2127AFC070221 – Prophet and Loss, Too*
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Ezekiel 2:2, 5 – 2 After he said this, his Spirit took control of me and lifted me to my feet. 5 Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.
2 Corinthians 12:9b – 9 But he replied, “My kindness is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak.” So if Christ keeps giving me his power, I will gladly brag about how weak I am. Contemporary English Version (CEV) Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society
Mark 6:6a – 6 And he was amazed at their unbelief. (NRSVCE)
May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. I will begin today by acknowledging two special events in our lives. The first is the holiday instituted to honor the founding of the United States of America through The Declaration of Independence wherein we find “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” As an “Air Force brat,” a Veteran, and a proud American I ask that you reread that document, and please recommit to using this ↓↓ OFTEN.
Secondly, a shout-out to my brothers Dan and Dave who were – as the song says – Born on The Fourth of July. My filial Love to these two wonderful men! Now, ʻŌmea, let’s find what this old man has in store for you today.
This image represents Ezekiel, the visionary Prophet of God. Our El Shaddai-Olam gave him many extraordinary visions, tasks, and prophetic messages. You can get an idea of the structure and content of this exceptional poetic message collection here. He was a remarkable Priest and Prophet who lived during the Exile to Babylon (occurred about 722-538 BC). He was active from around 600-650 BC. He spoke whatever God told him to speak (there is another Prophet we will meet today who does that same thing), but the people refused to listen to him (or to the other guy either!), and so the natural consequences of sinful disobedience caught up with them. God told them to repent and behave. They didn’t. They died – except for a remnant taken from their homeland for some reconditioning. You may remember Ezekiel as the guy who prophesied over the dry bones, and who lay on his side for 430 days; his message foreshadowed the destruction of Israel because their behavior is so repugnant. This is followed by God’s promise and fulfillment of the restoration of his People. It is a reiteration of the entire message of Salvation: Turn to me with Love and I will make you Great among the Nations so that all will know that I AM God.
Being a Prophet was risky, hard, and probably quite frustrating – one of those jobs something like herding cats. One reason it is so difficult is because most people have no idea what a Prophet is, what the work of a Prophet must be, and don’t understand that men and women, boys and girls, any and all can be called upon to prophesy. Let’s take a look at Joel 2:28 – 28 Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. The Apostle Peter refers to this in Acts 2:14-19 (↔ Click Link for context). We tend to think of prophesy as “foretelling the future,” in fact in the Old Testament, the persons who prophesied were referred to as “seers,” someone who sees God’s will, someone who is clairvoyant, can divine the future through supernatural powers. Later, though, prophecy was developed by God as a tool for him to communicate his plan, his will, and his Love to us. Let’s do a quick review of this idea of prophecy.
Originally posted under Aloha Friday Messages at http://www.aloha-friday.org – The Moon Beam Network at 1410AFC070714 – First Friday of Lent –There are words in the Bible that are translated as “seer,” and the persons associated with that word (usually the Hebrew חֹזֶה (cho-zeh) {kho-zeh’} or רָאָה (ra’ah) {raw-aw’}) are recognized as persons through whom God sends messages. We see this in 1 Samuel 9:9 (In former times in Israel, anyone who went to consult God used to say, “Come, let us go to the seer.” For he who is now called prophet was formerly called seer.) The Old Testament word for prophet is nabi (nabiy’) {nah-bee’}. There are some disagreements among scholars about the origin of that word, but one that is well-accepted is that this noun comes from the verb noba’ meaning to “bubble up,” “boil over”,” as in “to pour forth an abundance of words,” such as those who speak within divine inspiration. It is by and through the power and inspiration of God that a prophet speaks, and a prophet can’t help but speak when and what God commands any more than a boiling pot can stop bubbling. And that is the key. Those who have Divine Inspiration are True Prophets. The converse is that those whose “inspiration” is self-generated are the False Prophets. How then can we tell the difference? If we look at the verses following Jesus description of wolves in sheep’s clothing, the answer is clear. (See Matthew 7:15)
The answer is, “by their fruits you will know them.” And here’s where we run into trouble because these days there’s a lot of fake fruit on the table. The fake fruit comes to us through the tireless work of the Prince of Lies, the Devil, and he uses a few seeds of Truth and a ton of manure to raise a crop of bad advice. He wants us to change the names of things because it suits his purposes and not God’s. Anything that does not suit God’s purpose is, well, wrong; but Satan tries to convince us it is right to make these changes because “it is right to do this; you will be like God when you do.” Does that sound familiar, something you might have read recently in Genesis? And so we take something we know is wrong, call it by something we know can’t be right, and PRESTO! What was wrong is now right. Marriage is no longer sacred, family is no longer a community of love, amorphous “spirituality” is true religion, and God is me because I am God. Beloved, there are seeds of truth in what the World is telling us about these things, but to believe them, one must overlook the ton of manure that comes along with them. We have to be careful what we swallow and how many grains of salt it takes to get it down.
Originally posted under Aloha Friday Messages at http://www.aloha-friday.org – The Moon Beam Network at 1719AFC051217 – Stones and Thrones – As Prophets, we are graced with the opportunity to speak The Word of the Lord in our hearts and minds as well as in the hearts and minds of others – our families, communities, churches, and workplaces – through example and testimony. In Numbers 11:29, Moses scolds the Israelites, “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” We are the recipients of that Spirit of the Living God. In the Spirit of Prophecy, we teach our children and each other as witnesses to “The Way, the Truth, and the Life.” (See John 14:6)
Today we have many people – as God himself decreed – who speak from within God’s voice. Not often do we hear, “Thus says the Lord God,” but we do often hear things like, “God is expecting us to understand that …” These modern-day prophets speak out to us about the same things the Apostle Paul warned about: Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers – every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice, envy, vaunted pride, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, slanderers, God-haters insolent, haughty, gluttonous, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, and ruthless. They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die – yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them. (See Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians 5) To that list we must shamefully add murders of millions of innocents – babies, elders, political enemies, ethnic pogroms, and intentional destruction and failure of stewardship for our only home, Earth.
ʻŌmea, we can – must – rest in that all-sufficient Grace. “It’s so hard!” Only if you resist the Grace and Love of God will it be hard. Why fight it? We each have a built-in irresistible affinity for God. We cannot fight that. The answer is to have the faith to be weak so that Jesus’ power is manifested in us. Be weak, not strong. (↔ Music Link) Oh, my Belovéd, there is only one thing we need to remember when it comes to that moment: Jesus loves me (↔ Music Link), loves you, loves us. “I am weak but he is strong.” (↔ Music Link) The Bible is the Living word of God, so that means it speaks to us of God, God’s will, God’s way, God’s Wonder and Might, and God’s perfect integrity, Endless Mercy and Eternal Salvation through Christ our Lord. Forget that, deny that, fail to learn that, never hear that and we lose everything … ev-ery-thing – and we also lose the community of everyone who knows and believes God as a faithful follower of Christ who lives according to biblical precepts and Scripture, Apostolic Tradition, and the Magisterium. We must listen to the Prophet Ezekiel who was rejected in his own place. The Apostle Paul was beaten, stoned, whipped, tortured, reviled, and still he said he’d do it all For the sake of Christ, (↔ Music Link). And who else was rejected in his own place? Jesus of Nazareth went through that in his home town, and – like a True Prophet – he spoke only and all that God gave him to speak. According to Luke 4:16-30, his neighbors and fellow citizens were ready to kill him at the beginning of his ministry. “29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
ʻŌmea, is there a Prophet speaking to you today? Do you hear in your heart the irresistible affinity for God’s love and is it telling you as we learned in Isaiah 30:21 – 21 And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” That word we hear is The Word. When we trust in the Lord, and we do his good will, what a glory he sheds on our way. Listen to the Prophets and we gain All that is Good. Shut them out and we lose that; but, God will still give us Blessings because he Loves us. My dear friends in Christ, let’s all go together to that Heavenly shore, walking closely together (↔ Music Link), arm-in-arm, heart-in-heart, hands holding onto Jesus as he speaks only and all that God gives him to speak. As we walk this lonesome valley, we shall listen and we will know a Prophet walks among us, too, so that we experience no loss. Perhaps Jesus will be gladdened by our stronger Faith!
*The sequel to 1841AFC101218 – Prophet and Loss
Jesus teaching at the Synagogue in Nazareth.
“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house.”
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
BONUS (↔ Music Link)
