In Today’s Reading, there is one real prophet and one false prophet. The difference is now clear. The predictions of the real prophet, Amos, came true.
The reading is perfectly illustrative of every age. Today, battling prophets predict global freezing/warming. Others prophets don’t. Some prophets predict rising markets. Others predict that the same markets will crash.
In every age, on every issue, there are battling prophets with different, even contradictory, predictions. Today. Reading provides us with indications of how to separate the wheat from the chaff and pick the right prophet to follow:
Reading 1 Am 7:10-17
“Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam,
king of Israel:
‘Amos has conspired against you here within Israel;
the country cannot endure all his words.
For this is what Amos says:
Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
and Israel shall surely be exiled from its land.'”
(The false prophet would rather frighten the king with the truth than tell the truth. Jeroboam, King of the Northern Tribes, has no real theological support for his throne, except that provided by his hired prophets. They do their job.
“To Amos, Amaziah said:
‘Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah!
There earn your bread by prophesying,
but never again prophesy in Bethel;
for it is the king’s sanctuary and a royal temple.’
Amos answered Amaziah, ‘I was no prophet,
nor have I belonged to a company of prophets;
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The LORD took me from following the flock, and said to me,
‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
Now hear the word of the LORD!”
(The false prophet, Amaziah, hireling of the King, tries to get rid of the discomforting source of truth, and orders Amos to go to the land of Judah. Amos admits that he is not a “graduate prophet” with a Masters Degree certifying him as a prophet. Instead, he’s a shepherd who cuts, planes, and sands lumber from sycamores when he’s between shepherd jobs. He lets Amos know that He was “appointed by God”, not by some earthly power.)
“You say: prophesy not against Israel,
preach not against the house of Isaac.
Now thus says the LORD:
Your wife shall be made a harlot in the city,
and your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword;
Your land shall be divided by measuring line,
and you yourself shall die in an unclean land;
Israel shall be exiled far from its land.”
(Amaziah told Amos not to tell the truth to those living among the new Kingdom of Israel. Amos, on the other hand, has been given knowledge of the future, and ordered to share it with Amaziah. Amos correctly predicts that Amaziah’s wife will be reduced to prostitution, his children will be killed, and his property will be taken, divided up, and given to others. He will be deported to an “unclean land”, where he will die. All his countrymen who, follow a King who listens to a false prophet, will be sent there, as well.
All that came to pass in the years beginning with 720 B. C. That’s when the Ten Northern Tribes began to be exiled to the North. We, today, should learn from that.
We hear many battling prophets. They offer conflicting guidance in every area of faith, morals, politics, and economics. We should pray for the discernment to distinguish false prophets from real ones to save our lives on earth and get our souls to Heaven.
We must choose carefully between battling prophets. Death and exile, on earth and in Heaven, come to those who follow false prophets. Life and prosperity come to those who follow God’s prophets.
