Restrain the Prophet's Madness

July 24, 2016 | David Crosby

Passage: 2 Peter 2:10-16

Prophets Wander Off:

“They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness” -2 Peter 2:15

The straight way he has already mentioned as “the way of truth.” This is Jesus as the Way. They are people who followed the way of Christ and were identified with his church. We would consider them Christians.

They “wandered off” like a horse or sheep or goat grazing in a pasture wanders off, following the green grass, until they end up in a completely different place. Their path is not necessarily deliberate. They did not intend to end up so far from their previous course. But that is the spot to which they wandered. They were not tethered to the Way of Christ. They were already loose.

We saw a pony tied to a stick in the front yard of a house on our whirlwind trip through Texas. These prophets have no such restraint on them.

The “way of Balaam” corresponds to his previous mention of “shameful ways” in 2 Peter 2:2. The “way of Balaam” is selling your prophetic gift for money. The original story takes up three chapters in the Old Testament Book of Numbers. The king of Moab, Balak, promised to reward the prophet handsomely if he would curse the Israelites. [The “curse of Balaam” (Revelation 2:14) is that he encouraged the Israelites to intermarry with the Moabites thus introducing idolatry into their families (Numbers 31:15).]

These who previously followed Christ now seem to be following the almighty dollar.

Ezekiel in Papua, a district superintendent over 80 churches. I asked him if he had a prayer request. He said, “Pray that the pastors will not leave their churches to pan for gold.”

Pastors, deacons, and all Christians face this temptation to leave the way of Christ and go pan for gold. The river carried the sludge from the copper and gold mine. It was grey. I saw these completely grey human shapes panning for gold in the river, losing any visible identity in their effort to get rich quick.

Prophets Wander Out of Their Depth:

“these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand” - 2 Peter 2:12

Peter’s emphasis on knowledge is not accidental in this letter. He is emphasizing both knowledge of God and general knowledge about life.

God’s people are not opposed to knowledge in any age. We embrace the truth wherever we may find it. Some truths are self-evident, as the Declaration of Independence says.

Preachers and prophets and spiritual leaders do not automatically have any expertise in disciplines beyond their experience and education—science, history, economics, politics, government, medicine, etc.

People can have opinions about anything. Some people have opinions about everything. But having an opinion does not make you right or wise. Often it simply exposes your ignorance.

Often a man is judged to be wise if he just keeps his mouth shut. We all have this option when issues come before us that we do not understand.

These false teachers are blaspheming—dishonoring God—about things they simply do not understand. They are expressing opinions and making pronouncements, and they are clueless about the matters they pretend to address.

A preacher convinced one of my friends that the poles of the earth were going to be reversed and New Orleans would end up 600 feet below sea level. He called me in a panic and begged me to leave this city. This was in 2012. His timetable for the disaster has come and gone. The preacher was wrong.

A preacher convinced one of my relatives that an economic collapse would happen within two years. He sent out a warning to all family members. I responded to all and attached the prediction of the World Bank for the next two years. This seemed to be a decent time to invest, I said. My relative was so angry at me. He accused me of putting our entire family at risk by suggesting that they invest their money instead of sticking it in a mattress. Three years have come and gone. The preacher was wrong.

John Hagee’s book Four Blood Moons hit the best seller list on Amazon.com in 2014. Following a prophet named Mark Blitz, Hagee attached cosmic significance to four lunar eclipses that happened in succession and suggested a cataclysmic event would occur September 27-28 of last year. Astronomers who actually know something about these things debunked this prophet’s speculations and assertions and pointed out the faulty understanding and the false claims. Mark Blitz has pulled his prediction from his website. I doubt that Hagee has apologized to anyone. Personally, I doubt he ever really believed it. I don’t know anything about astronomy, but I know the preacher was wrong.

Part of wisdom is learning who to talk to when you need advice on various matters. If you want to know about flying, talk to a pilot, not a prophet. If you want to know about genetics, talk to a geneticist, not a religionist.

Character flaws are deadly to wisdom.

Arrogance is the most deadly sin of all. The arrogant person is the irritating “know-it-all” who cannot have a conversation with you because he or she already knows everything about every subject. These false teachers are suffering from arrogance. They have stopped learning. They have already arrived, they think. They have substituted God for their own ego.

Lust is a deadly character flaw. It twists everything you know into whatever will satisfy your appetites. It is a cruel Master that promises you everything and takes everything instead. If you eyes are full of adultery, you know longer see women as the amazing humans they are. You see them as pieces of meat, things to be used. Your lust has flattened your world, stolen your goodness, and turned you into a sexual Zombie. You lost all wisdom because wisdom is connected to character.