Unpopular Opinion Brought To You By Emily

As close as I could get to a Kinkade without getting sued for copyright infringement.

Today I shared a post about the life, works, and death of Thomas Kinkade. (Find the post here: Facebook). Known as the “Painter of Light”, his work has become synonymous with “Christian art” and is seen in homes, offices, and churches around the world. His paintings are soft representations of a world that glows with peaceful serenity. Pretty is the word most often used to describe the landscapes where quaint cottages surrounded by delicate flowers huddle among trees beneath skies that radiate with pastel goodness.

Per standard operating procedure for me, I included the reasons I have always been mistrustful of his work which drew the standard objections that I have grown accustom to when I do open my big mouth on this issue. As my reasons for these feelings requires a rather protracted answer, I decided to respond here.

My two primary reasons for my passionate dislike of his work are:

1. Too many people fail to make the distinction between high art and decorative art. This is an essential distinction that too few are willing to recognize or acknowledge. I will explain why.

2. Artists are the single biggest influencers on the general public’s perception of truth. The role of the artist to shape culture has been denigrated and neglected even as our works are quietly shape society’s morals, ethics, and vision of the what life could be and what truth is.

Before any conversation on the arts can begin one must define the terms. For if we were speaking of Kinkade’s (dare I lump in Butcher?) works in the terms of decorative art, I would not have no objection to the high praise this man receives. However, as the distinction is seldom made and few perceive the divide between the two genres, their popularity has conditioned the believing community to discount or even recoil in disgust from the power and startling revelations of high art.

Decorative art is what we hang above the sofa. It is chosen for its beauty and the way it soothes our senses. It demands little of its viewer other than appreciation. It presents a completed idea without need for a viewer’s participation or investment. Another word for it is kitsch, Frank Burch Brown offers us this definition of kitsch: a beautiful lie that prettifies and falsifies the world, requiring an unqualified acceptance of reality.

Kitsch manipulates the emotions of its viewers in the same manner that pornography by pandering to people’s desires instead of addressing their needs, designed to elicit a predictable response by capitalizing on emotional reflexes. (Paraphrase of Roger Hazelton).

High art, to paraphrase the words of Rene Magritte, evokes mystery with attempting to define it. To attempt and do so “becomes mere joking.” High art defies clichés or definitions, (Hazelton). It brings to light an aspect of existence denied or hidden from consciousness, (Wilson Yates).

Now, why I believe these distinctions are crucial to our understanding and appreciation of art:

God has given us the blueprint for high art within the Bible. While the principles are scattered throughout Scripture, the most succinct example is the creation of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle embodies every element required of true high art: light, space, unity, symbolic representation, and mystery. And this but a short list of ways in which the Tabernacle served as art. We are told in Exodus 28:2 that aspects were created for “glory and beauty”, but we should not overlook the bloody reality of this place of sacrifice and bloodshed.

Time and space constrain me from delving into the various ways in which the Tabernacle served as art, art such as the world has never seen before or since, but still informs the believing artist on how their works can serve as a source of awe, wonder, and inspiration. All of which the world is severely lacking, and the deficient can often be most profoundly experienced in the realm of Christian art that does not point our hearts back to the necessity of God’s intervention within this fallen creation or the hope we find in his redeeming love. Hope that can only be embraced when we stand before in full acknowledgement of our deep need of his grace and provision despite our sin.

As to point two of my objections: Artists are the single biggest influencers on the general public’s perception of truth. The role of the artist to shape culture has been denigrated and neglected even as our works are quietly shape society’s morals, ethics, and vision of the what life could be and what truth is.

In the construction of the Tabernacle, Bezalel helped shape the future of an entire nation and eventually the world. The impact of his work cannot be overstated. For the believing artist, he stands the penultimate example of what we could and should be. A brief survey of what he has to teach us artists:

 ◦ called from a young age, (a phenomenon common to artists who instinctively perceive their differentness even before they have the words to express their drive to create),

◦ he used his gifts in submission to the Lord, as reflected in his name which literally means “in the shadow of El (God).”

◦ his work was inspired through being filled by the Holy Spirit, Exodus 31:1-5

◦ he was gifted with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding; all essential to the creation of art

◦ as an artist he was teacher and leader

◦ as a person he was obscured by his art

◦ he communicated in symbols that demanded contemplation and interaction in order to be understood

◦ he translated his inspiration into a medium where others could draw inspiration

◦ his work allowed others to interact with the presence of God

If you we were to scour our Bibles for others who fit this profile, we are quickly confronted with the prophet. Point by point, can draw parallels between the roles, functions, and experience of each with the other. Don’t blow by that statement, the implications are profound and level of responsibilities placed upon the artist by extension are staggering.  And we see the truth of the artist’s ability to shape the future in evidence all around us – be it the communicator device of Star Trek that led to a world of cellular devices, the architecture and design that shape our homes separating or uniting us dependent on style and form, the grand cathedrals that draw our hearts and eyes to heaven, or the mass shooting prompted by our uninhibited consumption of gore and violence in movies. Art drives our language and therefore how we label and thus perceive our world. (How many words did Shakespeare invent that are in common usage today?)

Does this mean there is no place for decorative art or the hobbyist artist who creates simply for themselves? No, and that is not what I am implying. What I am saying is that by making the distinction, we can be more honest with ourselves and the world. We can utilize art more effectively and encourage artists to aspire to be more than commercial success by appeasing the masses. We can stop chastising and disavowing the artists whose honest and raw work are seen as too disturbing to be Christian.

I know that few people understand my passion for this topic, but in my eyes it is not a trivial matter. The favored style of Christian art has clouded our perceptions of our faith. When we paint Jesus in pastels, we drain away his humanity and fierce passion he has for each of us. When we give Moses a softly curling beard and bubble eyes, we ignore the strength and authority he must have conveyed to lead a mass of former slaves into the desert. When Mary is clothed in soft robes and the never flinching serenity of an imbecile, we do not honor the heartbreak and horror she endured. When we embody the home of our faith as Eden-esque landscapes, the power of our faith to thrive in this brutal reality is weakened.

There is a place for beauty – radiant, awe inspiring beauty, that rips your guts out stomps them on the floor beauty. This is the beauty of resurrection and redemption, but we can have neither if there was no bloody body upon the cross. And by enlarging our vision to include both the horrific and the sublime, we begin to walk in the tension of our faith that empowers us in our humble gratitude of God who is great enough to encompass both.

For further reading on this topic, check out:

Good Taste, Bad Taste, and Christian Taste by Frank Burch Brown
The Grotesque Theologically Considered by Roger Hazelton
The Sacred Gaze: Religious Visual Culture In Theory And Practice by David Morgan
The Grotesque In Art And Literature: Theological Reflections by Wilson Yates
State Of The Arts From Bezalel To Mapplethorpe by Edward Veith
And one day, eventually, my book once it is written.

Reader's Question - Where Exactly In The Bible Does It Say One Man And One Woman?

Reader's Question: Emily Dixon, since you're the scholar. . .where exactly in the Bible does it say one man and one woman?

I know there is the leave and cleave verse. I know there is the verse about when you have sex you become joined to that person. ( I can look up references if you'd like). Of course I am all about one woman for one man BUT I am reading in the OT right now and David was a man after God's own heart and in 2 Samuel 5:10-13 David gets blessed and the first thing he does is go out and marry more women.

So what's up with that? Is he just sinning? Or was it a cultural thing that made it okay then but not now? That can't be right either. Because God is the one who determines what sin is. . .

But anyway, I think that the Victorians are the ones who came up with some of our modern ideas like falling in love and soulmates. . .

Scratching my head over here and fuming at David for having multiple wives because I think it's wrong!

This is one of the things I love about the Bible – It tells us what did happen and not what should have happened! None of our spiritual greats were whitewashed or cleaned up. God presents them to us warts and all, and one of the reasons I find it to be so trustworthy. God could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he had…oh, I don’t know? Lied. But he didn’t he chose the hard way, the honest way, and in doing so ran counter to every other known religion of man. It’s a pretty gutsy move if you think about it.

It also serves a purpose, in reading accounts like David and his multiple wives, we are reminded the Bible always points us back to God as the only source of salvation. He allowed humans to be a part of his divine plan, but in the end, he is the only one who is holy, righteous, and able to save us from ourselves.

But back to your question:

I might as well get the fun part over with, the part that rarely makes Christians happy – there is no Biblical, blanket prohibition against polygamy. You can look, but it is just not there.

This leads us to two questions:

1. Why wasn’t polygamy forbidden if it was wrong?
2. Where do we get the idea that marriage is between one man and one woman?

Let’s start with question one: We must remember that God works within time and cultures to bring about his will. This has meant that many times instead of simply declaring something wrong or sinful, he has lead by example. Planting the seeds, and then allowing them to flourish as his people learned more about him and his divine plan for humanity. We can see how this works with polygamy, and answer question two at the same time.

The question of marriage begins in Genesis 1 and 2, when God creates Adam and Eve. We are presented with an ideal world, and in this ideal world we find one man and one woman. Polygamy would not be introduced until Lamech, the son of Cain, in Genesis 4:19. Notice that two things here: 1. We are now in a fallen world. 2. Lamech is the son of Cain who would also be remembered for following in his father’s footsteps of murder, but added pride to his list of sins. (See Genesis 4:23, 24.) In these passages we are given a clear contrast between what God intended and what sinful men did.

But the patriarchs? Someone is asking. Yup, the patriarchs had multiple wives, but when you read their tales, Abraham and Jacob, is there any way that we can interpret this as a positive thing? When Abraham decided to take Hagar as his concubine/second wife (we can go into the distinction in a later post) it was not an act of faith or obedience. Instead, it was a desperate attempt to help God out. The consequences were disastrous and many trace the ongoing violence in the Middle East, even of today, back to this event. Jacob had four wives, or two wives and two concubines if you wish to be technical, and the rivalries between the women and their children ripped his house a part. The Bible is not offering these stories as endorsements, but rather as cautionary tales. This is also true of David’s multiple wives, we see how it led to nothing but grief for him and his children. We could go, but that would result in something a bit too long for a blog post.

So how did we go from polygamy being tolerated to being forbidden?

First of all, God introduced laws that made polygamy more and more impractical. The first of these laws were directed to the population as a whole. (See Exodus 21:9-11, Deuteronomy 21:15-17, and Deuteronomy 17:17.) However, he upped the ante for those who occupied a, for lack of a better word, more holy position such as the priests who were not allowed to have more than one wife. (Leviticus 21:13.)

But the real death blow to polygamy were the words of the prophets who, in the eyes of the rabbis, equated polygamy with idolatry. Consider these verses:

“And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD. Hosea 2:16-20 

Israel Forsakes the LORD The word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the LORD, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them, declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 2:1-3

I would also include Ezekiel 16, a chapter that really should be read in its entirety to be appreciated, and the last chapter of Proverbs. At first glance, it might seem that these verses had little to do with polygamy, but this is where one more piece of the puzzle will clarify the picture. The prophets did not merely speak a message, they lived their message. Their lives were to be a living, breathing example of God’s revelation of truth, and so while they are busy talking about the beauty of God’s marriage to Israel they are also embodying it. And how did they do that? Through monogamous marriages.

Now, if you go looking for a verse that states that you are not going to find it. We know this about their marriages two ways: 1. They never reference multiple wives in any of their writings. Instead, they talk of one wife. 2. This is the history preserved about them by the Jewish community in rabbinic writings in which multiple debates on this matter were recorded. And we should not overlook the fact that most of these ideas were already being solidified in Jesus time, so the definitions of marriage based on this reasoning was inherited by the Christian church. The Jewish understanding of what marriage was and how it functioned as symbol of God’s love for his chosen people served as the basis for our Christian understanding of what marriage should be.

When discussing marriage with the Rabbis of his day, Jesus refers back to the ideal of Genesis one. Paul places the restriction upon leaders in the church based on the Levitical command for the priests. Peter expands the idea, indirectly, in his affirmation that all believers are part of this new royal priesthood. And it makes perfect sense that we would adhere to this standard if we affirm that as Christians we are to emulate Jesus, the bridegroom of the Church, husband to one wife.

So do we have a single verse that definitively defines marriage as a covenant between one man and one woman? No, we definitely do not. The closest thing we have is the leave and cleave verse cited by my questioner (Matthew 19:4-6, Mark 10:6-9). And while I consider that definitive enough, I know that it is not as direct as many wish it would be. However, when we pull all the pieces of the puzzle together, we have a rather convincing case that monogamy is God’s design, and one that he has chosen for himself.

But not to forget the question of David – he was sinning.

And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. Deuteronomy 17:17 

David allowed the customs of his day to dictate his actions, and in doing so set the precedent for Solomon who would take his father’s behavior to extremes. Solomon’s heart was turned away, and the kings that would follow in his footsteps would seek to emulate his glory instead of seeking the heart of God. These pursuits would leave the nation spiritually bankrupt and led into exile for their sins.

It is hard for us to think of David entertaining sin and still being man after God’s own heart, but I think it is important for us to see the whole picture of who he was. He was a sinner. He was guilty of so much, sins so heinous that he would not be welcomed into most churches today, but God is bigger than our sin. God isn’t frightened by it, and he doesn’t miss who we really are beneath our stupid, prideful actions. He knows that in this world we are going to screw up, but he isn’t looking for perfection. He is looking for hearts that seek to know him even in the midst of our failings. Is this permission to do whatever we wish? No, it is encouragement not to give up, to keep chasing after God’s heart, and to seek him even when our sins so black that they are all the world can see in us. He is there declaring he sees more and celebrating any and all who will rely upon him to wash these sins from our hearts.

Of Prophets - We will worry about the kings later

Last night, I did something new. I watched the new television series “Of Kings and Prophets” while following the buzz on Twitter. It was interesting to see people’s reactions in real time as they protested the Biblical inaccuracies, the artistic license to spice up the story line, but most of all, I was intrigued by the reactions to Samuel. To be sure the rather enigmatic and ever so slightly spooky prophet who rips the arms off of hired assassins is not completely in line with the perceptions that most modern audience have of prophets. We like to think of them as leaders, and our ideas of leaders tend to be ones of men and women who exemplify the best, the most noble, and desirable of our society.

However, our ideas about prophets and the reality as presented within the Bible do not always line up. The prophet of the Bible was not a pretty character. He was bold, raw, and often offensive. His language was not soft or genteel, but rather what most of us would consider straight up vulgar. He lived on the outskirts of society. Yes, he was often present in the courts of kings, but not as one of the fawning masses. Instead, he stood apart as someone to be feared, and sometimes that fear was not out of respect. Many times that fear was based in disdain and expressed in ridicule. These men had the power to depose kings, elevate the poorest to position of authority, and generally upend the status quo at any given moment. They dangerous not only to those in leadership but to all who desired to that standards and mores of their culture be maintained by propriety and proper observance of established convention. Thus his presence was not always welcome or celebrated.

Of all the descriptions written of the Biblical prophet, Abraham Joshua Heschel’s is by far my favorite:

“A strange, one sided, unbearable extremist…His words are shocking and often offensive to the more genteel of society. Dignity is cast aside in favor of emotion and he does not flinch from offending his audience…He lacks refinement and the passion with which he reveals God’s message seems wildly out of control to the masses but to the one inspired the means barely capture the intensity of passion.” From his book The Prophets.

 J. Lindblom describes being a prophet as a “condition”, and he supports this view by noting the taunting note in 1 Samuel 10:11:

“Is Saul among the prophets?”

Lindblom explains that question demonstrates that role and office of prophet was considered to be beneath one from a good family. No one of status would desire to become of these wild eyed individuals whose inexplicable behavior did not conform to society’s expectations. This was not position of honor as the cost was too great, causing those chosen to walk in this role to move away from societal standards and moved deeper into the truth revealed to them by God.

The level of conflict in their lives was epic. Jeremiah describes himself as “a man of strife and contention to the whole land.” (Jeremiah 15:10). Not only did he confront the king, he stood in direct conflict with the false prophets of his day – the prophets whom the people affirmed for the smooth words and happy predictions for the future of their land. He denounced the religious elite and the condemned the masses for offering God only empty forms of worship without engaging him with their hearts. His message was warning that not only would Israel as nation be subjugated to foreign powers for their disobedience, but that the symbols and means through they worshipped God would be stripped away because institutionalized observances of faith were a lie that God would no longer tolerate.

And Jeremiah was not the only one who quite literally danced with death almost every time God commanded him to speak. Nathan calls David out for committing adultery and murder, Samuel condemns Saul and declares that he will lose his throne, Moses demands that Pharaoh release his labor force, and Jesus damns the religious elites for their hypocrisy. How else would you classify such people, other than mad?

Nor were the extreme elements of their nature limited to their prophet announcements. Isaiah was commanded to preach naked for three years, Hosea was told to marry a prostitute, Ezekiel shaved his head with sword and then did various symbolic acts with the hair, and John the Baptist ate locusts and honey exemplifying the voice of one from a wilderness. It is to read these accounts and accept them as part of the Biblical narrative to which we have become accustom, but if we stop and think of what it would be like to witness these events, to actually be in the presence of the prophets as they fulfilled God’s command to live out their message, would we still be able to blithely accept them as part of God’s plan?

I do not think so. In fact, I think most of us would be even more shocked and offended than their original audiences. I think we would see their bizarre behavior as vindication of our right to deny them the authority and wisdom that God bestowed upon them. There God had command protection for those he placed in this office. God knew that everything in us would resist paying heed to one so far removed from societal and cultural norms, and we should not make the mistake of believing that the Biblical prophets were normal for their day and the only reason they seem so strange to us is due to the years that stand between us.

Nor should we be shocked that one who walks so closely with a Holy God who defies our definitions and boundaries would also be radically different than his contemporaries. For how does encounter a God whose ways are not our ways and thoughts are not our thoughts without being radically changed? We often forget that the prophet was not simply a telephone, or some other mechanical devise, to be used as tool. The prophet was flesh and blood, sensitive and response to their environment, and when environment has been infused by the very presence of God – you are never going to be normal again.

So maybe it is time we acknowledge a difficult and distasteful truth, prophets were not meant to be normal. They don’t often popularity contests, and they don’t usually don’t experience what this world defines as success except perhaps through the lens of history. They set people on edge with messages divinely designed and ordained to upset the status quo. The comfort they offer only follows obedience and repentance. They are hard individuals demanding hard things from their audience, rejecting pretty lies in favor of ugly truth so that we may find the beauty in a God who redeems. For how else could they find the strength and courage to live a life so far removed from the expected, unless they had fallen so deeply in love with the Lord that all of their being was at odds with a fallen creation? What else could cause them to give up their lives, their hopes for a future, except for a God inspired desire to see their Creator design manifest in the lives of a people they learned to love as he loved them?

And maybe, just maybe, it is time we held the self-appointed prophets of this day to the Biblical standard. Truth before comfort, radical boldness before conformity, and terrifying obedience before self-indulgent justification. For the prophets who spoke peace and prosperity were exposed as frauds as their soothing words did nothing to move the people closer to the God they claimed to serve and plunged them deeper into forms of religion without heart, conscience, or moral obligation to God or their community. Maybe it is time we stopped buying the hype, stopped worshipping at the alter of nice or proper, and recognize that God’s message to the world is greater than anything we hold dear including our dignity and worthless prestige.

Cake, Field Surgeons, and Prophecy

I had to give a prophetic word last night. It wasn’t fun, and it wasn’t glamorous. In fact, it was rather painful, and I felt rather sick the whole time I was speaking.

In our Christian culture, the gift of prophecy is highly coveted. It’s like the icing on the Christian cake for most people. After all, who wouldn’t want the prestige that comes with being the person in the know?

The answer is the person who is really in the know. The one who sees past the facades and understands the prophecy isn’t about giving people the warm fuzzies, making empty promises of health, wealth, and prosperity, or even the promise that all things work together for good in your life, so hang in there. Now, I know that somewhere along the way you were told that the gift of prophecy was given for encouragement and exhortation, that negative or judgmental words have no place in a New Testament church, and if it isn’t building you up then the prophetic word given is invalid.

The thing is, I read all through my Bible, and I can’t find that anywhere. And if I take Paul’s word about all Scripture being profitable for teaching, reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16), and keep in mind that Paul had to be speaking of the Hebrew Scriptures because the Christian Bible did not yet exist, I am faced with the very real responsibility to measure the prophetic in accordance to the examples within what we call the Old Testament. I am also forced to take Paul’s own words into account – teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. Not uplifting, not positive, not motivational, and certainly nothing about warm fuzzies.

Is this carte blanche permission for people who operate in the prophetic be jerks? Of course not, but you have to admit that the majority of the prophetic words recorded – even the prophetic words of Jesus - aren’t all sunshine and glitter. They were designed to confront sin, and they were designed to jar us from our complacency and passive justification of sinful actions in our own lives. Is there hope and promise to be found within prophetic words? Yes, but only after repentance, only after obedience, and only after we bow our hearts to the Lordship and authority of our God.

And what happens when you confront sin in someone’s life? They go stupid on you. Well, most of the time anyways. They deny that you have a right to speak, they condemn you for judging, and they hate you for your lack of compassion. At this point, all sorts of wonderful and amazing things can transpire for the one operating in a prophetic role, they can lose friends, they can family, they can be physically or verbally attacked by the ones they love, and they can be ostracized from the community that once valued their presence. Don’t believe me, look it up. Read the story of Joseph whose brothers sold him to slavery because he dared speak the prophetic vision God gave him. Read the accounts of Jeremiah who feared for his life and was left to rot in a cistern. Read about Elijah who hid in fear from the rage of queen.

None of this happened because they were promising warm fuzzies and financial success to the ones that God commanded them to go to. It happened because they dared to speak an uncomfortable truth. Truth that struck at the core of the listeners’ sense of self and security. Truth that would no longer allow the listener to walk in ignorance and forced them to move forward either in brokenness for their sin or in willful rebellion against God. No one wants to face that, I don’t even like facing that, and I hold no illusion about how painful it is to have to stand before another stripped bare of your own hypocrisy. It hurts, and it is humiliating in the beginning. I know, I’ve been on the receiving end more than once and every bit of selfish pride rose up in protest at being called out on my own sin.

What is hard for us to understand is that when someone is operating in an authentic gifting of the prophetic, there is no sense of superiority in it. There is only brokenness and pain on behalf the one to whom we speak. We are moved forward not because we wish to wound. We do so because we feel the outright misery of the broken relationship they have with Father, and everything within us yearns for their restoration. We move with compassion that must sometimes be brutal in order to be heard and so that message is not watered down or compromised. In my mind, it something akin to being a field surgeon, knowing that the procedure needed to save the patient inflicts more pain than the original wound, but must be done if they are to survive. So you close your ears to the screams and you pack that bloody wound with truth until the flow is staunched. Because mercy that brings death to another, physically or spiritually, is not mercy to anyone but yourself.  

For me that is the hardest part, knowing that my words will hurt and knowing that once the truth has been revealed I have relinquished all perceived and delusional ideas of control in the situation. From there it is up to the one to whom I sent to respond, to reject or to receive, to act or to deny. For me that is often the darkest time, because I know that they are now responsible for a truth that can no longer be rejected out of ignorance. I have to fight my tendency to worry that my words were too harsh or too heavy, and it is why I often hesitate when I should have been quick to obedience. And why I can point to list of moments when I was the broken one or they were further injured because I allowed fear of consequence for myself and others to keep me silent.

No, operating in the prophetic is not sweet or pretty. It never was, and I don’t believe it ever will be. Certainly, there are moments when you are allowed to participate in breakthrough and revelation that will change a person’s life, but those are rare and easily forgotten. For one who truly walks in the prophetic perceives the effects of sin as few others do, and their hearts break for the world around them. Yes, we hear from God but when you have been confronted by the light of holiness, the darkness that surrounds us only deepens. And when you have tasted the perfection of his presence, the brokenness of the world is only more tragic.

Did you decide to be a prophet?

Time for an Emily rant! If you have to go around telling the world that you are a "prophet of God" and demanding the respect you think you deserve - time to check your credentials and take another look at that job description, honey.

No one chooses to be a prophet. No one who truly understands the gravity and dangers of speaking on behalf of God decides this sounds like more fun than a trip to Disney World. Most Biblical prophets argued with God seeking some way to avoid this potentially life threatening and often humiliating office.

Prestige and power among their peers was rare, and a life of abject servitude, becoming a living example God's heart break and the abuse he endures from his bride was the norm.

To sum up - if you *decided* this is your job, if you have to announce that this is your job, if you get your kicks giving people *encouraging* words from God, and you are loving the attention your self proclaimed title is getting you - please redirect your Bible study to the book of Jeremiah and pay particular attention to a fellow named Hananiah. You will probably find you relate with him far too well.