Thus Saith The Lord

Bear with me on this one. I just had one of those, this is not a coincide moments, but it’s going to take a moment or two to fill in the backstory.

Over the past month or so, I have received several rather interesting posts and messages from a variety of folks over a range of issues that have been, shall we say, challenging. In short, there has been a few strong responses over several different things I have written about. Through prayer and meditation, I have been searching inside to discover what I have been doing, who I am, etc. that might have caused this to happen. What kept popping up in my heart, head, and soul was Solomon’s proverb, “Only by pride cometh contention” (Proverb 13:10a).

There it is. That devil called pride. The original sin. OK, now hold that thought for a moment while I switch gears.

For a couple of days it had been bothering me about what some preachers and would be preachers have been saying on the streets, in their sermons, and in general whenever on the topic of God. “Thus saith the Lord” has been rolling off the tongue in such frequency so as to become almost cliché. In of itself is fine when quoting scripture. But these preachers, teachers and self-proclaimed prophets are saying “Thus saith the Lord” when it’s not scripture they are talking about. It’s “Thus saith me”. This is a problem. A big problem. This is heresy of the highest kind when you credit God for your own words.

I wrote a short but very poignant commentary about those so inclined to spout, “Thus saith the Lord” when in it wasn’t. I sat on it for a couple of days debating on whether I should post it or not. I deleted the message yesterday. Why? Well, let’s circle back to that issue about pride and contention. Pride is an evil beast and it’s going to take time for me to do a checkup from the neck up and poke around in my heart, spirit, and soul to understand what’s going on. I deleted my commentary yesterday morning and didn’t think any more of it, until today.

This morning during my prayers, readings, and studies, the expositor Albert Barnes of whom I was reading, made reference to a particular passage in the Book of Jeremiah. So I thumbed through my Bible and found the passage. It read as follows.

“Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.” (Jeremiah 23:31)

Boom! I was not studying or researching the topic of preachers or prophets incorrectly saying “he saith” or “Thus saith the Lord”. The subject matter that I was researching had nothing to do with it. As I mentioned earlier, after 2 days of sitting on the editorial that I had written on the subject, I deleted it in suspicion that it was written out of pride. And then this morning, while reading Albert Barnes, his exposition directs me to that one passage in the Bible. There it is, in front of me, the very thing I had written about, sat on for two days, then deleted the day before.

I do not believe in coincidences. I do believe that the Dear Lord wants me to bring to light the heresy of those saying, “Thus saith the Lord” when God has not said it. There are ministers, often self-identifying as prophets that are promoting their own ideas, wishes, and their own precepts as if they were from God.

If you hear anyone saying something like that, ask them where is it in the Bible? If God said it, then we should be able to find it in scripture. More than likely they’ll say it was a vision or a prophecy so therefore it can’t be found in scripture. Let’s assume for a moment that they really are receiving messages or visions of some future event. Ask them how do they know these phantasms are from God? The devil has his miracles too. It’s a sincere question, one that should not upset the “prophet”.

Thus saith the Lord folks often foretell about a prophecy, of a strong wind blowing, of some great cathartic change that’s about to happen. Yes, Revelations is their favorite book. They are usually heavily involved in faith healing, and speaking in tongues. This leads us to the speaking in the stead of the Lord. It’s the logical next step in this world of mysticism.

Now I want to be clear. Is there legitimacy in faith healing, speaking in tongues, and prophecies? Most definitely! But we must be careful. Mystics, false teachers and false prophets, and those who are a bit too overzealous, love this realm of spiritual gifts. It’s part and parcel of the supernatural realm that they advocate, promote, and solicit. And again, you must ask, “What spirit are we dealing with here?” If the preacher/prophet is crediting God as author of things not spoken by Him, I can promise you that this angel of light is working the will of Satan.

Bill Hitchcock