From: http://quran.com/39
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
39:1
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The revelation of the Qur'an is from Allah , the Exalted in Might, the Wise.
39:2
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We have sent down to you the Book, [O Muhammad], in truth. So worship Allah , [being] sincere to Him in religion.
39:3
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Unquestionably, for Allah is the pure religion. And those who take protectors besides Him [say], "We only worship them that they may bring us nearer to Allah in position." Indeed, Allah will judge between them concerning that over which they differ. Indeed, Allah does not guide he who is a liar and [confirmed] disbeliever.
39:4
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If Allah had intended to take a son, He could have chosen from what He creates whatever He willed. Exalted is He; He is Allah , the One, the Prevailing.
39:5
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He created the heavens and earth in truth. He wraps the night over the day and wraps the day over the night and has subjected the sun and the moon, each running [its course] for a specified term. Unquestionably, He is the Exalted in Might, the Perpetual Forgiver.
39:6
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He created you from one soul. Then He made from it its mate, and He produced for you from the grazing livestock eight mates. He creates you in the wombs of your mothers, creation after creation, within three darknesses. That is Allah , your Lord; to Him belongs dominion. There is no deity except Him, so how are you averted?
39:7
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If you disbelieve - indeed, Allah is Free from need of you. And He does not approve for His servants disbelief. And if you are grateful, He approves it for you; and no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another. Then to your Lord is your return, and He will inform you about what you used to do. Indeed, He is Knowing of that within the breasts.
39:8
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And when adversity touches man, he calls upon his Lord, turning to Him [alone]; then when He bestows on him a favor from Himself, he forgets Him whom he called upon before, and he attributes to Allah equals to mislead [people] from His way. Say, "Enjoy your disbelief for a little; indeed, you are of the companions of the Fire."
39:9
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Is one who is devoutly obedient during periods of the night, prostrating and standing [in prayer], fearing the Hereafter and hoping for the mercy of his Lord, [like one who does not]? Say, "Are those who know equal to those who do not know?" Only they will remember [who are] people of understanding.
39:10
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Say, "O My servants who have believed, fear your Lord. For those who do good in this world is good, and the earth of Allah is spacious. Indeed, the patient will be given their reward without account."
39:11
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Say, [O Muhammad], "Indeed, I have been commanded to worship Allah , [being] sincere to Him in religion.
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And I have been commanded to be the first [among you] of the Muslims."
39:13
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Say, "Indeed I fear, if I should disobey my Lord, the punishment of a tremendous Day."
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Say, " Allah [alone] do I worship, sincere to Him in my religion,
39:15
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So worship what you will besides Him." Say, "Indeed, the losers are the ones who will lose themselves and their families on the Day of Resurrection. Unquestionably, that is the manifest loss."
39:16
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They will have canopies of fire above them and below them, canopies. By that Allah threatens His servants. O My servants, then fear Me.
39:17
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But those who have avoided Taghut, lest they worship it, and turned back to Allah - for them are good tidings. So give good tidings to My servants
39:18
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Who listen to speech and follow the best of it. Those are the ones Allah has guided, and those are people of understanding.
39:19
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Then, is one who has deserved the decree of punishment [to be guided]? Then, can you save one who is in the Fire?
39:20
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But those who have feared their Lord - for them are chambers, above them chambers built high, beneath which rivers flow. [This is] the promise of Allah . Allah does not fail in [His] promise.
39:21
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Do you not see that Allah sends down rain from the sky and makes it flow as springs [and rivers] in the earth; then He produces thereby crops of varying colors; then they dry and you see them turned yellow; then He makes them [scattered] debris. Indeed in that is a reminder for those of understanding.
39:22
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So is one whose breast Allah has expanded to [accept] Islam and he is upon a light from his Lord [like one whose heart rejects it]? Then woe to those whose hearts are hardened against the remembrance of Allah . Those are in manifest error.
39:23
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Allah has sent down the best statement: a consistent Book wherein is reiteration. The skins shiver therefrom of those who fear their Lord; then their skins and their hearts relax at the remembrance of Allah . That is the guidance of Allah by which He guides whom He wills. And one whom Allah leaves astray - for him there is no guide.
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Then is he who will shield with his face the worst of the punishment on the Day of Resurrection [like one secure from it]? And it will be said to the wrongdoers, "Taste what you used to earn."
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Those before them denied, and punishment came upon them from where they did not perceive.
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So Allah made them taste disgrace in worldly life. But the punishment of the Hereafter is greater, if they only knew.
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And We have certainly presented for the people in this Qur'an from every [kind of] example - that they might remember.
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[It is] an Arabic Qur'an, without any deviance that they might become righteous.
39:29
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Allah presents an example: a slave owned by quarreling partners and another belonging exclusively to one man - are they equal in comparison? Praise be to Allah ! But most of them do not know.
39:30
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Indeed, you are to die, and indeed, they are to die.
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Then indeed you, on the Day of Resurrection, before your Lord, will dispute.
39:32
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So who is more unjust than one who lies about Allah and denies the truth when it has come to him? Is there not in Hell a residence for the disbelievers?
39:33
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And the one who has brought the truth and [they who] believed in it - those are the righteous.
39:34
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They will have whatever they desire with their Lord. That is the reward of the doers of good -
39:35
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That Allah may remove from them the worst of what they did and reward them their due for the best of what they used to do.
39:36
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Is not Allah sufficient for His Servant [Prophet Muhammad]? And [yet], they threaten you with those [they worship] other than Him. And whoever Allah leaves astray - for him there is no guide.
39:37
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And whoever Allah guides - for him there is no misleader. Is not Allah Exalted in Might and Owner of Retribution?
39:38
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And if you asked them, "Who created the heavens and the earth?" they would surely say, " Allah ." Say, "Then have you considered what you invoke besides Allah ? If Allah intended me harm, are they removers of His harm; or if He intended me mercy, are they withholders of His mercy?" Say, "Sufficient for me is Allah ; upon Him [alone] rely the [wise] reliers."
39:39
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Say, "O my people, work according to your position, [for] indeed, I am working; and you are going to know
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To whom will come a torment disgracing him and on whom will descend an enduring punishment."
39:41
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Indeed, We sent down to you the Book for the people in truth. So whoever is guided - it is for [the benefit of] his soul; and whoever goes astray only goes astray to its detriment. And you are not a manager over them.
39:42
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Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that do not die [He takes] during their sleep. Then He keeps those for which He has decreed death and releases the others for a specified term. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.
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Or have they taken other than Allah as intercessors? Say, "Even though they do not possess [power over] anything, nor do they reason?"
39:44
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Say, "To Allah belongs [the right to allow] intercession entirely. To Him belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. Then to Him you will be returned."
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And when Allah is mentioned alone, the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter shrink with aversion, but when those [worshipped] other than Him are mentioned, immediately they rejoice.
39:46
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Say, "O Allah , Creator of the heavens and the earth, Knower of the unseen and the witnessed, You will judge between your servants concerning that over which they used to differ."
39:47
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And if those who did wrong had all that is in the earth entirely and the like of it with it, they would [attempt to] ransom themselves thereby from the worst of the punishment on the Day of Resurrection. And there will appear to them from Allah that which they had not taken into account.
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And there will appear to them the evils they had earned, and they will be enveloped by what they used to ridicule.
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And when adversity touches man, he calls upon Us; then when We bestow on him a favor from Us, he says, "I have only been given it because of [my] knowledge." Rather, it is a trial, but most of them do not know.
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Those before them had already said it, but they were not availed by what they used to earn.
39:51
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And the evil consequences of what they earned struck them. And those who have wronged of these [people] will be afflicted by the evil consequences of what they earned; and they will not cause failure.
39:52
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Do they not know that Allah extends provision for whom He wills and restricts [it]? Indeed in that are signs for a people who believe.
39:53
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Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah . Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful."
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And return [in repentance] to your Lord and submit to Him before the punishment comes upon you; then you will not be helped.
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Sahih InternationalAnd follow the best of what was revealed to you from your Lord before the punishment comes upon you suddenly while you do not perceive,
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Lest a soul should say, "Oh [how great is] my regret over what I neglected in regard to Allah and that I was among the mockers."
39:57
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Or [lest] it say, "If only Allah had guided me, I would have been among the righteous."
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Or [lest] it say when it sees the punishment, "If only I had another turn so I could be among the doers of good."
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But yes, there had come to you My verses, but you denied them and were arrogant, and you were among the disbelievers.
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And on the Day of Resurrection you will see those who lied about Allah [with] their faces blackened. Is there not in Hell a residence for the arrogant?
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And Allah will save those who feared Him by their attainment; no evil will touch them, nor will they grieve.
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Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is, over all things, Disposer of affairs.
39:63
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To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth. And they who disbelieve in the verses of Allah - it is those who are the losers.
39:64
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Say, [O Muhammad], "Is it other than Allah that you order me to worship, O ignorant ones?"
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And it was already revealed to you and to those before you that if you should associate [anything] with Allah , your work would surely become worthless, and you would surely be among the losers."
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Rather, worship [only] Allah and be among the grateful.
39:67
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They have not appraised Allah with true appraisal, while the earth entirely will be [within] His grip on the Day of Resurrection, and the heavens will be folded in His right hand. Exalted is He and high above what they associate with Him.
39:68
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And the Horn will be blown, and whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth will fall dead except whom Allah wills. Then it will be blown again, and at once they will be standing, looking on.
39:69
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And the earth will shine with the light of its Lord, and the record [of deeds] will be placed, and the prophets and the witnesses will be brought, and it will be judged between them in truth, and they will not be wronged.
39:70
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And every soul will be fully compensated [for] what it did; and He is most knowing of what they do.
39:71
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And those who disbelieved will be driven to Hell in groups until, when they reach it, its gates are opened and its keepers will say, "Did there not come to you messengers from yourselves, reciting to you the verses of your Lord and warning you of the meeting of this Day of yours?" They will say, "Yes, but the word of punishment has come into effect upon the disbelievers.
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[To them] it will be said, "Enter the gates of Hell to abide eternally therein, and wretched is the residence of the arrogant."
39:73
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But those who feared their Lord will be driven to Paradise in groups until, when they reach it while its gates have been opened and its keepers say, "Peace be upon you; you have become pure; so enter it to abide eternally therein," [they will enter].
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And they will say, "Praise to Allah , who has fulfilled for us His promise and made us inherit the earth [so] we may settle in Paradise wherever we will. And excellent is the reward of [righteous] workers."
39:75
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And you will see the angels surrounding the Throne, exalting [ Allah ] with praise of their Lord. And it will be judged between them in truth, and it will be said, "[All] praise to Allah , Lord of the worlds."
Qur'an Home
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
The Arab/Muslim Revolutions to go on
By: Maged Taman
I do not know if Ben Ladin was already dead years ago, he did 9/11 or was internal jobs. Is he was a criminal like the other criminals who killed million of Muslims for years under what ever false reasons they use. What Muslims are to be concerned with is their liberty and having better conditions in the world. If Ben Ladin is dead his real judgement will be with God. I do not recall he who was killing for oil, to oppress Muslims or imperialism he was real or myth, 9/11 was his act or internal job. Muslims should not consume their time talking about him or judging him what we need is to find out how to bring our tyrants down and liberate our countries. For the families of 9/11 if he did it they have the right to be happy about his death. For Muslims in millions who died in wars of aggression by America God is our judge.
Al Mahdi Al Muntazer
I do not know if Ben Ladin was already dead years ago, he did 9/11 or was internal jobs. Is he was a criminal like the other criminals who killed million of Muslims for years under what ever false reasons they use. What Muslims are to be concerned with is their liberty and having better conditions in the world. If Ben Ladin is dead his real judgement will be with God. I do not recall he who was killing for oil, to oppress Muslims or imperialism he was real or myth, 9/11 was his act or internal job. Muslims should not consume their time talking about him or judging him what we need is to find out how to bring our tyrants down and liberate our countries. For the families of 9/11 if he did it they have the right to be happy about his death. For Muslims in millions who died in wars of aggression by America God is our judge.
Al Mahdi Al Muntazer
The Prim Minister of Turkey Action not words what count
أردوغان: على القذافي الرحيل فورا
أردوغان يناشد القذافي التخلي فورا عن حكم ليبيا (رويترز-أرشبف)دعا رئيس الوزراء التركي رجب طيب أردوغان العقيد الليبي معمر القذافي إلى أن يغادر الحكم في أسرع وقت ممكن، معلنا فشل المبادرة التي تقدمت بها بلاده لحل الأزمة في ليبيا.
وقال أردوغان أمام عدد من الصحفيين في إسطنبول اليوم الثلاثاء "حاولنا مع القذافي البحث عن مخرج للأزمة لكنه تجاهل مطالبنا" مضيفا "إن ليبيا ليست ملكا لأحد أو عشيرة، وعلى الشعب الليبي إيجاد حل للأزمة"، متقدا دخول الأمم المتحدة وحلف شمال الأطلسي (ناتو) طرفا في تلك الأزمة.
وأكد أردوغان أن الأزمة في ليبيا "لن تحل إلا عن طريق الليبين أنفسهم، ولن تحل بالتدخل العسكري" ودعا إلى فرض حظر تصدير الأسلحة إلى هناك.
وقال "لا نريد حلبجة أخرى، ولاحماة وحمص أخرى، ولا بوسنة أخرى، فالحرية والعدالة والمساواة هي حقوق حرمت منها بعض الشعوب، وعلينا أن نغير انطباع العالم كله عن العالم الإسلامي، وسوف نستمر في سياستنا لدعم الشعوب المظلومة في الدفاع عن حقوقها".
Blogger comment:
Good words by the prim minister, any diplomat can say that. If you really want to lead in this region you have to stand with the people.
Al Mahdi Al Muntazer
أردوغان يناشد القذافي التخلي فورا عن حكم ليبيا (رويترز-أرشبف)دعا رئيس الوزراء التركي رجب طيب أردوغان العقيد الليبي معمر القذافي إلى أن يغادر الحكم في أسرع وقت ممكن، معلنا فشل المبادرة التي تقدمت بها بلاده لحل الأزمة في ليبيا.
وقال أردوغان أمام عدد من الصحفيين في إسطنبول اليوم الثلاثاء "حاولنا مع القذافي البحث عن مخرج للأزمة لكنه تجاهل مطالبنا" مضيفا "إن ليبيا ليست ملكا لأحد أو عشيرة، وعلى الشعب الليبي إيجاد حل للأزمة"، متقدا دخول الأمم المتحدة وحلف شمال الأطلسي (ناتو) طرفا في تلك الأزمة.
وأكد أردوغان أن الأزمة في ليبيا "لن تحل إلا عن طريق الليبين أنفسهم، ولن تحل بالتدخل العسكري" ودعا إلى فرض حظر تصدير الأسلحة إلى هناك.
وقال "لا نريد حلبجة أخرى، ولاحماة وحمص أخرى، ولا بوسنة أخرى، فالحرية والعدالة والمساواة هي حقوق حرمت منها بعض الشعوب، وعلينا أن نغير انطباع العالم كله عن العالم الإسلامي، وسوف نستمر في سياستنا لدعم الشعوب المظلومة في الدفاع عن حقوقها".
Blogger comment:
Good words by the prim minister, any diplomat can say that. If you really want to lead in this region you have to stand with the people.
Al Mahdi Al Muntazer
Role of the Prophet
From: http://kingwatch.co.nz/Prophetic_Ministry/role.htm
A prophet is a spokesperson for God. The prophet admonishes, warns, directs, encourages, intercedes, teaches and counsels. He brings the word of God to the people of God and calls the people to respond.
The prophetic ministry begins in the presence of the Lord. This aspect of the ministry is well described in Jeremiah’s challenge to the false prophets.
Which of them has stood in the council of the Lord to see or to hear his word? If they had stood in his council they would have proclaimed his words to his people and they would have turned from their evil ways and from their evil deeds. Jeremiah 23:18,22.
When the prophet knows the heart and mind of the Lord, he speaks the word of the Lord to his people. He stands before the people as one who has stood before God. Because his words come from the heart of God they are powerful and effective.
Variety
A prophet can undertake a huge variety of roles. This is an expression of the creativity of God. A prophet may act in every role occasionally, but mostly he will move in one or two of these roles. Prayer will be important for every ministry. No two prophets should be the same, but each should be a reflection of God’s creativity and calling.
The call of a prophet usually but not always includes his job description (John and Paula Sanford - The Elijah Task p.42).
Some of the roles that a prophet can function in are outlined in the following sections.
Prayer
An important part of the prophet’s task is prayer. Because he knows the mind of the Lord, he is in a position to pray effectively. He has a clear picture of what God is doing, so he knows where prayer is needed most. The prophet watches over the word of the Lord and prays it into being. He must not rest until God has fulfilled his word (Isaiah 62:6).
An important part of the prophets task is unceasing prayer for the Christian Community. The prophets, because they knew what the mind of the Lord was, were in a position to pray more effectually than other men. They had a clearer picture of what God was doing and so they knew when prayer was needed most. They were also able to pray true ‘prophetic prayers’ in which the Holy Spirit directed and guided their very manner and words (Isa 62:6) (Bruce Yocum - Prophecy and Prayer).
Prayer belongs in a very high and important sense to the prophetic ministry. Praying prophets have frequently been at a premium in the history of Gods people. God’s watchmen must always and everywhere be men of prayer. Praying preachers are the true prophets of the Lord, and are they who stand as mouth pieces of God to a generation of wicked and worldly-minded men and women. They are the boldest and truest, and swiftest ministers of God (E.M Bounds - The Weapon of Prayer).
Prayer was essential to the prophetic ministry. It came naturally to the prophets and was the life-blood of their ministry. Prayer was their principal means of communication with God and lay at the heart of their personal relationship with God (Clifford Hill - Prophecy, Past and Present, p. 117).
The prophet is also a mediator. Moses stood between the people and God. Time after time, Moses stood in the gap on behalf of the nation before an angry God. Consequently, intercession played a vital part in Moses life. As a prophet Moses felt in his heart the burden of the message he brought to the people. He was deeply moved when Israel did not respond to the command of God (Milton Smith - The Prophetic Office).
People have always looked to prophetic people when they needed prayer - they still do today. Out of their request for prayer will often come the very signs that confirm the word of God we speak. Be bold! Be vigilant! Be fervent! Anything might happen! (http://www.africaprophecy.co.za/2prophets.htm).
A prophet and his message is born before the Lord. Prophets are men of prayer. A man who has learnt to sit in quietness before the Lord cannot but be contaminated by his pain regarding the situation of the oppressed (Lars Widerburg, Prophets Without Burden).
Prophetic burden-bearers are called to pray. These are the prophetic intercessors. They can feel the grief of the Lord over the things that are not right. These prophets seem to live in the doldrums much of the time, but they are called there to pray "right" again those things that are wrong. God bless them! (Jim Wies - Different Kinds of Prophets).
Men of prayer must be men of steel, for they will be assaulted by Satan even before they attempt to assault his kingdom (L Ravenhill- Why Revival Tarries.).
I believe prophetic ministry is the gas that fuels the tank of intercession and purity. It’s the prophetic hope that causes our prayers for a coming great visitation of God to be persistent through the many years and the diverse seasons of hardship (Mike Bickle - Growing in the Prophetic p.25).
Receiving the Word of the Lord
A key role of the prophet is waiting in the presence of God to receive the word of God. God is sovereign so we cannot tell him when he should speak. Hearing will always require waiting.
The task of the prophets was to know the will of God, so that they could convey it to the nation. Their ministry consisted in handling revelation, ie the knowledge that God has revealed to them. From the earliest times prophecy was conceived as being the activity of God, rather than the activity of man. This is true not only for the receiving of prophecy but also for it’s delivery. When the prophecy actually conveyed the word of the Lord to the people he was deemed to be under the power of God. The hand of the Lord was upon him, empowering and directing the delivery of the word (Clifford Hill - Prophecy, Past and Present p.31).
The Prophet stood before men, as man who had been made to stand before God (Milton Smith - The Prophetic Office).
Suffering
A prophet is often called to suffering. Deep dealing at the hand of God will often be needed to prepare the prophet for receiving the word of God. Sometimes he may actually have to experience beforehand, something of what his people will experience. Jeremiah spent many years in captivity before his people went into captivity. He was often rejected and ostracised; he was even accused of being a traitor. Ezekiel had to lie on his side for 390 days to symbolise the judgement that would come upon his nation. This suffering made the prophets extremely aware of their human frailty (Jer 20:7-10). It also equipped the prophet to give what was often a very harsh message in a spirit of compassion. A true message is nullified if it is spoken in the wrong spirit. Suffering softens the prophet’s spirit, so that he can give the hardest word, in a spirit of love. Suffering contributed to Jeremiah’s compassion.
When the priest Pashhur son of Immer, the chief officer in the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin at the Lord 's temple (Jer 20:1,2).
There is an especial message in the ministry of Jeremiah for those who are compelled to stand alone, who fall into the ground to die, who fill up what is behind of the sufferings of Christ, and through death arise to bear fruit in the great world of men, which they passionately (F.B Meyer - Jeremiah).
In the faith chapter of Hebrews, a number of prophets are recorded as heroes who suffered for their calling.
And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated-- the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground (Heb 11:32-38).
A prophetic ministry involves having a foretaste of the suffering and judgement that will come as a result of the sins of the church and the whole world, since iniquity would soon be universal. In such commission one must be willing to pay the price involved in foreseeing the coming events, in suffering and experiencing them in advance. Only then can the warning be passed on. A study of the concordance will show that there are more references in Scripture to the anger, fury and wrath of God, than his love and tenderness (A W Pink).
A messenger who has not been willing to move into close combat with reality, with the pain of the downtrodden, will not be able to bring a message of relief and healing. A painless message cannot ease the pain. A painless message cannot carry a burden. A true messenger of the Lord begins every voyage at the Cross. Each and every piece brought forth from his mouth is marked by the Cross (Lars Widerburg, Prophets Without Burden).
Many are eager to wear the Prophet’s mantle, but are reluctant to bear the Christian’s cross. This cannot be. Given the choice between Christian or Prophet, choose Christian (Chip Brogden - Letter to a Reluctant Prophet).
There is a burden in being a prophet, which the OT prophets found that they could not always bear (Ian Breward).
Worship
The prophetic ministry can often play an important part in worship. Paul said that when the church gathered together,
Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. For God is not a God of disorder but of peace (1 Cor 14:29-33).
A prophecy that speaks of the glory and wonder of God will inspire his people to worship. 1 Chronicles 24 lists a number of men who were set aside for the ministry of prophesying to the accompaniment of musical instruments as part of the temple worship. This ministry is needed today. In small fellowships, it can be provided by the gift of prophecy. Large meetings for celebration will benefit from prophets who can bring a word from the Lord to build the worship. Miriam, the prophetess led the children or Israel in worship after they had crossed the Red Sea.
When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. Then Miriam the prophetess, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing. Miriam sang to them, "sing to the Lord for he is highly exalted." (Exodus 15:19-21).
In the temple, there were people whose role was to prophesy as part of the worship. They were professional worshippers and prophets, responsible for leading the worship in the house of God.
David, together with the commanders of the army, set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals. Here is the list of the men who performed this service: ……. All these men were under the supervision of their fathers for the music of the temple of the Lord , with cymbals, lyres and harps, for the ministry at the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun and Heman were under the supervision of the king. Along with their relatives- all of them trained and skilled in music for the Lord- they numbered 288 (1 Chron 25,1,6).
Encouragement
Encouragement of the brethren is an important aspect of the prophetic ministry.
Everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort… he who prophesies edifies the church (1 Cor 14:3,4
The words of the prophets will build up and strengthen the church. This will be especially important in times of trial and tribulation. Silas and Judas were two prophets who encouraged the church in Antioch.
Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers (Acts 15:32).
The scriptures give a number of examples of prophets who encouraged the leaders of their nation to act boldly.
When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage. (2 Chron 15:1,).
Then Haggai, the Lord 's messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: "I am with you," declares the Lord. So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius (Hag 1:13-15).
Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them (Ezra 5:1,2).
So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia (Ezra 6:14).
The prophetic ministry is to alert the church to the "now-ness" of the Holy Spirit. It awakens us to the will and purpose of God for us in the present – what He specifically wants to do in us and through us (Mike Bickle - Growing in the Prophetic p.74).
Foretelling the Future
Prediction of the future is part of the prophetic ministry. Almost every prophet in the Old Testament appeared first as a foreteller. Through his fellowship with the eternal God, the prophet has access to the future. He is the seer who has insight into God’s purposes for history. However, whatever he sees for the future is always related to the present. He warns of future judgements so that people will change their behaviour now. He speaks of future blessing to give hope for the present.
The prophet speaks to the present, in light of the future that God has revealed to him. For example, Isaiah warned Hezekiah, that he would die.
In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, "This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover." Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord (2 Kings 20:1,2).
Calls to repentance and calls to practical holiness are based on a word concerning the future; the vision of wrath to come is the basis of a present seeking of the mercy of God (J.A Motyer - New Bible Dictionary).
Prophets must know God and understand the world and bring God’s revelation to bear to show people where it is going. They should show people what to do next (Ian Breward).
History becomes revelation because there was added to the historical situation a man prepared beforehand to say what it meant. The prophets were not left to struggle with the meaning of events as or after they happened, they apprehend them beforehand and were warned by God of their significance (J A Motyer - Prophets and Prophecy).
Almost every prophet first appears as a foreteller (J A Motyer - Prophets and Prophecy).
Repentance and practical holiness are based on a word concerning the future; the vision of wrath to come is the basis of a present seeking of the mercy of God; the vision of bliss to come is a call to a walking in the light now (J A Motyer - Prophets and Prophecy).
Prophets see more than others the continuing influences that issue from the past and profoundly affect the present and the ultimate future. They see the continuum, the unbroken span of past, present and future as few see it (Art Katz - What is the Prophetic Church).
Direction and Guidance
Prophets bring the word of the Lord to the church. Christians can get so caught up in the events of the world that they do not see what God is doing. This is particularly true in tumultuous times, when it can be very hard to see the hand of God at work. Prophets will give direction and vision in these situations, so that God’s people know what is happening, and what they should do. For example, the prophet Gad provided guidance to David and showed him how to avoid trouble.
But the prophet Gad said to David, "Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah." So David left and went to the forest of Hereth (1 Sam 22:5).
Prophets can give direction to those who are seeking the will of God. Sometimes the prophetic word will be for the church as a whole or for the leadership of the church.
The Prophet admonishes, warns, directs, intercedes, teaches and counsels. Far more importantly he stands at the walls to see what the Lord is doing that he may call the body to respond (Sanfords).
A prophet is called to stand in the councils of the Lord. He stands before the living God. Having stood before God he is sent to stand for God, before his people and speak his word (Tom Marshall- The Coming of the Prophets).
To prophesy is to communicate the mind and heart of God to a person, a group of people or a territory; therefore, prophecy is linked with the promise of God over our lives. God’s promise is an announcement of His plan of salvation and blessing to His people. A promise embraces both declaration and deed. God’s promise begins with a declaration by God and covers His future plan. (Chuck Pierce - The Future War of the Church).
Personal prophecy must be treated with caution. The gift of prophecy is not usually directive, so it is dangerous to make life changing decisions on the basis of a prophecy uttered by a person who has not been recognised as a prophet. Prophets will sometimes give direction, but generally this should come as a confirmation of something that God has already spoken to the person concerned. God wants to lead his people by his Spirit. He desires that every believer should learn to hear the Spirit’s voice. A message from a prophet should normally come as a confirmation of something that the Spirit has already spoken.
Getting confirmation from a prophet before we act can be really encouraging, but we need to be very careful. A personal prophecy can be misleading if we have let our own plans and desires control our thinking. Ezekiel gives a surprising warning about this.
When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet, I the Lord will answer him myself in keeping with his great idolatry (Ezek 14:4).
If a person has let something that they want to do become an idol of their heart, God may prophesy to them what they want to hear. If the person acts on the prophecy, it will lead to disaster. God does this to reveal the idol and recapture the person’s heart. This means that we must be careful with personal prophecy. If a prophecy confirms what we want to do, it may just be a sign that we have made our own plans into an "idol in our hearts".
Making important decisions on the basis of a word from another person is dangerous. It is wrong to be totally dependent on others for guidance. Many Christians have been led astray because they failed to get their own word from God. (John Bevere provides excellent advice on how to handle personal prophecy in his book Thus Saith the Lord.)
The major thrust of these servants was to declare God’s heart to his people, pricking their hearts that they might return to His ways. The purpose of all of His prophets sent to Israel and Judah. In fulfilling this they may have spoken of things to come or given a personal word to an individual. However, these were minor components of their ministry, which helped to accomplish the major. Too often we are deceived or led astray by majoring on that on which God minors, while minoring on that on which God majors. It would seem that the emphasis of today’s prophetic ministries is focused on the minor, the giving of personal prophecy and foretelling of the future. We’ve drawn our definition of a prophet from limited and specific scriptures rather than stepping back to capture the overall picture. An erroneous view of a prophet has left the church vulnerable to deception (p.32).
Christian prophets do not tell people what to do, they confirm what God is saying. To go to a Christian prophet for direction and guidance is to violate the New Covenant which gives us direct access and approach to God through Christ by the Spirit (Graham Cooke - Developing Your Prophetic Gifting p.199).
Telling the people what they want to hear at the expense of what they need to hear weakens the church. It causes people to seek the gifts and manifestations to the neglect of pursuing the character of God (John Bevere - Thus Saith the Lord p.34).
For far too long the prophetic has only been seen as a blessing ministry. Prophets come into the church, take a few meetings, bless people and then move on (Graham Cooke - Developing Your Prophetic Gifting p.272).
Interpreting Dreams and Visions
An important aspect of the prophetic ministry is interpreting dreams and visions. God often speaks in dreams to people who are not listening. We must learn to interpret these to understand what he is saying. Prophets are sometimes skilled in interpreting dreams.
This is that time in history in which God is raising His prophets for His end-time purposes. "If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you... (Deuteronomy 13:1)," makes it unequivocal that the Lord regards prophets and dreamers as one and the same. Unfortunately, the Body of Christ, for the most part, has not yet grasped that. It is imperative that at least His prophets, and hopefully the entire Body, come to comprehend how important this aspect of prophets' equipment actually is, and that all His prophets become adept both in having their own dreams and in interpreting theirs and those of others. (Joy Parrott Parables in the Night)
Daniel was a prophet who was skilled in interpreting dreams (Daniel 2:1-28).
During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven and said: "Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers: you have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king" (Dan 2:19-23).
Dreams often include people and objects with which we are familiar used in symbolic ways. We must not assume that they will be fulfilled literally. For example, Joseph saw the sun, moon and eleven stars bowing before him. This was not literally fulfilled, but he eventually saw his father and eleven brothers bowing before him. (Genesis 37:5-12; 40:5-22; 44:11-32). Dreams should be interpreted like parables.
Kings and rulers will often hear God through dreams. Prophets can help them to understand what God is saying.
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of Kings (Prov 25:2).
Those particularly gifted with dreams, visions, prophecies and revelation need to be careful not to think of themselves too highly, as being the prophetic group. They serve only one dimension of the church’s greater calling as a prophetic community (Mike Bickle - Growing in the Prophetic p.195).
(John Paul Jackson has good teaching on the interpretation of dreams).
Correction and Admonition
There is also a negative side to the ministry of the prophet. This can be seen in the calling of Jeremiah:
See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow to build and to plant.
Four of the six expressions used by God to describe Jeremiah's ministry are negative. God often has to up root and tear down, destroy and overthrow, before he can begin to plant and build. Prophets co-operate with God in breaking down all that is not built on the true foundation. They do this by announcing his judgement. At the same time they watch over all that God is building to see that it is built according to his Word. This is an awesome task but God cannot complete his restoration work until the prophetic ministry is restored.
Two thirds of his work was therefore in the direction of destruction. It is not pleasant or easy work (F.B Meyer - Jeremiah p.109).
It was Jeremiah’s lot to prophesy at a time when all things in Judah were running down in a final and mournful catastrophe, when political excitement was at its height and the most fatal counsels prevailed. It was his stand in the way, over which his nation was pushing headlong to destruction: to make an heroic effort to arrest it and to turn it back; and to fail and be compelled to step to one side and see his own people, whom he loved with the tenderness of a woman plunge over the precipice into the wide weltering ruin (Dr Moorehead).
Paul described a prophetic ministry that cut to the hearts of the people.
But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!" (1 Cor 14:24,25).
When Jeremiah was first summoned to the work of prophet, it was summarised under six distinct divisions. He was set over nations and to overthrow; to build and to plant (1:10).
No Compromise; that’s a prophets heart when he sees the thing that needs to be opposed, and hears God’s word he is merciless (Art Katz - The Heart of a Prophet).
The leader is rarely a prophet who sounds the initial warning: he is an early listener who obeys the prophet. The prophet's job is lonely. He is usually a one-man verbal demolition team. He must attack the root of the evil, which goes very deep and affects everything. He does not criticise this or that evil; he criticises the system that produced a forest of bad trees and bad fruit. He is not a tree-trimmer; he is in the tree-uprooting business (Gary North - Prophets, Leaders, Followers, Losers).
Elijah prayed a terrible prayer. But there is something far more dreadful than physical calamities and suffering, namely moral delinquency and spiritual apostasy. This is very rarely perceived. Desperate diseases call for drastic measures (A W Pink).
Elijah was a confrontation prophet. God used him to confront the evils of his time.
One element of Christian compassion is outrage. If we see what is wrong as God sees it, we feel about it as God feels it. Moses was outraged when he looked on the burdens of his people. His nation was immature but his outrage was natural. In the time of the prophets, as Israel’s national decadence brought in its wake violent social injustice and inhumanity the outrage of prophets is searing. Amos was furious when he saw the poor sold for the price of shoes (Os Guiness).
The prophetic voice of Israel was primarily a word of judgement upon the people of God. So the prophetic voice of the church must be a word which warns of impending judgement upon the church. Warning to the world is secondary (Ez 3:5,21; Ez 33:7) (Os Guiness).
Amos was a prophet who understood the condition of his nation, and knew the issues in Israel with which God took exception. It is not the worldly society, but God’s people with whom God is primarily concerned and with whom he will first enter into judgement.
Like most prophets, Amos was not welcomed in his own society. When a genuine prophet arrives on the scene, he tends to make people uncomfortable. The people of Amos’ day were affluent and religiously devout- as well as being military secure and governmentally sound. The last thing they wanted was a prophet to meddle their well-ordered lives (Bob Munford).
Warning of Danger
When Paul was going up to Jerusalem the prophet Agabus warned him of danger that he would face there (Acts 21:10,11). God often prepares his people in this way. The prophet is a watchman, who warns God’s people of coming trouble.
Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground where no snare has been set? Does a trap spring up from the earth when there is nothing to catch? When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it? Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets (Amos 3:5-7).
It is the duty of God’s servants to warn men of their danger, to point out that their rebellion against God leads to certain destruction, and to call them to flee from the wrath to come. It is their duty to rebuke wickedness wherever it is found. Those who expose hypocrites, resist tyrants and oppose the wicked, are over wielded by them as troublemakers. Those who by their sins provoke God’s wrath are the real troublesters, and not those who warn them of the dangers to which their wickedness exposes them (A W Pink).
This is the first task of the Elijah prophets of this age, to prepare men of fire. We are not prepared by looking to escape (John and Paula Sanford - The Elijah Task).
Elijah is the prophet of fire. He warns of the fire to come. He calls down fire by intercessory prayer. Elijah today will be the prophet of the Lord who warns of the onset of tribulation. Not only are they to warn generally, but specifically as the Lord gives utterance concerning families, churches, individuals, cars, planes, earthquakes, and tornadoes (John and Paula Sanford - The Elijah Task p.28).
Teaching establishes us, but warnings protect us! If we are only taught, and the warnings are neglected, we can lose what was established through the ministry of teaching (John Bevere - Thus Saith the Lord p.11).
The postmillennialist, in sharp contrast, denies that covenant-keepers will be the primary targets of God’s negative sanctions throughout history. He argues that the message of the Bible is covenantal: faithfulness brings God’s blessings, while rebellion brings God’s curses (Deut.28). This is the message of the Old Testament prophets. They brought covenant lawsuits against Israel and Judah, judicially calling all covenant-breakers back to covenantal faithfulness, and threatening them with direct, culture-wide, negative sanctions if they refused (Gary North Millennialism and Social Theory p.211).
When a people reach a certain level of moral depravity, punishment ceases to be particular and becomes national. The civil order has lost it’s ability to act for God and God then acts against that order (RJ Rushdoony).
The prophet must identify the fundamental evil of his generation. He must also identify, long in advance, the most likely specific evils that will consume the society and bring God's wrath (Gary North - Prophets, Leaders, Followers, Losers).
The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: "Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your fathers to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets." But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the Lord their God. They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, "Do not do as they do," and they did the things the Lord had forbidden them to do (2 Kings 17:13-15).
Interpreting the Signs of the Times
Jesus criticised the Jews because they could understand the weather, but they could not interpret the signs of the times.
He said to the crowd: "When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'It's going to rain,' and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, 'It's going to be hot,' and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time? (Luke 12:54-56).
Prophets must be able to understand the signs of the times and interpret them to the world.
The seer is one who has understanding of the times. This person has the ability to perceive and discern the spiritual significance of a situation and can give the Lord’s perspective on a given situation. This person’s strengths are giftings of illumination and discernment, though they may or may not communicate what they see in any one set or particular manner. This kind of prophet is extremely valuable as a watchman and intercessor in the midst of the Church. (Jim Wies - Different Kinds of Prophets)
Within the long, circuitous, often delayed progress in understanding, there were sudden explosions of saving activity….. It is to the prophets that God revealed the coming and meaning of such times; indeed from one point of view, the prophet may be described as the person who, more than anyone else, knows what time it is (Robert - Banks - the Tyranny of Time p.180).
If a prophet has no personal history with God, no spiritual depth to draw from, no deep root in firm soil established over many seasons of Christian experience, how can the prophet presume to speak from a position of revelation into what God is telling the Church today? Furthermore, if a prophet cannot accurately interpret and read the signs of the present times; if a prophet cannot correctly judge and precisely discern his own generation; if a prophet cannot relate to what God is saying and doing in terms of present truth, how can the prophet presume to speak of future events? (Chip Brogden - Prophetic Dissonance).
The prophet knows what time it is, knows what kind of time it is. He holds prophetic understanding of the mentality and mood of this present time. He identifies and knows the trends of a society by looking at its roots. He is able to analyse trends and upcoming events by judging foundations. His words are a force against the mentality of the day.
Lars Widerberg - Aspects of the Prophetic Office – The Forthteller).
The seer is made able to read the spiritual climate. He is made able to identify the prevalent motivational force. His role is to see through masks and veils of pretension, to expose man’s folly and evil, for the sake of seeing the poor and needy through. The watchman is set over men’s hearts to discern motivation, and to pray for and to call forth correction. The seer is set over men’s hearts to call them to heavenly living. The prophet is a seer. The basic nature of his commission is observation and watchfulness. He is prone to contemplation and skilled in the art of deduction. (Lars Widerberg - The Seer).
The Meaning of History.
Prophets have a role in explaining the meaning of history. When a culture loses an understanding of its history, it loses its sense of direction. Clifford Hill has explained this really well.
The church has been unable to give an effective lead in secular society due to the loss of a sense of mission and direction. Without a clear sense of its own purpose, identity and destiny the church has been powerless to influence an increasingly secular society. A major cause of the church’s loss of direction has been due to the lack of a clear concept of the meaning of history. Mankind is crying out for an understanding of history. This is of fundamental importance for grappling with the underlying issues concerning the meaning and purpose of life itself. The church will never be able to satisfy the deepest longings of mankind and give a lead to secular nations or point the way to creative policies promoting health, happiness and the well-being of mankind until Christians recover an understanding of history (Clifford Hill - Shaking the Nations p.21).
God’s actions in human history had to be interpreted and this was one of the major roles of the prophets (Clifford Hill - Shaking the Nations p.23).
The Bible reveals a God who has plans for the whole world, which cannot be thwarted. Once God has announced his purposes nothing can stand against him or prevent him from fulfilling his word. This understanding of God as the Lord of history is something that has very largely been lost by the western church. It has resulted in a powerlessness to declare the word of God with prophetic power and conviction in the second half of the twentieth century when all the nations have been shaken. When God stretches out his hand and says that the time has come for a nation or a people, they can no longer stand (Clifford Hill - Shaking the Nations p.26).
God’s plan for history is revealed through his prophets.
In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets (Eph 3:4,5).
Testing of Prophecy
Prophets are called to speak God’s word. Another important part of their ministry, which we need to see developed, is testing prophecy.
Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said (1 Cor 14:29).
Part of the prophetic role is to sit and listen to prophecies and "weigh carefully" the words that are spoken. This is something that two or three should do together. If a prophecy does not get a consensus of support it should be discarded.
Testing prophecies is a very important aspect of the prophetic ministry. We are now hearing more and more prophetic words being spoken to the church, but the quality is still very mixed. Christians do not know which words they should take seriously. Many warnings of disasters have not been fulfilled. This unclear sounding of the trumpet is producing confusion in the church. The solution is for prophets to get more involved in testing of prophecies and sorting out the wheat from the chaff. Churches that are moving in prophecy should set up processes for this to happen.
Watchman
Some prophets are watchmen or men of vision who stand on the walls of the city of God to see what God is doing. They look into the distance to see what is coming. They often see a long way ahead. Several scriptures describe the role of the watchman.
The prophet, along with my God, is the watchman over Ephraim, yet snares await him on all his paths, and hostility in the house of his God (Hos 9:8).
Ezekiel was called to be a watchman.
The word of the Lord came to me: "Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say to them: 'When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head. Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.' "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself. "Son of man, say to the house of Israel, 'This is what you are saying: "Our offences and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?" ' Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?' (Ezek 33:1-11).
The prophet was called a watchman because he basically functioned in the spiritual realm just as the literal watchmen did in the natural realm. The natural watchmen were stationed at specific posts on the walls of the city that gave them the visibility to watch for the king or other members of the nobility to announce their coming. They were also to look for enemies from without, or disorder arising within the city, or camp of Israel.
The watchman should not be in the city eating and drinking with the townsfolk. He should be out on the watchtower looking into the night (Ron McKenzie).
The watchman, like the eagle must be free to fly as he or she wills (in God) and to flow prophetically in all the prophetic function and not be restricted by man. Without the freedom to fly like an eagle the watchman will become a controlled, chained prisoner of the Church, unable to report even abuse, error and sin seen within the church itself (Steve Snow - Eagle Watchman Resources).
The true church could not have become the "institution" it has, if the watchmen had not been rendered impotent (John Martin)
Elijah’s servant needed to have his eyes opened to see the full reality of his situation. This is something we all need.
When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked. "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "O Lord, open his eyes so he may see." Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha (2 Kings 6:15-17).
More at Watchmen.
Challenging the Nation
The primary responsibility of the prophet is to speak to the people of God. He brings both direction and correction to the Church. But a prophet may also be called to speak to his nation. Many of the prophets of the Old Testament found themselves confronting kings, and taking an important role in national affairs. Some also addressed their words to foreign nations. Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel each prophesied to the surrounding nations (Is 13-12, Jer 46-51, Ezek 25-32).
The church will always be the prophet’s main concern, but this wider prophetic role urgently needs restoring.
The prophets of Israel did not live in isolation -they were acutely aware of international politics and the rise and fall of nations. Some of them pronounced messages against the nations of their times. All of them were concerned about the world situation, and it was part of their calling to issue prophecies against the other nations of the world (Milton Smith).
Having matured in their prophetic gifting through years of faithful obedience to God, prophets will begin to operate on new levels of prophetic authority. Worldwide, prophets will speak before civil governments, delivering powerful prophetic speeches to nations, literally shaking their existing political foundations (Dennis Cramer - Prophetic Political Power).
The march of nations, the rise and fall of earthly powers, and the rule and reign of kings and sovereigns all comes under the overview of God’s heart for the earth. He sees the end from the beginning (Graham Cooke - Developing Your Prophetic Gifting p.135).
Initiating God’s Action
God does nothing without warning his people first. Part of the prophetic role is to release God’s activity by providing these warnings (Amos 3:7). Isaiah spoke of God stretching out his hand according to his plan.
The Lord Almighty has sworn, "Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand... This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back? (Is 14:24-27).
The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God (Is 52:10).
Prophetic hearts, not prophetic charts, will change the course of history and bring God's prophesied will into actual effect (Philip Greenslade - The Sharp Cutting Edge).
Explaining What Must Be Done
Many prophets are warning of future disastrous events, but very few are explaining what God is doing and how he will work through these events to bring change. Seeing from within the dark cloud of events seem to prevents them from seeing what Jesus is seeing.
A related problem is that many Christians to enjoy warnings of judgement on the world, more than they want strategies that would require them to take action to bring in the victory of God.
God does not cause troubles and calamities; they are rooted in human evil or folly with a bit of demonic mischief thrown in. During a judgement, God takes this human mess and works it for good to achieve his purposes. One role of the prophet is to warn of troubles before they come, so God’s people can prepare. Their more important task is to explain what God is doing through the event, so his people can participate in his purposes. Prophets can only accomplish the latter task, if they are standing outside the dark cloud of human events and seeing with the eyes of Jesus.
When a prophet receives a warning of a calamitous event, their task has just begun. The next step is to find out what God plans to achieve through the event, and his strategy for the people who want to participate in his purposes during that event. We need more of eyes of Jesus and less of the dark cloud.
According to Romans12:6, Christians with the gift of prophesying should prophesy in proportion to their faith. Prophesying judgment to a nation in decline does not take much faith. Prophesying the strategy by which God will use the judgement to change the nation and bring a great victory takes much more faith. That is a challenge for modern prophets.
Theology
Prophets should be experts on God. Part of their role is to pass on theological and biblical insights to the church. A prophet should also be a theologian.
Jeremiah was of all the prophets of the Old Testament, the supreme prophet of the human heart... Jeremiah would have nothing from his hearers and readers but their hearts. Let other prophets negotiate and send ambassadors as they pleased. Jeremiah, in season and out of season, for a long lifetime laid siege to the heart of his hearers (David M Howard - Words of Fire: River of Tears p.54).
Seers are men of revelation. Seers are men of enlightenment. Seers are men of intellectual maturity (Lars Widerberg - The Seer).
Healing the Sick
Some prophets are used in healing the sick. Elijah was a prophet who moved effectively in the gift of healing. Elisha followed in his mentor’s footsteps.
When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy's body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes (2 Kings 4:32-35).
As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, "Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!" When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: "Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel." So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed." (2 Kings 5:7-10).
Appointing and Anointing Leaders
In Old Testament times, God often used a prophet to appoint and anoint a king. Samuel anointed Saul and then David as King. A prophet anointed Solomon as his successor.
So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites went down and put Solomon on King David's mule and escorted him to Gihon. Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon. Then they sounded the trumpet and all the people shouted, "Long live King Solomon!" (1 Kings 1:38-39).
Elijah was told to anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel (1 Kings 19:16).
The prophet Elisha summoned a man from the company of the prophets and said to him, "Tuck your cloak into your belt, take this flask of oil with you and go to Ramoth Gilead. When you get there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go to him, get him away from his companions and take him into an inner room. Then take the flask and pour the oil on his head and declare, 'This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.' Then open the door and run; don't delay!" So the young man, the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. When he arrived, he found the army officers sitting together. "I have a message for you, commander," he said. "For which of us?" asked Jehu. "For you, commander," he replied. Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the oil on Jehu's head and declared, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'I anoint you king over the Lord 's people Israel.' " ……..Then he opened the door and ran (2 Kings 9:1-10).
In a godly nation prophets may have a role in the appointment of political leaders. Prophets also have a role in anointing other prophets for ministry
Anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him (1 Kings 19:16, 19).
Advising Kings and Political Rulers
Prophets have a powerful role in providing advice to kings and rulers. When God wanted to give guidance to a ruler, he often gave it through a prophet. David had the prophets Nathan and Gad in his palace. They advised him about a whole range of matters.
After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent." Nathan replied to the king, "Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you." That night the word of the Lord came to Nathan…… Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation (2 Sam 7:1-4,17).
But the prophet Gad said to David, "Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah." So David left and went to the forest of Hereth (1 Sam 22:5).
David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing." Before David got up the next morning, the word of the Lord had come to Gad the prophet, David's seer: "Go and tell David, 'This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.' " So Gad went to David and said to him, "Shall there come upon you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me." David said to Gad, "I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men." (2 Sam 24:10-14).
A prophet advised Ahab as he went into battle.
Meanwhile a prophet came to Ahab king of Israel and announced, "This is what the Lord says: 'Do you see this vast army? I will give it into your hand today, and then you will know that I am the Lord.' " "But who will do this?" asked Ahab. The prophet replied, "This is what the Lord says: 'The young officers of the provincial commanders will do it.' " "And who will start the battle?" he asked. The prophet answered, "You will"….. The king of Israel advanced and overpowered the horses and chariots and inflicted heavy losses on the Arameans. Afterward, the prophet came to the king of Israel and said, "Strengthen your position and see what must be done, because next spring the king of Aram will attack you again……. The man of God came up and told the king of Israel, "This is what the Lord says, I will deliver this vast army into your hands, and you will know that I am the Lord. The Israelites inflicted a hundred thousand casualties on the Aramean foot soldiers in one day (1 Kings 20:13-29).
Elisha provided guidance to the army of Israel that frustrated it’s enemies.
The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: "Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there." So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places. This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, "Will you not tell me which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?" "None of us, my lord the king," said one of his officers, "but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom" (2 Kings 6:9-12).
Historian
Some prophets are historians. Their interest in the future rolls over into an interest in history. Many of the historic books of the Old Testament were written by prophets who recorded the works of God.
The other events of Uzziah's reign, from beginning to end, are recorded by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz (2 Chron 26:22).
The other events of Abijah's reign, what he did and what he said, are written in the annotations of the prophet Iddo (2 Chron 13:22).
As for the events of King David's reign, from beginning to end, they are written in the records of Samuel the seer, the records of Nathan the prophet and the records of Gad the seer, together with the details of his reign and power, and the circumstances that surrounded him and Israel and the kingdoms of all the other lands (1 Chron 29:29,30).
22. Guiding Angels
Angels are ministering spirits sent to serve God's children (Heb 1:14). They are sent by God. They serve God's people.
The LORD has established His throne in heaven,
And His kingdom rules over all.
Bless the LORD, you His angels,
Who excel in strength,
who do His word,
Heeding the voice of His word.
Bless the LORD, all you His hosts,
You ministers of His,
who do His pleasure. (Psalm 103:19-21).
Angels are created for obedience. They do not have the frienship with God that is opened up to us through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Angels often do not know as much about what is on the Father's heart as we do. They often "excel in strength", far more than they excel in wisdom and decision making.
Angels move between heaven and earth. When they are in heaven, they know what God is doing, because his Kingdom is established there. When they are on earth, they are dependent on other messengers from heaven to keep them up-to-date with what God is doing.
Angels are sent to earth tp serve us, but as events change develop, they often do not know what to do next. They sometimes have to wait for our prophetic declarations before they know what to do. When they hear the Holy Spirit's word through us, they do it. They recognise his voice and obey it. They listen to a prophetic word and work to accomplish it. That is one reason why God does nothing without first revealing his plan to his servants the prophets (Amos 3:7).
Speaking in the language of angels is good (1 Cor 13:1), because it helps the angesl to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying.
Levels of Activity
Prophets can minister at different levels.
People
Some prophets specialise in speaking to individual people. Personal prophecy provides:
guidance
correction
Church
Other prophets speak primarily to their church. As they develop in this ministry, they may also speak into other churches. Prophets provide a church with:
guidance
vision
warnings
purity
Loren Cunningham said that pastors are like wet cement. They are very accepting and draw everything together. He said that prophets are like reinforcing steel. They give the concrete strength by keeping it pure. A strong building needs both cement and steel.
The Nations
Some people will be called to be a prophet to their nation. They may also develop to speak to other nations. A prophet to a nation provides:
advice to rulers
interpretation of God’s law
warning of judgement
It is for this reason that the prophets so often appear in the presence of rulers. It would sometimes seem as though they were primarily sent to kings. For through the king, they might best influence the welfare of the nation. Hence also their closeness to the priest. It would be a grave mistake, however to assume that, because of the great interest of the prophets in the monarchy, they were themselves primarily politicians. Their political activity is always subservient to a religious end. They did serve as the counsellors, but they did so in order that the theocratic kingdom might prosper (Edward J Young - My servants the Prophets p. 82).
Daniel would be an example of a prophet of government. His prophecies spoke of monumental changes in world order. There are just such prophets today. Some of these prophets are actually in governmental positions. I have found that God places His gifts in people from all walks of life. Prophets seem to be sent to various institutions of society, such as legal, educational and governmental offices. Governmental prophets may not give as many personal prophecies. They also understand trends and are watchmen on the wall for their nations (Cindy Jacobs - The Voice of God p.223).
The prophetic institution as such may be regarded as the guardian of this theocracy. The prophets were to build upon the foundation of the Mosaic Law, and to expound that law unto the nation. They would thus be the preservers and defenders of the principles upon which the theocracy had been founded by God (Edward J Young - My servants the Prophets).
For more see Prophet to the Nation.
Blogger comment:
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) did all of these roles of a prophet, read the Quran and biography of prophet Muhammad.
A prophet is a spokesperson for God. The prophet admonishes, warns, directs, encourages, intercedes, teaches and counsels. He brings the word of God to the people of God and calls the people to respond.
The prophetic ministry begins in the presence of the Lord. This aspect of the ministry is well described in Jeremiah’s challenge to the false prophets.
Which of them has stood in the council of the Lord to see or to hear his word? If they had stood in his council they would have proclaimed his words to his people and they would have turned from their evil ways and from their evil deeds. Jeremiah 23:18,22.
When the prophet knows the heart and mind of the Lord, he speaks the word of the Lord to his people. He stands before the people as one who has stood before God. Because his words come from the heart of God they are powerful and effective.
Variety
A prophet can undertake a huge variety of roles. This is an expression of the creativity of God. A prophet may act in every role occasionally, but mostly he will move in one or two of these roles. Prayer will be important for every ministry. No two prophets should be the same, but each should be a reflection of God’s creativity and calling.
The call of a prophet usually but not always includes his job description (John and Paula Sanford - The Elijah Task p.42).
Some of the roles that a prophet can function in are outlined in the following sections.
Prayer
An important part of the prophet’s task is prayer. Because he knows the mind of the Lord, he is in a position to pray effectively. He has a clear picture of what God is doing, so he knows where prayer is needed most. The prophet watches over the word of the Lord and prays it into being. He must not rest until God has fulfilled his word (Isaiah 62:6).
An important part of the prophets task is unceasing prayer for the Christian Community. The prophets, because they knew what the mind of the Lord was, were in a position to pray more effectually than other men. They had a clearer picture of what God was doing and so they knew when prayer was needed most. They were also able to pray true ‘prophetic prayers’ in which the Holy Spirit directed and guided their very manner and words (Isa 62:6) (Bruce Yocum - Prophecy and Prayer).
Prayer belongs in a very high and important sense to the prophetic ministry. Praying prophets have frequently been at a premium in the history of Gods people. God’s watchmen must always and everywhere be men of prayer. Praying preachers are the true prophets of the Lord, and are they who stand as mouth pieces of God to a generation of wicked and worldly-minded men and women. They are the boldest and truest, and swiftest ministers of God (E.M Bounds - The Weapon of Prayer).
Prayer was essential to the prophetic ministry. It came naturally to the prophets and was the life-blood of their ministry. Prayer was their principal means of communication with God and lay at the heart of their personal relationship with God (Clifford Hill - Prophecy, Past and Present, p. 117).
The prophet is also a mediator. Moses stood between the people and God. Time after time, Moses stood in the gap on behalf of the nation before an angry God. Consequently, intercession played a vital part in Moses life. As a prophet Moses felt in his heart the burden of the message he brought to the people. He was deeply moved when Israel did not respond to the command of God (Milton Smith - The Prophetic Office).
People have always looked to prophetic people when they needed prayer - they still do today. Out of their request for prayer will often come the very signs that confirm the word of God we speak. Be bold! Be vigilant! Be fervent! Anything might happen! (http://www.africaprophecy.co.za/2prophets.htm).
A prophet and his message is born before the Lord. Prophets are men of prayer. A man who has learnt to sit in quietness before the Lord cannot but be contaminated by his pain regarding the situation of the oppressed (Lars Widerburg, Prophets Without Burden).
Prophetic burden-bearers are called to pray. These are the prophetic intercessors. They can feel the grief of the Lord over the things that are not right. These prophets seem to live in the doldrums much of the time, but they are called there to pray "right" again those things that are wrong. God bless them! (Jim Wies - Different Kinds of Prophets).
Men of prayer must be men of steel, for they will be assaulted by Satan even before they attempt to assault his kingdom (L Ravenhill- Why Revival Tarries.).
I believe prophetic ministry is the gas that fuels the tank of intercession and purity. It’s the prophetic hope that causes our prayers for a coming great visitation of God to be persistent through the many years and the diverse seasons of hardship (Mike Bickle - Growing in the Prophetic p.25).
Receiving the Word of the Lord
A key role of the prophet is waiting in the presence of God to receive the word of God. God is sovereign so we cannot tell him when he should speak. Hearing will always require waiting.
The task of the prophets was to know the will of God, so that they could convey it to the nation. Their ministry consisted in handling revelation, ie the knowledge that God has revealed to them. From the earliest times prophecy was conceived as being the activity of God, rather than the activity of man. This is true not only for the receiving of prophecy but also for it’s delivery. When the prophecy actually conveyed the word of the Lord to the people he was deemed to be under the power of God. The hand of the Lord was upon him, empowering and directing the delivery of the word (Clifford Hill - Prophecy, Past and Present p.31).
The Prophet stood before men, as man who had been made to stand before God (Milton Smith - The Prophetic Office).
Suffering
A prophet is often called to suffering. Deep dealing at the hand of God will often be needed to prepare the prophet for receiving the word of God. Sometimes he may actually have to experience beforehand, something of what his people will experience. Jeremiah spent many years in captivity before his people went into captivity. He was often rejected and ostracised; he was even accused of being a traitor. Ezekiel had to lie on his side for 390 days to symbolise the judgement that would come upon his nation. This suffering made the prophets extremely aware of their human frailty (Jer 20:7-10). It also equipped the prophet to give what was often a very harsh message in a spirit of compassion. A true message is nullified if it is spoken in the wrong spirit. Suffering softens the prophet’s spirit, so that he can give the hardest word, in a spirit of love. Suffering contributed to Jeremiah’s compassion.
When the priest Pashhur son of Immer, the chief officer in the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin at the Lord 's temple (Jer 20:1,2).
There is an especial message in the ministry of Jeremiah for those who are compelled to stand alone, who fall into the ground to die, who fill up what is behind of the sufferings of Christ, and through death arise to bear fruit in the great world of men, which they passionately (F.B Meyer - Jeremiah).
In the faith chapter of Hebrews, a number of prophets are recorded as heroes who suffered for their calling.
And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated-- the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground (Heb 11:32-38).
A prophetic ministry involves having a foretaste of the suffering and judgement that will come as a result of the sins of the church and the whole world, since iniquity would soon be universal. In such commission one must be willing to pay the price involved in foreseeing the coming events, in suffering and experiencing them in advance. Only then can the warning be passed on. A study of the concordance will show that there are more references in Scripture to the anger, fury and wrath of God, than his love and tenderness (A W Pink).
A messenger who has not been willing to move into close combat with reality, with the pain of the downtrodden, will not be able to bring a message of relief and healing. A painless message cannot ease the pain. A painless message cannot carry a burden. A true messenger of the Lord begins every voyage at the Cross. Each and every piece brought forth from his mouth is marked by the Cross (Lars Widerburg, Prophets Without Burden).
Many are eager to wear the Prophet’s mantle, but are reluctant to bear the Christian’s cross. This cannot be. Given the choice between Christian or Prophet, choose Christian (Chip Brogden - Letter to a Reluctant Prophet).
There is a burden in being a prophet, which the OT prophets found that they could not always bear (Ian Breward).
Worship
The prophetic ministry can often play an important part in worship. Paul said that when the church gathered together,
Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. For God is not a God of disorder but of peace (1 Cor 14:29-33).
A prophecy that speaks of the glory and wonder of God will inspire his people to worship. 1 Chronicles 24 lists a number of men who were set aside for the ministry of prophesying to the accompaniment of musical instruments as part of the temple worship. This ministry is needed today. In small fellowships, it can be provided by the gift of prophecy. Large meetings for celebration will benefit from prophets who can bring a word from the Lord to build the worship. Miriam, the prophetess led the children or Israel in worship after they had crossed the Red Sea.
When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. Then Miriam the prophetess, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing. Miriam sang to them, "sing to the Lord for he is highly exalted." (Exodus 15:19-21).
In the temple, there were people whose role was to prophesy as part of the worship. They were professional worshippers and prophets, responsible for leading the worship in the house of God.
David, together with the commanders of the army, set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals. Here is the list of the men who performed this service: ……. All these men were under the supervision of their fathers for the music of the temple of the Lord , with cymbals, lyres and harps, for the ministry at the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun and Heman were under the supervision of the king. Along with their relatives- all of them trained and skilled in music for the Lord- they numbered 288 (1 Chron 25,1,6).
Encouragement
Encouragement of the brethren is an important aspect of the prophetic ministry.
Everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort… he who prophesies edifies the church (1 Cor 14:3,4
The words of the prophets will build up and strengthen the church. This will be especially important in times of trial and tribulation. Silas and Judas were two prophets who encouraged the church in Antioch.
Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers (Acts 15:32).
The scriptures give a number of examples of prophets who encouraged the leaders of their nation to act boldly.
When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage. (2 Chron 15:1,).
Then Haggai, the Lord 's messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: "I am with you," declares the Lord. So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius (Hag 1:13-15).
Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them (Ezra 5:1,2).
So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia (Ezra 6:14).
The prophetic ministry is to alert the church to the "now-ness" of the Holy Spirit. It awakens us to the will and purpose of God for us in the present – what He specifically wants to do in us and through us (Mike Bickle - Growing in the Prophetic p.74).
Foretelling the Future
Prediction of the future is part of the prophetic ministry. Almost every prophet in the Old Testament appeared first as a foreteller. Through his fellowship with the eternal God, the prophet has access to the future. He is the seer who has insight into God’s purposes for history. However, whatever he sees for the future is always related to the present. He warns of future judgements so that people will change their behaviour now. He speaks of future blessing to give hope for the present.
The prophet speaks to the present, in light of the future that God has revealed to him. For example, Isaiah warned Hezekiah, that he would die.
In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, "This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover." Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord (2 Kings 20:1,2).
Calls to repentance and calls to practical holiness are based on a word concerning the future; the vision of wrath to come is the basis of a present seeking of the mercy of God (J.A Motyer - New Bible Dictionary).
Prophets must know God and understand the world and bring God’s revelation to bear to show people where it is going. They should show people what to do next (Ian Breward).
History becomes revelation because there was added to the historical situation a man prepared beforehand to say what it meant. The prophets were not left to struggle with the meaning of events as or after they happened, they apprehend them beforehand and were warned by God of their significance (J A Motyer - Prophets and Prophecy).
Almost every prophet first appears as a foreteller (J A Motyer - Prophets and Prophecy).
Repentance and practical holiness are based on a word concerning the future; the vision of wrath to come is the basis of a present seeking of the mercy of God; the vision of bliss to come is a call to a walking in the light now (J A Motyer - Prophets and Prophecy).
Prophets see more than others the continuing influences that issue from the past and profoundly affect the present and the ultimate future. They see the continuum, the unbroken span of past, present and future as few see it (Art Katz - What is the Prophetic Church).
Direction and Guidance
Prophets bring the word of the Lord to the church. Christians can get so caught up in the events of the world that they do not see what God is doing. This is particularly true in tumultuous times, when it can be very hard to see the hand of God at work. Prophets will give direction and vision in these situations, so that God’s people know what is happening, and what they should do. For example, the prophet Gad provided guidance to David and showed him how to avoid trouble.
But the prophet Gad said to David, "Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah." So David left and went to the forest of Hereth (1 Sam 22:5).
Prophets can give direction to those who are seeking the will of God. Sometimes the prophetic word will be for the church as a whole or for the leadership of the church.
The Prophet admonishes, warns, directs, intercedes, teaches and counsels. Far more importantly he stands at the walls to see what the Lord is doing that he may call the body to respond (Sanfords).
A prophet is called to stand in the councils of the Lord. He stands before the living God. Having stood before God he is sent to stand for God, before his people and speak his word (Tom Marshall- The Coming of the Prophets).
To prophesy is to communicate the mind and heart of God to a person, a group of people or a territory; therefore, prophecy is linked with the promise of God over our lives. God’s promise is an announcement of His plan of salvation and blessing to His people. A promise embraces both declaration and deed. God’s promise begins with a declaration by God and covers His future plan. (Chuck Pierce - The Future War of the Church).
Personal prophecy must be treated with caution. The gift of prophecy is not usually directive, so it is dangerous to make life changing decisions on the basis of a prophecy uttered by a person who has not been recognised as a prophet. Prophets will sometimes give direction, but generally this should come as a confirmation of something that God has already spoken to the person concerned. God wants to lead his people by his Spirit. He desires that every believer should learn to hear the Spirit’s voice. A message from a prophet should normally come as a confirmation of something that the Spirit has already spoken.
Getting confirmation from a prophet before we act can be really encouraging, but we need to be very careful. A personal prophecy can be misleading if we have let our own plans and desires control our thinking. Ezekiel gives a surprising warning about this.
When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet, I the Lord will answer him myself in keeping with his great idolatry (Ezek 14:4).
If a person has let something that they want to do become an idol of their heart, God may prophesy to them what they want to hear. If the person acts on the prophecy, it will lead to disaster. God does this to reveal the idol and recapture the person’s heart. This means that we must be careful with personal prophecy. If a prophecy confirms what we want to do, it may just be a sign that we have made our own plans into an "idol in our hearts".
Making important decisions on the basis of a word from another person is dangerous. It is wrong to be totally dependent on others for guidance. Many Christians have been led astray because they failed to get their own word from God. (John Bevere provides excellent advice on how to handle personal prophecy in his book Thus Saith the Lord.)
The major thrust of these servants was to declare God’s heart to his people, pricking their hearts that they might return to His ways. The purpose of all of His prophets sent to Israel and Judah. In fulfilling this they may have spoken of things to come or given a personal word to an individual. However, these were minor components of their ministry, which helped to accomplish the major. Too often we are deceived or led astray by majoring on that on which God minors, while minoring on that on which God majors. It would seem that the emphasis of today’s prophetic ministries is focused on the minor, the giving of personal prophecy and foretelling of the future. We’ve drawn our definition of a prophet from limited and specific scriptures rather than stepping back to capture the overall picture. An erroneous view of a prophet has left the church vulnerable to deception (p.32).
Christian prophets do not tell people what to do, they confirm what God is saying. To go to a Christian prophet for direction and guidance is to violate the New Covenant which gives us direct access and approach to God through Christ by the Spirit (Graham Cooke - Developing Your Prophetic Gifting p.199).
Telling the people what they want to hear at the expense of what they need to hear weakens the church. It causes people to seek the gifts and manifestations to the neglect of pursuing the character of God (John Bevere - Thus Saith the Lord p.34).
For far too long the prophetic has only been seen as a blessing ministry. Prophets come into the church, take a few meetings, bless people and then move on (Graham Cooke - Developing Your Prophetic Gifting p.272).
Interpreting Dreams and Visions
An important aspect of the prophetic ministry is interpreting dreams and visions. God often speaks in dreams to people who are not listening. We must learn to interpret these to understand what he is saying. Prophets are sometimes skilled in interpreting dreams.
This is that time in history in which God is raising His prophets for His end-time purposes. "If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you... (Deuteronomy 13:1)," makes it unequivocal that the Lord regards prophets and dreamers as one and the same. Unfortunately, the Body of Christ, for the most part, has not yet grasped that. It is imperative that at least His prophets, and hopefully the entire Body, come to comprehend how important this aspect of prophets' equipment actually is, and that all His prophets become adept both in having their own dreams and in interpreting theirs and those of others. (Joy Parrott Parables in the Night)
Daniel was a prophet who was skilled in interpreting dreams (Daniel 2:1-28).
During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven and said: "Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers: you have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king" (Dan 2:19-23).
Dreams often include people and objects with which we are familiar used in symbolic ways. We must not assume that they will be fulfilled literally. For example, Joseph saw the sun, moon and eleven stars bowing before him. This was not literally fulfilled, but he eventually saw his father and eleven brothers bowing before him. (Genesis 37:5-12; 40:5-22; 44:11-32). Dreams should be interpreted like parables.
Kings and rulers will often hear God through dreams. Prophets can help them to understand what God is saying.
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of Kings (Prov 25:2).
Those particularly gifted with dreams, visions, prophecies and revelation need to be careful not to think of themselves too highly, as being the prophetic group. They serve only one dimension of the church’s greater calling as a prophetic community (Mike Bickle - Growing in the Prophetic p.195).
(John Paul Jackson has good teaching on the interpretation of dreams).
Correction and Admonition
There is also a negative side to the ministry of the prophet. This can be seen in the calling of Jeremiah:
See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow to build and to plant.
Four of the six expressions used by God to describe Jeremiah's ministry are negative. God often has to up root and tear down, destroy and overthrow, before he can begin to plant and build. Prophets co-operate with God in breaking down all that is not built on the true foundation. They do this by announcing his judgement. At the same time they watch over all that God is building to see that it is built according to his Word. This is an awesome task but God cannot complete his restoration work until the prophetic ministry is restored.
Two thirds of his work was therefore in the direction of destruction. It is not pleasant or easy work (F.B Meyer - Jeremiah p.109).
It was Jeremiah’s lot to prophesy at a time when all things in Judah were running down in a final and mournful catastrophe, when political excitement was at its height and the most fatal counsels prevailed. It was his stand in the way, over which his nation was pushing headlong to destruction: to make an heroic effort to arrest it and to turn it back; and to fail and be compelled to step to one side and see his own people, whom he loved with the tenderness of a woman plunge over the precipice into the wide weltering ruin (Dr Moorehead).
Paul described a prophetic ministry that cut to the hearts of the people.
But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!" (1 Cor 14:24,25).
When Jeremiah was first summoned to the work of prophet, it was summarised under six distinct divisions. He was set over nations and to overthrow; to build and to plant (1:10).
No Compromise; that’s a prophets heart when he sees the thing that needs to be opposed, and hears God’s word he is merciless (Art Katz - The Heart of a Prophet).
The leader is rarely a prophet who sounds the initial warning: he is an early listener who obeys the prophet. The prophet's job is lonely. He is usually a one-man verbal demolition team. He must attack the root of the evil, which goes very deep and affects everything. He does not criticise this or that evil; he criticises the system that produced a forest of bad trees and bad fruit. He is not a tree-trimmer; he is in the tree-uprooting business (Gary North - Prophets, Leaders, Followers, Losers).
Elijah prayed a terrible prayer. But there is something far more dreadful than physical calamities and suffering, namely moral delinquency and spiritual apostasy. This is very rarely perceived. Desperate diseases call for drastic measures (A W Pink).
Elijah was a confrontation prophet. God used him to confront the evils of his time.
One element of Christian compassion is outrage. If we see what is wrong as God sees it, we feel about it as God feels it. Moses was outraged when he looked on the burdens of his people. His nation was immature but his outrage was natural. In the time of the prophets, as Israel’s national decadence brought in its wake violent social injustice and inhumanity the outrage of prophets is searing. Amos was furious when he saw the poor sold for the price of shoes (Os Guiness).
The prophetic voice of Israel was primarily a word of judgement upon the people of God. So the prophetic voice of the church must be a word which warns of impending judgement upon the church. Warning to the world is secondary (Ez 3:5,21; Ez 33:7) (Os Guiness).
Amos was a prophet who understood the condition of his nation, and knew the issues in Israel with which God took exception. It is not the worldly society, but God’s people with whom God is primarily concerned and with whom he will first enter into judgement.
Like most prophets, Amos was not welcomed in his own society. When a genuine prophet arrives on the scene, he tends to make people uncomfortable. The people of Amos’ day were affluent and religiously devout- as well as being military secure and governmentally sound. The last thing they wanted was a prophet to meddle their well-ordered lives (Bob Munford).
Warning of Danger
When Paul was going up to Jerusalem the prophet Agabus warned him of danger that he would face there (Acts 21:10,11). God often prepares his people in this way. The prophet is a watchman, who warns God’s people of coming trouble.
Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground where no snare has been set? Does a trap spring up from the earth when there is nothing to catch? When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it? Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets (Amos 3:5-7).
It is the duty of God’s servants to warn men of their danger, to point out that their rebellion against God leads to certain destruction, and to call them to flee from the wrath to come. It is their duty to rebuke wickedness wherever it is found. Those who expose hypocrites, resist tyrants and oppose the wicked, are over wielded by them as troublemakers. Those who by their sins provoke God’s wrath are the real troublesters, and not those who warn them of the dangers to which their wickedness exposes them (A W Pink).
This is the first task of the Elijah prophets of this age, to prepare men of fire. We are not prepared by looking to escape (John and Paula Sanford - The Elijah Task).
Elijah is the prophet of fire. He warns of the fire to come. He calls down fire by intercessory prayer. Elijah today will be the prophet of the Lord who warns of the onset of tribulation. Not only are they to warn generally, but specifically as the Lord gives utterance concerning families, churches, individuals, cars, planes, earthquakes, and tornadoes (John and Paula Sanford - The Elijah Task p.28).
Teaching establishes us, but warnings protect us! If we are only taught, and the warnings are neglected, we can lose what was established through the ministry of teaching (John Bevere - Thus Saith the Lord p.11).
The postmillennialist, in sharp contrast, denies that covenant-keepers will be the primary targets of God’s negative sanctions throughout history. He argues that the message of the Bible is covenantal: faithfulness brings God’s blessings, while rebellion brings God’s curses (Deut.28). This is the message of the Old Testament prophets. They brought covenant lawsuits against Israel and Judah, judicially calling all covenant-breakers back to covenantal faithfulness, and threatening them with direct, culture-wide, negative sanctions if they refused (Gary North Millennialism and Social Theory p.211).
When a people reach a certain level of moral depravity, punishment ceases to be particular and becomes national. The civil order has lost it’s ability to act for God and God then acts against that order (RJ Rushdoony).
The prophet must identify the fundamental evil of his generation. He must also identify, long in advance, the most likely specific evils that will consume the society and bring God's wrath (Gary North - Prophets, Leaders, Followers, Losers).
The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: "Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your fathers to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets." But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the Lord their God. They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, "Do not do as they do," and they did the things the Lord had forbidden them to do (2 Kings 17:13-15).
Interpreting the Signs of the Times
Jesus criticised the Jews because they could understand the weather, but they could not interpret the signs of the times.
He said to the crowd: "When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'It's going to rain,' and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, 'It's going to be hot,' and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time? (Luke 12:54-56).
Prophets must be able to understand the signs of the times and interpret them to the world.
The seer is one who has understanding of the times. This person has the ability to perceive and discern the spiritual significance of a situation and can give the Lord’s perspective on a given situation. This person’s strengths are giftings of illumination and discernment, though they may or may not communicate what they see in any one set or particular manner. This kind of prophet is extremely valuable as a watchman and intercessor in the midst of the Church. (Jim Wies - Different Kinds of Prophets)
Within the long, circuitous, often delayed progress in understanding, there were sudden explosions of saving activity….. It is to the prophets that God revealed the coming and meaning of such times; indeed from one point of view, the prophet may be described as the person who, more than anyone else, knows what time it is (Robert - Banks - the Tyranny of Time p.180).
If a prophet has no personal history with God, no spiritual depth to draw from, no deep root in firm soil established over many seasons of Christian experience, how can the prophet presume to speak from a position of revelation into what God is telling the Church today? Furthermore, if a prophet cannot accurately interpret and read the signs of the present times; if a prophet cannot correctly judge and precisely discern his own generation; if a prophet cannot relate to what God is saying and doing in terms of present truth, how can the prophet presume to speak of future events? (Chip Brogden - Prophetic Dissonance).
The prophet knows what time it is, knows what kind of time it is. He holds prophetic understanding of the mentality and mood of this present time. He identifies and knows the trends of a society by looking at its roots. He is able to analyse trends and upcoming events by judging foundations. His words are a force against the mentality of the day.
Lars Widerberg - Aspects of the Prophetic Office – The Forthteller).
The seer is made able to read the spiritual climate. He is made able to identify the prevalent motivational force. His role is to see through masks and veils of pretension, to expose man’s folly and evil, for the sake of seeing the poor and needy through. The watchman is set over men’s hearts to discern motivation, and to pray for and to call forth correction. The seer is set over men’s hearts to call them to heavenly living. The prophet is a seer. The basic nature of his commission is observation and watchfulness. He is prone to contemplation and skilled in the art of deduction. (Lars Widerberg - The Seer).
The Meaning of History.
Prophets have a role in explaining the meaning of history. When a culture loses an understanding of its history, it loses its sense of direction. Clifford Hill has explained this really well.
The church has been unable to give an effective lead in secular society due to the loss of a sense of mission and direction. Without a clear sense of its own purpose, identity and destiny the church has been powerless to influence an increasingly secular society. A major cause of the church’s loss of direction has been due to the lack of a clear concept of the meaning of history. Mankind is crying out for an understanding of history. This is of fundamental importance for grappling with the underlying issues concerning the meaning and purpose of life itself. The church will never be able to satisfy the deepest longings of mankind and give a lead to secular nations or point the way to creative policies promoting health, happiness and the well-being of mankind until Christians recover an understanding of history (Clifford Hill - Shaking the Nations p.21).
God’s actions in human history had to be interpreted and this was one of the major roles of the prophets (Clifford Hill - Shaking the Nations p.23).
The Bible reveals a God who has plans for the whole world, which cannot be thwarted. Once God has announced his purposes nothing can stand against him or prevent him from fulfilling his word. This understanding of God as the Lord of history is something that has very largely been lost by the western church. It has resulted in a powerlessness to declare the word of God with prophetic power and conviction in the second half of the twentieth century when all the nations have been shaken. When God stretches out his hand and says that the time has come for a nation or a people, they can no longer stand (Clifford Hill - Shaking the Nations p.26).
God’s plan for history is revealed through his prophets.
In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets (Eph 3:4,5).
Testing of Prophecy
Prophets are called to speak God’s word. Another important part of their ministry, which we need to see developed, is testing prophecy.
Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said (1 Cor 14:29).
Part of the prophetic role is to sit and listen to prophecies and "weigh carefully" the words that are spoken. This is something that two or three should do together. If a prophecy does not get a consensus of support it should be discarded.
Testing prophecies is a very important aspect of the prophetic ministry. We are now hearing more and more prophetic words being spoken to the church, but the quality is still very mixed. Christians do not know which words they should take seriously. Many warnings of disasters have not been fulfilled. This unclear sounding of the trumpet is producing confusion in the church. The solution is for prophets to get more involved in testing of prophecies and sorting out the wheat from the chaff. Churches that are moving in prophecy should set up processes for this to happen.
Watchman
Some prophets are watchmen or men of vision who stand on the walls of the city of God to see what God is doing. They look into the distance to see what is coming. They often see a long way ahead. Several scriptures describe the role of the watchman.
The prophet, along with my God, is the watchman over Ephraim, yet snares await him on all his paths, and hostility in the house of his God (Hos 9:8).
Ezekiel was called to be a watchman.
The word of the Lord came to me: "Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say to them: 'When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head. Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.' "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself. "Son of man, say to the house of Israel, 'This is what you are saying: "Our offences and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?" ' Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?' (Ezek 33:1-11).
The prophet was called a watchman because he basically functioned in the spiritual realm just as the literal watchmen did in the natural realm. The natural watchmen were stationed at specific posts on the walls of the city that gave them the visibility to watch for the king or other members of the nobility to announce their coming. They were also to look for enemies from without, or disorder arising within the city, or camp of Israel.
The watchman should not be in the city eating and drinking with the townsfolk. He should be out on the watchtower looking into the night (Ron McKenzie).
The watchman, like the eagle must be free to fly as he or she wills (in God) and to flow prophetically in all the prophetic function and not be restricted by man. Without the freedom to fly like an eagle the watchman will become a controlled, chained prisoner of the Church, unable to report even abuse, error and sin seen within the church itself (Steve Snow - Eagle Watchman Resources).
The true church could not have become the "institution" it has, if the watchmen had not been rendered impotent (John Martin)
Elijah’s servant needed to have his eyes opened to see the full reality of his situation. This is something we all need.
When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked. "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "O Lord, open his eyes so he may see." Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha (2 Kings 6:15-17).
More at Watchmen.
Challenging the Nation
The primary responsibility of the prophet is to speak to the people of God. He brings both direction and correction to the Church. But a prophet may also be called to speak to his nation. Many of the prophets of the Old Testament found themselves confronting kings, and taking an important role in national affairs. Some also addressed their words to foreign nations. Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel each prophesied to the surrounding nations (Is 13-12, Jer 46-51, Ezek 25-32).
The church will always be the prophet’s main concern, but this wider prophetic role urgently needs restoring.
The prophets of Israel did not live in isolation -they were acutely aware of international politics and the rise and fall of nations. Some of them pronounced messages against the nations of their times. All of them were concerned about the world situation, and it was part of their calling to issue prophecies against the other nations of the world (Milton Smith).
Having matured in their prophetic gifting through years of faithful obedience to God, prophets will begin to operate on new levels of prophetic authority. Worldwide, prophets will speak before civil governments, delivering powerful prophetic speeches to nations, literally shaking their existing political foundations (Dennis Cramer - Prophetic Political Power).
The march of nations, the rise and fall of earthly powers, and the rule and reign of kings and sovereigns all comes under the overview of God’s heart for the earth. He sees the end from the beginning (Graham Cooke - Developing Your Prophetic Gifting p.135).
Initiating God’s Action
God does nothing without warning his people first. Part of the prophetic role is to release God’s activity by providing these warnings (Amos 3:7). Isaiah spoke of God stretching out his hand according to his plan.
The Lord Almighty has sworn, "Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand... This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back? (Is 14:24-27).
The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God (Is 52:10).
Prophetic hearts, not prophetic charts, will change the course of history and bring God's prophesied will into actual effect (Philip Greenslade - The Sharp Cutting Edge).
Explaining What Must Be Done
Many prophets are warning of future disastrous events, but very few are explaining what God is doing and how he will work through these events to bring change. Seeing from within the dark cloud of events seem to prevents them from seeing what Jesus is seeing.
A related problem is that many Christians to enjoy warnings of judgement on the world, more than they want strategies that would require them to take action to bring in the victory of God.
God does not cause troubles and calamities; they are rooted in human evil or folly with a bit of demonic mischief thrown in. During a judgement, God takes this human mess and works it for good to achieve his purposes. One role of the prophet is to warn of troubles before they come, so God’s people can prepare. Their more important task is to explain what God is doing through the event, so his people can participate in his purposes. Prophets can only accomplish the latter task, if they are standing outside the dark cloud of human events and seeing with the eyes of Jesus.
When a prophet receives a warning of a calamitous event, their task has just begun. The next step is to find out what God plans to achieve through the event, and his strategy for the people who want to participate in his purposes during that event. We need more of eyes of Jesus and less of the dark cloud.
According to Romans12:6, Christians with the gift of prophesying should prophesy in proportion to their faith. Prophesying judgment to a nation in decline does not take much faith. Prophesying the strategy by which God will use the judgement to change the nation and bring a great victory takes much more faith. That is a challenge for modern prophets.
Theology
Prophets should be experts on God. Part of their role is to pass on theological and biblical insights to the church. A prophet should also be a theologian.
Jeremiah was of all the prophets of the Old Testament, the supreme prophet of the human heart... Jeremiah would have nothing from his hearers and readers but their hearts. Let other prophets negotiate and send ambassadors as they pleased. Jeremiah, in season and out of season, for a long lifetime laid siege to the heart of his hearers (David M Howard - Words of Fire: River of Tears p.54).
Seers are men of revelation. Seers are men of enlightenment. Seers are men of intellectual maturity (Lars Widerberg - The Seer).
Healing the Sick
Some prophets are used in healing the sick. Elijah was a prophet who moved effectively in the gift of healing. Elisha followed in his mentor’s footsteps.
When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy's body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes (2 Kings 4:32-35).
As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, "Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!" When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: "Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel." So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed." (2 Kings 5:7-10).
Appointing and Anointing Leaders
In Old Testament times, God often used a prophet to appoint and anoint a king. Samuel anointed Saul and then David as King. A prophet anointed Solomon as his successor.
So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites went down and put Solomon on King David's mule and escorted him to Gihon. Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon. Then they sounded the trumpet and all the people shouted, "Long live King Solomon!" (1 Kings 1:38-39).
Elijah was told to anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel (1 Kings 19:16).
The prophet Elisha summoned a man from the company of the prophets and said to him, "Tuck your cloak into your belt, take this flask of oil with you and go to Ramoth Gilead. When you get there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go to him, get him away from his companions and take him into an inner room. Then take the flask and pour the oil on his head and declare, 'This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.' Then open the door and run; don't delay!" So the young man, the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. When he arrived, he found the army officers sitting together. "I have a message for you, commander," he said. "For which of us?" asked Jehu. "For you, commander," he replied. Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the oil on Jehu's head and declared, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'I anoint you king over the Lord 's people Israel.' " ……..Then he opened the door and ran (2 Kings 9:1-10).
In a godly nation prophets may have a role in the appointment of political leaders. Prophets also have a role in anointing other prophets for ministry
Anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him (1 Kings 19:16, 19).
Advising Kings and Political Rulers
Prophets have a powerful role in providing advice to kings and rulers. When God wanted to give guidance to a ruler, he often gave it through a prophet. David had the prophets Nathan and Gad in his palace. They advised him about a whole range of matters.
After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent." Nathan replied to the king, "Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you." That night the word of the Lord came to Nathan…… Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation (2 Sam 7:1-4,17).
But the prophet Gad said to David, "Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah." So David left and went to the forest of Hereth (1 Sam 22:5).
David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing." Before David got up the next morning, the word of the Lord had come to Gad the prophet, David's seer: "Go and tell David, 'This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.' " So Gad went to David and said to him, "Shall there come upon you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me." David said to Gad, "I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men." (2 Sam 24:10-14).
A prophet advised Ahab as he went into battle.
Meanwhile a prophet came to Ahab king of Israel and announced, "This is what the Lord says: 'Do you see this vast army? I will give it into your hand today, and then you will know that I am the Lord.' " "But who will do this?" asked Ahab. The prophet replied, "This is what the Lord says: 'The young officers of the provincial commanders will do it.' " "And who will start the battle?" he asked. The prophet answered, "You will"….. The king of Israel advanced and overpowered the horses and chariots and inflicted heavy losses on the Arameans. Afterward, the prophet came to the king of Israel and said, "Strengthen your position and see what must be done, because next spring the king of Aram will attack you again……. The man of God came up and told the king of Israel, "This is what the Lord says, I will deliver this vast army into your hands, and you will know that I am the Lord. The Israelites inflicted a hundred thousand casualties on the Aramean foot soldiers in one day (1 Kings 20:13-29).
Elisha provided guidance to the army of Israel that frustrated it’s enemies.
The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: "Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there." So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places. This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, "Will you not tell me which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?" "None of us, my lord the king," said one of his officers, "but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom" (2 Kings 6:9-12).
Historian
Some prophets are historians. Their interest in the future rolls over into an interest in history. Many of the historic books of the Old Testament were written by prophets who recorded the works of God.
The other events of Uzziah's reign, from beginning to end, are recorded by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz (2 Chron 26:22).
The other events of Abijah's reign, what he did and what he said, are written in the annotations of the prophet Iddo (2 Chron 13:22).
As for the events of King David's reign, from beginning to end, they are written in the records of Samuel the seer, the records of Nathan the prophet and the records of Gad the seer, together with the details of his reign and power, and the circumstances that surrounded him and Israel and the kingdoms of all the other lands (1 Chron 29:29,30).
22. Guiding Angels
Angels are ministering spirits sent to serve God's children (Heb 1:14). They are sent by God. They serve God's people.
The LORD has established His throne in heaven,
And His kingdom rules over all.
Bless the LORD, you His angels,
Who excel in strength,
who do His word,
Heeding the voice of His word.
Bless the LORD, all you His hosts,
You ministers of His,
who do His pleasure. (Psalm 103:19-21).
Angels are created for obedience. They do not have the frienship with God that is opened up to us through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Angels often do not know as much about what is on the Father's heart as we do. They often "excel in strength", far more than they excel in wisdom and decision making.
Angels move between heaven and earth. When they are in heaven, they know what God is doing, because his Kingdom is established there. When they are on earth, they are dependent on other messengers from heaven to keep them up-to-date with what God is doing.
Angels are sent to earth tp serve us, but as events change develop, they often do not know what to do next. They sometimes have to wait for our prophetic declarations before they know what to do. When they hear the Holy Spirit's word through us, they do it. They recognise his voice and obey it. They listen to a prophetic word and work to accomplish it. That is one reason why God does nothing without first revealing his plan to his servants the prophets (Amos 3:7).
Speaking in the language of angels is good (1 Cor 13:1), because it helps the angesl to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying.
Levels of Activity
Prophets can minister at different levels.
People
Some prophets specialise in speaking to individual people. Personal prophecy provides:
guidance
correction
Church
Other prophets speak primarily to their church. As they develop in this ministry, they may also speak into other churches. Prophets provide a church with:
guidance
vision
warnings
purity
Loren Cunningham said that pastors are like wet cement. They are very accepting and draw everything together. He said that prophets are like reinforcing steel. They give the concrete strength by keeping it pure. A strong building needs both cement and steel.
The Nations
Some people will be called to be a prophet to their nation. They may also develop to speak to other nations. A prophet to a nation provides:
advice to rulers
interpretation of God’s law
warning of judgement
It is for this reason that the prophets so often appear in the presence of rulers. It would sometimes seem as though they were primarily sent to kings. For through the king, they might best influence the welfare of the nation. Hence also their closeness to the priest. It would be a grave mistake, however to assume that, because of the great interest of the prophets in the monarchy, they were themselves primarily politicians. Their political activity is always subservient to a religious end. They did serve as the counsellors, but they did so in order that the theocratic kingdom might prosper (Edward J Young - My servants the Prophets p. 82).
Daniel would be an example of a prophet of government. His prophecies spoke of monumental changes in world order. There are just such prophets today. Some of these prophets are actually in governmental positions. I have found that God places His gifts in people from all walks of life. Prophets seem to be sent to various institutions of society, such as legal, educational and governmental offices. Governmental prophets may not give as many personal prophecies. They also understand trends and are watchmen on the wall for their nations (Cindy Jacobs - The Voice of God p.223).
The prophetic institution as such may be regarded as the guardian of this theocracy. The prophets were to build upon the foundation of the Mosaic Law, and to expound that law unto the nation. They would thus be the preservers and defenders of the principles upon which the theocracy had been founded by God (Edward J Young - My servants the Prophets).
For more see Prophet to the Nation.
Blogger comment:
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) did all of these roles of a prophet, read the Quran and biography of prophet Muhammad.
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
About Islam
From: search the truth
What is Islam?
Ans: Islam is not a new religion, but the same truth that God revealed through all His prophets to every people. For a fifth of the world's population, Islam is both a religion and a complete way of life. Muslims follow a religion of peace, mercy, and forgiveness, and the majority has nothing to do with the extremely grave events, which have come to be associated with their faith. Source: www.alim.org
How do we know Islam is the truth?
Ans: 1- It is the only religion that holds Allah as One, Unique, and Perfect. 2- It is the only religion that believes in the sole worship of Allah, not Jesus, not an idol, and not an angel, only Allah.3- The Quran does not contain contradictions.4- The Quran contains scientific facts, which are 1300 years ahead of their time. The Quran, while revealed 1400 years ago contains scientific facts, which are only now being discovered. It is not in contradiction to science.5- Allah has challenged the world to produce the like of the Quran. And He says they won't be able to.6- Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the most influential man in history. In the book "The 100 most influential men in History", written by non-Muslim, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was #1. Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) was #3. It should be noted that even the Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) was a prophet sent by Allah. Would Allah allow a false prophet to be so successful? No. Even the Bible refers to this in Deuteronomy 18:19. A false prophet would die!!! Yet Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) did not die till he completely conveyed, and taught Allah's religion.7- He had many prophecies, and all of his prophecies have come true, or are still coming true.Source: www.sultan.org
Do Islam and Christianity have different origins?
Ans: Together with Judaism, they go back to the prophet and patriarch Abraham, and their three prophets are directly descended from his sons-Muhammad (peace be upon him) from the eldest, Ishmael, and Moses and Jesus, from Isaac. Abraham established the settlement, which today is the city of Makkah, and built the Kabah towards which all Muslims turn when they pray. Source: www.alim.org
Who are Muslims?
Ans: One billion people form a vast range of races, nationalities and cultures across the globe, from the southern Philippines to Nigeria, are united by their common Islamic faith. About 18% live in the Arab world; the world's largest Muslim community is in Indonesia; substantial parts of Asia and most of Africa are Muslim, while significant minorities are also to be found in the Soviet Union, China, North and South America, and Europe.Source: www.alim.org
What do Muslims believe?
Ans: Muslims believe in One, Unique, Incomparable God in the Angels created by Him, in the prophets through whom His revelations were brought to mankind; in God's complete authority over human destiny and in life after death. Muslims believe in a chain of prophets starting with Adam and including Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, Elias, Jonah, John the Baptist and Jesus, (peace be upon them). But God's final message to man, a reconfirmation of the eternal message and a summing-up of all that has gone before was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) through Gabriel.Source: www.alim.org
Who is Allah?
Ans: Allah means God. It is a personal name, which Allah calls Himself in the Quran. That is where it originates. It can also be found in an Aramaic copy of the Bible, and even Christian Arabs say Allah. Source: www.sultan.org
Does Allah look like us?
Ans: No, Allah is perfect. He is not like any of His creations. A Muslim does not say a single thing about Allah other than what Allah says about Himself. Allah is Perfect and Unique. Source: www.sultan.org
Who is Muhammad (peace be upon him)?
Ans: Muhammad (peace be upon him) was born in Makkah in the year 571 A.D., at a time when Christianity was not yet fully established in Europe. Since his father died before his birth and his mother shortly afterwards, so he was raised by his uncle from the respected tribe of Quraish. As he grew up, he became known for his truthfulness, generosity and sincerity so much that he was sought after for his ability to arbitrate in disputes. The historians describe him as calm and meditative. Muhammad (peace be upon him) was of a deeply religious nature, and had long detested the decadence of his society. It became his habit to meditate from time to time in the Cave of Hira near the summit of Jabal al-Nur, the Mountain of Light near Makkah. Source: www.alim.org
How did Muhammad (peace be upon him) become a prophet and a messenger of God?
Ans: At the age of 40, while engaged in a meditative retreat, Muhammad (peace be upon him) received his first revelation from God through the Angel Gabriel. This revelation, which continued for twenty-three years, is known as the Quran. As soon as he began to recite the words he heard from Gabriel, and to preach the truth that God had revealed to him, he and his small group of followers suffered bitter persecution, which grew so fierce that in the year 622 God gave them the command to emigrate. This event, the Hijrah, 'migration', in which they left Makkah for the city of Madinah some 260 miles to the north, marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar. After several years, the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his followers were able to return to Makkah, where they forgave their enemies and established Islam definitively. Before the Prophet (peace be upon him) died at the age of 63, the greater part of Arabia was Muslim, and within a century of his death Islam had spread to Spain in the West and as Far East as China.Source: www.alim.org
What is the Quran?
Ans: The Quran is a record of the exact words revealed by God through the Angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). It was memorized by Muhammad (peace be upon him) and then dictated to his companions, and written down by scribes, who crosschecked it during his lifetime. Not one word of its 114 Surahs, has been changed over the centuries, so that the Quran is in every detail the unique and miraculous text which was revealed to Muhammad (peace be upon him) fourteen centuries ago. Source: www.alim.org
What is the Quran about?
Ans: The Quran, the last revealed Word of God, is the prime source of every Muslim's faith and practice. It deals with all the subjects which concern us as human beings: wisdom, doctrine, worship, and law, but its basic theme is the relationship between God and His creatures. At the same time, it provides guidelines for a just society, proper human conduct and an equitable economic system. Source: www.alim.org
Are there any other sacred sources?
Ans: Yes, the Sunnah, the practice and example of the Prophet (peace be upon him), is the second authority for Muslims. A Hadith is a reliably transmitted report of what the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, did, or approved. Belief in the Sunnah is part of the Islamic faith. Examples of the Prophet's sayings The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: 'God has no mercy on one who has no mercy for others.' 'None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.' 'Powerful is not he who knocks the other down, indeed powerful is he who controls himself in a fit of anger.' (From the Hadith collections of Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi and Baihaqi.)Source: www.alim.org
Who is Jesus to us?
Ans: Jesus (peace be upon him) is a true prophet, sent by Allah like Moses, Abraham, Lot, Noah, Jonah, Joseph, etc (peace be upon them).Source: www.sultan.org
Who were the parents of Jesus (peace be upon him)?
Ans: Jesus is the son of Virgin Mary and he had no father. Allah created Jesus.Source: www.sultan.org
Can Jesus (peace be upon him), or Muhammad (peace be upon him) be worshipped?
Ans: No, Allah does not accept that a prophet, a person, an angel, a cow, a stone, or anything be worshipped in place of Him or even along with Him. Worship must be to Allah, the Creator of them. Source: www.sultan.org
Is there a trinity in Islam?
Ans: No. Allah is one and perfect. Source: www.sultan.org
Can anyone become a Muslim?
Ans: Yes anyone can. There are two declarations, which are necessary:1- To bear witness that no one deserves to be worshiped except Allah.2- To bear witness that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah.This makes a person Muslim. But it should be said in Arabic. Next a person takes a shower and s/he is a Muslim.Then what?After a person becomes Muslim s/he is taught about prayers, fasting, alms to the poor, and pilgrimage. These are the pillars of Islam.Then what?Muslims are brothers and sisters. A Muslim should love for his brother or sister what s/he loves for him/herself. Allah's wealth does not run out and Allah can provide for us all. We pray for each other, and love each other, and love for our brothers and sisters what we love for ourselves.Source: www.sultan.org
When is the Day of Judgment?
Ans: Only Allah knows. Source: www.sultan.org
What is it that keeps us from entering Heaven?
Ans: Worship of anyone other than Allah is the greatest sin. It is called shirk, and this is not forgiven except through repentance. Source: www.sultan.org
Do we believe that Allah created the heavens and earth in 6 days?
Ans: Yes, we do. Source: www.sultan.org
Why is the family so important to Muslims?
Ans: The family is the foundation of Islamic society. The peace and security offered by a stable family unit is greatly valued, and seen as essential for the spiritual growth of its members. A harmonious social order is created by the existence of extended families; children are treasured, and rarely leave home until the time they marry. Source: www.alim.org
What about food?
Ans: Although much simpler than the dietary law followed by Jews and the early Christians, the code which Muslims observe forbids the consumption of pig meat or any kind of intoxicating drink. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) taught that 'your body has rights over you', and the consumption of wholesome food and the leading of a healthy lifestyle are seen as religious obligations. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: 'Ask God for certainty [of faith] and well-being; for after certainty, no one is given any gift better than health!' Source: www.alim.org
What is the Kabah?
Ans: The Kabah is the place of worship, which God commanded Abraham and Ishmael to build over four thousand years ago. The building was constructed of stone on what many believe was the original site of a sanctuary established by Adam. God commanded Abraham to summon all mankind to visit this place, and when pilgrims go there today they say 'At Thy service, O Lord', in response to Abraham's summons.Source: www.alim.org
Who are amongst the people that must fast in the blessed month of Ramadan and those that are not obliged to fast in this month? Ans: Those who must fast: All mature and sane Muslims, male and female. Those who are exempted: The sick, the travelers, too old to fast, women in child birth, women with periods, pregnant women whose heath is endangered, breast feeding women whose health is endangered. Source: www.islamicvoice.com
What facts about the month of Ramadan have been related by Hadith in regards to what takes place related to heaven and hell?
Ans: The gates of heaven are opened and the gates of hell are shut. Source: www.islamicvoice.com
What is one of the Sunnahs when a Muslim, for a valid reason cannot keep fast? Ans: Not to eat in the presence of a fasting person. Repay it by fasting the number of days missed after Ramadan or give kafaarah equal to the amount of one Sadaqa tul Fitr in charity to the poor for each day missed. Source: www.islamicvoice.com
What connection does the Holy Quran and the blessed month of Ramadan have that makes the month very important and sacred?
Ans: The Holy Quran was revealed in Ramadan. Source: www.islamicvoice.com
It is said that the odor of a fasting Muslim is more fragrant to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta`ala than what? Ans: Musk. Source: www.islamicvoice.com
Is there a Hajj Akbar?
Ans: If Arafat is on a Friday, then many describe it as Hajj Akbar (Big Hajj). There is no big or small Hajj. There is only one Hajj. Every year is Hajj Akbar. The 10th day of Dhul Hijja is described in The Holy Quran as Yaum-ul-Hajjil-Akbar. Source: www.hajtips.com
Is it a requirement to enter Masjid Haram from the Baab as-Salaam entrance?
Ans: There is no such requirement. You can enter from any of the many gates. Source: www.hajtips.com
Can I smoke when I'm in Ihram?
Ans : Try to give up this habit for the good of your health and the well-being of your family. Many chain smokers have returned from the Hajj as non-smokers for good. Alhamdulillah. Source: www.hajtips.com
When I stone the Jamaraat, is it necessary to hit the target?
Ans: It is acceptable if the stone falls into the circle without hitting the target. Source: www.hajtips.com
Can I perform Hajj every year?
Ans: Performing the Hajj ONCE is compulsory for Muslims who are financially and physically able to do so. There is no rule prohibiting anyone from performing the Hajj more than once. If you plan to perform it yearly, you are obviously financially well endowed. You should consider the following:
A: There are numerous things you can do to walk in the way of Allah. Consider contributing your Hajj trip funds to uplift downtrodden Muslims.
B: With nearly 3 million people converging in The Holy Land to perform the Hajj, the Saudi authorities have understandably imposed Hajj quotas. Have a heart for those waiting in line to perform the Hajj for the first time. Allow a reasonable time gap before going to perform the Hajj again. Source: www.hajtips.com
About Islam Contact us
Copyright © 2011 SearchTruth.com
What is Islam?
Ans: Islam is not a new religion, but the same truth that God revealed through all His prophets to every people. For a fifth of the world's population, Islam is both a religion and a complete way of life. Muslims follow a religion of peace, mercy, and forgiveness, and the majority has nothing to do with the extremely grave events, which have come to be associated with their faith. Source: www.alim.org
How do we know Islam is the truth?
Ans: 1- It is the only religion that holds Allah as One, Unique, and Perfect. 2- It is the only religion that believes in the sole worship of Allah, not Jesus, not an idol, and not an angel, only Allah.3- The Quran does not contain contradictions.4- The Quran contains scientific facts, which are 1300 years ahead of their time. The Quran, while revealed 1400 years ago contains scientific facts, which are only now being discovered. It is not in contradiction to science.5- Allah has challenged the world to produce the like of the Quran. And He says they won't be able to.6- Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the most influential man in history. In the book "The 100 most influential men in History", written by non-Muslim, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was #1. Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) was #3. It should be noted that even the Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) was a prophet sent by Allah. Would Allah allow a false prophet to be so successful? No. Even the Bible refers to this in Deuteronomy 18:19. A false prophet would die!!! Yet Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) did not die till he completely conveyed, and taught Allah's religion.7- He had many prophecies, and all of his prophecies have come true, or are still coming true.Source: www.sultan.org
Do Islam and Christianity have different origins?
Ans: Together with Judaism, they go back to the prophet and patriarch Abraham, and their three prophets are directly descended from his sons-Muhammad (peace be upon him) from the eldest, Ishmael, and Moses and Jesus, from Isaac. Abraham established the settlement, which today is the city of Makkah, and built the Kabah towards which all Muslims turn when they pray. Source: www.alim.org
Who are Muslims?
Ans: One billion people form a vast range of races, nationalities and cultures across the globe, from the southern Philippines to Nigeria, are united by their common Islamic faith. About 18% live in the Arab world; the world's largest Muslim community is in Indonesia; substantial parts of Asia and most of Africa are Muslim, while significant minorities are also to be found in the Soviet Union, China, North and South America, and Europe.Source: www.alim.org
What do Muslims believe?
Ans: Muslims believe in One, Unique, Incomparable God in the Angels created by Him, in the prophets through whom His revelations were brought to mankind; in God's complete authority over human destiny and in life after death. Muslims believe in a chain of prophets starting with Adam and including Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, Elias, Jonah, John the Baptist and Jesus, (peace be upon them). But God's final message to man, a reconfirmation of the eternal message and a summing-up of all that has gone before was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) through Gabriel.Source: www.alim.org
Who is Allah?
Ans: Allah means God. It is a personal name, which Allah calls Himself in the Quran. That is where it originates. It can also be found in an Aramaic copy of the Bible, and even Christian Arabs say Allah. Source: www.sultan.org
Does Allah look like us?
Ans: No, Allah is perfect. He is not like any of His creations. A Muslim does not say a single thing about Allah other than what Allah says about Himself. Allah is Perfect and Unique. Source: www.sultan.org
Who is Muhammad (peace be upon him)?
Ans: Muhammad (peace be upon him) was born in Makkah in the year 571 A.D., at a time when Christianity was not yet fully established in Europe. Since his father died before his birth and his mother shortly afterwards, so he was raised by his uncle from the respected tribe of Quraish. As he grew up, he became known for his truthfulness, generosity and sincerity so much that he was sought after for his ability to arbitrate in disputes. The historians describe him as calm and meditative. Muhammad (peace be upon him) was of a deeply religious nature, and had long detested the decadence of his society. It became his habit to meditate from time to time in the Cave of Hira near the summit of Jabal al-Nur, the Mountain of Light near Makkah. Source: www.alim.org
How did Muhammad (peace be upon him) become a prophet and a messenger of God?
Ans: At the age of 40, while engaged in a meditative retreat, Muhammad (peace be upon him) received his first revelation from God through the Angel Gabriel. This revelation, which continued for twenty-three years, is known as the Quran. As soon as he began to recite the words he heard from Gabriel, and to preach the truth that God had revealed to him, he and his small group of followers suffered bitter persecution, which grew so fierce that in the year 622 God gave them the command to emigrate. This event, the Hijrah, 'migration', in which they left Makkah for the city of Madinah some 260 miles to the north, marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar. After several years, the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his followers were able to return to Makkah, where they forgave their enemies and established Islam definitively. Before the Prophet (peace be upon him) died at the age of 63, the greater part of Arabia was Muslim, and within a century of his death Islam had spread to Spain in the West and as Far East as China.Source: www.alim.org
What is the Quran?
Ans: The Quran is a record of the exact words revealed by God through the Angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). It was memorized by Muhammad (peace be upon him) and then dictated to his companions, and written down by scribes, who crosschecked it during his lifetime. Not one word of its 114 Surahs, has been changed over the centuries, so that the Quran is in every detail the unique and miraculous text which was revealed to Muhammad (peace be upon him) fourteen centuries ago. Source: www.alim.org
What is the Quran about?
Ans: The Quran, the last revealed Word of God, is the prime source of every Muslim's faith and practice. It deals with all the subjects which concern us as human beings: wisdom, doctrine, worship, and law, but its basic theme is the relationship between God and His creatures. At the same time, it provides guidelines for a just society, proper human conduct and an equitable economic system. Source: www.alim.org
Are there any other sacred sources?
Ans: Yes, the Sunnah, the practice and example of the Prophet (peace be upon him), is the second authority for Muslims. A Hadith is a reliably transmitted report of what the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, did, or approved. Belief in the Sunnah is part of the Islamic faith. Examples of the Prophet's sayings The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: 'God has no mercy on one who has no mercy for others.' 'None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.' 'Powerful is not he who knocks the other down, indeed powerful is he who controls himself in a fit of anger.' (From the Hadith collections of Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi and Baihaqi.)Source: www.alim.org
Who is Jesus to us?
Ans: Jesus (peace be upon him) is a true prophet, sent by Allah like Moses, Abraham, Lot, Noah, Jonah, Joseph, etc (peace be upon them).Source: www.sultan.org
Who were the parents of Jesus (peace be upon him)?
Ans: Jesus is the son of Virgin Mary and he had no father. Allah created Jesus.Source: www.sultan.org
Can Jesus (peace be upon him), or Muhammad (peace be upon him) be worshipped?
Ans: No, Allah does not accept that a prophet, a person, an angel, a cow, a stone, or anything be worshipped in place of Him or even along with Him. Worship must be to Allah, the Creator of them. Source: www.sultan.org
Is there a trinity in Islam?
Ans: No. Allah is one and perfect. Source: www.sultan.org
Can anyone become a Muslim?
Ans: Yes anyone can. There are two declarations, which are necessary:1- To bear witness that no one deserves to be worshiped except Allah.2- To bear witness that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah.This makes a person Muslim. But it should be said in Arabic. Next a person takes a shower and s/he is a Muslim.Then what?After a person becomes Muslim s/he is taught about prayers, fasting, alms to the poor, and pilgrimage. These are the pillars of Islam.Then what?Muslims are brothers and sisters. A Muslim should love for his brother or sister what s/he loves for him/herself. Allah's wealth does not run out and Allah can provide for us all. We pray for each other, and love each other, and love for our brothers and sisters what we love for ourselves.Source: www.sultan.org
When is the Day of Judgment?
Ans: Only Allah knows. Source: www.sultan.org
What is it that keeps us from entering Heaven?
Ans: Worship of anyone other than Allah is the greatest sin. It is called shirk, and this is not forgiven except through repentance. Source: www.sultan.org
Do we believe that Allah created the heavens and earth in 6 days?
Ans: Yes, we do. Source: www.sultan.org
Why is the family so important to Muslims?
Ans: The family is the foundation of Islamic society. The peace and security offered by a stable family unit is greatly valued, and seen as essential for the spiritual growth of its members. A harmonious social order is created by the existence of extended families; children are treasured, and rarely leave home until the time they marry. Source: www.alim.org
What about food?
Ans: Although much simpler than the dietary law followed by Jews and the early Christians, the code which Muslims observe forbids the consumption of pig meat or any kind of intoxicating drink. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) taught that 'your body has rights over you', and the consumption of wholesome food and the leading of a healthy lifestyle are seen as religious obligations. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: 'Ask God for certainty [of faith] and well-being; for after certainty, no one is given any gift better than health!' Source: www.alim.org
What is the Kabah?
Ans: The Kabah is the place of worship, which God commanded Abraham and Ishmael to build over four thousand years ago. The building was constructed of stone on what many believe was the original site of a sanctuary established by Adam. God commanded Abraham to summon all mankind to visit this place, and when pilgrims go there today they say 'At Thy service, O Lord', in response to Abraham's summons.Source: www.alim.org
Who are amongst the people that must fast in the blessed month of Ramadan and those that are not obliged to fast in this month? Ans: Those who must fast: All mature and sane Muslims, male and female. Those who are exempted: The sick, the travelers, too old to fast, women in child birth, women with periods, pregnant women whose heath is endangered, breast feeding women whose health is endangered. Source: www.islamicvoice.com
What facts about the month of Ramadan have been related by Hadith in regards to what takes place related to heaven and hell?
Ans: The gates of heaven are opened and the gates of hell are shut. Source: www.islamicvoice.com
What is one of the Sunnahs when a Muslim, for a valid reason cannot keep fast? Ans: Not to eat in the presence of a fasting person. Repay it by fasting the number of days missed after Ramadan or give kafaarah equal to the amount of one Sadaqa tul Fitr in charity to the poor for each day missed. Source: www.islamicvoice.com
What connection does the Holy Quran and the blessed month of Ramadan have that makes the month very important and sacred?
Ans: The Holy Quran was revealed in Ramadan. Source: www.islamicvoice.com
It is said that the odor of a fasting Muslim is more fragrant to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta`ala than what? Ans: Musk. Source: www.islamicvoice.com
Is there a Hajj Akbar?
Ans: If Arafat is on a Friday, then many describe it as Hajj Akbar (Big Hajj). There is no big or small Hajj. There is only one Hajj. Every year is Hajj Akbar. The 10th day of Dhul Hijja is described in The Holy Quran as Yaum-ul-Hajjil-Akbar. Source: www.hajtips.com
Is it a requirement to enter Masjid Haram from the Baab as-Salaam entrance?
Ans: There is no such requirement. You can enter from any of the many gates. Source: www.hajtips.com
Can I smoke when I'm in Ihram?
Ans : Try to give up this habit for the good of your health and the well-being of your family. Many chain smokers have returned from the Hajj as non-smokers for good. Alhamdulillah. Source: www.hajtips.com
When I stone the Jamaraat, is it necessary to hit the target?
Ans: It is acceptable if the stone falls into the circle without hitting the target. Source: www.hajtips.com
Can I perform Hajj every year?
Ans: Performing the Hajj ONCE is compulsory for Muslims who are financially and physically able to do so. There is no rule prohibiting anyone from performing the Hajj more than once. If you plan to perform it yearly, you are obviously financially well endowed. You should consider the following:
A: There are numerous things you can do to walk in the way of Allah. Consider contributing your Hajj trip funds to uplift downtrodden Muslims.
B: With nearly 3 million people converging in The Holy Land to perform the Hajj, the Saudi authorities have understandably imposed Hajj quotas. Have a heart for those waiting in line to perform the Hajj for the first time. Allow a reasonable time gap before going to perform the Hajj again. Source: www.hajtips.com
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Sura 71: Noah
From: http://www.masjidtucson.org/quran/noframes/ch71.html
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Sura 71, Noah (Noah)
[71:0] In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
[71:1] We sent Noah to his people: "You shall warn your people before a painful retribution afflicts them."
[71:2] He said, "O my people, I am a manifest warner to you.
[71:3] "To alert you that you shall worship GOD, reverence Him, and obey me.
[71:4] "He will then forgive you your sins and respite you for a predetermined period. Most assuredly, GOD's appointment can never be delayed, once it is due, if you only knew."
[71:5] He said, "My Lord, I have invited my people night and day.
[71:6] "But my invitation only increased their aversion.
[71:7] "Whenever I invited them to be forgiven by You, they placed their fingers in their ears, covered themselves with their clothes, insisted, and turned arrogant.
[71:8] "Then I invited them publicly.
[71:9] "Then I proclaimed to them loudly, and I spoke to them privately.
[71:10] "I said, `Implore your Lord for forgiveness; He is Forgiving.
[71:11] " `He will then shower you generously with rain.
[71:12] " `And provide you with money and children, and orchards, and streams.' "
[71:13] Why should you not strive to reverence GOD?
[71:14] He is the One who created you in stages.
[71:15] Do you not realize that GOD created seven universes in layers?
[71:16] He designed the moon therein to be a light, and placed the sun to be a lamp.
[71:17] And GOD germinated you from the earth like plants.
[71:18] Then He returns you into it, and He will surely bring you out.
[71:19] GOD made the earth habitable for you.
[71:20] That you may build roads therein.
[71:21] Noah said, "My Lord, they disobeyed me, and followed those who were even more corrupted when blessed with money and children.
[71:22] "They schemed terrible schemes.
[71:23] "They said, `Do not abandon your gods. Do not abandon Wadd, Suwaa`, Yaghouth, Ya`ooq, and Nasr.'
[71:24] "They misled many. Therefore, let the wicked plunge deeper into loss."
[71:25] Because of their sins they were drowned and assigned to the hellfire. They found no helpers to protect them from GOD.
[71:26] Noah also said, "My Lord, do not leave a single disbeliever on earth.
[71:27] "For if you let them, they will only mislead your servants and give birth to nothing but wicked disbelievers.
[71:28] "My Lord, forgive me and my parents, and anyone who enters my home as a believer, and all the believing men and women. But do not give the disbelievers anything but annihilation."
United Submitters International Email: info@masjidtucson.org
all rights reserved © 2002 masjidtucson.org
Search
Sura 71, Noah (Noah)
[71:0] In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
[71:1] We sent Noah to his people: "You shall warn your people before a painful retribution afflicts them."
[71:2] He said, "O my people, I am a manifest warner to you.
[71:3] "To alert you that you shall worship GOD, reverence Him, and obey me.
[71:4] "He will then forgive you your sins and respite you for a predetermined period. Most assuredly, GOD's appointment can never be delayed, once it is due, if you only knew."
[71:5] He said, "My Lord, I have invited my people night and day.
[71:6] "But my invitation only increased their aversion.
[71:7] "Whenever I invited them to be forgiven by You, they placed their fingers in their ears, covered themselves with their clothes, insisted, and turned arrogant.
[71:8] "Then I invited them publicly.
[71:9] "Then I proclaimed to them loudly, and I spoke to them privately.
[71:10] "I said, `Implore your Lord for forgiveness; He is Forgiving.
[71:11] " `He will then shower you generously with rain.
[71:12] " `And provide you with money and children, and orchards, and streams.' "
[71:13] Why should you not strive to reverence GOD?
[71:14] He is the One who created you in stages.
[71:15] Do you not realize that GOD created seven universes in layers?
[71:16] He designed the moon therein to be a light, and placed the sun to be a lamp.
[71:17] And GOD germinated you from the earth like plants.
[71:18] Then He returns you into it, and He will surely bring you out.
[71:19] GOD made the earth habitable for you.
[71:20] That you may build roads therein.
[71:21] Noah said, "My Lord, they disobeyed me, and followed those who were even more corrupted when blessed with money and children.
[71:22] "They schemed terrible schemes.
[71:23] "They said, `Do not abandon your gods. Do not abandon Wadd, Suwaa`, Yaghouth, Ya`ooq, and Nasr.'
[71:24] "They misled many. Therefore, let the wicked plunge deeper into loss."
[71:25] Because of their sins they were drowned and assigned to the hellfire. They found no helpers to protect them from GOD.
[71:26] Noah also said, "My Lord, do not leave a single disbeliever on earth.
[71:27] "For if you let them, they will only mislead your servants and give birth to nothing but wicked disbelievers.
[71:28] "My Lord, forgive me and my parents, and anyone who enters my home as a believer, and all the believing men and women. But do not give the disbelievers anything but annihilation."
United Submitters International Email: info@masjidtucson.org
all rights reserved © 2002 masjidtucson.org
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