Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Divided Loyalties

Political loyalties are very limiting for prophetic people. A person who is loyal to the right or to the left will be able to function as a prophet in their church or bring words to the people the meet, but they are unlikely to move on to the role of prophet to their state or nation. A prophet to the nation must be totally loyal to God and to his law.

Unless prophetic people understand that political parties and human politics are not part of God’s plan, very few real prophets to the nations will emerge. God’s revelation for rulers and governments is contained in his law, so prophets called to speak to their nation must understand and defend his law. They cannot afford to be blinded by loyalty to a party or political leader.

People with valid prophetic gifts become “court prophets” when their loyalty to a particular political leader or a political party takes precedence over their loyalty to God. The court prophets that led Jehoshaphat astray were not prophets of Baal. They were prophets of the Lord, trained among the sons of the prophets. They would have been brought to the palace when their ability to hear and speak the word of God was recognised. The problem was that they became too loyal to the king’s party. This prevented them from hearing God’s warning and left them vulnerable to a lying spirit (1 Kings 22).

The American nation does not have a clear prophetic voice. That is a dangerous place to be. I am sure that God is calling many of his people to be a prophet to the nation. Unfortunately most are so wrapped up in America that they cannot offer the total loyalty that God needs for this role. Blind loyalty to the left or right is blocking the prophetic flow at the national level.

No comments: