What Does It Mean to Be Prophetic?

Good words from Drew McIntyre:
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There are few roles in Scripture as misunderstood as that of the prophet.  In conservative circles, "prophecy" is shrunken down to telling the future, usually by studying arcane tables and charts relating Daniel and Revelation to try and figure out when "the end" is coming.  These people are usually tying to sell you something.  In progressive Christian circles, being "prophetic" is essentially a baptized form of activism.  Both of these miss the mark substantially.


Prophecy is Not About the Future.... The primary content of prophetic utterance was interpretation of the here and now.  The future may be involved, but it is to render change in the present.  As Abraham Heschel puts it, "The prominent theme is exhortation, not mere prediction…his essential task is to declare the word of God to the here and now." (14-15)  Thus, fundamentalist and/or dispensationalist obsessions with prophecy as Biblical keys to the future or present are sorely missing the mark, no matter how many Mayan calendars or blood moons are there for the taking.

Prophecy is Not About Activism. One of the most inane tropes in Mainline Protestantism is the ease with which every Tom, Dick, or Harriet with an M.Div. will claim the prophetic mantle for themselves.  Far too often we see well-meaning progressives high-five each other ad nauseam as if they were the new incarnation of Jeremiah himself.  But the prophets rarely smiled  (look at the Rembrandt above), and they certainly weren't excited about  being prophetic.  "None of the prophets seems enamored with being a prophet," says Heschel, "nor proud of his attainment." (20)

In his wonderful little book In the Name of Jesus, Henri Nouwen names temptations common to leadership and offers particular disciplines as solutions.  He concludes this brief treatise by discussing the temptation "to be powerful."  In different ways, both the right-wing and left-wing perversions of the prophetic are temptations to power.  Fundamentalists manipulate Scripture to show forth their own insight and giftedness, unlocking "secrets" of the end times heretofore unknown.  In so doing they often amass large followings (and bank accounts).  Progressives too quickly make use of the prophetic role to mask their own ideological agendas with a veneer of Biblical authority, and claim God's voice for whatever the cause happens to be that week.
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Drew's entire post is worth a read here.