“I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.” (Deuteronomy 18:15-20)
We need a prophet of the Lord to speak the Word of God to us today. We need to hear the truth. Instead what we have are politicians, government officials, media talking heads, celebrities, and the millions of self-proclaimed experts on social media all of whom claim to speak with unquestionable authority and wisdom. Their words do not come from Almighty God, and almost always they do not come to pass or contradict one another. Every one doing what is right on his or her own eyes results in chaos. Such a policy brought slavery to ancient Israel under the Judges.
If we followed God’s Law in Deuteronomy about such false prophets and gurus, we would rid ourselves of all this nonsense. Moses here gave instructions to the people about prophets. Although the priests and Levites had authority to speak on behalf of the Lord regarding His Law, a prophet, however, was one who could speak the word and will of God. He would speak what God told Him to speak to guide people in righteousness, warn them of the consequences of sin, compromise, and immorality, and, at times, predict the future.
The danger here was that anyone could come and claim to be God’s spokesman. One way in which to prevent this was to destroy every vestige of pagan worship. The Lord hated and detested idolatry in all its forms. He commanded His people to shun the practices of the pagans including fortunetelling, magic, and spiritism. The people of God were to execute anyone using these methods. They were also commanded to execute false prophets who claimed to speak for Him but who did not.
Today we have many who claim to be prophets set themselves up as authorities and seers who can tell people how they should live and even many who claim to be able to predict the future. Many Christians follow such ungodly wolves in sheep’s clothing because of their flashy and “dynamic” presentations, fame, and ministries. Yet they ignore what the Church has to offer in the form of humble, godly pastors who preach the word of God, warn of the dangers of immorality and intercede for the people of God before His throne. The Lord will bless those that are His.