Month: June 2026

Prophets all aligned

Posted on
by Martin Scott
Posted in Prophetic Perspectives

It is sometimes difficult to read Scripture and to make sense of it (sometimes?)… my reading yesterday included that of the lone prophetic voice of Micaiah who spoke in opposition to 400 other prophets:

Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred of them, and said to them, “Shall we go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” They said, “Go up, for God will give it into the hand of the king.” (2 Chron. 18:5).

The vast majority of prophets were aligned with the political power of their day; their voice being unanimous that God is with you to bring you success. The story goes on that Micaiah comes reluctantly with a contrary word, and then also gives insight into the behind the scenes that took place in the heavens with a discussion between God and various spirits, including a lying spirit. I am not sure what to make of that part of the narrative and am aware of a move to take the ‘heavenly counsel’ as literal – I am really not sure about that. Regardless the outcome is that a ‘lying spirit’ comes into the mouths of the prophetic counsel. That is the sobering part.

Can God speak a word to power that contains ‘God is with you to bring you success’? Yes indeed, but at the heart of the prophetic has to be a challenge to power and when Scripture is read with regard to an inbalance of power the challenge is always to those who abuse power. The call is to ‘repent’ to those with the power and to those oppressed that the day will come when they will be rewarded.

Can a lying spirit come into the mouths of those who prophesy? Maybe. Lying spirit or not what seems clear is whenever we are bought (financially or emotionally) there will always be the possibility (the inevitability?) of declaring success to power.

Out of the mouth of 2 or 3 (or 400) witnesses let every word be established. Or maybe we could suggest something along the lines of align yourself to those who are in the power position and the echo chamber will be strengthened.

Some while back I had a dream in which there was a group gathered from a European context and they were discussing what should be the ‘protocols’ in place for a fresh wave of prophetic expression. Into the dream a prophetic figure from the USA materialised. He materialised as a 40 year old which would coincide with the time that he (with others) were laying foundations for a prophetic expression that is now being (rightly) critiqued. He knew that what they did was, with hindsight, insufficient. What is for certain one of the biggest flaws in any prophetic foundation is an uncritical alignment with power.

SHARE ON:
Post PermaLink

Time to convert?

Posted on
by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

Conversion. Like so many words what is meant by the term. ‘Conversion of sinners’ was language used in the classic revival periods of the Great Awakening and the like. Conversion from one religion to another is another use. I was reading the introduction to a book the other day from a former pastor who was describing his journey and how he became a Christian when in his teens then later met someone who introduced him to Jesus when he was in his thirties. Certainly not a new ‘concept’ for me and I think particularly for those of us who grow up within a broadly speaking Christendom context often a necessary move forward!

The sobering part of the writer’s story is of being a convinced Christian and then discovering Jesus. Perhaps he was overstating it to make a point but the very real possibility of having a ‘Jesus-less Christianity’ is something to be taken note of. At one level we all have a ‘god’ who is less then the God that Jesus reveals – true at the personal level; but beyond the personal level I have of late been maintaining that there are expressions of three Abrahamic faiths – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – that ultimately are indistinguishable from each other and feed off each other to maintain their strengths.

The challenge for us who go by the label of ‘Christian’ is whether Jesus fits into our Christian faith / system or whether Jesus defines our Christian faith. Hence it does not matter how long we have been on the road continual introductions to Jesus are essential for us.

Jesus re-orientates everything and at the core is the only lens through which God can be seen. And that sight never comes in one sitting but is life-long. ‘Conversion’ is here to stay and has to be.

Given that I only see broad brush strokes regarding (the wrongly-termed) end-times and no details in Scripture I dream of a Christian faith that is stripped right back so that Jesus becomes again the centre. Not doctrine, not even sacraments, but Jesus. What other ‘conversions’ might follow?

The obvious one of our view of God, but I am sure other aspects would follow. Views give way to experience and the old adage that what God does in us is what is done through us (‘what I have I give to you’) would yield an expression of the charismatic that was not focused on proving God but on holding space for people to find God. And I think the big element that would result would be a ‘conversion to the world’. Humanity… no true theology can begin with God and work its way through the various dogmas until it reaches ‘the doctrine of humanity’. Ironically all theology has to begin with the doctrine of humanity, or maybe better entitled the doctrine of The Human. There we see God and we see our destiny also (try to put the doctrine of predestination into the mix at this stage – now it reads somewhat differently!).

Perfection is not related to squeeky-cleanness but to our response to those we walk among. And if we draw back from those around us we will never be ‘squeeky clean’ regardless of what we seek to do.

Jesus, I wrote above, re-orientates everything and thus in equal measure he disorientates everything.

I came to faith at 16 (‘conversion’?) but I am still on the path of being introduced to Jesus. Hopefully daily, but I am aware that I too often trundle along somewhat satisfied until I hit the jolt of ‘but this is not compatible with Jesus’.

SHARE ON:
Post PermaLink

Sicily…

Posted on
by Martin Scott
Posted in Reports

Seems like forever ago that the Mighty Gayle and I spent a few months on that island. We were just reflecting yesterday that it was just over a year ago that Sicily first came on our radar. I know we are all different and many people know how to spell the word ‘reflect’ but I genuinely find that hard to do and I think that helps me focus on today and tomorrow (OK you did not need to say it – and learn very little from yesterday).

Gayle picked up the following report this morning:

https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/italy-seizes-gold-luxury-villas-cash-tied-sicilian-133376592

Italian authorities have seized more than 200 million euros ($232 million) in assets linked to the late mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro’s drug trafficking network, in what anti-mafia prosecutors described Thursday as a blow to the Sicilian Mafia’s attempts to rebuild its financial power.

Maybe our prayers, particularly in Palermo into the mafia, made a small contribution? Prayer is awesome – every prayer a small contribution… and the multiplicity of the small.

SHARE ON:
Post PermaLink

Writing in the dust

Posted on
by Martin Scott
Posted in Biblical Observations

I have written elsewhere about the encounter of Jesus with ‘the woman caught in adultery’ (Jn. 8:2-11) as how he handled the situation (set-up) is intriguing. Like many biblical stories we are challenged as to how we read it. There is the obvious patriarchal bias in the Pharisees – the woman is brought, but the man?… and that bias continues in so much of the Christian faith – the woman is to blame for the sin committed; the man has to be restored.

In what I wrote I suggested that Jesus does not reply immediately as he buys time by writing in the dust. He did not come to each and every situation with a ready made encyclopedia full of the right answers. As one of us he had to dig deep; as one different to us he did not quickly respond with the right (‘religious’ nor even ‘biblical’) answer. Jesus leaned on God and was always the Great Teacher because he was the Great Learner. Buying time and connecting. Connecting with our humanity for we came from the dust and are but dust of the earth. Connecting with the realities of life, our humanity and also the presence of ‘the serpent’ who crawls on its belly on the dust of the ground. Jesus bridged as always the gap between the divine and the human. If we are to come with a ‘God response’ we have to touch, and be touched by, humanity. And if we are to touch humanity we have to be connected to the divine. Then an answer can come that is deeper than the right answer, but is the redemptive solution so that an empowerment, that is both a release from condemnation and a breaking free of enslavement, results.

And yet there is more. I owe this further observation to a post I read yesterday by Conrad Gempf:
(https://gempf.com/wp/2026/05/29/a-non-supernatural-miracle-john-82-11/). (My take – read his post for a fuller observation.)

Conrad draws out that in Jesus’ response he provokes the accusers to find their own humanity. They come as a collective and the result would have been that they (‘the crowd’) would have stoned the woman. Jesus responded to the crowd / mob but addressed each one as an individual – ‘Let anyone (lit: the one) among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’

Don’t hide behind the crowd, don’t go with the crowd. He pushes them to their own (fallen but ever so human) humanity.

Personal responsibility; the mob no longer is a cover, no longer an excuse. They came as a crowd but left as individuals: ‘When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.’

The story began with the woman ‘standing before them’ and ends with the ‘them’ having gone (one by one) and she is standing before Jesus. Two different places to stand. Standing before a patriarchal crowd strengthened by religious ‘rightness’. And finally standing before true humanity. The ‘one by one’ crowd that was ever so right have gone when they face their fallenness. She remains.

SHARE ON:
Post PermaLink
Perspectives