“Now that he is safely dead, let us praise him, build monuments to his glory, sing hosannas to his name. Dead men make such convenient heroes. They cannot rise to challenge the images we would fashion from their lives. And besides, it is easier to build monuments than to make a better world.” – Carl Wendell Hines
Now, before we get into the genuine prophets, their actions, and characteristics, let me first highlight some things that I have observed since my conversion concerning the monuments (softened down images) that have been created of the men of God from the past.
When studying ministries such as that of Martin Luther, the German Reformer, I found that he said of himself, “I am rough, boisterous, stormy, and altogether warlike. I am born to fight against innumerable monsters and devils. I must remove stumps and stones, cut away thistles and thorns, and clear wild forests.”
How does this match the true character of the apostolic prophet Martin Luther today with cherry-picked, out-of-context quotes, movies and paintings that are made about him? They have softened down his person to the extreme and without a doubt.
Martin said, “Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight in disgrace if he flinches at that one point.”
It seems that in the present state of church affairs, instead of rising to the level of expectation as followers of Christ (Acts 17:31), men want to remove the cross and make their posterity enemies of the cross.
What of the great English field prophet John Wesley, who preached 90% law and 10% grace (Galatians 3:24)?
Wesley has been credited for saying such things to his evangelical students as, “When you preach, people are either going to get angry, or they are going to get saved.”
Did you know that Wesley was kicked out of the established church (Matthew 10:22; John 16:1) for confronting the heretical teaching of the day, which the Lord used to push him to the masses, in whom he faithfully preached (Proverbs 14:25)?
It was said that after John Wesley’s death, congregants said that the accurately painted pictures of him were too rough in countenance (Actual paintings of him looked like one tried in the fire). So, instead of painting John Wesley for who he was in all actuality, they simply accommodated and appeased the religious hypocrites of the day by painting an effeminate, softened and toned down version of John Wesley. Of course, this was painted to look just like themselves, which is presented today (Matthew 11:8).
John Wesley famously said, “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth.”
How does this line up with what one observes in the American church today?
Puritan and founding forefather, Roger Sherman, a signer of the Declaration of Independence (having gone through the War of Independence), warned his posterity (you and me) during the inception of the United States of America not to forget who we are and where it is that we came from.
He said, “Sad will be the day when the American people forget their traditions and their history, and no longer remember that the country they love, the institutions they cherish, and the freedom they hope to preserve, were born from the throes of armed resistance to tyranny and nursed in the rugged arms of fearless men.”
This reminds me of what Jesus said of John the Baptist in Matthew 11:7-9, “What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.”
What of the Black Robed Regiment, the unsung heroes (Gideons of the day; Judges 6) of the American Revolution? It was said of these men of God by Bishop Charles Galloway, according to historian B. F. Morris, “Mighty men they were, of iron nerve and strong hand and unblanched cheek and heart of flame. God needed not reeds shaken by the wind, not men clothed in soft raiment, but heroes of hardihood and lofty courage. … And such were the sons of the mighty who responded to the Divine call. The ministers of the Revolution were, like their Puritan predecessors, bold and fearless in the cause of their country. No class of men contributed more to carry forward the Revolution and to achieve our independence than did the ministers. …[B]y their prayers, patriotic sermons, and services [they] rendered the highest assistance to the civil government, the army, and the country.
Let me ask you, have you been taught this history in your local school library, church, or government center?
Let’s move into some recent history.
Hip Hop Artist Chuck-D, who said of Martin Luther King, Jr. (many who acknowledged Martin as the black Moses), “I don’t like the fact that when people look at Dr. King and the millennium, there’s a year-by-year softening of his image like he wasn’t radical, you had to have a radical viewpoint just to be able to stand in the face of oppression and take it to a physical level if need be.”
Martin Luther King Jr. also acknowledged this of himself when he said, “I must admit that I was initially disappointed in being so categorized (as an extremist). But as I continued to think about the matter, I gradually gained a bit of satisfaction from being considered an extremist. … [Was not] Abraham Lincoln [an extremist]: ‘This nation cannot survive half slave half free.’ [Was not] Thomas Jefferson [an extremist]: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ So, the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists will we be. … Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or [will we be extremists] for the extension of justice?”
Christianity, by its very nature, is aggressive. A zealous and active pursuit of souls, contrasting it with a passive faith. Read Psalm 104:4 and Hebrews 1:7.
What of Jesus Christ, the Son of God? The Bible says of the Lord, “He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes (Matthew 7:29).”
Isn’t it disgraceful how the American church of today has portrayed Christ to the world?
We see pictures of Christ, statues of Christ, and stained-glass windows of Christ as an effeminate, bloodless sacrifice, a weakling hanging on a cross.
According to the way that the pulpits and congregants in America have portrayed Jesus, He is walking around with pink booties on, spanking sheep on the backside, all the while telling the world that everything is alright. Nothing could be further from scriptural truth. This is an offense to me, to say the least. This is the created image of Jesus found in the modern-day heretical church (Exodus 20:4).
Let’s put this back into the scope of scriptural authority where it belongs. In Matthew 16:14–16, Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?”
In response, they said, “Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.” This sure is a far cry from how He is represented today. He is equated to the prophets of old.
