“Would that all the Lord’s people were
prophets!” (Numbers 11: 29)
Such were the words of Moses to Joshua in the Old Testament. Yes, as
in those days, so surely today there is an urgent need for the people of
God to fulfil a truly prophetic role! But first of all let me make it
clear that such a role is no more confined to foretelling things of the
future than is it in speaking a humanly unrecognisable gibberish. The
prophets of old were far more concerned about decadent problems of their
day, the need to address them, and if they didn’t then the repercussions
such immoral practices would have for the future. Such prophets – once
the Spirit of God came upon them – felt compelled to ‘speak out’ against
that which oppressed the weakest and most vulnerable of their time.
Indeed, as the truth so often offends the mind of the offender, then
prophets became the victims of persecution. First, they were often
sarcastically laughed at; then they were horrendously hounded, and last
of all – if not stoned before hand! – frequently victorious in
conquering their enemies by making them their friends.
Yes, such ‘stirrers of the people’ were quite a contrast to the more
refined and less revolutionary life style of their contemporary priests.
The latter – as quite a contrast – were more guilty of not only
pandering to corrupt practices by those of influence, but they were also
frequently willing to give a veneer of religious respectability to
perpetrators of selfishness and greed. And, indeed, such priestly
pandering to those of questionable practices in influential places has
not been confined to those of a biblical era. We need go no further than
consider traditional English Vicars of late Victorian times, who would
kowtow to the crooked squire in his cushioned pew while confining his
denunciations to the likes of a village lass made pregnant by the
squire’s son!
For a similar example of such priestly hypocrisy and a wish to avoid
fulfilling a prophetic role at all costs, I’m reminded of a mining
disaster that occurred in a village called Silkstone which I passed
through regularly. A deluge which occurred in the village swamped down
in to a sloping mine shaft entrance resulting in a colossal amount of
children being drowned. Consequently, the Anglican priest of the church
and parish had a voluntary collection taken from the folk of the parish
so as to erect a monument in their memory. He obviously didn’t wish to
blame the proprietor of the mine – who had his own plush pew complete
with a fireplace within the church itself! So what did he do? Well, he
had an inscription chiselled out on the monument erected in the
churchyard for the victims of the disaster. Rather than in any way
offend the squire, or criticize the appalling dangers extant in the
mine, these are amongst the words he had inscribed: ‘a sudden and an
unexpected visitation of the Lord occurred’. Yes, rather than put any
blame on the squire who had children as young as seven literally slaving
away in his mine, the Rector ascribed the unexpected flooding of the
colliery to an act of God. Well, how convenient!
But then, are priests and pastors, in a more subtle and refined
sense, any better today? I speak for myself when I say that as a
previous Congregational minister where the senior chapel deacon was
managing director of a massive mill which employed most men in the
village, that what I spoke out so forcefully against was never the
working conditions but the evils of drunkenness; which could result in
lethargy at work and occasional absenteeism. Yes, I was fulfilling a
prophetic as well as a pastoral role but I knew full well that my own
‘bread and butter’ was safe and I was commended too by the leading light
of that affluent place of worship. Well, shame on me!
In all honesty, I have since become much bolder, and once established
within past Anglican livings of ones own, have frequently ‘rocked the
boat’ and sometimes paid for it dearly. But then we’re not called upon
to be men pleasers but rather pleasers of God! What troubles me, as an
octogenarian ‘burning the midnight oil in swatting for ones finals’ is
that I haven’t always stirred up certain issues enough. Yes, due to fear
of being unpopular within ‘respectable’ circles. Yet one needs to
realise that Christ was not crucified because He consoled, comforted and
brought healing to so many. Indeed, for such things He was no doubt well
appreciated. He was denounced because they said ‘ “He stirreth up the
people” Yes, and especially the religious hierarchy of His day! It was
for this that He ended up with a cross on His back.
Well of what relevance is the above to us? I would simply say that we
who seek to serve Him must never choose a comfortable cushion in
preference to a cruel cross. We are called upon to deny ourselves, take
up a cross and follow Him, and this is always a voluntary choice. We may
have many ‘thorns in the flesh’ thrust upon us, but the cross is
something to be voluntarily taken up. Indeed, I say all this because as
Christians (whether Laity or Clergy) we’re called upon to be - as were
the first disciples - “the salt of the earth”. And though salt in such a
metaphor is a great ‘spicer up’ of what was previously a bland form of
existence, the same ingredient when first applied can smart exceedingly.
So likewise, can proclaiming Christianity to an unregenerate soul. One,
so frequently needs to be broken before being made anew.
We all need to be deeply aware of the danger of so bathing in a holy
huddle of encircled believers, looking inwards with joy, as to ignore
the command to go out and be ‘the salt’ within an outside world of
dishonesty and constant corruption. Indeed, may it never be said
justifiably of your Church or of mine; as was said of a gathering of
prim and pious poker-faced, Bible bashers elsewhere: ‘They are so
heavenly minded as to be no earthly use!’ There is undoubtedly time
needed to get ones spiritual batteries recharged through indulging in
prayer, praise, testimony – and possibly hallelujahs! - but if it ends
there, then we still prove to be just shallow bashers of noisy gongs
with no dinner to follow.
Yes, the fact is that we are called to be prophets for Jesus.
Something of which today’s church appears to have a grave shortage. As
these ‘stirrers of the people’ varied in biblical times, so they will
vary today. Not all have the same prophetic gifts but those true to
their calling will be behind many a worthy cause; but God grant that
they will not be so behind it as to be out of sight! For myself, I
wasn’t able to merely sing choruses for Jesus, once made aware of
covered up cracks in a nuclear plant up in Scotland where I lived. To
the annoyance of a local priest who supported nuclear, simply as it
brought financial benefit and employment to his parish, I simply had to
speak out prophetically. Yes, and when I saw cows confined in sheds and
heartlessly abused as if they were milk machines then I had to ‘rock the
boat’ with a ‘thus saith the Lord!’ form of righteous indignation.
Indeed, I’ll say no more about myself. I simply know that where there
is injustice of any kind then it is the prime responsibility of the
Christian to be in the vanguard of speaking out for today’s equivalents
to “the weak, the vulnerable, the widow, the orphan and the stranger”
of biblical times. Such uncalled for objections and words of protest
may result in a heavy cross, but today’s secular society needs
Christians who will rock the boat for Jesus and say ‘enough is enough’.
So may we all be saved then from any form of timidity that – heaven
forbid - would seek to make us traitors to our precious Lord and
Saviour, Jesus Christ. Those true prophets of old were as bold as a
lion. May we prove likewise!
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