The prophet between God and humanity 

TRUE AND FALSE PROPHETS

There have always been prophets who spent time in God’s council and then spoke His words to his people. These prophets spoke and acted to create in the physical world, that what God is doing the spiritual realm. At the same time there always been false prophets who speak only for themselves, out of their own imagination. The people of God have always had many prophets, speaking opposing messages, from which to choose. Usually the true prophet was out of step and out of favor with the nation, because he followed God and the people did not listen to God. While there was sin but the nation was in prosperity, the prophet spoke of the coming doom and disaster. But when the people had been exiled from the land because of their sin, the prophet spoke words of comfort and restoration. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” In any case, the prophet stood alone, speaking the Lord’s message to his people, entreating them to listen and obey.

Let us consider what Jeremiah and Ezekiel have to say about true and false prophets. As we study the indictment against the false prophets we see what a true prophet should do.

Jer. 1:18 “Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land – against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you.”
5:31 “The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?
8:11 “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. “Peace, Peace,” they say, when there is no peace.
23:10-11 “The prophets follow an evil course, and use their power unjustly. Both prophet and priest are godless, even in my temple I find their wickedness.
:13-18 “The prophets prophesied by Baal, and led my people Israel astray, And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible; They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evil-doers, so that no one turns from his wickedness. Therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty says concerning the prophets: I will make them eat bitter food and drink poisoned water, because from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread through the Land. This is what the Lord Almighty says; “do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you: they fill you with false hopes, They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They keep saying to those who despise me, The Lord says you will have peace, and to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, “No harm will come to you. But which of them has stood in the council of the Lord to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word?
:21 – 22 I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message, I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.
:27 They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name.
:30 I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me, I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, “The Lord declares.” Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” Declares the Lord. ‘They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send of appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least, “declares the Lord.

Chapter 28 is a confrontation between Jeremiah and a false prophet. Jeremiah says in v. 15, “Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you yet you persuaded the nation to trust in lies.”

Lamentations 2:14 “The visions of your prophets were false and worthless, they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The oracles they gave you were false and misleading.”
Ezekiel 13:5 You have not gone up to the breaks in the wall to repair it for the house of Israel so that is will stand firm in the battle on the day of the Lord.
:10 They lead my people astray, saying, “Peace, when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash.”
:19 You have profaned me among my people for a few handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to my people, who listen to lies, you have killed those who should not have died and have spared those who should not live.
:22 You disheartened the righteous with your lies, when I had brought them no grief, and you encouraged the wicked not to turn for their evil ways and so save their lives.”

At beginning of Jeremiah’s ministry (1:10) God commissioned him, saying “Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot, tear down, to destroy, to overthrow, to build and to plant.” In 1995, 10 years after the terrible earthquake in Mexico City, I was 13 stories up overlooking the heart of the city. There were hundreds of buildings that had been damaged and were worthless, but had not been removed. Before you can build physically and spiritually, you have to tear down, destroy and uproot that which has become useless yet takes up valuable land.
In 31:28 God confirms that Jeremiah was doing His work by saying, “Just as I watched over then to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the Lord. It wasn’t until God himself cleaned the land of evildoers that He was able to replant the remnant and rebuild the nation.

As we look at this list of things that the false prophets didn’t do, may the Lord renew our vision of His purpose for us in this generation. May it not be said of us, “they did not benefit these people in the least.”

Gerry Gutierrez
Oaxaca, Mexico
April 2001

Are you still a child of God?

For years I thought of myself as a child of God, a daughter of the most wonderful father in the world. He looked after me, cared for me, and guided my life. My responsibility was to be grateful and obedient, a dutiful daughter.
Over the years I studied medicine and went to work as a humanitarian doctor in a Zapotec village in the mountains of southern Mexico. I delivered over 700 babies to Indian women, keeping watch over them before and after the birth. During these hours I searched scripture to see what it said about birthing practices. I found Ezekiel 16: 4-7 which talked about newborns. “On the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, you weren’t bathed and cleaned up, you weren’t rubbed with salt, you weren’t wrapped in a baby blanket. No one cared a fig for you. No one did one thing to care for you tenderly in these ways. You were thrown out into a vacant lot and left there, dirty and unwashed – a newborn nobody wanted. And then I came by. I saw you all miserable and bloody. Yes, I said to you, lying there helpless and filthy. ‘Live! Grow up like a plant in the field!’ And you did. You grew up.”
As a person who had cut hundreds of umbilical cords, washed the blood from hundreds of newborns and swaddled them for their mothers, I loved reading this passage. Even more moving for me was the fact that I had found two little girls thrown away by their blood kin and had spoken the same words, “Live! Grow up in the shelter of my love!”

But eventually I read the rest of the passage, up to verse 14. “You grew tall and matured as a woman, full-breasted, with flowing hair. But you were naked and vulnerable, fragile and exposed. I came by again and saw you, saw that you were ready for love and a lover. I took care of you, dressed you and protected you. I promised you my love and entered the covenant of marriage with you. I, God, the Master, gave my word. You became mine. I gave you a good bath, washing off all that old blood, and anointed you with aromatic oils. I dressed you in a colorful gown and put leather sandals on your feet. I gave you linen blouses and a fashionable wardrobe of expensive clothing. I adorned you with jewelry. I placed bracelets on your wrists, fitted you out with a necklace, emerald rings, sapphire earrings, and a diamond tiara. You were provided with everything precious and beautiful; with exquisite clothes and elegant food, garnished with honey and oil. You were absolutely stunning. You were a queen! You became world famous; a legendary beauty brought to perfection by my adornments.” Taken from “The Message” by Eugene Peterson.

This visit came about 15 years after the first visit, when God rescued the newborn from the trash heap. The child is a baby no longer, but equally in need of protection and washing from the blood, in this case the blood that signifies maturity and readiness for love. In the first visit the helpless child receives the care, cleansing and breathe of life unwittingly, involuntarily. In the second visit, God as lover woos his bride, bathing, feeding, dressing and adorning her to his heart’s content, and the beloved woman enters into a covenant with Him. She is now old enough to receive his gifts and respond to his love. She knows and senses that He wants more than the gratitude and obedience of a dutiful daughter. She knows (and you know if you are a man) that the relationship involves intimacy, sharing thoughts and dreams, planning and planting, crying and laughing, enjoying each other and working to carry out His plans.
But how many of us are dutiful wives as we were dutiful daughters? When He comes whispering our name do we respond “of course I love you, aren’t I washing and cleaning and ironing your shirts?” In the night when He murmurs in our ear, “beloved, come away to spend time with Me,” do we respond as the beloved in Song of Solomon, “But I’m in my nightgown – do you expect me to get dressed? I’m bathed and in bed – do you want me to get dirty?” I have a hard day’s work tomorrow – do you want me to be sleep deprived? You know you have my full attention for 30 minutes during worship on Sunday, isn’t that enough?”
Well, no, it isn’t enough for Him. He is a jealous lover and He wants more, He wants a passionate bride who rejoices in her gifts, her wonderful position as a covenant bride, who has heard His yearning over the lost and sick and dying and whose greatest joy is to be his hands and feet and voice in this world. He longs for a bride who welcomes His presence at all times, who has nothing better to do than to listen to His voice and hear His thoughts and speak His words.
Isaiah personally responded to God’s call by saying, “Here am I, send me”. But speaking for his people he had to confess in 26:17-18 “Like a woman having a baby, writing in distress, screaming her pain as the baby is being born, that’s how we were because of you, O God. We were pregnant full-term. We writhed in labor but bore no baby. We gave birth to wind. Nothing came of our labor. We produced nothing living. We couldn’t save the world.” God’s purpose in visiting us, in the precious moments of intimacy, is to plant His seed, His vision, in us. How many times have we caught a glimpse of something special that He wants us to do when He touches our life? But how many times have we allowed that dream, that seed, to wither and die because it wasn’t convenient or practical or part of our life plan? “Yes, God,” we say, “keep visiting us and blessing us and giving us wonderful gifts. But don’t expect US to incubate your dreams, to give birth to your spiritual children, to labor and strain and cry out over the lost world. We want to keep playing as children instead of growing up.”

Are you still a child of God?

What are you crying over?

The births and deaths of hundreds of people are recorded in the Bible, but only one can be linked with a verifiable date – August 14, 586 B. C. On that date the city of Jerusalem was burned and destroyed for the first time, and on that date a delightful woman died, the wife of Ezekiel the prophet. When God speaks to Ezekiel, he says, “at one blow I am going to remove the delight of your eyes. Don’t weep or mourn, grieve quietly, as a sign to the house of Israel in exile.” (My paraphrase) Ezekiel preached to the people in the morning and at evening his wife died, a prophetic symbol, a pawn in God’s hands.

I was shocked when I realized that God would snuff out the life of Ezekiel’s wife, the delight of his eyes, just to illustrate a truth to his people. And then he told his servant not to mourn or wail or express his feelings! What kind of God do we serve? With these questions in mind I went back to the beginning of the book to take a deeper look.

Ezekiel was chosen by God to be his spokesman in captivity, to speak God’s heart to the exiles in Babylon who awaited news about the fate of their beloved Jerusalem. It was a terrible job, since both the exiles and those back in Judah were a rebellious people who would not repent of their sins. Up to the 24th chapter, Ezekiel is told to mourn, wail, and grieve, but when his wife dies he is not to do that. So in God’s opinion what should we mourn and not mourn?

We should not mourn and bewail the loss of our loved ones who die and go to God’s presence, as is taught in the writings of the apostles. We should not mourn the loss of our earthly goods or when we are persecuted or mistreated by the world.

What should we mourn? According to the book of Ezekiel this is what should break our heart and drive us to our knees.

This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Strike your hands together and stamp your feet and cry out "Alas!" because of all the wicked and detestable practices of the house of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine and plague. 6:11

Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it." 9:4

"Son of man, tremble as you eat your food, and shudder in fear as you drink your water. Say to the people of the land: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says about those living in Jerusalem and in the land of Israel: They will eat their food in anxiety and drink their water in despair, for their land will be stripped of everything in it because of the violence of all who live there. 12: 18-19


Therefore groan, son of man! Groan before them with broken heart and bitter grief. And when they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt and every hand go limp; every spirit will become faint and every knee become as weak as water. 21:6-7

"I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD. 22:30


Our heart should break and we should cry out over the destruction that awaits those who continue to reject God, those who insist on following evil. Our hearts cry should be that of the just God who none the less cries out, “Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!” 18:30-32

What is your reaction to the eternal damnation of your neighbors, the homeless in your streets, the prostitutes on your corners, the corruption and greed in your city, the lost tribes in the jungles of the Amazon, those worshiping false gods in Asia and Africa? Do you care about them, or the pain God feels when he sees them wandering blindly through life and into the abyss?

For God, Jerusalem was and is the delight of his eyes, the city he founded and make beautiful, the joy of the whole earth. When his people made a temple for him, a resting place for his glory, it brought him honor and great joy. Now he is forced to withdraw himself from that sanctuary, because it has become vile and filthy. His cry rings out in 8:6, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing— the utterly detestable things the house of Israel is doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary?”

That is why Ezekiel’s wife had to die, so that he could feel the terrible sorrow and anguish of God almighty, who wanted at least one human to share his indescribable pain over the consequences of sin and evil.

What are you crying over?

Long lost brothers and sisters at the BL reunion

Last week I went to my 40th year high school reunion in Asheville, North Carolina. It was great to see my classmates from long ago. There were several remarkable things about our class of 28. Over half of us were missionary children whose parents made a great sacrifice to send us to Ben Lippen. Some of us were raised in Brazil, Haiti, Mexico, Japan, India, and other countries, and we didn´t even talk about that back then! We didn´t realize the privilidge of knowing other cultures and languages, we just wanted to be typical American teens and blend into life in ¨the states¨. Of our small group, there has been only one divorce among the couples we know, and 3 or 4 of the classmates met their future spouse at BL! Another characteristic of those who went to the reunion was that most of us have adopted children, some more than one. What a debt we owe to those dedicated teachers and counselors who shaped our characters during those critical teen years.

One of our favorite things at school was singing, most of us were in the choir. At the reunion we had a catered lunch, and the waitress stood and listened to us sing for about 90 minutes instead of eating our meal. The songs from the past nourished our spirits more than the food our bodies. As our alma mater says, ¨Hail to thee, Lord of Ben Lippen, hail to thee on high.¨