What is prophecy?

In response to recent questions and statements I thought I would discuss this idea of what prophecy is, what it is not, and how to recognize it.  And by extension to define exactly what a prophet is. 

I’ll start by clearing up a misconception about prophecy. There is this popular idea that prophecy is this fortelling the future. That prophets speak of things to come.  Now it is true that this can be a part of prophesy, this idea actually diminishes and distracts from prophesy.  This is an idea that is really more closely related to pagan beliefs, tied in very much with ideas of magic, Druidism, Shamanism, and occultism. 

If one looks at biblical prophets you will see a pattern in their actions, words, and teachings.  Was it predicting the future that made them prophets?  Or was it something else?  And in reading the Bible it becomes apparent that at times there were many prophets at once.   In fact let me show a few examples of this. 

“And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the Lord, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle.  And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.

26 But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp.

27 And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.

28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.

29 And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!”  Numbers 11:24-29 

“For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.”  1st Kings 18:4 

There are many more examples, but my point here is to illustrate that prophets are not these “special” people that are maybe one in a generation or as many think today that there haven’t been prophets for centuries.  As though this is a special thing that only happened in biblical times. 

So what is prophesy?  Prophesy is the truth. The truth past, present, and future. Prophesy is the Spirit of God.    So what is a prophet?  It is one who through righteous living and heeding the words of God has become attuned to His spirit and can speak that truth. A prophet of God is one who has learned to know the voice of God apart from all others, and testifies of that truth.  That truth may be things to come, it may be things as they are now, and it may be the past as it actually was. 

So how are we to recognize and know a prophet. By the fruits they bear. A false prophet will try to get gain. He will tell people what they want to hear, or tell things to get gain, or to impress men. He may tell of things that might be factual, and yet be misleading.   

By contrast the prophets of God always say the same thing and work towards the same goal. True prophets bear a message of repentance, to turn to God, a message of humility. The seek to glorify God, and to help those who will hear and obey how they too can come to know God for themselves. In other words, true prophets teach people that through righteous living and obeying the commandments of God, they can come to know God for themselves, and when they are filled with the Spirit of God, they too become prophets. 

What is the gospel?

I see many people who ask what the gospel really is. I see many who ask how we can know what is true. I see many who ask why if there is a truth, why are there so many churches. 

I think this is an important question. And I think one of the reasons why there is so much controversy over the matter is because the purpose for the gospel gets glossed over, making it easy for men to capitalize with their own agendas and lead people astray. 

The simplest definition I have, the cleanest way to define it that I have found is this. "The gospel of Jesus Christ is the story of how God became God, and how we can apply a set of principles to become like Him."  In a nutshell that's what it is. It's goal is to teach us what actually makes God, God. Then by extension He has promised that if we follow His teachings we can be "joint heirs with Him". 

So in looking at any church or organization, let us ask "what does this church teach?"  If that church teaches us to feel good about who we are, that's not going to make you into a Godlike person. If a church teaches that ordinances save you, but does not require any actual repentance, that's not going to make you like Christ either. 

In order to become like God, you must first determine what His attributes are. To do that you must read and study the scriptures. You must study out what the prophets can teach us about Him. Then you must strive to apply those same principles into your life. 

Was Mary A Prostitute?

Many have claimed to have heard that Mary of Magdalene was a prostitute who became one of Christ's disciples. In this article, lets us explore this idea so we can come to a better understanding of the truth. 

To begin with I will state that this idea does NOT come from the scriptures. There are no passages found in the gospel that state that Mary of Magdalene was a prostitute. 

“Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.”

Mark 16:9

“And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,”

Luke 8:1-2

We are not given a definition of what these devils were. But based upon other example that can be found in scripture these can range to be anything from seizures, chronic illness, depression, bipolar disorder, etc. It would not be typical to say that a prostitute was a prostitute because she had a devil. So I think it's safe to say that this passage means that Christ healed her of a serious mental disorder or some kind of illness and I feel it very safe to say that this passage does not suggest that she was unvirtuous. 

“And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat.  And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.  And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.”

Luke 7:36-40

Now in this passage, we are not told who this woman was, nor what her sins were. For some reason, we seem to associate the word sin with sexual immortality. But in the context the scriptures use the word, sin does not necessarily mean what we think it means. In fact this passages does give some clues. Christ was visiting a Pharisee. The Pharisees were historically know among Christians and even many Jews to be self righteous. So sin may have only been sin from the Pharisees perspective. In fact, Christ says "Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee."  This tells us that this mans point of view was in error. The Saviour then tells a story about forgiveness. See Luke 7:41-50. 

Now some might associate that because this woman washed the Lord's feet with her tears and that Mary anointed the Lord's feet with oil that this woman is Mary. But the scriptures do not say so, nor imply so. So to assume that this woman is Mary is a stretch, and is pure speculatation, and to assume this woman was a prostitute is also speculation. 

“Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.  And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.  And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,

They say unto him, "Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.  Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?"

This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.  So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."

And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.  And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.  When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, "Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?"  She said, "No man, Lord." And Jesus said unto her, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more."”

John 8:1-11

Again in this passage, no name is given as to who this woman is. In fact, when Christ addresses her, He calls her woman. This seems to indicate that He does not know her personally. Again to suggest this woman is Mary of Magdalene is a stretch at best, and there is enough evidence contained within the text itself to tell us this woman is NOT Mary. 

Next let's look at Mary's name as given in Scripture. She us referred to as Mary of Magdalene, or Mary Magdalene, or Miriam of Magdala. So what is the Magdalene part, why is it important?  In the time these things were written, Magdalene was a known term. It is used because it indicated what family she was descended from. Magdala refers to a town along the Sea of Galilee, of which Mary's family were prominent members, perhaps even leaders. In Hebrew Magdala also has a meaning of "tower", so poetically Magdala means exalted. Mary was descended through a powerful family, descended from the bloodline of David (House of Bethul) and at the time of Christ it was a well known and well respected family line. The scriptures do in fact support this view.  For example:

“And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.”...“The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there.”...“When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,”...“Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!  And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?”...“Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.  But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.”

John 11:19, 31, 33, 36-37, 45-46

From these versus one can readily see that Mary's family was quite respected among Jewish society. When Mary's brother died the entire community came to weep with them. These people were not there to see Jesus, they did not believe in Jesus. They came to mourn for the family of Lazarus and to comfort them in their time of loss. 

So now that we have established that Mary's family was of some importance, we can reason out another principle. If Mary was a prostitute, as the Catholics claimed, she would have been disowned from such a notable Jewish family. It would not have been typical for a promiscuous daughter to tarnish the good name of such a respected family. So based in the fact that she was still allowed to carry on the name Mary of Magdalene, this tells us today that she was an honorable and well respected individual in the Jewish community, not a harlot. 

Pride Versus Truth

When you really distill it down, you find that there is one sin that causes all sins. That one key sin is pride. Pride leads to seeking our own will instead of God's. Pride makes us justify what we do. Pride makes us do wrong, and pride prevents us from admitting that we have done wrong. 

One of the first steps in repentance is humility. Now just to be clear, humility is not this walking about with a sad downtrodden look, pretending to be nothing. Humility is seeing and understanding the truth about our own situation. Humility is seeing ourselves as we really are. Not justifying ourselves or pretending we are great because we think we have accomplished something. No, if we are really humble, we will see ourselves as who we are. Only by becoming humble can we break down our deep rooted pride and start this process of becoming truly better than our natural state. 

So What Is Truth?

Now that we have established that morality must be based on truths, we need to learn what those truths are. The answer is in many ways very simple. 

When we examine the character and qualities of God, we find a set of attributes that are perfect in their alignment with truth. You find a being who: is always honest, is perfectly humble, is loving beyond our understanding. A being who would risk His very being for the chance to save us. A being who selflessly gives with no thought of return, a being who desires to bless us with all that He has. A being who has no hatred or animosity towards others. 

The truth is that every law that God has revealed to his children is self enforcing. Right or wrong is not so because God said so. It is so because it is the eternal truth. Whenever we transgress the law, we bring its consequences upon us. Whenever we keep the law we bring its blessings upon us. Either we are trending towards humility, selflessness, faithfulness, self discipline, gratitude, and love or we are not. That is the simple truth. Either our motives are pure, or they are impure. 

The White Lie

A common misconception is that at times it is ok to lie so long as it's a small lie for a good cause. Our culture calls these 'white lies'. 

A good example is a woman who asks her spouse how she looks in a dress. For one reason or another the truth is that the dress is not attractive, but for the sake of keeping the peace, her spouse tells her she looks nice. In this case he has lied in order to avoid an awkward situation. He lied in order to support her self esteem. 

Another reason why people sometimes do this is to 'protect' someone. A parent might tell a small lie to their children in order to 'preserve their innocence' or 'preserve their childhood'. 

Now here is my major point with this article. At the end of the day, the size of the lie does not matter. When you lie to people, you lie to yourself, you weaken people's confidence in you, and you sell your character cheaply. Telling small lies is not one bit different from telling large lies. In fact, if you can't tell the truth and be honest about little matters, what makes you thing you will be honest in more serious matters?  Large lies almost always start with small lies. 

Now I'm not saying be blunt and rude. I'm saying be honest. If your spouse wears an unattractive article of clothing, tell them they would look better in something else. It does not matter the circumstance. We must strive to always be honest. They will appreciate your telling the truth, as opposed to finding out later on that you lie, so they can't have confidence when they ask such questions.