Monday, November 12, 2007

Do we have prophets?

Sunday evening, in the midst of a great sermon on self-control, my pastor made a reference to Titus 1:12 -
One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons."

I checked my footnotes in the study Bible I use and was intrigued by the comment that Paul was quoting a Cretan poet from around 600 BC. Paul places this particular statement, by this particular man, on a par with prophecy because he told the truth. It does not make his writing in general Scripture in any way, but it gives some more insight into the office a prophet and how this office may be connected to our own day. I am not a believer in the prophecy if charismatic preachers who declare that God told them something personally last night. O.P. Robertson has a great little book on that called The Last Word, if you are interested. I don't believe that "Thus Saith the Lord" is still around. But I do find myself compelled to consider that people who make startlingly true pronouncements are fulfilling the office of the prophet in our own day. Like Epimenides, we have those who say things that are so true that we must take them as prophets.

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