A Prophet for Our Time
The Presbyterian Church (USA)… with great audacity… claims that God still speaks to us in our time… that it is possible for us to receive a word from God today. One would assume… given that statement… that it would be possible for us to find a prophet among us… one who has been raised up to speak a word. And, as we look around, there is no shortage of individuals who claim that position… maybe not audacious enough to call themselves a prophet… for, after all, that is a term that we rarely use today… but, instead, someone who claims to speak for God. One such person is Pat Robertson. Mr. Robertson has claimed that much of what he has shared with us is the word of God as it has been given to him. Some of these revelations include: calling for the assassination of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela… labeling Ariel Sharon's massive stroke punishment from God for conceding land to the Palestinians…and claiming that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s motorcycle accident in 2006 was caused by Satan.
There is nothing stopping me… or any of you… from standing in this place and claiming to speak for God… except, perhaps, the threat that stands in our text today… the threat that promises that anyone who presumes to speak in God’s name a word that God has not given to them will die. But we haven’t seen the lightning bolt from heaven smite Pat Robertson and we are very skeptical that anyone speaking for God today will suffer death for their words. So how can we determine that the one who claims to speak for God truly speaks a word from God and is not simply hallucinating… or a part of the lunatic fringe in our society?
Charles Kimbel, in his book, When Religion Becomes Evil, gives examples of how whole societies, in the name of God, have wreaked havoc upon others. Perhaps there is no better example, in our time, than the Rwandan genocide, where Christian Hutus, in the name of God, slaughtered more than one million Christian Tutsis while the rest of the world sat by and did nothing. Other examples from history include the Spanish Inquisition and the Nazi Holocaust… again, slaughtering the innocent in the name of Jesus Christ. And it is not only Christianity that has this black mark against its name. Islam conquered nations and slaughtered thousands in the name of its holy prophet, Mohammed, and we have historical accounts of the Aztecs slaughtering tens of thousands of people just to consecrate a new temple. How do we differentiate what is the voice of God from what is really evil disguised as religion?
Mark Juergensmeyer, in his book, Terror In the Mind of God, suggests five things that should set off warning bells in our minds when we hear them:
· Fanatical claims of absolute truth
· Blind obedience to totalitarian, charismatic or authoritarian leaders
· Actively trying to usher in the end times
· Justifying religious ends by any means, and
· any and all forms of dehumanization.
Another author, Dan Clendenin, adds to that list, suggesting that pressure tactics of coercion, deception and false advertisement, alienation and isolation from one’s family or community, and any and all forms of exploitation (time, money, sex, etc.) are more signs that something is not of God’s authorship. Yet another author, Anne Lamott, advises that when God seems to hate all the same people that you hate, then you can be confident that you have created God in your own image. Many of you have, from time to time, expressed frustration with the committees of the church and the time-consuming nature of the decision making process in the church, but embedded in that process is the belief that no one person speaks for God and that only as a community of faith can we together discern God’s will. Anyone who presumes to speak for God and is not willing for their thoughts or ideas to come under the scrutiny of others… to be questioned… discussed… and prayerfully put to a vote… is one who lives in danger of perverting God’s will for their own purposes.
So how can we know whether and when a person speaks for God… or, as the verse that follows our text today says: "How can we know when a message [has or] has not been spoken by the Lord?" (Deuteronomy 18:21). The answer, of course, from the verse that follows that question is that “if a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken.” (Deuteronomy 18:22) So, what are we saying… that hindsight is 20/20? We already knew that. What we are looking for is how to judge a word from God at the time that it is spoken.
The Apostle Paul has probably given us the greatest guidance in this area. In his letter to the Philippians (chapter 4), he writes: “Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” I don’t know whether any of you have ever gone down that list, but it is a fairly comprehensive list of the things that should occupy our minds. After saying that, Paul goes on to advise those he teaches in this way: “Keep on doing the things that you have learned… and received… and heard… and seen… in me, and the God of peace will be with you.” And that is not to say that life is a garden of roses and that all we encounter will be beautiful, for the letter to the Hebrews (chapter 4) tells us that “the word of God is living and active… sharper than any two-edged sword… piercing until it divides soul from spirit… joints from marrow… it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” The writer of Hebrews goes on to say that “before him… meaning Jesus Christ… no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.” Our accountability is not to our fellow man… nor to the courts or judges of this world. No, we will be held to account by Christ himself on the final day.
There are two other measures of the words of a prophet in our time: the first is humility and the second is love. A prophet is conscious of the burden of bearing God’s word and does not speak that word in a spirit of judgment. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus clearly tells us, "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.” Therefore, in speaking a word from God, we are to speak the truth in love… which sounds trite, until we try to do it. Perhaps, we could use these words from Colossians (chapter 3) to guide us: “As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion… kindness… humility… meekness… and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other… just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” In other words, if we have to choose between a perfect world striving for love and a loving world striving for perfection, it is the loving world that God desires. For, if the words of the prophet do not proclaim love for God’s people, they are not a word of God. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Would that we all could be a reflection of that perfect love to all we meet. Amen.
Deuteronomy 18:15-20