If prophets got the same kind of treatment today that several of them got back in the day and if being a mouthpiece for the Lord was still treated like a profession, then we could expect to see ” Prophet” on an episode of “Dirty Jobs”. Ezekiel had to cook over poop (Ez. 4). Isaiah had to walk around naked for three years (Is. 20). These men did these things because Yahweh, their boss told them to. Jeremiah got dirty for a different reason.
Zedekiah was a king of Judah. He was a tool. Literally. Nebuchadnezzar placed him on the throne (Jer. 37:1) as a puppet potentate who could easily be overrun if the need ever came. The funny thing about the kings of Israel and Judah was that even if they were terrible monarchs, God still brought the prophets to their sides to guide them. Or to at least show that guidance was offered. This would almost always end up as overwhelming evidence against ungodly leaders because they never listened, but nobody could ever accuse God of not providing direction.
Jeremiah was the prophet during the rule of Zedekiah, this was a bad thing for the man of God. He was dropped into an empty well by the man who turned against Babylon and basically caused the fall of Jerusalem. He landed in the hole in the ground because Jeremiah told the king and all the other leaders not to rebel because doing so would cause the city to be attacked. He said that fighting against the larger nation would cause death and mayhem. He spoke the words God told him to. Their response was,
This man should be put to death.
He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.
(Jer. 38:4)
★ ★ ★
A lot of people talk crap about the church.
Some of the negative commentators don’t believe in God. Others only believe in God. Much of the depreciating speech about the Bride of Christ is negative self-talk, like she’s looking in a mirror and doesn’t like her giant hips or something. Either way, a lot of voices keep making some pretty disparaging statements about the body of Christ. Pastors and for the larger churches in America, public relations managers alike have been fighting this kind of talk for a long time.
They need to keep morale up in their congregations. They want the people to believe they’re doing the right thing and are going in the right direction. Many leaders want to steer the church into the blessings that God has for His people, but what if they’re wrong? What if they misheard? What if some prophet is yelling about it right now and church leadership is ignoring him because they’re callused after too many people have talked crap? Have the critics’ cries drowned out the sound of the prophetic call to repent, do something different, or sit and wait?
In some instances, the rhetorical distinctions between a prophet and a critic are minimal. The Spirit of God and the speaker’s intentions are the distinguishing factors. If the people of God missed it back then, isn’t it likely that we could overlook the message now? How much are we listening and discerning when we hear that we’re doing something wrong? Even if nobody likes a critic, we need to make sure we know who’s voice we’re writing off as critical because in the end, it might save us from destruction (in a modern-day, less destructive sense nothing like that of the Old Testament, of course).
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“Much of the depreciating speech about the Bride of Christ is negative self-talk, like she’s looking in a mirror and doesn’t like her giant hips or something.”
Classic. 🙂
Some say the mark of a good leader is the fruit of their followers… and yet I know some cults that have followers with decent looking fruit. Anyone of us can start off “well” and end “not well”. Hence the issue with blind trust in leadership, and what makes this argument so valid.
What is the solution? As a leader, who wants to follow God, what is the solution to the obvious logic of this? Do we apologize for everything brought to our attention? Is it better to “repent” too much then not enough? Too much of that leads to insecure, unconfident, people pleasers doesn’t it?
My opinion? Many people have left churches that have been right in their accusations. Many people have left churches because they felt like their opinions, and perspectives were judged as unfit by those around them. The thing is, they left, so what good did being right do? Influence is earned, not just with followers, with leadership too.
When Prophets kept doing what they were called to do, eventually God’s will got done, one way or another. I think the ones that stick around churches are kinda like sandpaper. They have a way of smoothing out everything around them if they keep it up… but they also cant help but get smooth themselves.
Thanks for yet another thought provoking blog…
Glover, the best leaders have discernment. IF they get the SAME complaint again and again for years, they probably need to consider it, if it’s not ridiculous. I couldn’t agree more about earning influence with anybody, I’d say the same is true of leaders. There are people leading all sorts of organizations around our valley, I can’t say that I’d let them influence me without having a good reason first. There’s always respecting their position or office, but I think that has limited sway in the matter.
As for the smoothing process, have you ever been rubbed by sandpaper? It’s unpleasant and I think that’s part of the problem- nobody wants to be criticized. (not that all prophetic messages are negative, but let’s just be honest here, they aren’t all positive either! May I ask, when was the last time you heard a negative prophetic message about anything?? I thought so.)
Anyway, I’ve been working on this since we briefly talked about it at the restaurant. It’s not an easy message because too many people could easily get butt-hurt over it, so I tried to have some tact 🙂
I appreciate you.
I do think we hear negative prophetic messages all the time though. For example…
“You don’t care about cleaning the kitchen because I act like your mom and do it for you. (negative). If you don’t start caring your going to live like a slob the rest of your life. (prophetic).
lets just say I’m a better person because someone said this to me once.
Or (another example) I once gave a dear friend of mine some great prophetic advice “stop being an #$@.” (I promise it was appropriate for the context of the situation). The person stopped. I’m sure it changed their life.
God supplies individuals to help us get over our “rough spots”, which was my point in the first place. If you are called to be sandpaper, make sure you stick around long enough to do your job. 🙂
Glover. There is nothing prophetic about telling someone to stop being an $%^&*. If so, I’d be the best prophet in Idaho. I think we’re not taught the difference between confession, speaking life and death over each other and prophecy. We make it all so bloody spiritual, even if it’s really our flesh yelling, “I want to stab you! Knock it off or I’ll do it! …. THUS SAYETH THE LORD!” (I might have to say that sometime soon… totally kidding.)
Just for the record, I appreciate you as well.
When I hear or read someone critical of the church, or critical of anything, really, my first inclination (after outrage or agreement) is to wonder what their motivation is. Are they being critical because they truly want to point people towards Jesus, or do they simply have an ax to grind or some past hurt they’re trying to avenge? I think some just want to be controversial, i.e. — they just want to draw attention to themselves. They want people to agree with them and validate their outrage. Which is not to say there isn’t room for discussion about what’s wrong with the Bride of Christ, there is. As for me, when I’m tempted to lash out at the church (or some people representing the church) I try to examine my own heart first. Sometimes maybe not enough.
Kathy, you make a ton of good points. So often, people really do get butthurt and want to get people to agree with them that so-and-so is a terrible person, we’re making mistakes, etc. That’s the problem, because when there’s so much complaining and so many idiotic voices, the real or the good stuff probably gets drowned out! I wish I was better at examining my heart when this happens. I also wish everyone else was, too.
It really can be hard to discern between criticism that is motivated out of anger or malice and criticism motivated by the voice of God. That’s one of the reasons why my team and I take time to consider most criticism – taking into account who is giving the criticism. Sometimes, we can be so ingrained in our way of doing things, that we miss the outside voices saying something isn’t working right.
Great post Jake!
It’s so important to avoid hearing corrective voices. Who knows how much time they could save us, how much heartache the could prevent, etc. Granted, some people are pigs, and we should never, EVER listen to them, but we’ll figure out who they are!
You take it all seriously and consider the source. You can tell by the fruit of some that they don’t seek anybody’s good. It takes some good old-fashioned discernment. Great thoughts, Jake. Thanks.
Discernment is something I pray for a lot when I’m confronted with a situation that’s less than favorable to my poor little ego. (kidding with that last part) I think it’s helped me tons to realize that some people are haters, others are religious, and some really do want the best for me!
I guess we’ve all seen bad people hiding in churches. In modern times I think it’s easier to spot a false prophet, the New Testament lays out some pretty clear marks of one. It’s a fine line between judging and discerning a persons motivations by their actions in order to figure it out. In the end a person’s fruits will eventually qualify or disqualify them as a voice from God.
Does anyone else see the parallel’s between the message the prophets of old were delivering regarding God’s children turning their back on God and us in this nation now? Nice post, you definitely got me thinking, as painful as that is…
Floyd, I love it when you think. We seem to get some good posts on There go i when you do! I’m 100% alright with bad people being in churches. I’d rather have them there than any other place but the expected result of that is drama. Lots of drams and sometimes, that means people saying things they shouldn’t. Then again, sometimes there’s just nothing nice to say and the truth has to be shared to make something change for some people or organizations. I bet there have been times when all God could say is “I love you” but kept also saying something along the lines of… and you’re a terrible________.
Please don’t tell me the blank to be filled in on your last line is “writer”!
Ummm no. I wouldn’t say that to you at all. Unless I needed to. Then I’d hesitate for a long time before I did and then I’d make it super awkward when I did tell you. Totally kidding.
I gotta tell you I’m having a blast with not just your in depth posts, but the fun filled comments as well. I rarely get to laugh out loud when reading, but you my friend are the exception to that rule!
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