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AMERICA'S RESURRECTION
By CALEB MACDONALD AuthorHouse LLC
Copyright © 2014 Caleb MacDonald
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4918-5136-4
CHAPTER 1
The Types of Prophets
This chapter deals with prophets and prophesies as the purpose of this chapter is to help readers better understand my role as a prophet. Very little is known about prophets, so I'll spell out the various kinds of prophets found in the Bible.
There are good prophets and bad prophets. There are self-proclaimed prophets and people called or raised up by God to be His prophets. Having proper knowledge of the different types of prophets will grant readers a better understanding of what God has done, is doing, and about to do on earth.
Self-proclaimed prophets are those who have fantasies of being prophets and want to be prophets for self-gain or self-esteem, and they usually have problems with pride and arrogance. Though some of them gather large followings, they have not been called by God to be prophets. Many of these self-proclaimed prophets occasionally have a few of their own prophesies happen, but most of them never occur.
Others are called by God to be prophets. Those who are called to be prophets are people who are mature in God and usually don't want to be prophets. These people don't just see what is going to happen in the future; the major part of their roles as prophets involves boldly rebuking the wicked and warning them of God's impending judgment. Their messages always contain hope that the wicked will repent so God will relent from future judgment.
A true prophet always deals with the evil practices of the wicked and the rebellious, while self-proclaimed prophets never deal with the wicked; they just try to predict the future about individuals or world events.
Why is it so important to know all about prophets? Most self-proclaimed prophets are involved with false doctrines, and that makes them false prophets. People place hope in their prophecies only to later learn they've been lied to. Many people gear their lives and plans by these prophecies and suffer disaster or ruin when the false prophecies do not come about.
Just as there can be false Bible pastors and teachers, so can there be false prophets. False prophecies can lead you away from the truth and into false doctrines; they can steer you away from the real truth or even inhibit you from learning the truth.
True prophesies can help you avoid much disaster and suffering; they can help you make decisions for the future and minimize any sufferings you may incur. True prophesies are intended to correct you and help you avoid impeding disasters; they are usually accompanied by pleas for you to turn away from wrongdoings and thus help you avoid disasters.
A true prophesy usually involves a plan that will allow those who follow it avoid disasters. A true prophesy will always bring you closer to God and to salvation.
Before I touch on the subject of prophets I will offer some definitions and explanations so you will have a clear understanding of what I'm writing.
Most disagreements about the Bible or religion occur because of bad or varying definitions. I have learned through all my years of ministry that most disagreements and arguments stem from people assuming their definitions of a word or a phrase are the same as that of others. Even in marriages and relationships, most disagreements and arguments stem from both parties having different definitions of the same word though they assume the definitions are the same. I will offer the definitions of words and terms I use in this book to avoid confusion and allow you to better understand my writing.
From God's viewpoint, there are two classes of people: those who know God personally and those who don't. Understanding this point will give you a better understanding of this book as well as the Bible and God's kingdom. Either you know God or you don't, and God knows those who know Him.
We are interested here in the definition of the phrase, "knowing God personally"; God speaks to those who know Him personally. This is a requirement for prophets of God as well as the other four offices—pastors, teachers, apostles, and evangelists. I've never met anyone to whom God spoke on a continual basis who didn't know God personally.
To have an ongoing, personal relationship with God, you need interaction with Him just as you would with anyone you know. An ongoing relationship with God means not having heard God just once or twice; it means having God converse with you several times a year. So what does knowing God personally mean? We don't want to have a wrong definition and thus a false doctrine, which never produces any fruit with God. If nothing is happening in your life that is getting you in a closer relationship with God, you definitely have some false doctrines. If you're attending a church but not getting closer to God, those church leaders are teaching false doctrines. God doesn't honor falsehood about Himself. If someone believed you were a mean ogre but the real you was kind and giving, you wouldn't have anything to do with those people because their perceptions of you were false. So it is with God!
God doesn't accept people who believe falsehoods about Him, nor does He fellowship with anyone who believes He is a certain way when He isn't that way at all. One of the tests of a true or false doctrine is whether it inhibits or increases your relationship with God.
Throughout humanity's existence, all kinds of definitions for "knowing God personally" have evolved, and that's true today. Herein lays all the past history of Christianity and all religions up to the present. All church factions, denominations, independent churches, and religions claim to know God personally. The ongoing argument, since the first churches and temples organized, is whose doctrine of what it means to know God personally is right and whose is wrong. Man has argued this point ever since the first churches organized in the second generation after Jesus' return to heaven, and it has heated up since then.
It's all too easy for anyone to claim he or she knows God personally. How do you know if this is true? In Mark 16:17–18 (NASB), we read,
These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will [accidently] pick up serpents, and if they [accidently] drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.
If these signs are not apparent in someone who claims to know God personally, that person does not know God personally. Keep this subject about knowing God in mind; it is a critical point when it comes to prophets.
Knowing God personally or not will determine your eternal destination, heaven or hell. Knowing God personally is also critical in determining who is a true or false prophet. I'm not interested in evangelizing anyone; my calling is to raise up a remnant of people who will survive the coming disasters. I want to explain who a true prophet is, the role of prophets, and the different kinds of prophets so you can make a wise decision for yourself. Those who will be among the remnant will be upright and just and those who know God personally.
You should wisely ask at this point, "How do I know this author knows God personally?" as I claim to. This is a just question to ask. If you haven't considered this question yet, you will by the time you finish this chapter. Keep it in mind.
Everyone, from the past to the present, claims to be right in his or her doctrine. Everyone can't be right because all doctrines are different; that means many of them are wrong. What if none were right? How would you know I was right? What if I were wrong? There is a way to answer this question that will allow you to know without doubt the truth and will allow you to test anyone who claims to know God personally. You can use this test on everyone, historically and presently, who claimed or claims to know God personally. This includes followers of Buddha, Hindus, Muslims, The Great Spirit, Christianity, New Agers, and so on.
If you are asking this question, you're not alone. Anyone who has ever thought about God's existence has always asked what it means to know God. We all have thought about this question at one time or another and have wondered what it means to know God personally. If this applies to you, rest assured you are not alone when you think about this question. Surprisingly, very few who have asked this question have ever come to know God personally.
I present to you the answer to this question; it is found in many of the verses in the Bible, God's written Word to man. God has His written words, and God has His spoken words. I believe the Bible is the only book that is totally true about God; that's because the Bible is a compilation of several books from different generations. God moved upon different people to write about their experiences with Him, and later, God had all these writings compiled for our use. Many people knew God but were not called to write of their experiences. Melchizedek was one (read the story of Abraham in Genesis 14:18–20 NKJV). The three wise men who visited Jesus shortly after his birth were such people.
All the books of the Bible have one purpose: to teach how all these different people at different points in time learned about God and how they came to know Him. All other religions and their books make claims about God, but all have one major flaw: none teaches you how to get to know God personally. Every one of these religions' books has major flaws and falsehoods most people never notice: they all contradict themselves frequently. While all these books contain bits and pieces of truth, none will ever teach you how to have a relationship with God. Much of the test is learning from each book how these people came to know God.
The Bible has no contradictions; it will teach you how to have a relationship with God and thus how to know Him personally. This is God's goal; He moved upon different men who knew Him to write their experiences so everyone who reads the Bible could learn how to know God personally. The Bible is an instruction book for those who were born during the New Testament era on how they could know God personally. No other books, except those that expound on the Bible's teachings, can do this.
Everyone I have met, read about, or heard of who has put the Bible to the test has discovered this is true. No one has ever been able to prove the Bible is false. What an amazing fact! The Bible boasts over four thousand promises, and anyone who has ever tested these promises has discovered that they are true. Few other "holy" books contain promises.
Another amazing fact is when you practice the Bible's doctrines, you will have some kind of experience with God, but when you practice the doctrines of any of these other "holy" books, they do not lead to an experience of God. How do you know that you have had an experience or personal knowing of God? The answer is in a simple question: did God speak to you? Did God answer your questions directly? It's not, "I think God spoke to me," but rather, "I know that I know that I know God verbally spoke to me! I heard His voice. He confirmed His words." Much of the test is learning from each book how these people came to know God. These stories are examples for us to follow. Yours or my own experiences with God will never contradict any of these stories. Our experiences with God will be the same as these Bible examples.
Believe me, if God speaks to you, you will know without doubt. When God speaks, His voice is way too cool. You don't hear God's voice with your physical ears but with your spirit's ear. You will know way down inside your knower that God spoke to you.
Truly, truly I say to you, the most exciting experience anyone can ever have is to have God personally speak to him or her! This is what the Bible regards as faith.
The answer to what knowing God personally means is also in the Bible. All men are commanded to know God personally. I quote the Bible in this book and give the citations for these quotes so you can look them up and come to you own conclusion. After you read these verses, you will have to deal with the Bible's claims. It's not what I have told you but what you have read in the Bible that's important. All I do is point out what is written in the Bible from others' experiences. It will be between you and God to decide what is true; this will be the most important decision in your life. What you decide to believe will determine your eternal destiny. If you don't learn the correct doctrines, you will never get to know God personally, and that will cost you eternity in hell. This is the test to how you can tell if this book or anyone is truly from God. Do they talk about knowing God personally? If they don't speak about a personal relationship with God they are false.
Here are the verses that reveal knowing God personally.
13 Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people." Exodus 33:13 (NKJV)
35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD Himself is God; there is none other besides Him. Deuteronomy 4:35 (NKJV)
37 Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again." 1 Kings 18:37 (NKJV)
9 "As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever. 1 Chronicles 28:9 (NKJV)
21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, And this is the place of him who does not know God." Job 18:21 (NKJV)
26 "Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him; Nor can the number of His years be discovered. Job 36:26 (NKJV)
10 "You are My witnesses," says the LORD, "And My servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me. Isaiah 43:10 (NKJV)
5 Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of the LORD your God, And the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you." Isaiah 55:5 (NKJV)
6 Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me," says the LORD. Jeremiah 9:6 (NKJV)
7 Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart. Jeremiah 24:7 (NKJV)
32 Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. Daniel 11:32 (NKJV
4 "They do not direct their deeds Toward turning to their God, For the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, And they do not know the LORD. Hosea 5:4 (NKJV)
2 Israel will cry to Me, 'My God, we know You!' Hosea 8:2 (NKJV)
42 But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. John 5:42 (NKJV)
21 But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. John 15:21 (NKJV)
3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. John 17:3 (NKJV)
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 1 Corinthians 1:21 (NKJV)
8 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. Galatians 4:8 (NKJV)
19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19 (NKJV)
5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 1 Thessalonians 4:5 (NKJV)
8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 1:8 (NKJV)
8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:8 (NKJV)
(Continues...)
Excerpted from AMERICA'S RESURRECTION by CALEB MACDONALD. Copyright © 2014 Caleb MacDonald. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse LLC.
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