God's Mouth Pieces
According to the Scriptures, the God of the Hebrews spoke to his people through prophets, men and women who were especially attuned to God and who may or may not have been a part of the religious establishment. Some of the prophets' messages were for the present; others, for the future. Either way, their role was to proclaim God's declarations and disclosures to the people.
In general, being a prophet ranked up there with working at a meatpacking plant among the world's most hazardous occupations. Even when they were telling the truth, prophets might be killed or thrown into prison by people who didn't like what they were saying. (Some kings hated hearing bad news.) According to historical accounts, the prophet Isaiah was sawn in half.
So consider a prophet's dilemma: death if he was proved wrong and the possibility of death if he was right. No true prophet wanted to offend God, and just as few wanted to be sawn in half. Thus most prophets waited until they were absolutely convinced that God had spoken, or else they kept their mouths shut. Kings began to shudder at their words. A true prophet's messages were never wrong.
Now here's a question: how would the accuracy of these biblical prophets match up with today's psychics?
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