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The Problem With Cave-Dwelling
Prophets
by Captain Anthony Juliana
Captain
Anthony Juliana, Director of Personnel at The Evangeline Booth
College,
School for Officer Training in Atlanta, GA, considers the
prophetic role of the Army today.
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You know the picture; clothing made from burlap, a neglected,
shaggy beard, sandals tied together with old string, and a
piece of cardboard handwritten with the words, “The End Is
Near!” This is how we imagine modern day prophets. While
nothing could be further from the Biblical picture of ancient
prophets, we are hard pressed to erase that image from our
minds when we hear about modern day prophets. We think of
people who stand in the town square calling down damnation and
predicting an apocalyptic future that is closer than any of us
realize. To even suggest the thought that prophets could, or
worse yet, should exist in The Salvation Army today, sends our
minds reeling. “Surely, that is not the role of soldiers and
officers of The Salvation Army today. Is it?”
The hurdle we are facing is one of Biblical perspective. The
Old Testament concept of a prophet was not one who predicted
the future, as much as it was one who spoke on behalf of
Yahweh. The Hebrew word “nabi,” which we translate into
English as “prophet,” paints a significant word picture. It
means “the mouth.” A prophet of God is literally a person who
serves as “the mouth of God.” This has the potential to change
our image of modern day prophets. Foundationally, it places
those who stand before a group of people; whether on Sunday
morning in a chapel or hall or whether on a Sunday afternoon
around the bass drum in the city park and proclaim, “this is
what God says…” into very real prophetic ministry.
Where Have All The Prophets Gone?
This is not a new question. It has been asked before, but
apparently it still begs an answer. In the Old Testament book
of First Kings we find the story of a prophet who proclaims a
message of drought. Elijah pronounces a drought that will last
until he says it is finished. King Ahab has enough sense not
to kill the prophet right there on the spot, as to not quiet
the very voice that could bring back the rain, should Baal
fail. Elijah goes camping in the wilderness. But, the queen
goes on a killing spree. Every prophet of Yahweh she can find
is put to death. A trusted servant in the palace who is also a
God-fearing man, Obadiah, hides 100 prophets of Yahweh in two
caves. And that is where they are when Elijah meets up with
Obadiah and announces his return, as well as the return of
rain. The end of a three year drought! Wouldn’t people be
excited to hear the news?
We know the story from Sunday school. Elijah calls the
prophets of Baal and the people of Israel atop of Mount
Carmel. He prepares two sacrifices. One for Yahweh and one for
Baal. There are some 850 prophets of false gods on this
mountain top, and Elijah asks the people a very provocative
question, “How long will you waver before two opinions?” He
demands a choice to be made, either for Yahweh or for Baal.
Then, the punch line; Elijah announces, “I am the only one of
the Lord’s prophets left.” Wait a minute! Where have all the
prophets gone? Where are the 100 cave hiding prophets? Why
have they not come atop of Carmel to support Elijah or to see
the fire of God fall from heaven?
The basic problem with cave dwelling prophets is that they are
safe inside of the cave. They hear no strong message of God to
proclaim as His mouthpiece. No one can kill them if they can’t
find them. Better to be a live quiet prophet than to be a dead
one. Because, let’s face it; no one likes a prophet who speaks
a message from God that we don’t want to hear.
We could stop reading the story there and make the connection
with ourselves. But, something amazing happens with Elijah
after the fire falls, after he kills 850 prophets of Baal,
after he prays and it rains, ending a three year drought. He
runs and hides in a cave himself! When God confronts him there
with His still, small voice, Elijah is broken by the fact that
he is the only prophet of the Lord left in the nation. Where
had they all gone? It wasn’t that God had not called any more
after the slaughter of many of them. God’s voice would not be
silenced by Jezebel. The “mouths of God” had been hidden away,
afraid to speak the “words of God,” any more.
The Prophetic Message
The basic prophetic message of the past remains the same
today. God is going to visit His people. If they are living in
covenant with Him, they will see His grace and His blessing.
If they are not living in covenant with Him, they can expect
to see exile, destruction and even death. Because sin can not
stand in the presence of a Holy God, when He visits, sin is
exposed and annihilated. Hang on to that sin when God visits
and the fate of sin will become your fate as well.
The message does not end there. While judgment may befall
those who have aligned themselves with false gods, justice
will be served, and compassion will be offered freely. The
prophetic message of the Old Testament prophets was directed
towards a people who were living under a system of oppression.
When the people of God found themselves living under
oppressive systems, God would raise up prophets who would
speak the end of that oppressive system as well as the return
of justice, compassion and hope.
The dominant system in our Western society today can be
described as technological, therapeutic, militant,
consumerism. This is a system that promises those who live
under it both happiness and safety, but its underlying
deception is that of oppression. Freedom from this lifestyle
demands the disengagement from the prominent social system. It
is the task of today’s prophetic messenger to proclaim an
alternate message; one that both decries the current social
bend toward this militant consumerism and one that offers a
redemptive alternative to life as people currently live it.
While it is easy to associate oppression with a certain
political system that may come across as oppressive, the
modern prophetic message takes on depth as it addresses
economic oppression, social oppression and even religious
oppression evident in our world today. And, it is into to
those very systems that God is calling Salvationists to be
“the mouth of God.” No longer can the prophets of God hide in
their caves while political systems invade the well-being of
humanity. No longer can the prophets of God hide in their
caves while economic systems bind people into a spirit of
poverty. No longer can the prophets of God hide in their caves
while social systems make sin a sanctioned life style. No
longer can the prophets of God hide in their caves while the
religious systems and their churches hold people back from
serving the one true God with all their heart, all their mind
and all their strength. No longer can the prophets of God hide
in their caves while He sends the fire! We pray for it. We
sing for it. So why do we hide from it?
Justice, Compassion and Eternal Hope
Ours is a message of hope to the oppressed and a message of
grief to the oppressor. For people entrapped in oppressive
hopelessness, hope takes on special meaning. People who have
been truly hopeless understand hope more deeply. People who
have experienced injustice, understand justice more deeply.
People who have been friendless and unlovely understand
compassion more deeply. It is to those “people of God” that
The Salvation Army has been raised to speak prophetically.
No longer can the church of Jesus Christ hide in our caves,
broken over how few we are in number. Or how our message seems
to be ridiculed. Or how our religious liberties are challenged
and even taken away from us. It is time to hear the still,
small voice of God – spoken from outside of the cave – and to
be “the mouth of God” that speaks clearly and even loudly into
the hearts of the people of God.
Our modern prophetic message is that when God visits
injustice; justice will rain down. When God visits oppressive,
self-centered, pride; divine compassion will overcome. When
God visits hopelessness; His divine plan for hope and a future
will ignite the fire of God within the people of God and they
will live in everlasting hope.
Life Outside of the Cave
In order for the people of God to live in the freedom of God,
the prophets of God have to come out of the cave.
The prophetic voice of The Salvation Army is needed among
those who cannot imagine themselves living a life free from
the political, economic, social or religious oppression they
experience each day. That voice can not stay silent to such
injustice. That voice must be heard outside of the cave. The
cave is safe. But not everyone can hide in the cave. Others
have to live their life under the oppression from which they
cannot escape. In order to be free, they need to hear the
prophetic voice speaking justice, compassion and hope. They
need to hear the prophetic voice telling them they can be
free. Life outside of the cave is not safe, but it is
liberating.
There is freedom outside of the cave; freedom to speak the
words of God, despite the cost of doing so. It is that freedom
that will energize the people of God to believe and trust and
imagine life anew. Life outside of the cave is where God has
called us to speak. The problem with cave dwelling prophets is
that no one hears their message from the cave. That is, after
all, the purpose of the cave; to not be seen or heard or found
out.
Not so with the prophetic voice of The Salvation Army. It is
the “mouth of God” speaking justice, compassion and hope to
those who live under the oppression of injustice, rejection
and hopelessness. That is our covenant, and we will choose to
live and speak outside of the cave. We will be found atop of
Mount Carmel asking God to send the fire and praying for the
life saving rain of the Holy Spirit to quench the drought of
injustice, rejection and hopelessness.
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