Laodicea professed to be rich, and had need of nothing, but God declared that they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. The word came to show the false for what it is: false. It is not until after the false has been exposed, uprooted, destroyed, and cast away that the word can then come of how to rebuild and plant the authentic thing. Yet, if we are pusillanimous and childish, then that authentic thing will never come. The pulpiteers will drive out the prophet claiming that they are casting out demons by the prince of demons.

Now, if the Church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and the true apostles and prophets are being driven out of the congregation, what, then, does that mean for the Church? It says in Amos that there will be a famine for the word in the last day. Almost everyone quotes this, but have we truly wrestled with it? The lack of prophets has given us barrenness and lewdness. If we will not accept the testimony of the prophet when it comes, then we will necessarily be pressed further into apostasy.

Before the Nazi time in Germany, there were a few voices that rose up declaring the evils of their culture. They were flat out calling the eloquent society, even that morally pristine culture, pagan. Names that come to mind would be Soren Kierkegaard, Karl Barth, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Whether these men were prophets, only God can say, but they did come with prophetic warning. The Church by and large not only rejected these men's warning, but even claimed that they are not a part of them - much like Jesus was said to have cast out demons by Beelzebub. It was the rejection of the prophetic warning that drove Germany into a state that would fill the gap with Nazism. An entire generation and culture were pushed into such depravity that they would strive to ethnically cleanse the world. It was a demonic spirit that possessed an entire nation.

The rejection of the prophetic word, spoken by the prophet, brings the people into apostasy. This is distinct from the prophetic gift. The prophetic gift might have predictive quality to it, and it might even speak for profound truth, but it is a gift. The Holy Spirit can speak prophetically through anyone, but the prophet alone is the mouthpiece of God. God invests into the prophet stature, character, and maturity. The man is the message, and the message is the man. The prophet speaks with words and life. This is why Hosea married Gomer, Ezekiel ate food cooked over feces, Isaiah walked around naked, Jeremiah buried his underwear, and why Zechariah took the "instruments of a foolish shepherd". They are the message. To reject the message is to reject the prophet. Yet, the rejection of the prophet is, as God told Samuel, a rejection of God.

Lets ask the final question: What does this have to do with us today? In one sense, it has much to do with those in the Pentecostal/Charismatic Movement who practice little or no discernment in these matters. Yet, there is another aspect that I want to address. In October of last year, Grace To You Church hosted a conference called Strange Fire. John MacArthur then riled up his goons to proclaim how the Charismatics and Pentecostals are demonically possessed. They offer strange fire before the Lord, and God has rejected them. They then declared that God does not speak except for explicit speak through His Bible. If God is speaking to your heart through any outside source, cast that demon away - it isn't God. This also means that there are not any apostles or prophets today. Anyone who claims to be apostolic or prophetic is demon possessed.

People rallied with MacArthur against their Charismatic brethren. This is extremely dangerous. When you throw out an entire section of the Body of Christ because you believe they are in error, you have just performed the same sin that Germany's Church performed before the advent of Nazism. The old saying seems absolutely legitimate: it takes one to know one. A Christian cannot possibly be this arrogant, and if the person who is acting in this manner is in fact a Christian, then there are deeper areas of idolatry and sin than despising their brother. How many of us have listened to John MacArthur thinking that he is speaking truth? And yet, for that kind of spirit to come forth, it brings into serious question the validity of his testimony.

Please understand me. This is not a declaration that MacArthur is false, nor is it a statement to say that we need to call him demonic. I simply do not know him. But far be it from us to simply take such a blanket statement and not bring it into serious question. When our leaders - especially the ones who get a lot of attention - are willing to be that arrogant, there is a requirement upon the Body of Christ to write them. How can we possibly claim that we are lovers of truth and then ignore this? At the same time, when prominent leaders of the Charismatic Movement then make arrogant or stupid claims in the name of God, we need to be equally fervent to call them out on it. It was not until the Levites went through the whole of the camp killing family, friend, and acquaintance for the sin of the golden calf that the proclamation was made, "This day have you been consecrated to the Lord."

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.

The Prophetic Call pt 3

The second character trait of an apostle and prophet is their view of eternity. Nothing is viewed as temporal except that which comes from below. Things may rot away, but our words, characters, deeds, actions, reactions, thoughts, and everything that goes into everyday life will remain forever. We will either be rewarded for these things, or they will condemn us. If we are to receive the reward of eternal life, but have build everything we have upon that which is fleeting, then we will find ourselves being purged through the flames before walking into eternity. I would much rather be purged here and now of any deficiency I might have than to get there on that day and need to go into heaven without an eye, hand, or foot.

What do I mean by eternal perspective? An eternal perspective in a simple scenario is the ability to know the Scripture as a whole. You can view the fullness of the Bible. Everything connects. From the “in the beginning” to the final “amen,” all the words are one word. What is that word? How does it all connect?

In the specificity of the prophetic call, it is more than just connecting the beginning to the end and seeing the whole of it. The prophet transcends time. He is able to view from the beginning to the next age because God reveals to him the beginning to the next age. Notice the slight difference. What I’ll be talking on in this section will be the former, and what we’ll look into at a later point is the latter.

Lets take a quick tour of the Bible. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Just think about this for a moment. This was written during a time when people created temples and altars for the gods and goddesses of this world. People had to build a dwelling place for their gods. But this God built something Himself. He didn’t expect people to build it; they weren’t around to build it anyway. The God of the Bible made Himself a Temple and called it the Heavens and the Earth.

The first thing that I then ask is, “If God created Himself a Temple when He made the Heavens and Earth, then why would He destroy it?” We’ve all been taught that at the end of the age, God will destroy this temporal physical heavens and earth to create a New Heaven and New Earth. This has been ingrained into our thinking. But God is a creator, not a destroyer. What would cause Him to destroy?

This is where we come into the part with sin, right? Adam and Eve took of the forbidden fruit and ate. Thus, they upset the balance of the whole universe. They handed over the authority. Sin isn’t something that you do; it is a condition that each and every one of us are born into. Sin is the condition, not the action. Our condition is to be away from God. We desire the things that will drive God out. Things that are good and healthy need to be worked for. It is hard to live healthy when you haven’t done so in a long time. It is hard to live holy and righteous when you have lived in a different way. This is why it is a journey for all of us. It takes effort and determination to live the way that God has made us to live. Ever since the sin condition came in, we have been of a different kingdom: the kingdom of darkness.

This is part of that eternal perspective. We see right at the beginning on the first day that God separated the light and the darkness. They weren’t mingled together. On the fourth day, God made the sun, moon, and stars to “govern the day and night and to separate the darkness from the light.” Without going into theological debates as to why they would need to separate the darkness from the light when that has already been done, just let that sink in. God created the sun, moon, and stars to govern the darkness. They were to be rulers and judges over it. But it seeped in anyway. Adam’s sin did more damage than human depravity. Depravity doesn’t fit it.

Next we come to the Gospel: God says to the Serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between her offspring and yours; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Well, I think that the first part is very much true; I have seen a lot of women who will lose their ever-loving minds when they see a snake. Jokes aside, this is the framework of the Gospel. Whether we look at it in this translation or translate it directly from the Hebrew, the message is similar.

When you literally translate the Hebrew text, it says something to the effect of, “He will come first (the head), and you will come last (he heel).” The words head and heel can be translated as metaphors for first and last. This is because when you’re born, your head comes first, and your heel comes out last. So whether we look at the NIV translation or the exact Hebrew translation, we see it saying pretty similar things.

In the NIV translation, we see God telling the Serpent that there will come one from the woman who will crush the kingdom of darkness, and in return, the Serpent will bruise His heel. This is the cross. But in the Hebrew translation, it is saying that God will send His Messiah first, and then Satan will have his antichrist last. The words first and last are both literal and metaphor. Jesus did come before the antichrist. But Jesus will also be the victor over the antichrist. Understand that both of these are implied.

We look forward into the book of Genesis to see that God designated that a certain people would be the priestly nation to the nations. It was God’s intent that through Israel all people might come to know God. This isn’t all mentioned in Genesis, but since we’re looking through the wide span, we know that God did indeed intend for this when He told Abram, “I will make you a father of many nations.” Israel (the people) was in exile in Egypt for 400 years. At least, that is what Genesis says.

God rescues them out of their bondage. The Exodus story is one that many people today claim as a metaphor for their own salvation. But it is also a real event. God really did rescue that people. He really did intend for them to be the priestly nation to the nations. He really did intend that Israel would have all the promises and blessings found within the Old Testament. And we read in Romans 9 that these promises and blessings are irrevocable. Israel will one day walk in the fulfillment of these promises and blessings. What happened between then and now that makes me have to say, “They will one day…?”

Israel forsook the Lord their God. They played the harlot with other gods and goddesses. The two most prominently found in the Old Testament are Ba’al and Asherah. Ba’al is the god of prosperity. He is the one who brings the rain. Ba’al sends the rain, the rain then waters the field, the field yields a good crop, and then the person is made prosperous. Ba’al was a version of Molech. Molech was the “detestable thing” that demanded your firstborn. So too did Ba’al require your firstborn.

The Ba’al worship is found in the prophets. In some places, it seems like the prophets prophesy that right up to the end of the age there will be worship of Ba’al. The root of Ba’al worship actually starts way back in Genesis 10. We find a man named Nimrod, who was the founder of the Assyrians and the Babylonians. It was within the reaches of his kingdom that Sodom and Gomorrah were. He was the inventor of Molech.

He was also the one who Babel stemmed from. There are legends that the tower at Babel was actually an altar to Molech. A lot of the artist renderings show a tower that spirals from the outside into an inner point of the circle. This is a common practice with witchcraft and divination. While casting the spell, you walk around in a circle coming closer and closer to the center of the circle as you progress through the spell.

And when you look at Revelation 17-18, you find that the last kingdom of the age that is the “one-world-government” is called Babylon. In Revelation 17:2, we read that it is the wine of her sorcery that the nations get drunk on.

If you haven’t noticed, the Bible all wraps up together many times over. When we read our Old Testaments, they seem to give a giant narrative over and over and over again about how it just doesn’t work out. Adam and Eve both sinned. Humanity became wicked enough that God was remorseful and repented He even created the world in Genesis 6. He sends the flood. From Noah’s family the whole of humanity is repopulated.

An interesting fact is found in Genesis 9. Noah blesses his sons and curses Canaan. Why is this interesting? It is Japheth that is told he will be enlarged. The name Japheth actually means enlargement. Who is Japheth – or more properly: who are his descendants? Japheth is what we would consider to be the Western World. The European influenced, Caucasian civilization is what historians tell us Japheth has become. He has indeed enlarged quite a bit.

Canaan gets cursed. It is said that he will be the servant of Japheth. Now, Ham is left out of this. He doesn’t get blessed nor cursed. Ham’s descendants stem as wide as the African cultures to the Eastern cultures. Who are the Eastern cultures? Well, we obviously know the Middle Eastern peoples, but even the oriental nations are supposedly of Ham’s descent. Canaan in particular is the region of the Middle East.

However, the Middle Eastern people today are mostly Shem’s descendants. I think there has been enough mingling that we can’t truly say that with conviction. Shem was given the blessing that Japheth will dwell in his tents. You have to understand that the tent is more than some place that you sleep in. Your tent is your home. For someone else to dwell in your tent is to take them into your family, and they take on your name and your culture. It isn’t the other way around. The descendants of Shem are the Semites (which most people only think of the Jews, but many Moslem people are also Semites).

The thing about the Semites is that they have been for much of history a very nomadic and shepherding people. When someone comes into your home as a visitor, you do anything and everything, no matter what cost, to protect him or her. That is why Lot would have offered his daughters to the people at Sodom. Whatever the cost, Lot will protect those who come under his roof.

Yet, when someone comes under your roof as one to stay, they are adopted into your family. Like I said before, they take on your name and culture and heritage. So if Japheth is supposed to enter the tent of Shem, then our religion is Hebraic, not Christian. Christianity is not the first. Christianity should be the fuller form of Judaism. It should be that root that takes us all the way back to Adam being a Son of God.

That isn’t how many people see Christianity though. Many Jews think that to become Christian is to leave their Jewish heritage. That isn’t supposed to be the case. Japheth must enter the tent of Shem. Shem is to take in Japheth. Instead, Japheth has stolen Shem’s God and made him something completely other than what he has shown himself to be. We have westernized the Bible. In doing this, we have robbed Shem instead of being humble and entering into this tent.

Lets use this as a springboard. The name Shem means “name.” So Japheth must enter the tent of “The Name.” What is “The Name?” It is obviously the tetragrammaton – YHWH. So to enter in the tent of Shem is to enter into that name above every name. Well that sounds very New Testament like. Who is the Name Above Every Name? Jesus.

The blessing of Noah in Genesis chapter 9 is showing 2 things. First, it shows that Israel is the chosen people that the rest of the world must “bow down” to enter into their tent. Second, it is a Messianic prophecy. The whole of the Old Testament seems to display this somewhat completion, until you read the prophets. The prophets and many of the Psalms seem to point beyond the Old Testament to a Messianic era where the world will live at peace and the Messiah will be the King and Priest.

This is the main point of the book of Hebrews. Hebrews was written to specifically point out that Jesus was the Hebrew Messiah and that He fulfills the Old Testament prophecies. There are many objections by the Jewish people about this Jesus fellow and how he hasn’t fulfilled his duty if he is supposed to be Messiah.

What does the Bible teach about this? We see in Daniel 9 a clear indicator that the Messiah would come some time before the destruction of the 2^nd Temple. It was destroyed in 70 A.D. If they expect a Messiah to come, they need to look backward at least 2000 years. It is in Hosea that the Messiah will come like the former and latter rain. This is the spring and the fall. Both spring and fall had feasts that you would go to.

The first feast is the Passover. The whole of the book of John is written in a way that it points out over and over again that Jesus is our Passover Lamb. He even died at the hour the Passover Lamb was supposed to be slaughtered. From there we have the feast of unleavened bread. That is the resurrection. Our flesh has been purged – sin vanquished.

The resurrection is also the Feast of the First Fruits. He is the firstborn from the dead. In 1 Corinthians, Paul even calls Jesus our first fruits. When we travel through the feasts, we find that 40 days after the resurrection, there is the Feast of Weeks (also known as Pentecost). What were the disciples doing for 10 days in that upper room? They were preparing for the feast. On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came.

We’ve gone through 4 of the 7 feasts. What is left? We still have yet to fulfill the fall feasts. This is why the Messiah must come like the former and latter rains. It is two comings. The next feast in the year is the Feast of Trumpets. In our eschatology (both Old Testament and New Testament) there will be a final trumpet blast from heaven before Jesus returns. After that is the Day of Atonement. This is the Judgment Seat of Christ. From there we celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. Wouldn’t you know that in Revelation 21, it has the strange wording that God has “tabernacled” with men?

But there are a lot of little details in between all of this, right? We didn’t even mention the antichrist. And what about the Jewish people? Are they gone forever?

Lets back up again. At present day, we see that the Jewish people have been restored to their Land. Is that a fulfillment of prophecy? The answer is yes. But which prophecy? We are too quick to jump in and say that they will never be uprooted again. From a historic and prophetic standpoint, Israel will always suffer harassment and persecution from their neighbors as long as they reject the Lord their God. Have they rejected Him? They certainly haven’t embraced Him.

If they haven’t embraced God, and they are continuing to pile sin upon sin and rebellion upon rebellion, then why would they stay in that land? I would love to see that I am wrong on this. Historically, they haven’t stayed in it. The prophets say that when they return that final time, they will come back rejoicing and knowing the Lord their God. He will be their God, and they will be His people.

That hasn’t happened.

It says in Ezekiel 22:19-22 that God will gather Israel a final time in the Land and bring them all to Jerusalem for the purpose of pouring out His wrath. I think that this might be a fulfillment. Jesus said about the end of the age that there would be tribulation upon Israel that has never before been experienced, and will never be experienced again afterward. That is a direct quote from Daniel 12. If we read Daniel, we find that throughout chapters 7-12 the antichrist figure (which Daniel wouldn’t call him that being hundreds of years before Christ) is supposed to set up the abomination of desolation at the Temple. He is also supposed to cut off the sacrifice.

Wait a second… What Temple? What sacrifice? In modern times, there is not a Temple. There can’t be sacrifice without a Temple. So we’re left with 3 options. Either the verses in Daniel aren’t really talking about a physical Temple and sacrifice, they already happened, or the Temple and sacrifice will be rebuilt and renewed. I can’t figure any other options.

There are multiple places in the New Testament (including the words of Jesus Himself) where it references these passages in Daniel and the sacrifice being cut off. The Temple is mentioned, the sacrifice is mentioned, and Israel being sifted through the nations is mentioned. I personally believe that there will be a 3^rd Temple. I think that they will set up priesthood and start sacrifices. I think that the antichrist will literally seat himself within that Temple. I think that the sacrifice will be cut off and the Temple will be destroyed again.

Why do I believe this? It fits into the framework of the whole of Scripture. It fits into the eternal perspective. When we try to interpret our Bibles through natural means, we are going to fall short. Some things have to be future. There isn’t world peace. That has to be future. The resurrection and the 1000-year reign with Jesus haven’t happened. That has to be future.

I’ll continue to build and show why I think these things will happen. The antichrist will persecute the Israeli people. That is obvious from the prophets. There is always some sort of immanent and ultimate fulfillment of the “northern kingdom” that will come and devastate the Israeli people at the end of the age. They will be sifted through all nations, as it says in Amos 9. While they are sifted through the nations, they will flee through the wilderness places of those nations.

What makes me say that? There are many references in Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the Minor Prophets about this. Revelation even speaks in chapter 12 about how the woman (a symbol for Israel in all prophetic texts) will flee from the dragon into the wilderness where God has set up refuge for her there.

If you look at Revelation 12 in the Greek, there is an interesting wording that is often neglected. The King James interpreters got it right. It says that the woman will flee to the wilderness where God has set up refuge, and they will take care of her. That doesn’t make sense. Who are the “they?” They are the Church. They are the servants mentioned time after time in Isaiah that will help the people Israel. It says in Ezekiel 20:33-35 that God will meet with Israel face-to-face in the wilderness places. This leads to 2 conclusions: either God will come down and show Himself in person, or He will work through some other people outside Israel to display Himself.

Who could possibly be that outside people that God would show Himself through? I would conclude it is probably the Church. It will be from our openness to them that they will meet their God. Their persecution will be our persecution. We will willingly take them in and endanger ourselves and stand up for them and even die for them. In Daniel 11, it is mentioned that some wise (which can’t be Israel in the context) will be put to the sword, burned alive, and imprisoned. It is by their persecution that many are made pure.

This raises some interesting questions. Who are the wise and who are the ones being made pure? If we say that the wise are from within Israel, then that leads to a lot of problems from the context of the text. I think that the wise might be some of Israel, but it isn’t the Israel that you’re thinking of. In Romans 9, Paul expounds that we are grafted into their root. There is no separation between the Church and Israel. By the way, the Greek word for church simply means assembly. We have been grafted into their “assembly.” That is what Noah prophesied over Shem.

We are part of Israel, but we are not all of Israel. For simple understanding purposes, I will distinguish between the Church and Israel. However, know that we aren’t different. We are the same because we are both under the same Head.

I think that we who call upon the name of Jesus will be those who are wise and Israel will be the people made pure. They will see their God within Gentiles. We will extend mercy because mercy has been extended to us. It is in being forced into our midst and seeing the reality of Christ in us (which according to Colossians is the hope of glory) that will drive them to jealousy. As it is written: “I will take a people who are not my people and drive you to jealousy,” Deuteronomy 32:21.

We see in Revelation 12 that the dragon gets angry when Israel (the woman) finds refuge in the wilderness. He then turns and makes war against her “other children.” Jesus was the firstborn from the dead. He was the male child that the dragon tried to devour. We are the “other children” that the dragon then turns his ugly head toward. How do I know this? It says it in Revelation 12. The chapter ends with saying that these other children are those who follow and live by the testimony of Jesus.

How does it end?

We know once again from Daniel that the Tribulation is 7 years. The first 3-½ years are peaceful. It is a deceptive kind of peace, though. The last 3-½ years are “the time of Jacob’s trouble” as spoken of by Jeremiah. This is when the antichrist will persecute Israel and the Church. It is at the end of the 3 ½ years that Jesus will return and they will “behold him whom they have pierced,” (Zechariah 12:10) and the beginning of the Millennial Age will have started. The antichrist will be killed and thrown into the lake of fire. Satan will be bound and thrown into a pit for a short season. After the Millennium, Satan will be released and will deceive many. This baffles me. From the Old Testament prophecies, it seems like the Millennium will be heaven on earth. Why would anyone reject that?

Yet this is the point: even when given heaven, some people just don’t want it. When you can be in heaven and reject that which you are in the midst of, there is nothing left for you but judgment. So the people come against Jerusalem one last time. This is the war of Gog and Magog. Fire from heaven comes down and then there is the Judgment.

The whole of the Bible tells this story. From start to finish we see that there will be an absolute purging of sin on this earth. The Judgment Seat only comes after that. If we’re going to study what it means to be a prophet, we need to see the whole expanse of time like the prophets would view it. This is the whole message. This is what is missing. It takes someone like an apostle or prophet to have these things revealed to. From there, it takes a bit of discernment and expounding on behalf of the Pastors and Teachers to sift through all the Scriptures and teach the nitty-gritty details.

This is the eternal perspective as it pertains to the Scripture. Everything is about the end. Everything revolves around an apocalyptic scenario. Everything hinges on our view of time from the beginning to the end. If the beginning was only some sort of poem that doesn’t need to be taken seriously, then I suppose the end is too. If the end is too discreet and there isn’t anything set in stone and laid out, then we really don’t need to concern ourselves with that anyway. If we can’t know what will happen in the future, then we might as well continue to go through life as though there will never be an end.

This is how the end time scoffers appear. I’m not entirely convinced that Peter was warning about evolutionists who will mock. I think he might have been warning us about people in the Church who will mock. There are many who don’t think Jesus is returning any time soon. It has been 2000 years, why wouldn’t it be another 2000? They don’t see how all the pieces are coming together – and coming together quickly.

The Prophetic Call pt 2

I think the best place to start searching out the character of these men would be to start with priestliness. We aren’t talking about Levites. We read in a few places in our New Testaments that God has called us to be a kingdom of priests. But what exactly is a priest? Many times we have the false idea that to be priestly we need to be dressed in robes and administering sacrifices. Jesus is our High Priest.

If we take Christ as the example, some of the logical implications that we can conclude with would be: we are to be the sacrifice, we are to intercede, we are to be (in some sense) the mediator between God and men, and we are to display to the people the difference between the clean and the profane.

We’ll begin with “we are to be the sacrifice.” You can look into the lives of others and see that it wasn’t only Jesus who laid down his life willingly. Stephen also laid down his life. Moses laid down his life. Paul laid down his life. The people Israel killed many of the prophets. But many times lying down your life isn’t necessarily dying. Lets take Moses as an example.

Moses led the people Israel through the wilderness. Before this, he lived in that same wilderness. Before that he was the prince of Egypt. There was something about the man Moses that caused all of these stages. First, he couldn’t allow his fellow kinsmen be mistreated by the Egyptians. It is true that he acted rashly, but understand the characteristic within him. There was something in the very fibers of his being that demanded there should be justice. Something within him could not stand by and allow cruelty to take place. He was willing to cast aside his place of honor for the sake of his brothers who were being persecuted.

This is critical. This is why the man in himself must be the prophet or apostle. There was something in Moses that could see past that it was wrong. That isn’t what bothered him. What bothered Moses wasn’t that this was a brother either. What bothered Moses, though he couldn’t quite explain it yet, was that an entire system had been made that degrades and robs people of their humanity. He couldn’t stand and watch that kind of mentality and action continue to propagate.

This must be our character as well if we desire to be an apostolic and prophetic Church and voice in the last days. We must be willing to even lose our lives by standing up to systems (whether businesses or governments or anything else) that get their power by oppressing. Moses didn’t know the way to do it. He started with one of the Egyptian slave drivers. God later sent him to Pharaoh.

Moses spent 40 years on the backside of the desert because of his impulse. While there he found a wife and made a family. I’m sure after 40 years Moses was feeling comfortable as a shepherd. Which, notice this detail. Moses was a shepherd. It says at the end of Genesis that Israel was given the land of Goshen because shepherds were a stench to the Egyptians. Do you see the humiliation? Moses was humbled.

As we continue through the story of Moses, we see that there is this burning bush experience. Moses turned aside to see. Many times the burning bush is used as a metaphor. It has many implications for Moses, and there is a lot to see in the context of Moses’ story. I’m also going to use it as a metaphor, for I have written elsewhere about the burning bush and the theological implications that it has. The burning bush is a symbol of anything in life that burns but is not consumed. For example, my grandfather passed away. In the death and in the circumstances of death, we find our fires. It is hard to view. It is hard to reflect and think back on it. But if we are willing to turn aside and view that bush that is burning, we will find that God can and will bring us to more depth of character.

Another example would be the Holocaust. Where was God? If we are willing to plumb those depths of all of the cruelty that the Jewish people faced, and we can find God in the midst of it, and we don’t attack God’s character, then we have come to a place where we can call that a burning bush. It takes stamina and trust that God is good. It takes a certain kind of person to probe the depths of darkness to search for the light. And indeed, when we find God (specifically the tetragrammaton) in the Old Testament, we find him in the darkness.  In the beginning, His Spirit hovers over the darkness. In Exodus he comes upon Sinai in clouds and thick darkness. In Psalm 97, clouds and thick darkness are His wardrobe. God is light, but He is found within the darkness.

If we are weak stomached and cannot turn aside to look at these dark moments, then we will never be the kind of people who are able to stomach apostolic or prophetic callings. Moses needed that kind of a characteristic already present within him before he could be sent to Pharaoh. Pharaoh is Satan. If you will be sent into the heart of hell to wrestle with those principalities and powers, then you need something more than glib clichés and Bible truths. It takes a character and stamina to wade those waters.

And this is the beginning of priestliness. That kind of character to wade those waters when others are unable is the sacrifice. Jesus was the firstborn from the dead. He was the first to taste of the resurrection because He was the first to fight the principalities and powers at their hometown. Jesus did more than take away sin on the cross. This was the full expression of Satan against God. It wasn’t the Jews who killed Jesus. It wasn’t the Romans who crucified the King of Glory. Satan poured out everything he had. Jesus laid down his life like a lamb before the slaughter – silent.

That is why we see the full expression of God in the cross. Both sides are completely in full view. You have the kingdom of darkness using force, manipulation, hate, violence, fear, intimidation, etc while God is using love, patience, grace, silence, forgiveness, and willingness. Our sacrifice isn’t necessarily that we die. We’ve already died when we accepted Christ. We live because we’ve died. Our lives should be lived as people of the resurrection. Yes I’ve failed in walking absolutely pure. That isn’t the point. The point is character. When we can stand up to those principalities and powers, though they intimidate and try to put fear in us, we continue to press onward. Though they deceive and manipulate, we do not bow our knees to their voice. Though they pour out violence (even if it is emotional or verbal violence) we give them the other cheek.

This is what it means to be priestly. We are the sacrifice, and we willingly lay down our lives. We are willing to die a thousand deaths for the sake of others. We aren’t fighting flesh and blood. Our warfare is much deeper than that. This brings me to my next place: we intercede.

If we think that intercession is prayer, we are sadly mistaken. Our spiritual warfare is our characters. We live in a way that we resemble God. That is how we fight against the principalities and powers. If prayer and worship were not the warfare, but only tools, then why would they be intercession in itself? Intercession is hearing from heaven and knowing God’s heart and manifesting it here on Earth. Intercession is displaying God to the world in a different way than spiritual warfare.

It is true to say that when we intercede we use prayer. Prayer is not excluded. The prayer must come from an obedience, though. We must first know the divine will of God. We must first hear God speak to us. If God does not speak, we do not pray. If God does not speak, we do not do anything. When God speaks, we live in the reality that it has already come to pass, even if it has not. An example of this is from the book of Nehemiah. The prophets told them that they need to rebuild the Temple. But when you read the prophets books, you find that they speak of the destruction of the Temple. So the very prophets who said to rebuild the Temple knew that there had to be something more than just the bringing back that they saw. They knew that there must still be a Messiah to build the Temple. Yet they encouraged Israel to build.

Am I making sense here? The intercession of the prophets in Nehemiah’s time was for that Heavenly Temple. They prayed for what was to come later, but encouraged and helped to build now. So they knew that God was going to send another persecution. They knew that Israel would be uprooted from the Land again. Yet they urged the building to continue. This was intercession. They heard from heaven and they did it. They prayed for the absolute fulfillment, which is to say, they prayed for the consummation of the ages. They prayed for the second coming. They prayed for the Messiah to rule and reign and set up His Temple here on Earth. This is why the book of Zechariah ends with the Feast of Tabernacles: God has “tabernacled” with man.

Intercession goes hand in hand with being mediators with men. That isn’t to say that we take the role of Jesus. We all know that there is only one mediator between mankind and God. For anyone wanting to find God we point them to Jesus. But for those who reject God, we speak on God’s behalf. Once again, this takes hearing from heaven.

The biggest role of the priest is to display the difference between the sacred and the profane – clean from unclean. It takes a certain kind of devotion for this. We need to be deep in the Word of God. We need to know it and Him better than we know our closest friends and family. We need to be able to discern the Spirit of God from other spirits. This takes devotion. The devil will quote the Bible. If we don’t know what the Bible says, we will fall under deception.

Of course, there is a difference between knowing what the Bible says and having the Bible memorized. There are people who read the Bible all the way through every month or two. They might have a lot of that Scripture memorized, but so did the Pharisees. I don’t care how much you do or don’t have memorized. What is more important is that you know God. You know His character. You know the point of what is being said. You can recognize when someone is misusing the Scripture to validate their own opinions. This is what really matters.

We need to be able to separate the precious from the vile. If we cannot discern the Spirit of God from the Khundalini spirit, then we have already failed as priests. If we cannot separate man’s opinion from what the Bible actually says (because there are a lot of evangelical crap theology opinions), then we have already failed. It’s easy to point to people like Joel Osteen or Benny Hinn or Rob Bell or anyone else that has been put on the “heretic list.” What about our own theology? Is it sound? Does it line up with everything we read in the Bible? If we read a verse or passage that disagrees with our theology, do we interpret the verse according to our theology or change our theology?

We must separate the precious from the vile, for God told Jeremiah that until he did that, he would not be God’s mouth. If God would tell someone like Jeremiah who had a better theology, understanding of God’s heart, and character than we do to separate the precious from the vile, then what shall be said of us? Shall we do less than Jeremiah and expect to get more blessed? The fact that we have comfort and he had imprisonment is in itself a testimony that we are not living as the people of God. We are something in the middle of people of the world and people of God. We have mixed far too much that we can no longer separate culture and Christianity.

This is the indictment against us. I mentioned earlier about the cross of Christ. How about I go ahead and end with it. If we think that the sin of the Jews was the death of Jesus, then we have a completely wrong mentality of what happened. It is the same thing with the Romans. If we think they crucified Christ, we have a wrong understanding. The perpetrators were the demons that have rebelled since the Garden.

That doesn’t get Israel or Rome off of the hook. Their part in it was not the sin in itself. It was only a display of the sin. Their sin is one in the same: they have rejected God. They so rejected God that when He came and walked in their midst, they found no other use for Him but to kill Him. That is their sin. We share it too. We have made an entire Christian culture around a Sunday service and sometimes a picnic or potluck afterward. We don’t have Christianity; we have Church-ianity.

Our sin that has yet to be confessed and repented for is that we take God lightly. When He says that He desires the inward parts, we think that means that we just have to “love Him with all of our heart.” We never for a moment think that it really means He does expect us to call people out on their sin. We never for a moment think that God really requires us to lay down our lives.

Our lives are too important. God requires that we should see each other daily. But how can I do that when my job requires I’m there 40 hours a week (or more), and that I need to take care of my family, and it really just makes more sense to have it on Sunday? Find another job, then. Maybe you can be a fast food worker part time. Then you’ll have more time available to give to God and His Church.

The area I live doesn’t accommodate me being able to drive and see people daily. Then move. Find another place to live. Rent an apartment where other believers are also renting and go from room to room daily. Share your things with one another. Give your money away to those who need it. “Oh, but I’ve worked hard for that money! Am I really expected to give it away? What about my retirement?”

In all things we are far too carnal. None of us have even looked up to see the bar is in Heaven, not on Earth. If we are unwilling to work less hours to spend more time with the Body of Christ, then we really aren’t Christians. And if we aren’t willing to live with less modern conveniences (like cable, smart phones, multiple cars, television, internet, etc), then we really aren’t Christian. Our devotion has gone so far, but no further. Another way to put it: we have let the part stand for the whole. Just like Ananias and Saphira brought part of the money the made for selling their home and called it the whole, we have brought some of our lives to the altar and called it the whole. God will not be mocked; a man reaps what he sows.

If our very spiritual birth was sowed in being dishonest and deceptive to hold back parts for ourselves and claim we gave God our all, then we will reap hellfire in the age to come. This is so very serious. At the very heart of being a Christian is being priestly. And at the heart o being priestly is separating the holy from the common. If we have not even begun to do that in our own lives, we cannot direct others to do so, and thus we make two-fold sons of hell.