Prophetic Poppycock

I ran across a story on CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/12/19/tuchman.i.35.to.heaven.cnn?iref=videosearch) the other day.  There is a church pastor in Dallas, TX who claims that she has had a “new revelation” from God that Interstate 35 was prophesied in the book of Isaiah, “And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it.  It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.” (Isaiah 35:8, ESV)  This woman has now started a movement in all six states through which I-35 passes.  People have started standing along side the highway praying forGod to “fulfill his prophesy of this highway”.  What is it that causes Christians to flock to such insanity?  Brothers and sisters, may I suggest that sometimes the world’s scorn and scoffing is deserved?  It is not holiness to bring shame on the name of Christ by running after ridiculous doctrines.  Folks, Isaiah 35 is a prophecy of the restoration of Israel, not a prophecy of the 21st Century American Interstate highway system.  Now, one could see in this verse more than just the literal fulfillment of Israel’s restoration that happened under Ezra and Nehemiah.  One could see in this a picture of God’s ultimate redemption of his people in Christ (the Way of Holiness then being a metaphor for the gospel).  This fits in with the context.  Anyone claiming to have “new revelation” ought to immediately raise red flags!  Unfortunately, this kind of nonsense and blasphemously irresponsible handling of the Word of God has become all too common in too many churches today.  It sickens me, I am even more disturbed that people are actually taking this seriously.  I think that the reporter who filed this story (Gary Tuchman) makes a very insightful observation at the end of the piece, Isaiah 40:3 also mentions a highway (it is the prophecy that was fulfilled by John the Baptist), so how come no one is gathering alongside I-40 to pray for it?  Can I suggest that the answer is that for once the Evangelical community was smart enough to look at the context of the passage, and to realize that according to the Gospels, it was fulfilled by John’s ministry?  Can I also suggest that maybe we ought to apply the same sort of logic to Isaiah 35?  If you want to stand by the side of the road and pray for revival, that’s great, more power to you, but do it because it is a general biblical principle that we ought to pray for the spiritual welfare of our nation, not because you’ve decided based on nothing that God foretold an American Interstate in the Old Testament.  America is not in the Bible, America is not Israel.  Americans are not God’s chosen people, and nowhere in Scripture does God promise to restore America.  I can’t believe that we have reached such a level of non-intellectualism that such a statement is even necessary.  There is more I could say, but that’s enough for now, I’m sure I’ve offended enough people for one post.  To those who are offended, I apologize, but really, stop looking for new revelations of truth, and learn to properly interpret the once-for-all revelation God has already given us in its entirety (of course I mean the Bible).

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