A major part of the prophet’s burden is about warning the people. Most of the prophets in the Old Testament made their living warning the children of Israel about God’s punishment that was coming as the result of their disobedience. In the New Testament until the present it’s more about warning of false teachers, of being caught up in false doctrines, factions, the lure of the world, and living an ungodly life.

Another important role of the prophet as illustrated by John the Baptist, is to prepare the way of the Lord. I believe there were prophets in the early 1960s preparing the way of the Lord prior the coming Jesus Movement. Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul & Mary, Creedence Clearwater, Barry McGuire and others were all singing about Jesus and the end of the world before they knew fully what they were singing. They knew something was missing, something was wrong, and something was coming.

But what is unique about the prophetic word for today is that it warns against what actually became of the Jesus Movement of 50 years ago. Although the Christianity born in the ‘60s was radical (a word that means to get back to the root cause of something) in nature, and flew in the face of extra-biblical traditions that had become embedded in the church since the Reformation (see Pagan Christianity by George Barna and Frank Viola), the prophetic word for today warns against the cultural Christianity that the spiritual revolution of the Jesus Movement morphed into as it left its emphasis on Jesus and the gospel for social changes the new Christians determined they could bring about in society because of their growing numbers and political power — causes like pro-life, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-immigration and racial segregation. That means that the prophetic word for Christians today is to warn against what Christianity has become, and to call everyone back to when it was all about Jesus. Because it still is all about Jesus. It always will be all about Jesus.

It is also about proclaiming the message of Jesus as spelled out in the Sermon on the Mount in the face of a culture propelled by the opposite. In the midst of a culture enmeshed in hate, division, retaliation, bullying and going for the top, Jesus calls us to love our enemies, turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, take the lowest place and be peacemakers — things that are prophetic and hard by the very nature of being countercultural. There is a sense that we are all prophets by the lives that we lead if we are truly following Jesus. May God give us the grace to take on the prophet’s burden by speaking and living the hard truths.

For more on this topic, click on the “Between the Answers” logo and enjoy today’s podcast with John & Marti.