PROPHETS AND PROPHECY IN TODAY'S CHURCH
By Rev. Jim and Carolyn Murphy
Table of Contents...
PART TWO - THE PROPHET
CHAPTER 13
CHARACTERISTICS OF A CALLED PROPHET
There are certain common characteristics or basic
personality traits of individuals who have a prophetic call on their
life. After considerable study of the Old and New Testament prophets, I
believe the following general observations are quite accurate and
descriptive of those called to be prophets both in Scripture and today:
Strong Personality
I believe that the person who has a strong prophetic
call on his or her life will always have an inherently strong
personality. Every prophet in Scripture shows great strength of
personality and character: Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, John the Baptist,
and so on. I have never met a true prophet who didn't have, in secular
terms, a type A, or strong, dominant personality. And of course, it
makes sense that God would equip his prophets with strong
personalities, doesn't it? God sends His prophets into very hard and
difficult situations. These situations require a very strong person.
Intense
Along with this strong personality is an intensity.
Prophets are usually intense about most things they do and are always
intense about their walk with God. Certainly every prophet in Scripture
had this intensity of focus and commitment. You just don't find easy
going, relatively laid back prophets. They are not found in Scripture
and I haven't encountered any in this day either.
This intensity is also why prophets often have
difficulty understanding those who are less than 100% committed to the
Lord. The prophet is 110% committed and simply expects everyone else to
be as well.
Direct--Issue Oriented
A prophet is very issue oriented. He or she is more
likely to focus on an issue than on the people involved in the issue. A
prophet will tend to deal more directly with the facts regardless of
the people involved. We see an excellent example of this directness in
Matthew, chapter 11:
When John heard in prison what
Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one
who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John
what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those
who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does
not fall away on account of me.” (verses 1-6 NIV).
John, even while himself in prison, wanted
confirmation that Christ was the Messiah. So he did a very direct,
straightforward thing. He sent his disciples to ask Jesus. He clearly
expected a straight answer. “Tell us if you are the one or tell us if
we should continue to look for another?” John, as a prophet, was very
direct. Obviously he expected the same from everyone else, including
Jesus.
Because the prophet is issue orientation, it
sometimes appears that he or she cares little about the people
involved. That is not true. The mature prophet loves the body of
Christ. But that love will not interfere with his focus on the issue at
hand. (We will deal with this point later in chapter 15).
This issue oriented approach is also reflected in
the fact that the prophet tends to see everything in black or white
terms. The prophet sees very little gray in most matters. To the
prophet, most everything is either right or wrong. I visualize Amos in
this context holding his plumb line (Amos 7:7-9). The plumb line
represents God's righteousness on any given issue and, to the prophet,
all things relating to that issue are to be measured against the plumb
line.
Tough
Prophets are tough! They are made that way by the
Lord. They need to be tough to go, do, and say what the Lord directs
and when He directs.
Let's look at Jeremiah. Look what God says to
Jeremiah as He lays out His call on Jeremiah as a prophet.
In Jeremiah's day all important cities had great
walls around them for protection. These walls were recognized as the
toughest, most powerful means then known to man to protect the city
within. The Lord used the terms “fortified city,” “iron pillar” and
“bronze wall” as symbols to describe how he had made Jeremiah. These
symbolic references to Jeremiah, as a called prophet, were among the
most descriptive God could have used in that day to portray strength
and toughness. Jeremiah had a very tough task before him and God made
him as tough as iron, bronze, and a city wall so he could fulfill the
task.
We see that same toughness in John the Baptist. John
“went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of
repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Lk 3:3). Lets look at how
John received those who sought him in the Judean wilderness.
“What should we do then?” the crowd asked.
John answered, “The man with two
tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food
should do the same.”
Tax collectors also came to be baptized.
“Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
“Don't collect any more than you
are required to,” he told them.
Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should
we do?”
He replied, “Don't extort money
and don't accuse people falsely--be content with your pay.” (Lk 3:7-14
NIV).
Here is a very tough, very direct, very issue
oriented prophet at work. He lays out the righteousness of God and the
need of repentance. And then he directs them exactly how to live their
lives so as to please God. The people are to share their goods, be
honest in their business dealings, and to not accuse people falsely.
These are the kinds of tough directives a prophet is capable of giving.
Low in Mercy
The called prophet will not have an abundance of the
gift of mercy. And that is as it should be. The prophet's role, by and
large, is to focus on the issue at hand and to deliver the word of the
Lord as the Lord directs. In that capacity, if the Lord directs a
prophet to deliver a rebuke or admonition, or a hard directive word,
and if the prophet had a great deal of mercy, that mercy may well
interfere with the Lord's word. The prophet would then face the
difficult task of trying to filter God's word through this mercy.
Indeed, God's word cannot be filtered!
The ones in the Body of Christ who have an abundance
of mercy are far less willing to confront anyone. They are far more
concerned about hurting someone's feelings. The prophet is concerned
first and foremost with delivering the word of the Lord and then
letting the consequences flow. (We will study this concept in more
detail in the chapter on prophet-pastor relationships, chapter 19).
Outward Life in Order
The prophet tends to have his or her outward life in
order. Since the prophet sees matters mostly in black or white, and
since the prophet has a strong sense of God's righteousness, he is not
too likely to become ensnared in the more outward sins such as
adultery, stealing from the work place, cheating in a business deal,
and so on. It is not that the prophet is more “holy” or more sanctified
than other Christians, it is simply that these more outward sins simply
do not hold much attraction for the prophet. By and large, the prophet
will exercise that strong will of his to turn away from such external
temptations.
Prophets Are Poor Long-Term Counselors
Prophets generally do not make good long-term
counselors. They lack the patience and mercy necessary for this kind of
counseling. A prophet is much more inclined to spend some time with a
counselee, give that person the word of the Lord, then become impatient
if the counselee continues to drift in his sin or shows a lack of
commitment to correct a failing.
Prophets Make Poor Long-Term Pastors
Generally speaking, prophets make poor long-term
pastors. Their spiritual gifts are just not the same as the pastor's
gifts. In fact, they tend to be in contrast to the pastor's gifts.
As a rule, if a prophet is put in the position of a
pastor, his or her church is generally small and “struggling.” After a
while, the congregation is composed mostly of families who have at
least one adult member of the household with a prophetic call. It is
usually the husband or wife. That person will love the preaching and
the tone the prophet/pastor sets. Unfortunately, the rest of the family
is dragged along but does not thrive in that setting. If an individual
attends, he usually has a prophet's call.
Let me tell you about an incident I experienced
while I was teaching this subject a few years ago. I was in a setting
with about thirty pastors. As I was describing the characteristics of a
prophet, and contrasting them with a pastor, the group began to chatter
and laugh among themselves. It was distracting and I finally stopped
and asked my translator what they were saying. He explained that, as I
was talking, I began to describe one of their fellow pastors who
happened to be absent. They got more and more excited as they saw more
clearly that he was really a called prophet and that I was describing
his church perfectly!
Unfortunately, there are not many paid positions in
the church for the prophet. And the office of the prophet is not well
understood or even recognized. Everyone in Bible school thinks he or
she must become a pastor or an evangelist. The called prophet is
neither. When the prophet ends up in the position of a pastor, he does
not understand why his church isn't growing and prospering. But one
thing he knows, and that is that he is just not like “the rest of the
pastors.” He does know that he is different!
I explore the differences between the prophet and the pastor more fully in chapter 19.