Should A Prophet Profit by Propheteering?

Should A Prophet Profit by Propheteering?

 

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A Manifesto

 

During the time when Jesus walked the earth and for many years after his death, we know there were a number of prophets speaking for Jesus as they roamed around. Their purpose was to educate people of the existence of God and help bring them to their salvation. All of the early prophets were men who had forsaken any wealth they had for the higher glory of preaching the word of God to all the unbelievers of the time.

            I have long thought that had these men kept their wealth and in fact attempted to increase it as they preached, they could have accomplished much more for the kingdom. As it was, their travel was fairly limited because they couldn’t buy passage on ships or camel trains to reach the far corners of the known world. Had the prophets only asked for donations of money to increase their travel possibilities, many more people could have been saved, and much, much earlier than possible with the limited ranges they had by merely walking.

            It also occurred to me that the masses would have listened more intently to a wealthy man than a poor one simply because they had more respect for rich people of the time. When a poor man and a rich man speak at the same event on the same topic, people migrate to hear the rich man because they think he must be more intelligent due to his station in life. It appears the richer a man is, the more he is respected. The same is true for a person’s station in life. Think of all the politicians you can and tell me the more important one of the following: a mayor of a town, a representative of a district, a senator from a state, or the president of the country. Such is the same on lower levels of life, such as the fireman or the fire chief, the policeman or the chief of police, the worker in the shop or the head of the same company. Many of these people at the higher levels attained their positions due to influence and money, although not all of them. A few earned their way up the ladder..

            Given the fact of importance, would a prophet not be in a more effective position by having money? After all, money can buy influence and power—and travel. The more power the prophet has, the more he can travel and speak to large groups of people.

 

So how does one become a prophet anyway? Do we really believe God selects them by some kind of special calling, or are they self-appointed? I lean toward the self-appointed possibility myself. It’s like being at church and the pastor continually says God gave his message to him. Who really believes that? Not me. In most cases, the sermons are selected by pastor alone.

            If a prophet can be self-appointed, why not me? I think I could figure out a way to coerce people into giving me money to spread the word. I could start my own religion and base it around predicting the end times. I think I could speak loudly and carry a big staff (stick) and wear a silver robe with a wide silver belt that would command attention. I could scare people into giving my church some of their money. I would gladly pay my tithes of ten percent to the church. After all, the church would be me. I would give myself the tithe in the name of the church.

            That guy Joseph Smith created the Mormon Church from scratch and Ron what’s his name started another big church, so why couldn’t I do the same? I believe I could—and I might even do it someday. Many others have done it.