“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings’ courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. Luke 7:24-26
I find an irony in Christ’s description of John the Baptist, reminding me so much of our day. People desperately need a fresh word from the Lord, desperately need a prophet, yet they often reject them, because unlike the shaking reed they are insensitive, and unlike the nicely dressed, cultured, refined men of the court, they are uncouth or plainly dressed. People want a sensitive, tolerant, refined prophet of the Lord, but they will never find one for such a creature does not exist.
What does desiring this flavor of prophet say about us, and why won’t we find him? The question is valid. Why do we want Oprah friendly prophets? We want them because we don’t want to offend anyone. Being closed-minded is nearly equivalent to murder, and intolerance to child molestation. We want divine guidance and exhortation to do things which even the hedonists, feminists, and communists will applaud. We want our prophets to injure, “Thus saith the Lord . . . be nice.” or “Thus saith the Lord . . . Recycle.”
But this friendly prophet mentality completely misses the point of the prophet’s job. The prophets’ job is not to attach God’s name to whatever is culturally acceptable, the prophet’s job is to confront society’s accepted sins and anger nearly everyone in the process. According to no less than Jesus Christ a false prophet is one whom “all men speak well of” A politically correct prophet of God will not exist because a politically correct prophet of God cannot exist! The Prophet is an emissary from a perfect and perfectly immovable God who enforces laws so righteous that no one else can possibly keep them. The only refuge from his wrath is to commit yourself to His son, be bathed in His blood, and cry out for His mercy. Any emissary for this God will declare a message guaranteed to bring hatred, slander, and often death upon himself. After all the greatest prophet whom ever lived said to his unconverted brothers that, “The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.” This prophet’s name was Jesus…
Now do you see why we don’t accept this type of prophet? Here’s the dilemma, we want a prophet but godly prophets make us look narrow minded and un-cool. What are we to do? The frequent solution to this dilemma is what truly frightens me. Knowing that a true prophet will hurt our reputation but wanting a prophet nonetheless we accept a different sort of prophet altogether, one who will never offend, never challenge, and always affirm. In other words . . . a false prophet.
