Do Not Fear Him

Over the years, I have, from time to time, been exposed to persons who believed that particular spiritual "offices" were to be revered. Well, I’ll be a little more blunt: it has usually been about pastors who want the members of their church to cater to their every whim. The only real Biblical back-up I’ve heard for this concept involves Moses.

It is true that Moses was a prophet and that the Lord did not treat kindly anyone who rose up against him. It is also true that his prophetic status was confirmed by multiple signs and wonders that were of such magnitude that if any of us were to see even one of these things take place, we’d be shaking in our boots. These things did not take place merely once or twice at Moses’ command, but rather over and over and over again. Clearly Moses had not taken on himself the office of a prophet; God had put it on him.

I’ve never gone too much for the "fear me" concept, not being a big believer in self-proclaimed anything, but I read an article yesterday that laid any questions to rest.

We can find, in Deuteronomy, a number of passages regarding false prophets, true prophets, and those who wish to lead people astray. The interesting thing about the "genuine" false prophet is that he could do signs and wonders! I’ve heard people say that if it works, it must be God, but that isn’t entirely true. Sometimes the Lord tests us by putting people in our paths who have all the symptoms of success—but they want to draw us aside to following them or their thing, instead of following the Lord. In Deuteronomy, all who attempted to dissuade the Israelites from following the Lord were to be stoned—and that included false prophets whose signs and wonders did come to pass.

In stark contrast to this, we have the prophets whose words do not come to pass. Of them, Moses said they would die, just as God told Adam that he would die if he ate of the wrong tree. Moses never spoke of stoning such a prophet. He did say, however, that such a prophet was not to be feared.

That tells me a few things. It tells me that if I think the Lord is speaking to me, it’s okay for me to "step out and find out." If I’m wrong, I’m not in danger of capital punishment! It also tells me that I don’t need to revere someone just because they tell me I should revere them. I am allowed to wait, first, to see if they are really hearing from God—and I do that by seeing if what they’ve spoken actually comes to pass, and checking to see if they are wanting me to follow them, or wanting me to follow the Lord.

Anyone can call him or herself anything, but that doesn’t mean they are what they say. Wait and see.

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