Earthquakes and tsunami floods are breeding grounds for many a prophet, but the path to that calling is anything but glorious. When the Lord asked me, “Femi, would you like to be a prophet?” I stayed silent. The last thing I wanted was that burden. I saw no glory in it—only problems and difficulties.
I sidestepped the question later, telling the Lord I didn’t want the ministry of Isaiah. To me, Isaiah’s calling seemed frustrating: preaching to people who refuse to listen. God told him, “Go and speak this message to the people: ‘You will listen and listen, but never understand. You will look and look, but never see.'” Little did I know that Isaiah’s ministry is the only one for preachers.
A prophet’s calling doesn’t come from a careers advisory council. The wise men asked, “Where is He that is born king of the Jews?” Jesus isn’t born once; He is born every day in the hearts of His followers. Similarly, a prophet is born, not man-made. God told Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
False prophets graduate from schools of the prophets. They hold scholarly degrees in Divinity and are welcomed in places like Aso Rock, telling people what they want to hear. But true prophets are a different kettle of fish. They have no earthly credentials. They learn at the feet of the Lord in the School of the Holy Spirit, which inevitably puts them at odds with the establishment.
Amos said, “I was no prophet, nor was I a prophet’s son. I was a herdsman and a gatherer from sycamore trees. And Jehovah took me from behind the flock and said, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.'” Not everyone who claims to be a prophet truly is. Jesus warned, “Watch out for false prophets! They dress up like sheep, but inside they are wolves.”
The prophet of God is emptied of self. Moses spent forty years in the wilderness. The Lord takes us through fire so we know we cannot be burnt, and through waters so we know we cannot drown. Earthquakes and tsunami floods become breeding grounds for prophets. A thousand may fall at our side, but we are preserved for a special purpose.
A true prophet has no personal agenda. God told Hosea to marry a prostitute to illustrate Israel’s unfaithfulness. Jeremiah was denied the comforts of marriage. Ezekiel lost his beloved wife as a sign. Isaiah wrote his message on the papyrus of his life, saying, “Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel.”
One night, after reading the prophets, I told the Lord I was going to bed. But before that, I asked Him about Jonah: “Father, how did you keep a man alive in the belly of a fish? Your ways are truly unsearchable.” As soon as I lay down, the heavens opened. I found myself under the seabed, enclosed in an air bubble, watching an incredible array of fish float past in supernaturally deep colors. I was a proverbial Jonah in the belly of a fish. The message was simple: when God calls you to preach to Nineveh, you don’t decline and go to Tarshish.
The life of a prophet is his ministry. God requires the two to be identical. He told me, “Femi, nothing that will ever happen to you will be coincidental. Everything will happen for a reason.” So if a lady claims a healing ministry, ask her what major sickness has befallen her. If a man claims a deliverance ministry, ask how many demons came out of him. The prophet’s messages come out of his life, fashioned from his day-to-day experiences.
But more than anything, a true prophet is a burden-bearer. We are weighed down by the transgressions we decry, frustrated that few will believe our report. Isaiah writes, “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows… by His stripes we are healed.” This scripture is messianic, but it also refers to the prophetic ministry. I used to relate it exclusively to Christ until the Lord told me, “Femi, it is also talking about you.”
I thought this meant I would travel the world as an itinerant preacher, but that wasn’t God’s intention. Fifteen years later, the World Wide Web came of age, and I started writing articles of faith online. Suddenly, I discovered I could be an itinerant preacher from my bedroom. If you are reading this, then the scripture the Lord spoke into my life is fulfilled in your hearing: “Listen, O coastlands, to me, and take heed, you peoples from afar! The LORD has called me from the womb… and made my mouth like a sharp sword.”
