Wormwood
Chaps
Well, that's just the thing Michael, you keep sending mixed signals.
1. You claim "I didn't identify the gift in myself" but that others "told you" you were a prophet.
2. Then you say, "I was called by God, I was trained by God, and I was sent by God."
So which is it? Did God call you a prophet or did your friends have to tell you that you were one?
1. You claim "the burden is carried by God who confirms the word of His prophets."
2. Then if someone seeks confirmation that indeed God is speaking through you, you say, "and evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign..."
So, again, if God has given you a "word" that he is going to confirm...what is this word? Any word you speak or is it a specific message?
Ultimately this all boils down to "believe I am a prophet because I say so. If you disagree then you are disagreeing with God himself who will discipline you for coming against his prophet." People have honest questions for you and you approach them as if they are an attack on your faith or a inferior wrongly questioning a superior. To even question your office as a prophet is to show oneself to be "hard hearted" or "stiff-necked." By your rationale, we should simply subject ourselves to anyone who claims (or had their friends claim) they are a prophet. First, I find this troubling since there is no specific message you are claiming that we should subject ourselves to (which makes this come across much more like ambition and personal "honor" than the advancement of a word from God) and second, this approach gives God's people no ability to discern truth from error. This is not how prophets present themselves or their messages in the Bible...and I think for good reason.
1. You claim "I didn't identify the gift in myself" but that others "told you" you were a prophet.
2. Then you say, "I was called by God, I was trained by God, and I was sent by God."
So which is it? Did God call you a prophet or did your friends have to tell you that you were one?
1. You claim "the burden is carried by God who confirms the word of His prophets."
2. Then if someone seeks confirmation that indeed God is speaking through you, you say, "and evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign..."
So, again, if God has given you a "word" that he is going to confirm...what is this word? Any word you speak or is it a specific message?
Ultimately this all boils down to "believe I am a prophet because I say so. If you disagree then you are disagreeing with God himself who will discipline you for coming against his prophet." People have honest questions for you and you approach them as if they are an attack on your faith or a inferior wrongly questioning a superior. To even question your office as a prophet is to show oneself to be "hard hearted" or "stiff-necked." By your rationale, we should simply subject ourselves to anyone who claims (or had their friends claim) they are a prophet. First, I find this troubling since there is no specific message you are claiming that we should subject ourselves to (which makes this come across much more like ambition and personal "honor" than the advancement of a word from God) and second, this approach gives God's people no ability to discern truth from error. This is not how prophets present themselves or their messages in the Bible...and I think for good reason.