I start with a correction in semantics. The words prophecy or prophets mistakenly get taken to mean “prediction” or “future-forecasting.” That’s not really what those words mean! To be “prophetic” or a “prophet” means to engage in truth-telling about ourselves – our systems of belief that could end in consequences we don’t expect.

In a biblical, or God sense, the gift or act of prophecy also includes promise. Look at the prophetic literature in the Old Testament. Read one of the twelve “minors” – they are quick reads – and you will see that along with the woe, the gloom and doom, there is good news of the promise of God to restore what and who has been broken by the calamities of this world. Prophecies are warnings. We pray that we will avoid what happened to God’s people when they forgot Him; turned their back on Him; thought they didn’t need Him.

Religion is a sick system. The symptoms are well known. We keep repeating the same mistakes, thinking that we don’t have to change. Grace is so cheapened that it comes down to just being about worship attendance and how much we put in the offering plate. We accommodate to culture, believing that bigger is better. This puts church in the same category as the world: consumerism and market-share. This belief system of navel-gazing IS broke and DOES need to be fixed. “The way things are” mentality has to be changed. There is no “normal” in the vernacular of prophecy.

A second corrective. Lest we think that biblical prophecy is just an Old Testament thing, check out 2 Peter 1:19-21. We should always heed, pay attention to the signs of our age. We do draw ever closer to the return of Jesus. We wind down another church year with prophetic writing, reflecting the teachings of Jesus, our Prophet, Priest and King. He wishes for our preparation, not to scare or intimidate us.

Do not be shaken or discouraged, brothers and sisters in Christ! God will continue to love us unconditionally!

Pastor Art

“We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:19-21