Over the next few weeks, we will be re-publishing a series from the original Prophecy Today magazine, looking at the Old Testament prophets and the relevance of their message today.

Prophecy Then and Now

Before we seek to learn from the examples of the prophets, it must be understood that there are significant differences between the prophetic ministry in the Old Testament and the prophetic ministry today.

For one thing, the biblical prophets (speaking and writing under the influence of the Holy Spirit) were used by God to create part of the canon of Scripture. Today the canon is complete. Modern prophetic speech and writing should be assessed by it and subject to its authority – it should not add to it.

Secondly, the Old Testament prophets were often lone voices, whereas today prophecy has been shared out among believers as a whole-Body ministry. Whilst individuals are still called and gifted prophetically, they now function within the Body of Messiah and are accountable to it. 'Lone voice' prophets are raised up only when the leadership structures within the Body have gone so badly astray that true accountability is no longer possible.

With this context established, we turn first to the ministry and message of Amos, who in the eighth century BC was the earliest of the writing prophets in the Bible.

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE, WHO NEEDS ENEMIES?

John Fieldsend looks at the Prophet Amos.

Owing to the way in which our Bibles are laid out we could easily miss the impact that Amos must have had on his listeners and readers, because he was almost certainly the first of a new line of prophets who were now to confront Israel and Judah with their sins for several centuries to come.

Not only did he represent the appearance of a new type of ministry, but he arrived out of the blue, uninvited, unauthorised and without any credentials - in his own words, "neither a prophet nor a prophet's son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees" (Amos 7:14).

A Southerner from the tribe of Judah, Amos crossed the border into Israel to preach a dynamic, immediately challenging and socially and politically uncompromising message. But it was more than a just a challenge to social and moral corruption and the need for reformation. The prophet was captivated by his vision of the holiness of God - a holiness which demanded judgment upon all the nations of the world - but particularly one that would befall the people whom God had called into a special covenant relationship with him. Because his message was immediately relevant it remains permanently so, for men's hearts have not changed, and similar situations recur in different guises in every generation.

A New Style of Ministry

We cannot be sure of the exact date when Amos began his ministry but most biblical scholars think that Amos preceded Hosea by about 15 years and Isaiah by about 20 years. It could be that there was a period of overlap between these three men's ministries (for Hosea and Isaiah there clearly was an overlap).

As we begin to look at Amos, we need to understand that God was here bringing a new style of ministry into the life of Israel and Judah. It is not that prophets were unknown before; from Samuel onwards the prophetic ministry was part of Israel's heritage. But from the time of Amos we have prophets who not only spoke to particular situations, but who also wrote prophetically to the wider social order in which they lived.

From Amos onwards, we see prophets emerging who not only spoke into specific situations, but also wrote prophetically about the wider social order.

Implicit in Israel's mono-theism was the belief that God was Lord of all the nations of the world, but Amos brought out the fuller implications of that truth. His opening words were thundering denunciations of the injustice and conduct of the nations surrounding Israel. Through these he must have received the applause of those in Israel who heard him preach: one nation after another was denounced in God's name for the cruelty of their campaigns of military expansion under which Israel, as well as other nations, had suffered so much.

Now, however, Israel was experiencing something of a political and economic revival. Its people felt that the Lord was once again smiling upon them, and they were savouring the promise of divine retribution on their enemies.

But even as they applauded these sentiments, Amos thrust home not only the logic of God's total sovereignty and unquestionable justice, but also the full implications of what it meant for Israel to be the covenant people of the living God, "You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins" (Amos 3:2).

Not only did these threats strike at the root of what they understood as being the 'chosen' people; they hit especially hard because they were spoken at a time when - as we have just seen - Israel's political and economic fortunes were on the up and up. In one sentence Amos demolished two of the people's false foundations: a wrong understanding of what it meant to be 'chosen', and the view that prosperity was in itself a sign of God's favour.

Amos demolished the people's false assumptions about what it meant to be God's 'chosen' nation.

Amos did not, of course, deny the fact of God's covenant and of Israel's unique relationship with the Lord. Rather, he highlighted its significance, "Do two walk together unless they have agreed?...Does a lion roar...when he has no prey?...Does a bird fall into a trap where no snare has been set?" (Amos 3:3-5).

With a series of rhetorical questions Amos presses home his authority, "Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared - who will not fear? The Sovereign Lord has spoken - who can but prophesy?" (Amos 3:7-8).

Learning to Sift 'Prophecy'

There is so much that is socially, morally and politically relevant to the situation in which we ourselves live. It stares us in the face if we read the book of Amos with honest and open hearts. But it is the element of prophecy that I want to concentrate on, because there are so many voices that would speak to us in the Lord's name, and so much that is offered to us as being his word. How can we test such voices? By what principles can we sift that which is pressed upon us? How do we discern the wheat from the chaff?

Factual Fulfilment is Not Enough

The test of a prophet (according to Deuteronomy 18:22) is whether the things he/she prophesies actually come to pass. That test surely demands that prophecies are of a clear and distinct nature.

The test of a prophet is whether the things he or she prophesies actually come to pass.

Important though this is, however, it is not enough for 'prophecies' (and, in a similar vein, 'words of knowledge') to be factual in content. They can be factual and still not of the Lord. An obvious example is the girl possessed of a demonic spirit in Acts 16:16-18. Deuteronomy 13:1-5 gives us other vital principles regarding the testing of prophecy:

• Is it scriptural?
• Is it honouring to God?
• Does it draw the recipients of the prophecy nearer to God, or does it lead them away from him into error?
• Is the person giving the prophecy seeking God's honour or promoting his or her own status?

The same principles apply to other spiritual gifts, for example Acts 8:18-19; 19:13-16.

Spiritual Power is Dynamite

It is an awesome thought that in this matter of prophecy, indeed in the whole area of life in the Spirit, we are handling dynamite (literally, 'dunamis'). It would be convenient if, when its power was abused, God saw to it that the fuse somehow did not ignite.

However, that would be too artificial, and would negate our real humanity. Yet this has all too frequently been the teaching of the church, and in so doing it has trivialised the reality and objectivity of the life of God's Spirit in his church.

When the gifts of God are deliberately prostituted or just carelessly trivialised, they are not merely nullified - that would be too easy and convenient. They become the vehicle of God's judgment and - more distressingly - can become the vehicle of Satan's deception. It is therefore incumbent upon the Church, and especially its leadership, to discern where this is happening and to exercise its discipline with love, and yet with firmness. That is why, especially in the area of spiritual gifts, we need structures in which there is real accountability.

Spiritual power is dynamite - when the gifts of God are deliberately prostituted they become vehicles of his judgment.

We are not to create witch-hunts or seek to create the 'perfect church', but where we see people in positions of leadership and influence abusing spiritual power, we must not remain silent.

Speaking the Truth in Love

The parable of the wheat and tares recounted in Matthew 13:24-30 is sometimes wrongly put forward as an excuse to eschew this difficult task. The true interpretation of this parable is given an eschatological context by Jesus himself in verses 36-43. The teaching does not absolve the church from the responsibility of discerning the origin and nature of its spiritual life, nor its leadership from taking appropriate action.

Where error is seen to persist outside the area of our own leadership responsibility, and where such error is causing havoc among God's people, we cannot simply ignore it by remaining silent.

The pronouncement of God's judgment by Amos was specific, although having worldwide relevance. As a citizen of the Southern Kingdom he did not hesitate to speak against the specific sin of its Northern neighbour (Amos 7:10-17). Apparent interference in the life of a community other than our own is, of course, a serious matter, but we have to speak the truth to one another in love.

When error persists and causes havoc among God's people, we cannot simply ignore it by remaining silent.

Christians are all members of One Body, and we are responsible for one another and to one another, even across the divisions in the Church. We need one another. We need to encourage one another. We need to give and receive from one another all the riches of God's bounty. But, where necessary, we need to speak words of warning and godly discipline, even where we may be accused of it being 'none of our business'. That was part of the prophetic ministry of Amos that is still relevant for us today.

Originally published in Prophecy Today, Vol 11 No 4, July/Aug 1995.

For other articles in this series, click here.