Truth and Counterfeit: Prophecy in History

Truth and Counterfeit: Prophecy in History

Pastor Joe Fuiten, April 25, 2005

Human beings want to know the future. It is something we are interested in and something that is helpful to know. God has shown that he is willing to tell us about the future. A great part of the Bible was prophetic when it was written. There are general statements about what God is going to do. There is also a record of individual people going to God with specific questions to which God gave them answers.

In Gen 25:21-23 Rebekah went to the Lord to find out why the twins in her womb were in such a struggle with each other.[1] God gave her the answer.

In Joshua 9 Israel got deceived by the Gibeonites because they did not inquire of the Lord about the requested treaty.

All through the books of Kings and Chronicles there are instances of Kings going to prophets to inquire of the Lord regarding wars, and other national and personal concerns. The classic line in 2 Kings 3:11 is “But Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there no prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of the LORD through him?"

God destroyed Saul and replaced his kingdom because Saul did not inquire of the Lord. 1 Chronicles 10:13-14 tells us “Saul died because he was unfaithful to the LORD; he did not keep the word of the LORD and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the LORD. So the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.”

In this two-part message I am looking at prophecy and the purpose of seeking God about the future. On the opposite side of seeking God, there have always been the devil’s counterfeits to God’s guidance in our lives. I want to use Delphi as an illustration of that. There re so many pitfalls connected to this subject.

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I went to Delphi because I wanted to see the Sphinx. For me the Sphinx is an echo of the Garden of Eden. God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden and thereafter guarded it with the Cherubim. The Cherubim would be known as a Sphinx every place else other than the Bible. Sphinx just means combination. The Cherubim was a combination of man, ox, eagle, and lion.

A second echo of Eden was the serpent. I found in Delphi a special role for the serpent as protector of the earth-mother “Gaia”. Going back to at least 3000 BC, a shrine to Gaia had existed here. The Sibyl sang her oracles or prophesies since earth-mother knew the future. You could be made wise. From that time on, priestesses who prophesied went by the name or title Sibyl. Just as I found in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt from the 14^th Century BC, I found at Delphi snakes could walk and talk. Indeed, the serpent Python was there to protect Gaia and the sanctuary of Pytho. For centuries this religion existed like this. All through these ancient cultures, the serpent had a special place protecting and giving wisdom. Clearly, at the banishment from the Garden that old serpent the devil set about to rehabilitate his image. He wanted to be worshipped.

Delphi was the devil’s spin on Genesis 3:1-7. “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'" 4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”

You could know the future. You could have wisdom. Just listen to the serpent. Listen to his word about the good plans that he has for you. He will make you successful. You can have what you want.

The earth-mother religion remained until it was time for an upgrade to the new version of the same old story. Apollo replaced Gaia when he killed the serpent in its lair beside the Castalian Spring. Apollo became Pythian Apollo and incorporated the sacred serpent into the new religion.

In the new religion of Apollo nothing changed except the names. People still came here for wisdom and knowledge about the future. The Sibyls who attended Gaia now attended Apollo. Once a year they would sit over a vent in the earth and breathe in the fumes and chew on laurel leaves. She would begin to babble incoherently. If you had a question about the future, you would write it down and it would be given to the priest. The priest of Apollo would then listen to the babbling and give Apollo’s prophesy for the inquirer.

Of course, you never got a straight answer. Heraclitus the philosopher (circa 500 BC) said the oracle neither conceals nor reveals the truth, but only hints at it. It is the classic way that fakers do it. They make it so vague that it could be interpreted anyway. It’s like this idea floating around these days that St. Malachy predicted all 112 popes and prophesied the names of each of the popes. Not really. He lived in the 1100’s AD. His prophesies were such specific ones as “a lilac and a rose.” That was the prophecy about one pope.

When the Bible prophesied things it was quite specific. It had over 300 specific prophesies about the birth of Jesus right down to the town where he would be born.

In New Testament times, it spoke against mumbo jumbo. In 2 Peter 1:20-21 we have Peter’s explanation about prophecy. “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Paul added to that in 1 Corinthians 14:29 “Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.” Qualified people such as other prophets should “weigh carefully” what was spoken. The word in the Greek is diakrino (dee-ak-ree'-no) meaning “to separate thoroughly.” That is “to withdraw from, or by implication oppose.” It means that one should “discriminate’ or “hesitate.” You don’t just accept whatever has been said.[2]

The Old Testament actually had some suggested tools for weighing what was said. In Deuteronomy 13:1-5 Moses lays down those conditions.

If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.

This is the standard that is applied to Mohammed to see if what he prophesied should be followed. It is the test that should be applied to Joseph Smith of the Mormons. Do their prophesies follow the Scripture or do they take us somewhere else to some other Gospel or some other book?

It is rather a simple word that Isaiah gives in Isaiah 8:19-20. “When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.”

We will enlarge upon these themes in the next section. However, we want to say absolutely that God does what to give us insights and wisdom about the future. That is virtually the definition of prophecy given in 1 Corinthians 13:1-2 where Paul wrote, “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge…” Prophecy allows us to understand mysteries and knowledge. We can know things we could not otherwise have known.

When you need to know the future remember these few simple ideas. First, God directs us primarily through his Word, the Holy Bible. Second, any prophecy or other source of information must agree with the Word of God. It is the measuring stick for all revelation. Third, the Holy Spirit will direct us through knowledge, wisdom, discernment, and the like which he will give us. Fourth, he will do this in response to prayer. Such direction comes to those who ask, seek, and knock. Fifth, for God to direct your future requires a commitment to do it before he asks. This is what God required of Israel in the wilderness before he gave them the Ten Commandments and the Law. He still requires it today. This is not a pick and choose restaurant like McDonalds. You get the full meal deal and there is only one choice.

[1] Rebekah became pregnant. The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, "Why is this happening to me?" So she went to inquire of the LORD. The LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."