THE LIVING PROPHETS SOCIETY PRESENTS:
DEAD PROPHETS, NON-PROPHETS,AND NAKED PROPHETS
Most who claim to be prophets today, are quickly discredited by the press or by the religious communities, or both. They are labeled, "false prophets" or non-prophets. Only the "dead prophets" are respected, but for many, that came primarily after they were dead. For some it came only after their deaths. Even the Pharisees revered the dead prophets. It was the live ones that caused them to gnash their teeth.Isaiah was the first professional, "naked" prophet (Isa. 20:1-3), walking "naked and barefoot" for three years to illustrate the coming captivity and humiliation of Egypt and Ethiopia. Today, we have television evangelists, whose "naked escapades" are exposed by the prostitutes they have solicited, or they are recorded by a hidden camera.
This website is dedicated to all prophets, dead or living, naked or clothed, real or otherwise. We shall examine all aspects of prophets and prophecy. Our purpose is to discover what prophets are and what they are not, what prophecy is and what it is not, so that we may be better able to recognize the true from the false. We shall look at the scriptural answers to the "who, what, when, where, how and why?" of prophecy and prophets in order to seek a better understanding of this topic. We shall also reserve space for miracles, healings, contact with angels, dreams, visions and voices.One friend asked, "How are you gonna keep the nuts out?" We wondered the same thing. On the other hand, we wonder how many people thought that Isaiah was "nuts"? Only a few believed that Christ (or Yashua) was the Messiah, and a true prophet.
If a true prophet appeared today, for instance one or both of the "two witnesses" (Rev. 11:3), how many would believe them? Based on the experience of past prophets, many would reject them, even if they performed miracles. Their acceptance would be least likely among the more highly-educated peoples of the western world. In eastern nations, third-world nations, or among some minority groups, miracles seem to be more easily accepted by the masses. (We hope that's understood as an objective, cultural observation.) Perhaps those people conform more to Christ's instruction about the need to become as a "little child" in their approach to His teachings (Mat. 18:1-4).
Some say that any living prophet must conform to scripture. That's not a hard standard to achieve. The actions of the now-respected, but dead, prophets leave a lot of room for variation in behavior. Either God has a sense of humor, even when issuing ultimatums, or He can't get anyone to work for Him who isn't already nuts. Since He created us with the capacity to laugh, and to recognize humor, we favor the former explanation. Conformity is not the first word that comes to mind, when reading about the prophets. Whether it be fugitives, nudists, a long-haired "Hercules", or whether they are consorting with whores, cooking with dung, playing make-believe, or condemning the "chosen" ones, conformity is not an option. The Prophet's club could easily be called "Nuts-R-Us" by socially "accepted" standards of behavior.
Christ is a living prophet, having been resurrected from the dead. One would think that if the Jews accepted the Old Testament Prophets, they would have expected the unexpected of the Prophet who was prophesied to come. In fact, few "religious leaders" even recognized Christ as a prophet, despite all the miracles and the thousands who believed and were baptized prior to His death. Today, as a concession to the continued popularity of Christianity, Judaism acknowledges Christ as "just another prophet", but nothing more. Christ, however, did nothing to enhance the public image of prophets. If anything, His scandalous behavior made acceptance of live prophets even more difficult.
If you ever thought that a career in prophecy involved long flowing robes, the respect of multitudes, and a life of quiet meditation with occasional photo ops of you posing with a look of somber concern, or gesturing about the wrath to come, or a profile-shot with glazed eyes, "seeing" into the future, think again. You have obviously confused institutional costuming, funeral-like ceremonies and self-righteous, religious posturing with true righteousness and divine messages.
The greatest common, physical denominator among the true prophets was often an extreme in personal grooming, hygiene, diet, housing, behavior, or age. These extremes were contradictory and sometimes, contemporary. Outrageous publicity stunts were carried out per divine instructions. Women and children were used to deliver messages from the Almighty. Obedience to private visions involved breaking divinely-given, national laws, regarding such things as consorting with whores (Deu.22:21) and the disposal of human dung (Deu. 23:13).
Is it any wonder, they weren't believed? As long as we expect God to conduct His business according to our standards, we shall continue to fail to recognize His true servants.
Has God stopped calling prophets? Or are we still failing to recognize them among us? Has God run out of creativity (Hab. 1:5) , or have we become so adult, so un-child-like (Mat. 18:4) , that we couldn't recognize a divinely sent messenger if he were to spit in our eye (as Christ once did).
It's not really a matter of "keeping the nuts out", as God gave us instructions on how to deal with false prophets. It's more a matter of attaining discernment through the exercise of the Holy Spirit, so that we can "hear" the true prophets among us, both dead and alive (Num.12:6, Heb. 2:1-19, esp. 7, 17).
Other articles in this series will show how to do just that.
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