The Plan

"Okay. Here's my plan. First, I'm going to build a boat. A really, really big boat."

"Really? Why?"

"Oh, God told me that it's going to rain for 40 days and nights, so I want to be ready. I also need room for all the types of fauna in the area. However, that's just stage one."

"Stage one? You mean, there's more?"

"Yes. Next I'm going to move to Iraq. Several years later, I'm going to kill my only son."

"Kill your son? Why on earth would you do that?"

"Oh, God told me to. I believe, since God told me I'd have lots of descendents through him, and my wife was an old lady when she conceived, that God will raise him from the dead."

"God would raise him from the dead? Has that ever happened? Why would you think that?"

"Oh, please don't get hung up on that. We've only scratched the beginnings of my plans."

"You can top killing your only son because you think God is going to resurrect him? I doubt it."

"What if I decide to lead an army of 300 against an army of 30,000? Does that top that?"

"Well... why wouldn't you choose to bring a bigger army? I mean, outnumbered 100 to 1? That's insane on the face of it."

"Oh, God wants the credit, so he'll only choose the people who drink out of the river a certain way."

"Why on earth does it matter how people drink out of a river? Has anyone told you that you belong in a nuthouse? You are the most whacko person I've ever met. I'm going to call the police right now- maybe then your son will live until puberty."

"I'm not afraid. If you call the police, I'll call fire down from heaven and have them wiped out. It's a really bad idea, so don't do it."

"Just out of curiousity... I don't know why I'm asking this but... is this your complete plan? I mean, it's quite a doozy... but somehow, I think this isn't everything."

"Yes. Destroy the empire state building, and I'll rebuild it in three days."

"What the heck are you talking about?"

"Oh, I mean the local religious leaders are going to band together with the local government to have me executed. Two days later, I will come back to life. By doing this, I will acquire forgiveness for everyone else's sins. That's my grand finale."

"Okay, that does it. I'm calling the cops. You need to be in a mental hospital NOW."

"No... Wait! I haven't even BEGUN my plan! God says I must do these things! Don't try to thwart the will of God! I'll call down fire from heaven! They WILL die! Wait..."

My point: People have this... idea that God gives simple, straightforward commands in the prophetic, that with enough people around you to tell you which words to listen to and not listen to, that you can obey God completely and everything will work out hunky-dory. Even Peter saw the insanity of Jesus letting himself be executed, and Jesus called him the devil because of this. The truth- according to scripture, God is not tame. His words... are not tame. He has asked people to do things... that made no flipping sense at the time, and had there been a loony bin, most of God's prophetic people would have ended up there, including our savior (who they killed instead...). Obeying God... is no simple matter. Knowing what is God and what isn't God... also no simple matter. The Bible is full of weird stuff- even in the New Testement, Paul was told that going to Jerusalem was a bad idea by everyone, and he did it anyways... It's hard to know when to listen to those around you, and when to obey your own convictions about what God has said to you. Anybody that says otherwise is either being willfully stupid, or hasn't looked at scripture that closely, or both...