W H O SPEAKS FOR GOD ?
By Vance Hamer
N ow a n d then somebody has a spell of longing for the good old days when pulpit giants attracted crowds both in Great Britain and in America. Organiza tion and promotion can fill churches now, but few are packed to hear a prophet. Of course “ distance lends en chantment to the view” and some modem preachers may wear brighter halos a generation hence. Generally speak ing, however, there is good reason to wish that we might hear a Parker, a Talmage, or a Spurgeon and to wonder why we cannot. One reason, of course, is that we are in the age of “ The Organization Man,” the era of standardization, regimentation, when it is more important to be “ team- minded,” to be conformed and secure, than to stand on one’s own feet and to be in demand, not prophets. Amos would have a rougher time at Bethel than ever, and Jeremiah would find more false prophets than ever cry ing “ Peace,” when there is no peace. Politicians are as common in the church as in Washington, and statesmen are just as rare. Opportunism and expendiency deter mine our course, and the next election is more important in many calculations than the next generation. It is a day of sameness and facelessness and when, strangely enough, everybody talks about being different. Teen agers dote on being different but never was there a crowd more alike. They dress alike, talk alike, look alike. When Micaiah said, “What the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak” he stated the principle on which all of God’s men have operated. He faced UNIFICATION for Ahab and Jehoshaphat had joined together to go up against Ramoth-gilead. He faced UNANIMITY since four hundred false prophets were in favor of the venture. He faced UNIFORMITY because his informant urged him to make it unanimous. Notice that the whole argu ment was religious, “ Behold now, the words of the proph ets declare good unto the King with one mouth: “ let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them and speak that which is good.” In other words, a religious pre cedent had been established and surely Micaiah would not want to break it The man who speaks for God comes up against the same combinations today. A. C. Dixon said, “ Every preacher is, or ought to be, a prophet of God who preaches as God bids him without regard to results. When he becomes conscious of the fact that he is a leader in his church or denomination, he has reached a crisis in his ministry, whether he will be a prophet of God or a leader
of men. If he decides only to be a prophet in so far as he can without losing his leadership, he becomes a diplo mat and ceases to be a prophet at all. If he decides to maintain his leadership at all costs, he may easily fall to the level of a politician who pulls the wires in order to gain or hold a position. He who would prophesy or speak forth the message of God is careful for none of these things but only that he shall speak the message God gives him even though he be in a lonesome minor ity.” Because the prophet does not speak for a group does not mean that he cannot minister within that group. Sometimes a preacher decides that his group is a hier archy, and he pulls out to form a smaller hierarchy with himself as the hierarch. Or he may decide that he will speak only for himself. But God did not call him to speak for himself but to speak for God. The man who speaks only for himself has very little to say! The cheap religious optimism prevalent today does not provide a good atmosphere for rugged, old-fashioned preaching. We are supposed to be in a great revival, but it makes little impact on divorce, crime, juvenile delin quency, wickedness in high places. We are told that the modernists are all dead or converted but, like the Com munists, they may leave the party to do more dangerous work in related organizations. Let any man try to stir local churches to godly living and to improve the sort instead of merely increasing the size and he will soon learn how few church members really want to take Christ seriously. A pleasant get-alongism has paralyzed us into a moral inertia and we are so numbed that few can rouse themselves from this amiable stupor enough to be a voice in the wilderness. Then, of course, there is the deadly delusion that we must never be against anything or en gage in negative preaching. A “ straightforward way of dodging the issue” and the “ art of almost saying some thing” will carry one a long way nowadays . . . if he wants to go that way. A prominent religious council recently advised its radio and television speakers: “Subject matter should pro ject love, joy, courage, faith, trust in God, good will. Generally avoid condemnation, criticism, controversy. In a very real sense we are “ selling” religion, the good news of the Gospel. Therefore admonitions and training of Christians on crossbearing, forsaking all else, sacrifices, and service usually cause the average listener to turn the dial. . . . As apostles, can we not extend an invitation,
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