This has been brewing in me for some time…and because I’m taking a day today to just read, somehow reading makes me want to write, so here goes.
I’ve grown to have a nuisance for certain things we Christians accept as truth or the norm, that, going by the Book aren’t accurate—but the dogmatic ritual having a deep running history causes an incidental indoctrination of erroneous thoughts having no validity outside naïve habitual repetition. Well, ok, lots of things fall into that category, but for now I just kinda want to blurp on a phrase I’ve coined “Aftermath Prophecy.” And, that phrase has recently linked to me of another one, where we as believers are often “Silent Agnostics…” oh snap…here goes…
I can probably best explain that by making up an example. Let’s just say this guy named Bob, within a few months gets a job promotion, an inheritance check for $100,000, and doubles his savings with well played investments. Bob is a good guy, goes to church, gives generously, etc. A lady at church, Suzy, says to Bob that this is a reward from God, and that God is pleased with Bob, and that because of all the good things Bob did Bob now gets a blessing. Bob is now ecstatic and enthusiastic about his faith and tells others this story as a “witness” to the goodness of God.
Next year, Bob continues to give money generously & lives his life relatively the same in terms of character & integrity and such. Suddenly, the stock market crashes, his industry has a lay off and he is included, and between having no job and a fallen market his inheritance is reduced to rubble. A few weeks after this, he consults good ol’ Suzy the church lady. He is puzzled about where God is in all of this. Suzy then informs him that God is wanting to test him. She says that “this was God’s will” and that “God saw this coming” (though, of course, she His mouth piece sure didn’t) and that, in fact, she has a “feeling” that God orchestrated this as a way to test the faith of dear ol’ Bob. Bob, in the mean time, is not nearly as energetic about his faith, and, even deep down thinks that God doesn’t love him as much. After all, last year, according to that word from Suzy, God was displaying His love through good stuff, and it was largely based on what he did…so, secretly, silently, Bob has a sense of agnosticism even as a Christian (agnosticism is simply thinking that God exists but that he isn’t connected to day to day life and circumstances) because he doesn’t see God in his situation any more.
After another year, Bob gets a new job. It’s not as good of pay as the old one, but, he’s content. He manages to pay off debt accrued from his layoff, and starts to get back on his feet. This time he doesn’t bother to talk to Suzy about it, but she approaches Bob. She tells him that God did in fact have a plan, and that God is now rewarding him….etc etc…
We’ve all ran into lots of “Suzie’s” in modern Christianity. This story could continue to go in in the highs and lows of Bob’s life in a repetitive cycle where a person conveys God’s Will to Bob after a particular situation has transpired. Each time something good happens, a Suzy or a Frank or a whoever could approach a Bob and tell them something about God’s will being involved, and they could appear to hear his voice, etc. In the low moments, they could say a lot of really well meaning things, with intentions of encouraging Bob by telling him what they think God is saying through this situation.
We’ve all probably done this, and we’ve all even been thankful for such “words” from God. And, while I do think that God’s voice can come through any person, at any time, I have one serious dilemma with all of this: there is, it seems to me, nearly no one in the Church today who has the gusto to speak unless it corresponds exactly to the exact situation which has already transpired. This is what I mean by the phrase I coined, “Aftermath Prophecy.”
I probably wouldn’t be so hard on us about this, if it weren’t by the fact that most of the Charismatic wing of the Body believes that the “prophetic” is being restored to the Church and that God is wishing that “all would prophecy” (which is a Scripture so I’m not negating the valid aspects of that but it’s interpretation). In the words of my buddy Will, it’s like people are using “prophetic revolvers” like men in a Western movie who want to see who is the quickest to draw. We “shoot” words to people, feeling that we have every right and capability to accurately discern the mystery of God’s Will within seconds. And again, my wish is not to say that the adverse would be better—that God is not speaking and that God cannot and will not speak through a man or a woman today. I still am a firm believer that God can (and, I think he has spoken to me at times even recently through movies and t.v. shows) and does speak to us today.
I think a perfectly good example (a touchy one, but a good one) is the recent elections of this past year. I remember having this sick-to-my-gut feeling with all the prayer-vigils called together to “pray in” John McCain, and to “rise up with authority” to ensure that Barack Obama would not be elected president. Many dominant leaders in the Church proclaimed that if only we fasted & prayed enough, a Republican would be elected president. (I know I just stuck my hand in a bee-hive but endure this with me please). And, I equally remember that pseudo-somber feeling many expressed when (now) President Obama won the election, feeling that a cloud of doom and gloom was enveloping our country; and that our political situation was in exact relation to our spiritual condition… Some continued to spew words from their mouth, (in my opinion, transferring their subconscious blame of having to admit they weren’t right about all the words / wishes they dished out) thinking that the anti-Christ sat up his throne in the Oval Office and that, based upon what already happened, this was another “sign” of the end. Personally, I think it’s very unkind of many of those leaders to call churches to extreme prayer to appoint a Republican leader, and then announce that the reason he lost was because there wasn’t enough prayer. That, to me, is speaking as the voice of God without having to follow up on anything you say. You can dish out whatever you want, and just stamp Jesus’ copyright on it afterwards, and you’re good to go. Meanwhile, a generation is left un-empowered in faith, wondering why God chose to not hear their prayer for their political-spiritual leader to win (which is essentially the belief of an agnostic, by definition).
My main issue, though, is that most the time we are just really, really, really off. Really off. Did I say really off yet? I don’t think it’s a matter of “relevance” or any of our other buzz words. I don’t think that we need to package it different, that we need to be more “tolerant” or nice or other ways of saying sugar coating. I just think we need to grasp this: that while being able to speak for God is an immense joy and a gift given us based on grace, it is yet an immense responsibility and the very moment you or I dare to proclaim the words of the Mightiest One we enter into accountability with that word and are judged with greater strictness—remember if even a teacher is judged with greater strictness, how much more so will be the judgment of a (potentially) self-proclaimed prophet?!?!?!
And may I just blurp in here really quick, I’m not trying to drive into judgment land myself. I think, though, we need a refreshing on the areas of our spiritual journey that are grace given. Things like our salvation, our ability to be a friend of God, and even our physical healings are those things that are free of charge to anyone, Biblically speaking. But things like being a mouth piece for GOD are extremely expensive and come at a great price. That’s the mystical mastery in God’s Will, where Jesus would lavishly love a skanky woman caught in the act of adulterous sex and yet rebuke his buddy Peter for saying that it wasn’t God’s Will for the Messiah to suffer at a cross. Grace flows freely and in Isaiah 55:1 & 2 we can get wine, milk, and bread for free, but other things, we are told, must be “purchased with gold refined by fire” (Rev. 3:18). So, bread—those elementary things, are free. But, gold—the deeper things, come with cost.
These things aren’t our actual sickness, but I think they are the coughs that reflect our cold. These symptoms go down to a much deeper root. We read this Book where our prayers should NOT be long and eloquent, especially in public, for to do so is to be like the Pagans (Words of Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount). Yet, most our prayers and proclamations, to me are a mix of a pouring of our heart, shaken together with some soul, adding a few drops of tears and spiced with a few dashing words—and yet utterly devoid of any power or any immediate (or just any, in general) effect. I’d love to be proved wrong here, I’d love to know of a man who says little but raises much from the dead. Please, show me such a man! Be such a man (or woman ☺)!
And, I’m not claiming that I know which is which, nor am I saying to stop thinking that God can speak through you or someone else. But, I dare one person out there to know when it’s going to rain in a drought, or to know when poverty will pounce on a palace—before it happens. If that were to happen, I may believe that person was sent from God, but I refuse to settle for the money-marketing of spiritual gifts displayed in the bankrupt Body today, where the gifts are used with a crossing of the fingers and a hope that they will be effectual.
May our prayers no longer be a mere wish, and may our “Words from God” never, ever, return so void…
