In the Shadow of a Turning

Thus says the Lord God, Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! ... They have seen false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘Declares the Lord,’ when the Lord has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word.  -- Ezekiel 13:3,6

Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, You must not do that!  I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus.  Worship God.  For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. -- Revelation 19:10

I am troubled these days by the lack of truth in so much of what is said and done.  Nothing is as it seems, and people, sadly, seem to prefer pretty lies prettily lied to the genuine and authentic.  Prophecy, as we noted recently, is, at its solid heart, a revelation of the way things are rather than what we might like them to be.  Bob has said that true thoughts are prayers.  Telling the truth may not make one a prophet, but the spirit of truth is the spirit of prophecy. 

In a world where we are inundated with fiction and fictitious imagery, deceit and deception, it can be difficult to find verity.  Movies make our most fantastic imaginings appear as convincing and certain as a flint rock.  Manipulated models substantiate the maker's beliefs.  We convince ourselves that if we can just ignore a few inputs, plaster over a few weak points in the wall, that our new and improved version of Babylon will withstand all assaults by solemn light. 

Should we find it reassuring that our situation is nothing new?  In a way, I am heartened to know that humanity has survived this game of blind man's bluff countless times, but I am also disappointed that we have learned so little from history.  We are invariably fooled by what we think is the superiority of our age.  The plan only failed before because the operators didn't have our technology, our science, our grasp of the cosmos and its laws.  Like the visionaries of Ezekiel's day, our false prophets will be shocked when their proclamations go unfulfilled.  They have spoken in the name of their gods.  They have heard the voices of their deities.  The science is settled.  The program is a success.  The law was passed. 

The problem is all the people like Ezekiel and Jeremiah, all the deniers, the capitalists, the extremists, the bitter clingers, religious fanatics, the old white men who refuse to surrender their racial and gender privileges.  It's the Jews, the Catholics, the fundamentalists.  There's always somebody that won't go along with the system, that won't bow to the image.  And so it goes. 

God is in control, and He has, by His wisdom and sovereign will, brought me to this place and this time with this mind.  Perhaps I will be a silent watcher or a weeping martyr or a happy warrior.  The truth is patient, as patient as mountain, sea, and sky, powerful as the trembling stars, and as fearless as the light that awaits the face of the globe turning from its own shadow.