Outnumbered VII

 Some men believe they can ignore the word of the Lord, or the messengers thereof, without consequence or repercussion until they come upon one they’re willing to acknowledge or give their approval to. They’re always looking for a new word or a fresh word without having followed through or done what the previous word instructed them to do. The weight of obedience to God’s word is not to be taken lightly.

It’s not enough to hear a word from the Lord; you must act upon it. For instance, if God’s word calls for forgiveness, we should forgive. If it calls for love, we should love. If it calls for repentance, we should repent. For the past three years, Ahab had ignored, rejected, or disregarded the words spoken to him by Micaiah, but now he wanted Micaiah to confirm that the course before him was the right one.

We cannot be selective in obeying the word of God. We can’t pick and choose which scriptures we adhere to and which we ignore wholesale because they don’t fit our lifestyle or their demands on the flesh are too taxing. The consequences of selective obedience are severe, and God is not going to conform to man. It is man who must conform to God, His will, His word, and His purpose for their lives.

Whether prince or pauper, king or beggar, we must all submit to the word and will of God. No one is exempt from the need to humble themselves and follow God rather than their own desires. Ahab wasn’t interested in what he needed to rectify or repent of in the sight of the Lord. The only thing he wanted was reassurance that he would have victory on the battlefield. Humility and submission are crucial in our relationship with God.

It’s when men don’t fear the Lord that they allow themselves to fall into all types of sin, which later finds them out and serves another black eye to the household of faith. I’ve seen a handful of the apology videos some of these men have put out after the fact, and what they were sorry for is that their sin was discovered and exposed, not for the sin itself or the rebellion they’d allowed to take hold of their hearts. I’m sorry I got caught is neither repentance nor contrition.

Exodus 20:20, “And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.”

Somewhere along the way, Ahab had lost his fear of the Lord. His singular concern was whether he would be successful in expanding his kingdom, not realizing that God had already decreed that his kingdom would be taken from him and that he would soon lose his life.

1 Kings 22:17-18, “Then he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘These have no master. Let each return to his house in peace.’ And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you he would not prophesy good concerning me but evil?”’

Some people say they want the truth until they hear it, and if, perchance, it is not in line with what they’ve heard previously or refutes their preconceived notions, they bristle and react violently. It’s not so much that they wanted the truth. They wanted confirmation of their own biases and how they view certain topics, and although their insistence that they wanted to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth seemed genuine, they’re quick to backpedal, obfuscate, and deny it because it’s too unpalatable for them.

Ahab’s reaction to hearing the word of the Lord was, see, I told you so! He only prophesies evil concerning me. But you made him swear to tell you the truth. Deep in your heart, you likely knew that the rosy picture the four hundred prophets were painting regarding your immediate future wasn’t quite right, yet here you are justifying your hatred of the man of God because the word of the Lord wasn’t flattering.

In modern parlance, Ahab was saying he didn’t bear witness to Micaiah’s message, not because he didn’t believe it to be true but because he didn’t like what it had to say. You cannot know yourself to be far from the light, far from the truth, far from repentance and righteousness, yet balk at receiving a word of warning or a call to repent from the Lord.

You are responsible for acting upon the word you receive from the Lord once it has been delivered to you. You can no longer claim ignorance or surreptitiously insist that you didn’t think whatever God pointed out was an offense to Him was such a big deal once the word is spoken.

The danger in hearing a word from the Lord and dismissing it because you didn’t like what it said is that you’re still accountable for the word you heard. You can go in search of other words, and you are likely to find them, but they will not originate from God. God doesn’t stutter. He doesn’t feel the need to repeat Himself. He spoke repentance to you and is waiting until you follow through and do as He commanded.

The reason so many dismiss God’s counsel is because they’ve been taught that they are on even ground with Him. The Lordship, sovereignty, and majesty of God have been leeched out of modern-day Christianity because it’s the only way men can convince themselves that they are little gods, can play by their own rules, and do as they will without repercussion or consequence.

It’s not that God doesn’t speak; it’s that man doesn’t listen. It’s not that God doesn’t warn; it’s that men and nations do not heed His warnings. When He spoke, we deemed it too blunt, too judgmental, not loving enough, soothing enough, encouraging enough, not realizing that warnings aren’t meant to be any of those things but loud and strident, a means by which you get someone’s attention to stave off a disaster. You don’t whisper a warning when you see someone is about to collide with a freight train. You don’t gently take someone by the elbow when you’re trying to keep them from getting hit by oncoming traffic.

Rather than heed the word of the Lord, we complained about it being too abrasive or uncharacteristically direct and to the point. We told ourselves a loving God would not so speak judgment upon a land or a people, even though He has time and again, and that’s why we are in the mess we are in today.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Outnumbered VI

 1 Kings 22:15-16, “Then he came to the king; and the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall we refrain?” And he answered him, “Go and prosper, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king!” So the king said to him, “How many times shall I make you swear that you tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?”’

Ahab may have hated Micaiah, but by his insistence that Micaiah tells him the unvarnished truth, he showed that he put more stock in what Micaiah had to say than what the four hundred prophets combined had. Although he’d never liked what Micaiah had to say to him, Ahab knew that the words Micaiah spoke were the truth.

He may have said that Micaiah prophesied evil concerning him; at least, that was Ahab’s interpretation of the words he received had been, but he never said he’d prophesied falsely. There’s a deep lesson in this entire saga and one we would do well to learn. Just because you don’t like a word from the Lord, it doesn’t make it evil, nor does it make it untrue. Your feelings don’t matter when it comes to prophecy or revelation; the only metric you can use to gauge the veracity of a word is whether it’s true. Especially when it comes to personal prophecy, you know whether what is being said to you is true or not from the first few words the individual speaks.

You know where you are in your relationship with God. You know how much time you spend in His presence, reading the Word, praying, and seeking His face. If the last prayer you said was over a turkey dinner because everyone else bowed out, chances are that whole thing about you raising the dead next week is wishful thinking. Rather than look into the mirror of the Word to see where they are spiritually, many nowadays would rather cling to a word they know did not come from God that paints them in a flattering light.

What’s obvious is that Ahab and Micaiah had a history, and the Lord had repeatedly attempted to correct Ahab through Micaiah. Given that his heart was hardened and he no longer pursued repentance, hatred was allowed to fester and grow in Ahab’s heart to the point that he couldn’t contain himself in his animus, and he made his feelings known regarding Micaiah to Jehoshaphat as well.

Even so, perhaps grudgingly, Ahab had to admit that Micaiah heard from the Lord. By his insistence that Micaiah tell him nothing but the truth of what the Lord said regarding his plan to overtake Ramoth Gilead, it is inferred that he had doubts about the veracity of the four hundred prophets who’d just unanimously agreed that it was a solid plan and one sanctioned by the Almighty Himself.

Ahab had enough self-awareness to know that he was not walking in God's will, so the likelihood of victory was in question even though the Syrians were ripe for the taking. With Jehoshaphat's army at his side, they had the numbers required to make it so.

What looks good on paper often falls apart the second you try to implement it in the real world. We’ve seen this over and over again with politicians passing decrees that, on the whole, seem like a net positive, but once they try to implement them, the folly of their machinations is revealed to all. We all want to see someone paid a fair wage for a day’s work, don’t we? Well, why not make the minimum hourly wage twenty dollars? That would fix the problem instantly, at least on paper. So let it be written, so let it be done. Easy fix! Everyone wins, nobody loses, and we can be praised as the preeminent luminaries of our age.

It was all well and good until they started implementing it, and hundreds upon hundreds of businesses had to shutter their doors because the numbers no longer penciled, and they could no longer turn a profit no matter how small they made their portion sizes, or how much they increased their prices. They soon discovered the average Joe wasn’t willing to pay thirty dollars for some greasy fries and a sloppy burger, but the law is the law, and the minimum wage is now what people who never ran a business in their lives nor understood the notion of profit and loss determined.

Everything can seem like it’s falling into place; every calculation, projection, and chart can be as right as rain, but if God’s not in it, if He has not blessed it and sanctioned it, it will fall apart at the slightest breeze. The concept of God’s blessing and God’s aid in the context of human plans is crucial. It implies that success is not solely dependent on human effort or intelligence but on God’s approval and support.

Psalm 127:1, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”

The most brilliant minds in the world can’t fix something that can only be fixed by repentance and contrition. They think they can. They have plans to restructure debt, cut useless spending, print more money, increase interest rates, cut interest rates, offer more bonds, default on debt, or pay it off, but if God is not in it, every plan will fall short.

Even with all the encouraging words from the four hundred prophets telling him victory was within reach, Ahab knew something was off. This is the only explanation for why he was so insistent upon Micaiah telling him the truth of what the Lord had shown him.

Many today are beginning to have that same feeling in the pit of their stomach when they hear modern prophets declaring that the road ahead is paved with gold and fanfare, and the nation will ascend from glory to glory. It sounds good, but something doesn’t feel right. Even when they bring out the props and attempt to convince the people that ascendancy is just around the corner, that a breakthrough is just one sacrificial offering away, a still small voice in their hearts is wondering how exactly those things could come about if rather than drawing closer to God the nation is drawing further away, or why their last sacrificial gift didn’t do the trick, and they need to pony up again.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Outnumbered V

 1 Kings 22:14, “And Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, whatever the Lord says to me, that I will speak.”

It’s not that Micaiah was being dishonest with the messenger; it’s that the messenger heard what he wanted to hear in Micaiah’s answer. Since he was likely among those who would assume that four hundred prophets couldn’t possibly be wrong, Micaiah’s insistence that he would speak whatever the Lord spoke to him made him conclude that he would echo the rest and speak encouragement to the king. His confirmation bias was so strong that he did not, for one second, consider that if Micaiah spoke whatever the Lord said to him, it might be different from the other prophets who were at that time trying to stand out in some form or fashion.

Many today say they want to hear from the Lord, but what they really want is to have their own opinions, ideas, and theories echoed back to them. When the Lord truly speaks and what He says is contrary to what they believe, they’ll be the first to shake their fists at the heavens or outright deny it was the Lord speaking in the first place.

This was not a message from the Lord because I didn’t like what the message contained. If it were a true message from the Lord, it would have agreed with my view of everything and praised me to boot. Therefore, it could not be from Him. Perfect circular reasoning, isn’t it?

It’s human nature to be biased toward something that praises us rather than something that chastises us. Unless you’re a dyed-in-the-wool masochist, you’d rather hear an adda boy than a do better any day of the week. What’s more, we will embrace the adda boy even though we know it’s undeserved, and there was nothing praiseworthy in our conduct or effort to warrant it. It doesn’t matter that the individual prophesying over you only has good things to say or that the words are so general they can apply to seven out of the eight billion people on the planet; he’s real because you want him to be real.

Then, if he’s real, or you’ve concluded that he is, perhaps all those doom and gloomers talking about repentance and holy living aren’t right after all. Surely, a real word from God through a real man of God wouldn’t praise you and charge you with being the prophetic voice to the nations if there was anything that needed to be pruned in your life.

You’re okay, just the way you are! There is no need to humble yourself, study the Word, spend time in prayer, or work out your salvation with fear and trembling. No sir, the prophet said as much, didn’t he? All that stuff is for the newly enlisted, the babes in Christ. You’ve graduated so far beyond that basic understanding of servanthood that you can even justify habitual sin to yourself.

I wonder if some of Christendom's big names that have fallen recently would have progressed to the level they did had a man of God called them out on their duplicity and compromise. Perhaps some, even most likely, would have, given man's nature, but had just one been rebuked to the point of repentance, it still would have been a net positive.

That’s another thing worth noting: one either surrounds themselves with slavish yes men or with men of character who will keep them accountable. Ahab had surrounded himself with four hundred lickspittles who echoed his sentiments back to him. Somehow, one made it through who spoke the word of the Lord to him, and Ahab hated him for it.

You can tell a lot about a man by who he surrounds himself with, who he allows to speak into his life, and whether he accepts the counsel of others or is just looking for an echo chamber. It also takes someone of immense character to speak the unabashed truth to someone who holds their job security, their future, and even their freedom in the palm of their hand, knowing that the truth they have to speak is a hard one.

The worst thing you can do for yourself and your spiritual man, especially if you are in ministry, is to surround yourself with people who will look the other way when they see something not in line with scripture begin to take shape in your life, and who will not call it out.

It’s also essential to choose your inner circle wisely, knowing whether you’ve opened your heart to an Aaron, a Hur, or a Brutus. It sounds complicated because it is. Not everyone who comes out of nowhere insisting that they’re there to help, to come alongside you, and take some of the weight off your shoulders comes along with pure motives and absent an ulterior motive. You may want to jump at the chance of having a little help after so much time doing it all on your own, so much so that you don’t stop to ask the Lord whether He approves or not, only to find yourself mired in all manner of trouble a short time later because the person who insisted they were simply there to serve turns out to be anything but a servant.

You’re likelier to get severely wounded by friendly fire than by enemy fire, because the friendly fire tends to come from much closer than the enemy fire would. While you’re looking outward, trying to see the enemy’s movements and intuit where his next attack will be coming from, it’s a shock to the system to feel the searing heat of a projectile hit you in the back because you weren’t expecting it.

A man without scruples will always try to take something he didn’t build rather than build something himself. It’s easier that way. Whether it’s a business, a ministry, or a church, beware of the intent of men’s hearts and not the glowing words they speak to you and about you.

All the niceties can turn on a dime once the individual in question believes they have enough support for a hostile takeover, and for them to be seen as an apt replacement, they must tear you down and malign your character to the point that you spend more time defending yourself than doing the work of the ministry. Once that occurs, they will be the first ones to point out that you’re falling short of everyone’s expectations, not doing the work you were tasked with doing, and that, too, is disqualifying.

Wolves are akin to politicians. They’ll say whatever they have to, whether it’s the truth, a perversion of the truth, or an outright lie, to get their way and achieve their goals. They will twist every word that comes out of your mouth, and if, perchance, you decide to defend yourself against their lies, they’ll inquire as to why you’ve become so defensive all of a sudden.

Micaiah was not vying for Ahab’s position. He didn’t want to be king, yet Ahab didn’t take any of that into account. He hated Micaiah for speaking the truth and delivering the messages from the Lord with which he had been tasked, but because they were never positive or encouraging, he sought other voices who would validate his choices. It would seem he found four hundred of them.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Outnumbered IV

 Whether loved or despised, men of God throughout the Bible had certain kinds of reputations. They didn’t live their existence hoping not to rock the boat, not to offend, not to cause someone discomfort in any way, but rather they did as they were commanded, without the need to mollycoddle the individual or nation they were tasked with delivering a word to.

They weren’t known for being pushovers or playing well with others because it takes a certain kind of grit to stand before a king, a queen, or someone who has the power to call for your head on a plate and tell them to their face that they’re about to be judged. It requires a certain type of constitution, one that does not lend itself well to skinny jeans, limp wrists, and lensless horn-rimmed glasses worn for esthetic rather than practicality.

You’re just jealous because you can’t fit in skinny jeans! It’s not that I can’t fit in them; it’s that nobody wants to see me fit in them. It may cause irreparable trauma, but that’s beside the point. You know what I mean when I say what I say. Those who don’t choose not to because if they can find one thing they can point to as slightly unkind or unloving, it’s all the excuse they need to throw the baby out with the bathwater and avoid being confronted with the truth.

Fair warning: truth bomb incoming, and you may need to find your nearest fainting couch forthwith. The modern-day church has neutered the gospel due to an overriding need to pander to specific demographics, not realizing that in neutering the gospel, those searching for the meat of God’s word will bypass their lavender-infused sanctuaries with the gender-neutral bathrooms because they aren’t getting fed.

This past weekend, I took my daughters to the park and ran into someone who, unbeknownst to me, has seen me preach from time to time. Evidently, they watched me interact with my daughters on the playground for some time before approaching me. After introducing themselves and their three children, they said they were amazed at how gentle I was with my daughters, given how direct I was behind the pulpit. At first, I didn’t know how to interpret that. I had to think about it for a while because I didn’t know how to take it. Were they expecting me to be going around kicking puppies and punching babies in the face? Were they expecting a permanent scowl and offputting demeanor?

I’m an easygoing guy about most things. I’m not rattled if the waitress doesn’t show up with the menu within a minute of sitting at a lunch counter, nor do I withhold a tip when the bill comes if the food arrives late. Unless something’s crawling on my plate, I don’t send food back or raise a ruckus if the server doesn’t top off my coffee at regular intervals. The one thing that consistently bothers me is slow drivers in the fast lane, but I’ve gotten better at not reacting to it over time.

When it comes to preaching the Word and rightly dividing it, however, the teddy bear in me goes on hiatus. There is no room for compromise, for I will one day stand before the God of all just as you will and have to answer for the things I spoke in His name. It’s not that we ought not to show love, compassion, and empathy. We should when the situation calls for it, but we cannot use love and compassion as an excuse to water down the gospel or be permissive regarding things the Bible explicitly condemns.

It’s neither love nor compassion to see someone drowning in sin, yet doing nothing more than patting them on the shoulder and telling them they’re drowning well. When sin within the camp is not confronted, when the men tasked with calling it out are missing the requisite spine to do so, it’s only a matter of time before both the blind leader and the blind follower end up in a ditch.

1 Kings 22:13, “Then the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, “Now listen, the words of the prophets with one accord encourage the king. Please let your word be like the word of one of them and speak encouragement.”

For good or ill, Micaiah had a certain reputation among his fellow prophets. Otherwise, there would have been no need for the warning to make sure that he went along with what the others were saying. If he’d been known as a go-along-to-get-along sort of guy, there would have been no need for the messenger who went to fetch him to go out of his way to explain the situation to him.

Look here, buddy. The king is enthused about the prospect of an easy win, and don’t you go ruining it with your negativity. All the prophets, in one accord, encouraged the king to go into battle. Don’t be a stick in the mud and ruin it for the rest of us.

Notice that the man didn’t say to speak what the Lord speaks to you or even inquire of the Lord. There’s a consensus, and you’d better go along with it, or else. Micaiah wasn’t threatened outright, but it was nevertheless implied. Knowing that Ahab already held him in disfavor, it should have been obvious that there would be consequences for not parroting what all the other prophets were saying.

The one thing about those with ulterior motives within the household of faith is that they know how to read a room or a situation and, on the fly, conclude what position would best further their agenda or profit them. Their allegiance is to themselves rather than God, and serving their interests becomes their defacto religion.

One compromise leads to the next, one omission leads to another, and by the time the dust settles, Christ is no longer in the picture, not to be named for fear of offending anyone at any time, and His gospel is transformed into something unrecognizable.

It’s far easier to go with the flow than to swim against the current. The enemy is well aware of the pressures a majority can bring to bear, and he uses this knowledge to the utmost when it comes to pointing out how many in a certain church or denomination agree on something while minimizing the fact that what they agree on is contrary to the Word of God. Look at all these scholarly people with doctorates in divinity who are giving a thumbs up to every aberration. It may be so, but it’s still a sin, and if you claim to be a child of God, then you can’t call it anything different.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Outnumbered III

 Jehoshaphat did not know Micaiah personally. He was unaware of his existence until Ahab mentioned him, yet he rebuked Ahab for asserting that he hated Micaiah because he did not prophesy good things about him. Jehoshaphat understood that the standard by which we judge prophesy is not whether or not it makes us all giddy inside or gives us the vapors for all the praise that was heaped upon us.

If you received a word from the Lord that contained a rebuke before your heart turns to stone and you begin to hate the messenger, weigh the message and see if it is true. Not whether you particularly liked it but whether it revealed something unknowable to man that requires your attention, acknowledgment, and redress. Was it perhaps that the chastening was deserved, even necessary? If so, rejoice because God chastens those He loves.

Correction is part of the journey. A wise soul receives it and makes the requisite changes. A foolish soul transforms into a toddler and begins to pound his fists on the pavement. Ahab reacted to God’s correction over time in the most childish way one possibly could. Even though he was a king, his actions confirmed his immaturity and inability to lead God’s people.

1 Kings 22:8, “And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say such things!”

It was at this point that Jehoshaphat realized Ahab was walking on thin ice. You can’t hate a prophet of the Lord just because you didn’t like the message he delivered. It was not his message; it was God’s message. If God’s message upsets you, that’s something you have to take up with God, and I promise you will be in the wrong every time.

Jehoshaphat likely knew of Ahab’s past and how God had spared him for showing true remorse and putting sackcloth on his body, fasting, and mourning. The man standing before Jehoshaphat and his overall attitude toward the messengers God sent was not the same man who tore his clothes at Elijah’s words. Something had changed. His heart had been hardened, and he no longer heeded the warning of God’s prophets but instead harbored animus toward the one man who spoke truth into his life.

1 Kings 22:9-12, “Then the king of Israel called an officer and said, “Bring Micaiah the son of Imlah quickly!” The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, having put on their robes, sat each on his throne, at a threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them. Now Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah had made horns of iron for himself; and he said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘With these you shall gore the Syrians until they are destroyed.” And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, “Go up to Ramoth Gilead and prosper, for the Lord will deliver it into the king’s hand.’”

Four hundred prophets had already agreed on the course before them. It was a slam dunk, a guaranteed win. What harm could it do bringing Micaiah in to pacify Jehoshaphat? There was overwhelming consensus. Four hundred out of four hundred agreed, with not one remaining silent or dissenting. In the hopes of standing out among the four hundred, one of them even made himself a prop. He had horns of iron fashioned for himself to illustrate how the Syrians would be gored. You know they’re serious when they bring out the props. They mean business, buddy, and you can take their exaggerated theatrics to the bank. It would be laughable if it were not such a serious matter.

When men are vying for attention rather than obedience, all manner of strange things come about because, in their hearts, they believe it will set them apart somehow. To a certain extent, I guess it works. Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, is the only one of the four hundred whom history remembers by name. The question is, would you prefer that your name be forgotten by the passing of time or that it will forever be remembered for acting a fool?

All four hundred were trying to ingratiate themselves to the king. One of them went above and beyond, and though it might have gotten him noticed, the only thing it revealed about his character was that he wasn’t there to deliver a true word from the Lord but to make himself seen and remembered by the king.

It’s not as though this man is the only one who has ever done this sort of thing. We see it often when preachers or evangelists come in contact with people of power, influence, or some sort of authority, wherein they will do their utmost to ingratiate themselves and omit to speak the truth of Scripture into their lives, hoping to keep from offending them. They forfeit an opportunity to preach Christ and Him crucified because they are unsure of how it will play. If that’s the case, then your desire to be accepted within a certain circle or ride the coattails of a certain individual is more important to you than God’s mandate to preach the gospel.

When one is committed to truth and a true servant of God, it matters not who stands before them, how powerful or influential they might be, or whether their words might cause offense. This is one of the differences between being a servant of God and claiming to be one.

Micaiah had no qualms about delivering the message of the Lord even though he knew it would not win him any brownie points or garner him favor with the king. He did his duty as a prophet of the Lord and was willing to face the repercussions for his obedience gladly.

We are called to do likewise in our day, knowing that we are likelier to be thrown into a dungeon, stripped of our earthly possessions, or demonized by those who would not hear the truth than we are to be celebrated and appreciated for the boldness required to speak uncomfortable words. It’s part and parcel of being a servant of Christ. Our resolute stance must remain as Peter's when he said we ought to obey God rather than men. There was no addendum to his declaration, nor were there caveats or exceptions. Speak the truth always, and let the chips fall where they may.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Outnumbered II

 Ahab wanted Jehoshaphat on board. He needed his army, and in an attempt to placate him, Ahab admitted there was one other that they could summon to inquire of the Lord, but as far as he was concerned, he was persona non grata. It’s not because he was not accurate in his words from the Lord, or that he didn’t hear from God, but that he never prophesied good of him, but evil.

1 Kings 22:8, “So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord; but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.”’

The only metric as to whether a word is from the Lord or not is whether it’s true. Your feelings don’t enter into the equation; how it makes you feel or if it rebukes ought not to be the litmus test of whether it is received or not, but we are good at scapegoating others by looking down on the messenger tasked with delivering the message.

The only reason Ahab hated Micaiah was that he did not prophesy good things about him. It didn’t matter that what Micaiah prophesied was true and from the Lord; it made Ahab feel bad. Therefore, he concluded that he was justified in his hatred of him.

If God had never spoken to Ahab or warned him of the error of his ways, it would have been one thing. Some three years prior, however, God had spoken to him through Elijah, exposing the depth of his depravity, and he repented in sackcloth and ash. This time was different. This time, when God warned him through Micaiah, he hardened his heart and hated the messenger instead of repenting.

It’s not that God had not spoken to Ahab over the course of the prior three years. Given his visceral hatred of Micaiah, there were likely interactions between the two that weren’t full of levity and mirth. It’s that he refused to hear the word of the Lord because it contradicted his aspirations and his vision of himself and challenged his way of life in uncomfortable ways. He had the opportunity to repent; he just chose not to avail himself of it this time.

If we were to zoom out and consider the choices and decisions of nations rather than one solitary man, we would likely conclude that the similarities between Ahab and his reaction to being called to repentance and America’s response, specifically the church, are undeniable.

It’s not as though God has not warned repeatedly and through various servants. It’s not as though God has not pleaded with the church to come to repentance and pursue righteousness; it’s that the church ignored His warnings and vilified the messengers tasked with delivering them to the point that they were shunned and dismissed offhand.

We don’t need your negativity, no sir. We have our prophets who only see good things in store. We have hundreds upon hundreds of individuals all telling us the same thing. We will prosper, we will shine, we will grow, and we will take possession of the land. Who are you to come along and be akin to a fly in the ointment? Nobody likes a wet blanket.

The numbers bear out that our prophets are right anyway. Look at the metrics and the pie charts. Our year-over-year growth in attendance and giving is astounding. Yet here you are telling us that unless we course correct and return to the purity of the Word, unless we desire to walk godly in Christ Jesus and not exponential growth, we will be brought to ruin? Surely you are mistaken!

We sidle up to the prophecy smorgasbord, strap on a bib, and pick and choose the ones most flattering to our flesh, most permissive of our compromises, and most optimistic about our futures. We gorge ourselves as though it were our last meal, and then long after it’s settled, we tell ourselves we can’t believe it wasn’t prophecy. Really? You couldn’t tell? She was talking about pet dinosaurs and body part rooms in heaven. That didn’t set off any alarms?

I am what some might label a buffet connoisseur. I’ve gotten heartburn at every kind of buffet you could think of, from breakfast to lunch, to dinner, to Asian to Italian, to International, Mediterranean, to the odd seafood and pizza buffet, but I’ve always known to keep away from steak that jiggles, pink chicken, and translucent mystery meats. Take a minute and give it the sniff test. If it smells off, don’t put it in your mouth. If you ignore your sense of smell and put it in your mouth anyway, and it tastes bad, spit it out. Don’t swallow it, then cross your fingers, hoping you’ll dodge food poisoning. If something seems off or doesn’t seem right, and especially if it’s not Biblical, don’t ignore it just because it sounds good.  

We often overlook the difficulty in delivering a hard message to an individual, a congregation, or a nation. When you tell people what they want to hear, you’ll likely be praised and revered as being a messenger of the Lord Himself. When you tell people what they need to hear, especially if what they need to hear is a warning of impending judgment, then you will likely be hated as Micaiah was for no other reason than delivering a message you were tasked with delivering.

There is an explicit and implicit deterrent in remaining true to the word and the message of God. You know that you are likely to lose friends, supporters, speaking gigs, and invitations to bigger platforms if you remain faithful in delivering the message as it was delivered to you, without attempting to sugarcoat it or dilute it in any way, and you must be willing to pay the price. You will likely always be in the minority because whenever a message of repentance or righteousness is whispered aloud, a hundred or more voices are always trying to drown it out.

Ahab didn’t hate Micaiah because of who he was as a person, because of his hygiene, because he didn’t know which fork to use for the salad, or how he dressed. He hated Micaiah because every time he was called upon to inquire of the Lord, what the Lord spoke offended Ahab and made him angry. He couldn’t come out and say he hated God, but that is what his reaction to the man of God implied. He hated God for not seeing it his way, for not allowing him to do as he willed, and for rebuking him every step of the way.

There’s a deeper lesson here, one worth pondering because no man who claims to love God but hates His Word, direction, and correction truly loves God. They may be using God and the servants thereof as a means to an end, to achieve some goal, or amass fortunes they otherwise would not have succeeded in massing, but loving God to the point of surrendering their all to Him, they are far from it. One cannot be a man or woman of God without submitting to His authority. I can’t phrase it any simpler than that, and by that metric, many claim to be something they are not.  

In our modern age, there is a tendency to replicate Ahab’s actions via what I’ve termed prophet hunting or prophecy hunting. It begins with someone reading something in the Bible that their flesh prickles against. Whether it’s a certain practice, lifestyle, or edict that would crucify the flesh if so adhered to, they go in search of a word from the Lord that would countermand the Word, not realizing that God will not contradict Himself or His Word, in order to appease one’s predilections. They go from one individual to another, dismissing every word they receive until they find that one that will allow them to continue living as they were, and finally, bear witness and declare the individual a true man of God because they confirmed their bias or gave them license to practice things the Bible does not. This is how false prophets prosper. This is why they have adherents, followers, and devotees. Because what they hear is not from God but from their own bellies, and what they speak are not words of life but of death.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Outnumbered I

 In the physical, false prophets will always outnumber true men of God. In the spiritual, however, the hosts of heaven will always outnumber the minions of darkness. It is one of those realities that both gives us hope and reminds us to be weary and cautious of those who come in God’s name but do not belong to Him.

Biblical precedent tells us that false prophets outnumber true ones by a magnitude of hundreds. Things haven’t gotten better with time; the numbers haven’t come closer together, but I would wager they've gotten worse given what we’re seeing in the modern-day church.

Just because there is consensus on something by a handful of individuals concerning some matter or another, it does not make it true or factual. Even though nine out of ten doctors recommend a particular brand of toothpaste, the possibility remains that the one doctor who did not recommend it was in the right, and the other nine were fools who gave their stamp of approval in exchange for a vacation, or a lifetime’s worth of free toothpaste.

If consensus or a majority opinion is your metric as to whether you should accept something as truth, you have failed to consider that the world lies under the sway of the evil one, and as such, you will always be in the minority if your desire is to follow faithfully after Christ. Blindly following the majority can lead us astray, so we must be cautious and discerning in our faith.

Going the way of the crowds doesn’t make you right. It just makes you part of the majority, and although there is an implied safety there, wherein no one will single you out as the odd duck, it’s never been about being safe, liked, or in the majority that can, and often does rule by the strength of its numbers.

It’s not about how many people insist that God has changed His ways and has become more permissive about some sin or another; it’s about whether God said He has become more permissive. His word is a constant, an anchor in a world of shifting sands. He has declared that He changes not, from generation to generation, so if men insist that He has, even if it’s the majority of men, to the last, they are proven liars with no truth to be found in them.

Sometimes, it’s easy to gloss over the courage and bravery some of those who came before us exhibited. We read of individuals who stood resolute against kings and kingdoms, who did not have an army behind them or the safety net of a majority to embolden them, and we shrug our shoulders and move on to the next story without registering the faithfulness and determination they exhibited. Although it is an oft impossible task, we would do well to try and put ourselves in their situation and walk a mile in their shoes because by doing so, it reveals the level of commitment such men had to the truth and the level of obedience they walked in.

Ahab, the king of Israel, was itching for a fight. Using a visit by the king of Judah as a pretense for an alliance and an ultimate war, Ahab confided in Jehoshaphat that Ramoth in Gilead was ripe for the taking. To hear him tell the tale, it was as good as theirs, all buttoned up and ready to be delivered.

Although the prospect of annexing more territory was attractive to Jehoshaphat, he still had the presence of mind to inquire for the word of the Lord and see what He would say concerning the matter.

Four hundred prophets were gathered, and one question was asked: Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to fight, or shall I refrain?

They all agreed. There was not one voice of dissent, and there were no holdouts. Four hundred prophets said in unison that he should go up, for the Lord would deliver the land into the hand of the king.

Even though they were all in one accord, insisting that victory was assured, Jehoshaphat still wasn’t convinced. Never ignore that still small voice because it’s speaking for a reason. On its face, the consenting voices of four hundred prophets should have sealed the deal, yet something felt off to Jehoshaphat.

Looking back in hindsight, we’ve all had situations in which we would have saved ourselves from heartache and disappointment had we listened to the alarm bells going off in the back of our minds. Maybe it’s just me, but I know I’d have a few hundred dollars more in my pocket had I listened when supposed friends asked for loans they never intended to repay. It’s not like I mortgaged my house or anything, but a hundred bucks here and fifty bucks there adds up over time.

As a way to pacify that voice in the back of his mind, Jehoshaphat asked the king if there was any other prophet that could be summoned so that they, too, could inquire of the Lord. Jehoshaphat had no way of knowing there was another prophet, nor did he have a reason to suspect it, yet he asked the question anyway because oftentimes, it’s the way God works in order to fulfill His purpose.

There is a difference between armchair quarterbacking and pondering how a situation came about with the gift of hindsight. What seemed irrelevant or tertiary in the moment, ends up being the linchpin and turning point of an entire life. It’s the small things that turn out to be the big things in life that reveal the intricacy of the tapestry of one’s existence and how detailed God is in guiding our steps.

I’ve been married for a quarter of a century and have a brilliant, beautiful wife and two wonderful daughters, all because I spotted a girl sitting on a park bench as I was driving by on a random Wednesday in Botosani, Romania. Ten minutes later, or ten minutes earlier, I might have missed her. Had my head been turned the other way, I might have missed her, but that seemingly little thing, innocuous and inconsequential at the time, changed the course of my life.

How many times has it happened wherein you are delayed in leaving for work or dropping the kids off at school for a few minutes, only to drive by an accident that just occurred that you would have likely been a part of had you held to your schedule? I’ve often repented of being frustrated at not keeping to a schedule I’d determined in my mind when such occurrences take place because I see the hand of God and his protection after the fact.

One question posed by Jehoshaphat set into motion a confrontation between four hundred prophets who insisted the kings should go to war and one lone prophet named Micaiah, who, although reluctantly, spoke a true word from the Lord.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.