Preparing to Be a Help Meet: The Prophet - Part 2

In the next three chapters, I am covering portions of the chapter out of order because the information in each chapter is written in a chaotic style that zips about like a hummingbird in a hurricane.
In the last post, Debi dragged us through a theological swamp to explain how all men are created in one of three types which mimic the three-persons of the Trinity.  Today, we get to learn how The Prophet/Visionary Man / Holy Spirit's image on Earth works.

GOD IS A PROPHET AS SEEN IN HIS PERSON, THE HOLY SPIRIT.

*stares blankly at the screen and reads the written portion aloud repeatedly*

A prophet is a human person who speaks the will of God.  

If God is a prophet, that means there is another God out in the cosmos somewhere who we will get to know through the God who uses prophets on Earth.   That sounds like a really complicated system, but Debi's already implied that God is not all-powerful, so perhaps multiple Gods need to band together to run things.

 He made some men in the image of that part of his nature. 

Let's accept that statement as a premise for now.  My mom and dad would tell me stories about being confirmed in the Catholic Church prior to Vatican II.  At some point, they got to memorize two lists:  The Gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Fruits of the Holy Spirit.   My siblings and I, living in the degenerate times post Vatican II, never had to memorize the lists.  (For which we are grateful - that's one of the gifts, right?  Or is it a fruit? Um.....)

Gifts of the Holy Spirit (based on Isaiah 11:2-3) are:

• Wisdom
• Understanding 
• Counsel
• Fortitude
• Knowledge
• Piety 
• Fear of the Lord

Fruits of the Holy Spirit (based on Galatians 5:22-23) are:

My husband wants to try and make a pie out of the Fruits of the Holy Spirit now......

So, logically, the Visionary men should be paragons of the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit.  Let the counting begin!  Each example of a Gift/Fruit gets 1 point; each blatant lack of one gets a point taken away.

Some of you will marry men who will be shakers, changers, and dreamers.  One word that describes them is Visionary.  They see what can be and seek to change things.
The Prophet or Visionary is "the voice crying in the wilderness," striving to change the ways things are done, or change how humanity is behaving or thinking.  Prophet-type men are street preachers, political activists, organizers and instigators of any front-line social issue.

How about the men (and women) working to legalize homosexual marriage?  Would Debi see them as actors for the Holy Spirit?

They love confrontation, and hate the status quo.

That's a +1 for fortitude, but - 1 for lack of peace and -1 for lack of gentleness.

Good-hearted Prophets can be a lot of fun.  They are never Mr. Dull.  They can love with a passion and be aggressively loyal to their friends and family.  They can take the lead in calling the world to repentance and showing them a path of righteousness.

Add +1 for joy, +1 for love, +1 for piety, and +1 for fear of the Lord.

However, if they are not balanced, these Prophet/Visionary Types may get fanatically focused on one or two weird issues and, in the process upset the entire family.  (...) They may be extreme in their separation from the world. The issues they focus on may be serious and worthy of one's commitment, but, in varying degrees, these men can have tunnel vision, tenaciously focusing on single issues.
Ouch, that's gonna hurt the point total.  Add -4 for lack of wisdom, lack of understanding, lack of counsel and lack of knowledge.  They are dinged -2 more for lack of self-control and another example of lack of peace. 

The upside of the Prophet/Visionary is his creativity and tenaciousness in the face of difficulty.

+2 for patience and fortitude.

The downside of the Prophet types is that if they are not wise, they can be real fools who push their agenda, forcing others to go their way.
Good intentions don't always keep Prophet types from causing great harm.  If they are not wise, they can stir up the pudding and end with toxic waste.

- 8 for lacking wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, self-control, gentleness, patience and peace.

(Side note: That's one mixed metaphor involving pudding and toxic waste...)

That's the end of general descriptions about the Prophet/Visionary types.  In terms of representing the Gifts/Fruits of the Holy Spirit, they earned a total of negative 10 points.  The men who in Debi's own words represent the Holy Spirit....don't actually represent the Holy Spirit.

Next topic: Specific examples of Prophet/Visionary Men in action....

Now, if you will excuse me, I have a sudden craving for a banana.....

AntiPearl:

Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity are the exclusive possession of no one race or religion.

Mahatma Gandhi