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Understanding a prophet

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By Pr Isaiah White

Prophecy is one of the fivefold ministries of the New Testament Church of Christ (Ephesians 4:11).

However, it is not a New Testament invention, but one of the two founding offices since the Old Testament times.

One was the priestly office as represented by Aaron and the other was prophecy as manifested in the ministry of Moses.

The prophet was tasked to transmit the message of God to the people; while the priest actively interceded before God on behalf of the people.

Today, many Christians run from one Church to another, following people who claim to be prophets. Few, if any, pose to ask the question: who is a prophet?

Who is a prophet?
The word prophet is an English translation of the Hebrew term ‘Nabi’ which means: one who receives a Word from God and speaks to people on behalf of God.

In other words, Prophets are God’s spokespersons. In Biblical Hebrew, the term ‘Nabi’ can be interpreted to mean: he who proclaims or he who has been called.

In Israel, before the prophets were addressed as ‘Nabi’ (2 Samuel 12:1) they were known as the ‘Ro’eh’ or ‘Hozeh’, which means the ‘Seer’ (1 Samuel 9:9; 1 Chronicles 29:29).

Moses was the first to occupy the office of a prophet in Israel and then Joshua.

Through the period of Judges, the prophets are grouped into brotherhoods (Nebi’im) known as schools of prophets or sometimes sons of the prophets.

They had their centres in Ramah, Gilgal, Bethel and Gibeah.

Prophet Samuel is recognised as the head of a prophetic group (1Samuel 19:20), Prophet Elisha succeeded Elijah in the leadership office of the prophets (2Kings 2:15), and Prophet Isaiah more than once confesses that he had followers (Isaiah 8:16; 36:8).

The term ‘sons of the prophet’ we see in the Bible does not connote a genealogy, but indicates a procedural making of a prophet. Biblical prophets went under specific training and mentorship to ensure they are not compromised and their efficiency.

Men or women?
In the Bible, the prophetic office is not for only men but women too.

Both women and men participated in this office (Acts 2:17). Moses’s Sister Miriam is called a “prophet” (Exodus 15:20).

The others we know in the Old Testament are Deborah (Judges. 4:4), Noadiah (Nehemiah 6:14), Huldah (2Kings 22:14–20, 2Chronicles 34:22), Prophet Isaiah’s wife (Isaiah 8:3), Anna (Luke 2:36), Philip’s daughters (Acts 21:9) and the false woman prophet in Thyatira (Revelation 2:20).

Many people served in this prophetic office in groups or bands ministering in Israel (1Samuel 10:5; 1Kings 18:4). Prophets were active in the Church at Antioch (Acts 13:1), Tyre (Acts 21:4).

God’s initiative
Biblically, one did not just wake up from anywhere and claimed to be a prophet of God.

The individual might have had a true vision or a dream, but that was not the primary sign of a true prophet.

Who this person was and the God he worshipped took precedence over whatever he prophesied (Deuteronomy 13).

A prophetic call was God’s initiative, not man’s desire and ambition (Deuteronomy 18:15; 1Corithians 12:7-10, 28).

It was the ‘call’ as evaluated by the school of prophets and characterised that individual and differentiated him from other men and false prophets from other heathen nations.

If the prophet was outside the ranks of belief in the true God, he was considered a ‘soothsayer’ and the Hebrew term for that is: ‘Kosem’ which means ‘divination’ (Joshua 3:22).

Balaam was a heathen prophet and diviner (Numbers 22-24).

Exclusivity
In the Old Testament, preamble to the oracles (messages of God through the prophets) begins with either of these two phrases:

“Thus says the Lord” or “The word of the LORD that came to me” (Hosea 1:2, Joel 1:1, Micah 1:1, 2Kings 22:15, Zephaniah 1:1, Jonah 1:1).

Amos claimed, “This is what the Lord says” (Amos 1:3, Judges 6:8, 1Samuel 2:27, 1Kings 13:2).

And after these oracles were documented in the book that was discovered in the Temple (2Kings 22:8; 23:2), the prophetic message qualifier became: “Thus it is written.”

And to date, we Judge a prophet based on what the Bible (written Word of God) teaches.

The first sign of a true prophet is that he/she must be Bible-based. What he says is for and from God and not his/her opinion.

The Bible says: “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command hi” (Deuteronomy 18:18).

Biblical Prophets were assigned to essentially two tasks:

l To teach people, warn them (sometimes in form of predicting the future), and persuade them to believe and practice the will of God.

l To condemn and rebuke evil, injustice and all sorts of deception in both the secular and spiritual world.

The true predictive role of prophecy is restricted to public life and offices as opposed to private life. A Christian prophet, therefore, is not a soothsayer.

The writer is a life coach and pastor.
Contact: +256775 822 833
Email: whitemwine@gmail.com

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