"What He said."

The Word for today:
Ezekiel 33

The prophetic voice will warn of judgment:
So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.
If I say to the wicked, "O wicked one, you shall surely die," and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.
But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. (Ezekiel 33:7-9)

We glorify the word "prophet." The prophet in the Bible resembles nothing so much as he resembles a parrot.

I'm a prophet. ("Oh, dear," they're saying, "Franklyn's gone grandiose again.")

Oh, no I haven't, because for practical purposes, all the term "prophet" means is that if God were to say, "Polly want a cracker," the prophet writes "Polly want a cracker," and then hits the "Publish" button. If that's grandiose, then here--you can have it.

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What, then, will a prophet sound like? In a word, the prophet will sound like hell.

If you never hear (from your teacher, preacher, pastor, priest, or guru) that there's hell to be paid for sin, then you are hearing from a false prophet--because The Word of the LORD clearly states we have earned the wages of sin, which is death. (Romans 6:23)

I don't bring you my own teaching. Frankly, I've forgotten whatever it was that I used to think, probably because my own "beliefs" conveniently shifted with every wind. I've gotten to the point where I, myself, don't have an opinion, because it wouldn't do either of us any good.

The kids have a neat phrase--"What he said"-- which indicates that they choose to express themselves in the very words that another has already spoken. The prophets said, "Thus saith the LORD," which is the exact Bible equivalent of "What He said."

The prophet of God defers to God's Word to the exclusion of all else. The original and absolute and ultimate "What he said" was first uttered by the original and absolute and ultimate prophet:
"My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me." (John 7:16)
"For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment--what to say and what to speak." (John 12:49)

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Hear, then, what He said:
You are dead in your sins (1) unless and until you have received the salvation offered at the cross of Jesus Christ:
Whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3:18)

But wait, there's more. Hear what else He said, just two verses earlier:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

The complete prophetic voice will tell us that we bought our ticket to hell--and that Jesus bought a way out for anyone who will receive it. So if ever you hear someone say that you're mired in sin so deep that there's no way out, that's not what He said. His Word tells us that even if we have a dump truck load of sin, Jesus paid it all:
He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:14)

"What He said," Franklyn wrote, pressing "Publish."

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(1) Ephesians 2:1