Deuteronomy 18:17-20
“But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.” vs. 20
When the Israelites began to review their history and write it down they recognized how important it was have leaders who brought them genuine words from the Lord. They needed prophets with integrity, not charlatans who spoke to enrich themselves or to ingratiate themselves with the powerful. As a result their writings about prophets are replete with death threats for pretenders. Of course their law didn’t work! Most of the time the only prophets who died were the genuine ones…and often their deaths came as a result of false accusations from the fake ones. It still remains difficult for truth-telling prophets to capture the ears of more than a few. Some try. They speaks words of truth with conviction and passion to those in power and are casually dismissed as purveyors of “fake news.” Other religious folks, “wanna-be prophets,” love the company of political leaders and, to preserve their positions, tickle the ears of the powerful with platitudes of support. The resulting back and forth name-calling has brought both confusion and apathy. Lying dominates public discourse, people say whatever is expedient and have little regard for whether they’re speaking the truth or lies. In such a time it’s a blessing to return to the words of Jesus…our one reliable source of both truth and light.
Thought for the Day: Why can’t politicians just tell the truth?
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