Aprophet is someone who hears the voice of God and tells others what God is saying, with words and deeds. The prophet is frequently a social critic, because society frequently goes against what God would have us do. The prophet often gives very simple and straightforward directives, like this statement from the prophet Micah: “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8 NIV) The prophet sometimes gives more specific directives, such as warning us about our treatment of the poor or the widows and orphans in our midst: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” ( James 1:27 NIV) We are all called to be prophets, in our words and in our deeds. One of the hallmarks of the Biblical prophets was that their words were invariably in harmony with their deeds, and their deeds were often symbolic prophesies. We may not be a major prophet, like Isaiah or Jeremiah, or even a minor one like Amos or Micah, but we can still preach the good news to all we meet, without saying a word.
