Today’s prophets

In Deuteronomy 18:15-22, God, through Moses, gives God’s word to the people that they will need a new prophet — one like Moses himself, who speaks the words God puts in his mouth. The Israelites wonder, however, how they can tell whether or not a prophet is truly speaking God’s word. God replies, through Moses, that they can tell whether it’s God’s word by whether or not the word spoken comes true.

Who are today’s prophets?

I asked this of our Wednesday evening devotion group and the question puzzled them a bit. One volunteered, “The guy on the street corner?”

I was actually thinking of something else, but I suppose this young woman was right. I’ve seen some of those street corner prophets.

I was actually thinking about the people we’re listening to today. I remembered a seminar I went to recently where the leader, addressing obstacles to evangelizing, said outright; “Folks don’t know they need a Jesus and Paul. They already have a Jesus and Paul.” With that, the famous promotional pictures of Oprah and Dr. Phil shone from his Power Point projector.

I was trying to make the same kind of statement and the names that had come to my mind were names like Ben Bernanke or Suze Orman.

This is nothing against any of these people; they do a wonderful job at keeping people informed. Still, people listen to them as if their words were law.

There for awhile there were a bunch of prophets folks were listening to. These prophets urged us to flip this house and become rich dads. Others were more religious and, if not said outright, at least implied that God wants his children to have the finest of everything.

I’m not a financial expert, so I can’t say I know exactly what happened to our economy or how best to fix it, but I know we lost our focus when we started worshiping the get rich quick idea and the golden calf of thinking that if we’re God’s children we’re entitled to an earthly mansion as well as a heavenly one (and we’re not “entitled” to the heavenly one, either). Like our economic experience, we often see false prophecy only after the fact.

Israel, in the Deuteronomy passage listed above, needs a new prophet — one like Moses, who talks to God, intercedes on behalf of Israel and destroys golden calves.

Still, it can be difficult to tell who’s who. False prophets come in at least two types. One is the type who comes in with a deliberate agenda to take people for a ride. They’re like that guy who ran the Ponzi scheme in Alpharetta, or like Professor Hill in “The Music Man.”

The other type is those who honestly believe they are giving God’s word but it’s only in their “imagination.” Fortune tellers, for example, or even Christians who do harm thinking that God is telling them to do it.

There was a woman in a class I led once who said something outright mean. It’s not that this was the first or only time anyone has felt compelled to challenge me or to even get personal; but this time the woman told the whole class and me that the Holy Spirit told her to say it. I talked to another pastor about it and he said, “You know it’s not the Holy Spirit, don’t you?” I said, “I know; this woman is kind of strange, anyhow.” He said, “No, that’s not why; it’s not the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit doesn’t kick.”

A prophet like Moses is conformed to the understanding about God that Moses had revealed. A prophet like Moses listens to God’s voice and reveals God’s commands. A prophet like Moses holds people accountable to God’s words and intercedes on their behalf. Even when people sinned and worshiped the golden calf, God showed mercy and love and did not forsake Israel’s ancestors. God knows that we are dust but God is everlastingly merciful.

Consider the historical pledge to the Bible:

I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God’s Holy Word, I will make it a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path and will hide its words in my heart that I might not sin against God.

Whether wealthy, homeless, wheelchair-bound, or lonely, the Bible says that who we are is sinners saved by the grace of God.

Sally Oakes is pastor of Bethany United Methodist Church, 607 Rivers Road, Fayetteville, GA 30214. Phone: 770-964-6999 or 770-964-6992, or e-mail bethanymnc@bellsouth.net.