Amos 3:7: Difference between revisions

This verse should not be interpreted to mean that God will always have a prophet on earth. In Amos 3:7 we find God about to bring judgment against the Israelites because of their disobedience. This passage affirms that God had previously warned the Israelites that judgment would follow disobedience, but they had ignored the prophets (cf. 2:12). In context, then, Amos 3:7 simply points to God’s chosen pattern of not engaging in a major action with the Israelites (such as judgment) without first revealing it to the prophets.

Relevant to this discussion is the fact that in Old Testament times the biblical test for a prophet was 100-percent accuracy (Deut. 18:20–22). William Branham did not measure up.  Mormon prophets do not measure up. Mormon prophet (and founder) Joseph Smith, for example, once prophesied that the New Jerusalem would be built in Missouri in his generation.Ref>Smith, 1835, 84:3–5</ref><ref>Norman L. Geisler and Ron Rhodes, When Cultists Ask: A Popular Handbook on Cultic Misinterpretations (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1997), 87.</ref>

William Branham's prophecies likewise failed.  In fact, we are unaware of [[a single unambiguous prophecy made by William Branham that was recorded publicly (i.e. we can verify on a tape) and that was later fulfilled in a clear manner|Proof of the Prophetic]].

This passage does establish that, prior to the New Covenant, when Yahweh is the author of disaster, he tells his prophets. The focus is upon legitimate prophetic authority, not upon prophetic autonomy. What prophets say comes from Yahweh; it is God's “counsel” and is therefore absolutely true.  It is not that Yahweh cannot act without the help of prophets or that he is obliged to share his knowledge with them. Rather, consistent with other prophetical (Jer 7:25; 23:18, 22; 26:5; 35:15; 44:4) and historical (2 Kgs 17:13, 23; 21:10; 24:2) discussions on God’s “servants the prophets,” this verse states simply that the prophets carry a message that is not their own. God does explain his own actions and does use the prophets as his spokespersons. But he is hardly dependent on them.