Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Making A Prophet In These Tough Economic Times

Recently, someone forwarded to me (Lord knows why) an e-mail concerning some famed author/pastor's recent proclamation of pending doom that will face the eastern seaboard, specifically the New York/New Jersey area. Of course, it is never anywhere like Dallas, TX or Knoxville, TN.

What hubris it must take to deem one's self prophetic; and I don't talk about your everyday psychic. I speak instead of those who feel that God speaks to them, only them, and in a very specific manner: giving them foresight beyond intelligence and bestowing upon them the mantle of Prophet (with a captial P). They then dole out this information, not as a tidbit to use at your discretion, but as an instrument of fear to quirt the apathy of the masses and send them stampeding toward righteousness.

Why, I wonder, does God not speak to these men and women in more positive terms. Where are the messages of hope? With all the doom and gloom, the relishing of tragedy, one would be forced to relegate God to the status of evening news anchor. "15 puppies died today in a tragic accident on the interstate..."

By the way, my response to the e-mail: "A prophet doesn't have to have any brains...When the spirit of prophecy comes upon you, you merely take your intellect and lay it off somewhere in a cool place for a rest, and unship your jaw and leave it alone; it will work itself. The result is prophecy." - Mark Twain

3 comments:

HR said...

The prophecy may, in fact, be a re-has by this person or someone else of comments made back in the 1990's. Nothing seems to ever disappear in cyberspace...it looks to be a "Flying Dutchman" where foibles, mistakes, jokes, and mis-statements acquire a life of their own.....

judygraham said...

What can I say? People are still incredibly gullible and the Biblical comparison to sheep is still apropos. They are easily led, easily dazzled. I appreciate your comments. Wise words.

Ken Summers said...

The doomsday babble of "god's chosen" always reminded me of the "Sinners at the Hand of an Angry God" sermon from Puritan history. The idea is simple: scare someone into adopting your beliefs. Chipper, happy-times prophecies just don't have the same effect.

As Einstein once said, "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the former." But Twain always sums up humanity in far more clever terms.