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Today is Passover, probably the most widely observed Jewish holy day. "It refers to the fact that G-d "passed over" the houses of the Jews when he was slaying the firstborn of Egypt" (Retrieved from http://www.jewfaq.org/holidaya.ht on April 21, 2005).

Let me take you back 3,000 years. This story is located in Kings 22 of the Hebrew bible. It starts out by noting that two countries which were at war in the past were temporarily in a time of peace.

Ahab was the king in the northern Hebrew kingdom and Jehoshaphat was the king from the southern Hebrew kingdom. Both kings were temporarily at peace with another country called Aram.

So the two kings decide they want to bring their armies together and go battle Aram, but as usual, they need to consult their soothsayers and prophets. They didn't have one or two of these folks, they had an entire retinue of punditry. This is from verse 6,

6 Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred of them, and said to them, "Shall I go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?" They said, "Go up; for the LORD will give it into the hand of the king."

But Jehoshaphat wants to be sure so he asks if there are any more prophets. Ahab answers him:

8 ... "There is still one other by whom we may inquire of the LORD, Micaiah son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he never prophesies anything favorable about me, but only disaster." Jehoshaphat said, "Let the king not say such a thing." 9 Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, "Bring quickly Micaiah son of Imlah."

10 Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were sitting on their thrones, arrayed in their robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them.

The threshing floor is a huge area immediately outside the gates of the city. Remember we have 400 prophets all prophesying at the same time, carrying on, waving their arms around, some are dancing, some are wearing masks. Basically, they are putting on a pep show for the coming war. These prophets traveled in packs and when they got together it was like a revival meeting. They had a wild, ecstatic side.

11 Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron, and he said, "Thus says the LORD: With these you shall gore the Arameans until they are destroyed."

Ha, ha, ha! Well, he might not have said the ha, ha, ha part, but you get the picture.

All the prophets were prophesying the same thing. Then Micaiah comes in and says:

17 "I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep that have no shepherd; and the LORD said, 'These have no master; let each one go home in peace.'"

18 [Ahab] said to Jehoshaphat, "Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy anything favorable about me, but only disaster?"

19 Then Micaiah said, "Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, with all the host of heaven standing beside him to the right and to the left of him. 20 And the LORD said, 'Who will entice Ahab, so that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?' Then one said one thing, and another said another, 21 until a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, 'I will entice him.'

22 'How?' the LORD asked him. He replied, 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' Then the LORD said, 'You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do it.'

23 So you see, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has decreed disaster for you."

So Micaiah deals with the problem of mutually exclusive prophecy here. 400 prophets are prophesying victory in battle and Micaiah is prophesying death and scattering. Hmm.

Clearly only one answer is right. Micaiah says that the other 400 prophets have had a lying spirit put in their mouths to entice the kings to disaster— they are all lying, albeit unconsciously.

Ahab is upset so he sends Micaiah to prison. This really makes Micaiah's day because all he gets for his trouble is a prison cell where he will die knowing the king won’t make it back.

So the kings and their armies go off, there is a big battle, and the story plays out pretty much as Micaiah ben Imlah had predicted:

37 So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; they buried the king in Samaria. 38 They washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria; the dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes washed themselves in it, according to the word of the LORD that he had spoken. 40 So Ahab slept with his ancestors; and his son Ahaziah succeeded him.

The story illustrates one problem with prophecy: How to judge two contrary prophets? The prophet’s credibility stood on the strengths of their predictions. We only hear of Micaiah ben Imlah because his prophecy was true. The other 400 don’t get named.

Some more recent prophets do get named in spite of their failure. In Seoul, South Korea, in 1992, Lee Jang Rim, created nationwide hysteria by announcing that the Rapture would take place on October 28, 1992.

The prophecy was based on a vision that came to a 16-year-old boy. Twenty thousand Korean fundamentalists in South Korea, Los Angeles and New York City took the prediction seriously. Hundreds quit jobs, left families, and had abortions to prepare for their trip to heaven.

Riot police, plainclothes officers and reporters crowded outside Korean churches, flanked by fire engines, ambulances and searchlights. Believers took the failure of the prophecy calmly, and there were no reported riots.

Only sadness. In December 1992, Rim was arrested and sentenced to two years in prison for having bilked $4.4 million from his flock. He had invested the money in bonds that didn’t mature until the following year! Martin Gardner, “Notes of a fringe-watcher,” Skeptical Inquirer Magazine, January-February 2000, http://www.csicop.org/si/2000-01/gardner.html.

Nowadays, it seems as if there are many prophets on the religious right, and not so many on the religious left. Those on the religious right have a very specific view of how the world will end – in the Rapture as we just heard.

Fundamentalists interpret the New Testament book of the Revelation to mean that there will come a time - the Rapture (when “true Christians” are all instantly taken up into heaven), then will come seven years of Tribulation for those “left behind,” the creation of one evil world government ruled by an Antichrist, and so forth.

Speculation on the Rapture - exactly when it will occur, how it will happen - has been around a long time, but it has become big business. Two authors, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, have already sold over 50 million books, spawned a movie, and have become two of the most popular speakers and authors in evangelical Christianity. The franchise includes what will soon become 12 best-selling novels, tapes, CDs, graphic novels and even a Left Behind: The Kids series of 26 books.

They believe that the "United Nations and the European Common Market will gradually grow together and join other countries of the world against the United States, move the center of government to Iraq."

Thirty years ago, in the midst of the Cold War, the Soviet Union and China were the agents of the Antichrist. Then, when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the “prophets” had to change their apocalyptic calendars to the new international villain du jour.

Unlike the prophets of Israel, however, fundamentalist prophets don't point their fingers at their own national kith and kin. They also seem to love the idea that "the trials of this world can be escaped with one rapturous pass of the Heavenly Hoover, sucking them up into the great beyond."

It’s the stuff great thrillers are made of. Good wins out in the end and enemies are left smoldering in the ashes. It’s no wonder that these prophets are making a profit.

As one Christian puts it:

"But here’s a question that we might want to consider before we start pulling the earthly ejection handles: Is this really the point of the whole witness of Scripture? That we simply fly off to heaven in the end and too bad for you if you’re not on the plane? Is that all there is? No validation to this life other than as a torturous preparation for the life to come?

"If the Christian life is merely about going to heaven, then why is the Bible so thick? Why does it take 66 books to give us all that stuff about loving neighbors and enemies, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, being stewards of the environment, and taking up our crosses? Is it merely something to do while we await the trumpet sound, or is there more to it than that?"

Uh-huh. He's got something there. Nonetheless, the 400 prophets are out in force, and in fact, they are having a pep rally today, April 24, 2005. It's not for a war against the Arameans. And it is happening as we speak at a mega-church in Kentucky.

The fundamentalists want to try and change the traditional way judicial nominees are approved in order to fast track as many politically correct judges as possible. The reason for that is to try and undo the last 40 years of progressive politics, and to dismantle as much of it as quickly as possible.

Christian fundamentalists are calling today "Justice Sunday." You can see this in your order of service insert. It seems the US Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist, is saying that those who disagree with him about fast-tracking President Bush's judicial nominees are quote - "against people of faith."

The National Council of Churches responded this week:

"[We] encompass more than 45 million believers across a broad spectrum of theology and politics who work together on issues important to our society. If [we] disagree with Senator Frist's political positions, are 45 million Christians now considered 'anti-Christian'?http://www.councilofchurches.org/ Retrieved April 20, 2005.

The UUA Washington Office said this week:

"We have many hundreds of federal judges in this country who are doing a good job of interpreting the law. Many, if not most, who now serve on the federal bench were appointed by Republican presidents.

Their private views may be quite conservative; many are deeply religious in private. But sometimes they must protect freedom of religious expression by denying the unwarranted moves by one religion to exercise more power than the law permits.

That’s their job! It doesn’t make them anti-Christian or anti-faith any more than a police officer who pulls over a speeding minister can legitimately be called anti-religious." Retrieved April 19, 2005 from http://www.uua.org/uuawo/new/article.php?id=608.

Of course, I think they got that part about the speeding minister wrong. One of the good things about the separation of church and state is that when we adhere to it, we avoid political name-calling based on religion.

Conservatives hoping to bolster their base by engaging in religious name-calling hurt their own cause. They are intentionally blurring church-state boundaries to try and mobilize their political base. But I think this is un-American because it uses religious differences to grab political power. And they continue their behavior because they believe they are being prophetic, and because they believe progressives are not organized enough to take them on.

And so, we have dueling prophets. 400 or more in the square. Holding pep rallies. Which ones have a "lying spirit" in them? Which ones will we listen to? Which ones will inspire us to act? Which ones frame the discussion?

Who are the true prophets? Are they only found in books of the bible - ancient heroes whose words ring out, but whose deeds are dust? Are they contemporary fundamentalists who seek to remake America into their version of a theocratic utopia?

Who are the true prophets? As one Christian put it: prophets "ask us to see ourselves as we are, not what we could be, but still worthy of refining. They ask us to see one another, to weep with those who weep, and hope with those who hope." They ask us to walk our talk, and to live the sort of life that makes people say, "Ah, so that’s how people are going to live when righteousness takes over the world." Cindy Lindner, “Is that necessary?”December 10, 2000, First Christian Church Web Site.

And who - in our religion - who is called to be a prophet? James Luther Adams, the Unitarian theologian who is the Adams of our "Adams Hall" writes about how we are called to be prophets in an essay. Adams notes:

"We have long held to the idea of the priesthood of all believers, the idea that [we] have direct access to the ultimate resources of the religious life and that every believer has the responsibility of achieving an explicit faith...

"We need also a firm belief in the prophethood of all believers. The prophetic liberal church is not a church in which the prophetic function is assigned merely to the few. [In] the prophetic liberal church, [people] think and work together [on] the [global issues] the times demand.

"[In] the prophetic liberal church... all members share the common responsibility to attempt to foresee the consequences of human behavior with the intention of making history in place of merely being pushed around by it." (James Luther Adams, The Prophethood of All Believers).

The true prophet holds up a mirror to us so that we see through a glass darkly and undeniably the difference between who we say we want to be and our behavior.

We UUs say we do not need priests to mediate the Divine for us. We claim direct access to the ultimate source of life for ourselves.

Will we UUs talk and walk the path of the prophet? Will we accept the call to think and work together on the global issues the times demand?

Your spiritual homework awaits. In order to bring about the earth made fair, and all her people one, we have to take One More Step, #168.