No Prophecy Around These Parts…
As I was searching around on the internet, I came across a criticism of modern churches that caught my attention. The observation was made that modern churches do not focus on prophecy or their fulfilment. After considering the observation made, I had to conclude that the author had a solid point. In most modern churches it is rare to hear much about Revelation while in many others the book is entirely avoided. What might explain this bias?
For One Thing…
There is a tendency in many congregations where a prophecy is involved to absolutely go nutzo bonkers in expectation of fulfilment. This kind of zeal is not exactly the “patient waiting on the Kingdom” kind of trait that is usually attributed to those who are considered to be holy. It is, on the other hand, a kind of wish fulfilment with an added force behind it of trying to make the prophecy come true on the terms of the believer or believers. A prophecy will likely never have to be forced since it is the will of YHVH for a prophecy to unfold. That is not to say, however, that there will not be contention and tension around a prophecy as it is fulfilled–particularly if the prophecy alludes to such a process. So, the hypothesis here is that congregations have become allergic to the concept of prophecy because believers tend to run off in all directions with what that means and cause the congregation to have to experience something of this roller coaster version of events. If you need a more secular case study though, I have got you!
Q Posts
The Q posts are a little like a prophecy in that they seem to allude to events that are going to happen. I’ve written a little about them here. Watching this movement gain momentum was somewhat equivalent to watching a tilt-a-world gain momentum. Despite some posts saying very clearly answers to questions posed, people ran off with what they wanted to be true as opposed to what was said. This of course led to subgroups of subgroups that were linked by “belief in thing X”. The splintering and fracturing continues until now with some who still think the plan is on, others who think Israel is the secret enemy of the world, some who think the whole thing is a psy-op, and still others who think neither of those things is what the posts are saying.
Prophecy In a Church
The same problems can happen when a prophetic voice arises in a church. For one thing, a prophetic voice that is authentic cannot be challenged. This might upset the power dynamic in the church, although if a church is looking for prophecy, it shouldn’t. One could easily see how a pastor who is faced with a prophecy that sounds negative about their ministry is going to be inclined to not want to hear whatever that prophecy is. Thing is, sometimes pastors are wrong, and sometimes others hear a word from YHVH concerning them. Of course, sometimes people also make up stuff too. This is where prayer and discernment enter the scene.
When Times are Wild
When a prophecy is getting close to being fulfilled, the Bible is full of wild events that begin to happen. Fake versions show up and people mistake them for the real deal. The real deal shows up, and people mistake it for the fake. Demons are in the middle of the conversation along with angels, and the level of mix-up chaos becomes high. Again, a congregation is going to want to instinctively avoid all of this kind of action. However, by trying to avoid it, it also finds itself outside the realm of living prophecy and how it might be fulfilled. This makes the church in that case a tool not for fulfilling the purposes of the Will of YHVH which is supposed to be its entire purpose.
When Times Are Not Wild
On the other hand, when times are not wild, then often a kind of prophecy begins to wake up in one way or another, and people believe it is near fulfilment but do not see the expected result. This causes a falling away from having faith in prophecy as people simply become burned out. A casual stroll through Twitter/X will show you what “burned out” people look like on all sides of the political spectrum. The same thing can happen in churches, and so more than a few leaders probably decide it is better to focus on the bulk of the Bible that has prophecies that are all ready fulfilled as opposed to the prophecies that will be fulfilled.
Weirdness About A Prophecy
The peculiar quality of a prophecy, though, is that it will be fulfilled when it is ready with or without the participation of those that ought to be sensitive to its coming. The prophecy is made so that faith is sustained and has something to focus on–not so people can lose their minds or their religion where the prophetic is concerned. The reactions in some congregations and subsequent avoidance is really the oppositekind of behaviour YHVH seems to want His people to have concerning these future utterances. Rather, they are supposed to be a kind of extra confirmation that YHVH keeps His word, and His people should turn back to Him. Shutting one’s eyes to His prophecies written in His books because it is inconvenient to congregation leaders and congregations says more about those who are convened in assembly than about any of the prophecies. If there is a problem with the Bible, where does the problem, do you suppose, ultimately lie? With YHVH, or with people?