In worship this week I am talking about the riskyness of being a prophet.

In Scriptural terms prophecy is all about telling God's truth, not about forecasting the furture.  ANd because God's truth often appeared to go against those in power prophets often found themselves in hot water.  Imprisonment, banishment, or execution could follow the task of a prophet.

once upon a time, I went with Chinese friends to the temple of a local god in a place called Macao on the south China coast. As he entered the temple, each picked up a cylindrical box filled with what looked like pickup sticks. Then each fell on his knees before the god, bowing and shaking the box until several fell  out. The spilled sticks were taken to a monk who looked at a number on each of them, and used the numbers to determine the fortune of the supplicant. none of my friends was religious. But all believed in the power of the temple for fortune telling.