Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Charisma magazine, and the dog that did nothing in the night

An article from Charisma magazine this morning reminds me of Sherlock Holmes.

Jennifer LeClaire, the magazine's Senior News Editor, posted an article on the magazine's website, which gives a rundown on several "prophetic words" of 2014. It is "Did 2014’s Prophetic Words Ring True?" which you may see here:

http://www.charismamag.com/blogs/prophetic-insight/22144-did-2014-s-prophetic-words-ring-true

I have to commend her for her piece. Getting "prophetic words" down for the record is something valuable for accountability reasons and she and the magazine are to be praised for that.

But the Sherlock Holmes story Silver Blaze comes to my mind.

Holmes is on a case when he has an exchange with someone form the police. It goes like this:

Gregory (Scotland Yard detective): "Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?" Holmes: "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time." Gregory: "The dog did nothing in the night-time." Holmes: "That was the curious incident."

if you read the Charisma piece, you may suspect that they found several dogs, er prophets, that did not bark in the night, as the Holmes quote is usually erroneously rendered.

The prophecies quoted seem very vague and could be pegged to anything. LeClaire is also careful to note that the prophecies may not have happened yet.

I'm aware of the charismatic teaching these days that prophets are not obliged to get their prophecies 100% right as in Bible days. "Even the best prophets don't get it totally right..."

But I do wonder if LeClaire, in the back of her mind, was thinking "This will show that this use of 'prophecy' can be a bit bogus. This article will show that." as she wrote....