• Everyone who loves Him (i.e., God the Father) who begot (the Son of God; see Jn 1:18 and 1Jn 4:9 in the NT Greek interlinear) also loves him who is begotten of Him (i.e., all like-minded Christians) (1Jn 5:1);
• Whoever is born of God overcomes the world (1Jn 5:4);
• For this is the Will of God, that by doing good you put to silence the ignorance of foolish men (1Pet 2:15);
• Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, and always be ready to give answer to the reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear (1Pet 3:15).

From Luke 2:40 and 2:52, we are given evidence that God continually gives His power, grace and truth to each who is asked to do His Will, as Christ was, as John the Baptist was, as all saints from Abel until the end must do (see Heb 11). In being called to do the Will of God we are given the means to live a life that exhibits the fruits of biblically-defined righteousness. It is the righteousness seen in the Son of God, the prophets, apostles, all the godly women and men described in the Bible. Christians today experience identification with all the saints of the past-as described in the Scriptures. I emphasize the Scriptures because there are many saints whose lives and characteristics defy the Scriptures. God does not ask us to live by some of the Word of God and lots of humanly-institutionalized traditions (Mt 15:8; Mk 7:9). Since our lives are committed to living by every Word of God (Dt 8:3; Mt 4:4; Lk 4:4), and we seek perfection (Mt 5:48), then our godly obedience and Christian conformity are alien to the strangely mystical lives of men and women devoted to the gods of their own or another's imagination, e.g., ascetics and hermits such as Saint Antony (ca. 251-356), Athanasius (ca. 296-373), who praised Antony and introduced philosophical incoherence into the Nicea Council to legitimize the trinitarian problem. The anti-Semite and misogynist, Martin Luther (1483-1546), is still regarded by many as a man of God. Those who truly know the grace of God overcome all evils with good (Rom 12:21,9; 1Jn 5:19). Goodness and purity of heart-approved of by God-is found in righteously striving to live by every Word of God (Rom 7). Life-long blindness to this reveals a self-willed Christianity (Mt 7:21-23; Lk 6:46), which is alien to the life and teachings of the Son of God and is a Christianity like Cain's-a mixture of good and evil-of the tree of the ungodly knowledge of good and evil (Heb 5:14; 1Jn 4:6).

A PROBLEM OF HISTORICAL DATING
Luke 3:1 says that in the 15th year of Tiberias Caesar, who ruled from 14-37 A.D., Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip was tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis (parts of S.E. and S.W. Syria [perhaps including parts of modern Lebanon and Jordan], and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene [in S. Syria between Iturea and Trachonitis]).

Lk 3:1-2 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests (as the NKJ says, but the NT Greek has a singular noun: archiereos, which suggests that Caiphas was the appointed High Priest, head of the nation's religious will-to-power house, the Sanhedrin. Since he was married to Annas' daughter, Annas was also a power to reckon with. In this demonical power environment)-the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.

If we take Luke 3:1 in view of the apparent historical data, the 15th year of Tiberias would be 29 A.D., which would also make it the start of Christ's ministry. With a generally-accepted 3 years of ministry, we end up with a 33 A.D. Easter crucifixion date-so convenient for the anti-Passover and idolatrous pro-Easter lobby. A History of Rome to A.D. 565 (Boak & Sinnigan, Macmillan, New York: 1921, 1965, 1971) presents a complex description of government in which official titles were confirmed by the Roman Senate seemingly after the reality. "In A.D. 13 his (Tiberias') tribunician power was renewed (i.e., it was there before, but when?), and he was made colleague of Augustus in the imperium (i.e., court of the emperor). Tiberias was, in effect, co-regent, differing from Augustus only in as far as his personal auctaritas was not so great" (p 296). We may therefore conclude that Luke, familiar with the nuances of Roman titles, would be aware when Tiberias was co-regent and when he had sole power (See pp 270ff and 298ff for definitions of augustus, imperator, tribunicia potestas, & c.). Tiberias' power as emperor (derived from the Latin imperator) was effective before 14 A.D.-exactly when I can't be certain. J. Finigan, in his Handbook of Biblical Chronology, says that Tiberias governed jointly with his adopting father Augustus from 12 A.D.

HOW DOES GOD APPOINT?
Let's look at biblical examples of how God appoints people to specific purposes.

Mt 3:1-6 (NIV) In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, 2 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah (many scholars cannot accept that Isaiah 40 to 66 is written by the same man though Jesus Christ attests to that): "A voice of one calling in the desert (cited from Is 40:3), 'Prepare the Way for the Lord (also an allusion to Mal 3:1), make straight paths for Him.'" 4 John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey (Is this an example of God's sense of irony in making sure people listen to content rather than be impressed by outward appearances?). 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.

6 They confessed their sins, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

Let's consider Mark's account of the same events.

Mk 1:1-8,14 The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 It is written in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your Way"-3 a voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the Way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.'" 4 And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6 John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Mark 1:14 goes on to say that after John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the Gospel of God (as the NT Greek says, for Christ only spoke what His Father had told Him).

Lk 1:76-80 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the Way for Him, 77 to give His people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the Rising Sun will come to us from Heaven (i.e., the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings [Mal 4:2]; the Morning Star which precedes the Rising Sun [2Pet 1:19; Rev 2:28; Jn 8:12]). 79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." 80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel (because John was appointed by God at a particular time and place).

Is 1:1 The vision (from God) of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of the kings of Judah, Uzziah (whose reign began in 792 B.C.), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (who died in 686 B.C.).

Jeremiah was similarly called to his work for God.

Jer 1:1-7 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth (a village N.E. of Jerusalem) in the land of Benjamin, 2 to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign (i.e., 627 B.C.). 3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month (July/August of 587). 4 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: 5 "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." 6 Then I said: "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I cannot speak as You would desire, for I am a youth" (possibly under 20 years of age). 7 But the LORD said to me: "Don't say, 'I am a youth,' for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak."

Ezk 1:1-2 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year (possibly the 30th year of a Jubilee cycle), in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the River Chebar (a canal of the Euphrates), that the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God (cp. Ezk 8:3-4; Dan 7:13-14; Rev 4:1-6:17). 2 On the fifth day of the month, which was in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity (probably 594 B.C.; from December 598 to March/April 594; see 2Ki 24:6-17, 2Chr 36:9-10, and NIV footnotes; Nebuchadnezzar was co-regent with his father who died in August 605).

None of us can verify biblically, except by wishful thinking, that these scriptural examples are anything like our corporate church experiences of apostolic leadereship. The words supposedly expressed by Gabriel to Muhammed, by the resurrected Moroni to Joseph Smith in 1827 (founder of the Mormons), the Queen of Heaven at Fatima, the visions of Nostradamus are examples of revelations that do not conform with the Scriptures-they are not from the God I know. Hosea 1:1, Amos 1:1, Micah 1:1-2, Haggai 1:1-3, Zechariah 1:1-8 are additional examples of the way in which God speaks to prophets, prophetesses, and apostles. If they do not speak according to the Word of God there is no Light in them (Is 8:20; 2Jn 10-11; 2Cor 11:13-15). And anyone who adds or detracts from the Word of God is a liar, as numerous Scriptures prove (e.g., Rev 22:18-19; Dt 4:2; 12:32; IJn 4:6; 5:19; Lk 4:4).

Let's look at how John, who wrote down Jesus' Revelation, was appointed as a prophet.

Rev 1:1-3 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God the Father gave Him to show His servants; things which must shortly take place. And He (Jesus Christ) sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, and to all things that he saw (The testimony of Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy as Rev 19:10 says. See also Rev 12:17, 14:12). 3 Blessed is he who reads (i.e., the individual reader and the one who reads and expounds to others according to the Will of God) and those who hear (and perceive) the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.

JOHN'S COMMISSION AND WORK
is stated in Luke 3:3-6 in complete conformity with the Scriptures-the teachings of God..

Lk 3:3-6 John went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet (40:3-4), saying (and more amply expressed than in Matthew and Mark's record of the Gospel): "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the Way of the LORD; make His paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth; 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

Is 40:1-11 "Comfort, yes, comfort My people!" says your God. 2 "Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins."

3 The voice of one, John the Baptist, came crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the Way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth;

5 the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken." 6 The voice said, "Cry out!" And he (John the Baptist) said, "What shall I cry?" "All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass (Come out of the world because life is temporary; its beauty is but a cyclical event that ends in death. Recognize that God offers eternal life!). 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever." 9 O Zion (the Church; Heb 12:22-23), you who bring good tidings (i.e., the Gospel by the power of God), get up into the high mountain (when God sends you and gives you the power-the Holy Spirit); O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!" 10 Behold, the Lord GOD shall come with a strong hand, and His Arm (i.e., Jesus Christ) shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him (Jn 6:29). 11 He will feed His flock like a Shepherd (Jn 10); He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young.

Jeremiah 23:18 speaks of hearing God in the heavenly Council around the Throne. For who has stood in the Council of the LORD GOD, and who has perceived and heard His Word? Who has marked His Word and heard it? Satan has. The prophets of God have. The prophets of the Devil have his counsel. Blessed are they who have ears to hear-Mt 13:9,16; Rev 3:22; 13:9. Job 1:6-12, 2:1-7, 1Ki 22:19-23, Pss 82:1, 89:6-8, Dan 7:9-14, Rev 4-6 are examples of the biblical perspective on the Council of God. Spiritually blind theologians, like James D.G. Dunn in his Christology in the Making, who don't know the God and Son of God in the Scriptures (Jn 8:19,38-44), deride the reality of God's Council.

THE WILDERNESS
The Bible, among other things, is a work of supreme artistic literary genius. Its use of symbols is awesome to begin to see and feel. How wilderness is defined illustrates this. We all have our views and experiences of sandy desert, rocky wastelands, wind-swept arid areas, parched and scarred landscape. How does the Bible-Isaiah in particular-use this imagery?

Is 35:1-7 The desert and the parched land will be glad (This is not a panentheistic or animistic concept, but the expression of delight in the hearts of people-as becomes increasingly evident); the wilderness will rejoice and blossom like the rose/crocus; 2 it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon (the best of leadership; Ezk 31:3,18; Amos 2:9) will be given to it, the splendour of Carmel and Sharon (areas of agricultural fame; the best fruits); they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendour of our God. 3 Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; 4 say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come (Jesus Christ is also Elohim, as Prov 30:4, Heb 1:8-9, Ex 23:21 and numerous other Scriptures make very clear), He will come with vengeance; with divine retribution He will come to save you." 5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy (cp. Mt 11:5; Lk 7:22; Is 61:1-3). Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. 7 The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

Is 41:17-20 The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. 18 I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. 19 I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, 20 so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

Meanwhile, until the time is right in God's eyes, leadership fails-it oppresses and scatters:

Is 42:14-16 For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant. 15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn rivers into islands and dry up the pools. 16 I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them (because these few walk by faith); I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.


Is 43:20 says …. I, the LORD, provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to My people, My chosen (Jn 4:10-14; 7:38).

Is 50:2-6 explains some of Christ's experience: "When I came, why was there no one? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Was My arm too short to ransom you? Do I lack the strength to rescue you? By a mere rebuke I dry up the sea, I turn rivers into a desert; their fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst. 3 I clothe the sky with darkness and make sackcloth its covering. 4 The LORD God has given Me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He (God the Father) wakens Me morning by morning, wakens My ear to listen like one being taught. 5 The LORD God has opened My ears, and I have not been rebellious; I have not drawn back. 6 I offered My back to those who beat Me, My cheeks to those who pulled out My beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting" (Here is a partial description of the pre-crucifixion torture Jesus Christ went through. Also see Is 52:13-53:12; Ps 22).


Is 51:3 promises that "The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.


Is 62:10 adds more to these ideas: "Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare the Way for the people. Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones (that cause stumbling). Raise a banner for the nations" (so that they know where to come).


Is 64:10 reminds me that OT and NT are necessary to one another (Gal 3:8; Jude 14): "Zion, the Church, Your sacred cities have become a desert; even Zion is a desert, Jerusalem a desolation." How like Christ's words in Mt 23:37-39:

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house (the Temple that was so busy and seemingly active, but from God's perspective) is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the LORD!'

"SECOND EXODUS" AND THE PURGING OF IDOLATRY
Ezekiel 20 speaks four years ahead of the catastrophe to strike Judah and Jerusalem in the late summer of 587 B.C. We read of the elders of Israel, religious hypocrites like the Pharisees of Jesus' day, enquiring of the one God has sent. The prophet denounces them for their idolatry and spurious Sabbath observances (v 16). I'd like to pick up the context in v 30:

Ezk 20:30-44 Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Are you defiling yourselves in the manner of your fathers, and committing harlotry according to their abominations? 31 For when you offer your gifts and make your sons pass through the fire (Literally, as the Canaanites did? Or, through warfare? Or more likely-spiritual murder); you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. So shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live," says the Lord GOD, "I will not be inquired of by you. 32 What you have in your mind shall never be, when you say, 'We will be like the Gentiles, like the families in other countries, serving wood and stone.'

Next we read of a second Exodus for God's people, the sheep who follow the Shepherd-there is no Moses today-but there is the Shepherd of Israel (Jn 10:11,1-5; Ps 80:1; 77:20).

Ezk 20:33 "As I live," says the Lord GOD, "surely with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will rule over you. 34 I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered (see IPet 1:1-2; Mt 10:6-7; 15:24; Jer 50:6-7), with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out. 35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face. 36 Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you," says the Lord GOD. (This is yet to happen). 37 "I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the (New) Covenant; 38 I will purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 39 As for you, O house of Israel," thus says the Lord GOD: "Go, serve every one of you his idols; and hereafter; if you will not obey me; but profane My holy Name no more with your gifts and your idols."

40 "For on My holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel," says the Lord GOD, "there all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve Me; there I will accept them, and there I will require your offerings and the firstfruits of your sacrifices, together with all your holy things. 41 I will accept you as a sweet aroma when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered; and I will be hallowed in you before the Gentiles (of the entire earth). 42 Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for which I raised My hand in an oath to give to your fathers. 43 And there you shall remember your ways and all your doings with which you were defiled; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight because of all the evils that you have committed. 44 Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have dealt with you for My Name's sake, not according to your wicked ways nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel," says the Lord GOD.

Hos 2:14-20 "Therefore, behold, I will allure her (the Church), will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her. 15 I will give her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope (this valley is symbolic of entry into Israel, the Land of Promise); she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. 16 And it shall be, in that day," says the LORD, "That you will call Me 'My Husband,' (The Husband of Israel is Christ and Israel is the Church; Rev 14:1-4; 7:1-8; Jas 1:1) and no longer call Me 'My Master,' 17 For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals (false concepts of God), and they shall be remembered by their name no more. 18 In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, with the birds of the air, and with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, to make them lie down safely. 19 I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy; 20 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the LORD (as you did not know Him before)".

Hos 12:9-10 I am the LORD your God (even though you fail to see that), ever since the land of Egypt; I will again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the appointed feast. 10 I have also spoken by the prophets, have multiplied visions, have given parabolic symbols through the witness of the prophets." But do you understand them?

Dt 13:1-5 If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder (presumably real, imagined, or persuasively invented) 2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods' (~yhil{a--elohim, just as in Gn 1:1).

All the ancient theogonies or cosmologies have brawling and delusionary counterfeits of the Godhead of Heaven. These pantheons depict conceptions of all the gods, their heavenly temple, abode, and organization from which earthly concepts of government are derived: at Mt Olympus or Mt Ida or Mt Atlas of the Greeks, Mt Zaphon of the Canaanites, Mt Hermon of Lebanon and Syria, Mt Colhuacan of the Aztecs, Mt Meru of the Hindus, Mt Hera-Berezaiti of Iran, Kwen-lun of China, Hirsug or Mount of Dilmun of the Babylonians, the Mount of Glory of the ancient Egyptians. These and others like them are distortions of the biblical Mt Zion (see Ps 2:6, 9:11, 48:1-3, 89:5-8; Is 8:18, 24:23, 60:14, Rev 14:1). If the Will of God were carried out on earth in human structures as God's Will is in Heaven, then people would experience the government of God. Instead, religious corporations insist that if they structure themselves as they imagine things are in Heaven then, that structure will provide the government of God. God's sceptre is the sceptre of righteousness (Ps 45:6, Heb 1:8). Which religious institution or corporation rules by righteousness? Does anyone know one?

Continuing with Deuteronomy 13, verse 2:

False prophets say, as God's perspective tells us: 'Let us go after other elohim' which you have not known (i.e., new and biblically unprovable concepts of God); 'and let us serve them;' 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know (i.e., you come to recognize) whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice, and you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death (cp. Rev 2:2; 2Jn 10,11; Jude 12) because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the Way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk (in an incoherent way the false prophet deceitfully interprets as religiously correct). So you shall put away the evil from your midst.

Deuternomy 18 has more to add.

Dt 18:15-22 records Moses' words where he serves as a prophetic type for the future Israel of God (Gal 6:16): "The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren (from Judah as a prophetic type of spiritual Jews [Rom 2:28-29]). Him you shall hear, 16 according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, 'Let me not hear again the Voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.' 17 "And the LORD said to me: 'What they have spoken is good. (Even today Jews reject the prophesied Jesus Christ [Lk 16:31; Jn 5:45-47]). 18 I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him (for Jesus spoke and did only what His Father taught Him (Jn 8:28-29). 19 And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My Name, I will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My Name (i.e., in misrepresenting Jesus Christ), which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die' (cp. Rev 22:18-19). 21 And if you say in your heart, 'How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?'; 22 when a prophet speaks in the Name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him."

DREAM MOTIVATION
Those familiar with a long history in the Worldwide Church of God will find the following example of interest and a pungent lesson. What gave Herbert W. Armstrong (who died on 16 January, 1986), founder of the Radio Church of God (the first Plain Truth appeared in February, 1934), then renamed (in 1968) the Worldwide Church of God, the psychological impetus to preach the Gospel? His Autobiography and last-published book (September, 1985), Mystery of the Ages, give an answer, and it is from this latter book I quote (pp 15-17):

The Unrecognized Call
In a matter of days after our marriage [Herbert Armstrong and Loma Dillon on his 25th birthday, 31 July, 1917], while living in Chicago, my wife had a dream so vivid and impressive it overwhelmed and shook her tremendously. It was so realistic it seemed more like a vision. For two or three days afterward everything else seemed unreal-as if in a daze-and only this extraordinary dream seemed real.
In her dream she and I (italic emphasis mine throughout) were crossing the wide intersection [in downtown Chicago]…. Suddenly there appeared an awesome sight in the sky above. It was a dazzling spectacle-the sky filled with a gigantic solid mass of brilliant stars, shaped like a huge banner. The stars began to quiver and separate, finally vanishing. In her dream, she called my attention to the vanishing stars, when another huge grouping of flashing stars appeared, then quivering, separating and vanishing like the first.
As she and I, in her dream, looked upward at the vanishing stars, three white birds suddenly appeared in the sky between us and the vanishing stars. These great white birds flew directly toward us. As they descended nearer, she perceived that they were angels.
"Then," my wife wrote a day or two after the dream, in a letter to my mother that I have just run across among old family pictures, "it dawned on me that Christ was coming, and I was so happy I was just crying for joy. Then suddenly I thought of Herbert and I was rather worried."
She knew I had evidenced very little religious interest, although we had attended a corner church two or three times.
Then it seemed in her dream that "Christ descended from among them and stood directly in front of us. At first I was a little doubtful and afraid of how he would receive us, because I remembered we had neglected our Bible study and had our minds too much on things apart from his interests. But as we went up to him, he put his arms around both of us, and we were so happy!
… Then it seemed he had changed into an angel. I was terribly disappointed at first, until he told me Christ was really coming in a very short time."
At that time, we had been going quite regularly to motion picture theaters. She asked the angel if this were wrong. He replied Christ had important work for us to do, preparing for his coming-there would be no time for "movies." (Those were the days of the "silent" pictures.) Then the angel and the whole spectacle seemed to vanish, and she awakened, shaken and wondering!
In the morning she told me of her dream. I was embarrassed. I didn't want to think about it, yet I was afraid to totally dismiss it.
…. Let me say here that in about 99,999 times out of 100,000, when people think GOD is speaking to them in a dream or vision in this day and age, it is pure imagination, or some form of self-hypnotism or self-deception. But if this was a vision from God, like Jonah, I tried to run away. But subsequent to this, in God's due time God dealt with me in no uncertain terms, even as he had dealt with Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, Andrew, Peter and the apostle Paul.

The Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong (Vol 1) records the dream on pages 203-205 in the hardback edition, pages 187-194 in the 1973 softcover edition). This interpretation, not included in Mystery of the Ages, is offered:

I have only come to believe that this dream was a bona fide call from God in the light of subsequent events (Written on or before 1957).

But most dreams mean nothing. And false prophets have misled people by telling false dreams, representing their dreams to be the Word of God (Jeremiah 23, where God says, "I am against prophets who recount lying dreams, leading my people astray with their lies and empty pretensions, though I never sent them, never commissioned them"-verse 32, Moffatt translation.

"CALLED" OR "NOT CALLED"?
Some people, formerly or still associated with the Worldwide Church of God, may ask, "Well, what was I called to? To error?"

Please imagine being the Ethiopian eunuch and treasurer to the queen of Ethiopia (the first Gentile to be baptized was black; Acts 8:26ff), or the centurion Cornelius (Acts 10). They were called into a system whose leaders sat in Moses' seat, who used the OT Scriptures every Sabbath, who worshipped the God of Abraham, but Jesus Christ condemned the religious leaders (Mt 23:1ff), condemned their use of Scripture (Mt 22:29; Mk 12:10-11,24), and said that they "do not know God" (Jn 8:19,47; 15:21; 16:2-3; Acts 13:27). Until the true apostles and servants of God were sent, the place these Gentiles were at was the place they experienced some of God's presence. The growth and fullness of godly experience and spiritual life came when the Voice of those who were truly sent was recognized by those truly called as saints (Jn 10:1-5,14-16,26-30).

CONCLUSION
Do we recognize that we have been in a spiritual wilderness and that the drying winds are stronger (Ezk 34:1ff), that there is "famine in the land" (Amos 8:11; and see the entire prophecy), that there has been not one nor are there any God-sent apostles nor prophets in this spiritually destitute twentieth century? If there is any God-sent prophet, I don't know him or her! Would some-one please let me know who it is and where? Such God-sent individuals do not disagree with any Scriptures and would surely give Christ-like exposition on all issues.

Though I struggle to live by every Word of God, to teach truthfully from the Scriptures, to accurately preach the Will of God, I am not like any of the apostles or prophets in how they were called to do their jobs. How can each of us know we are personally called by God? God's Remnant keeps the commandments of God and has the testimony of Jesus Christ (Rev 12:17b). The biblical saints keep the commandments of God and have the Faith of Jesus Christ (Rev 14:12). Those being prepared for the marriage supper of the Lamb of God have the testimony of Jesus which is the spirit of prophecy (Rev 19:10). Those who are of the Bride of Christ zealously thirst after God's righteousness and take of the Water of Life freely (Rev 22:17). Those who are born of God know the Son of God and overcome the world (1Jn 5:4-5). Those who keep the Word of God have the love of God perfected in them (1Jn 2:5). Those who walk in the Light, for Christ is the Light of the world, walk as Jesus walked (1Jn 2:6). Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God (Rom 8:14). Those who are led by God live by every Word of God (Lk 4:4). All these statements of measure (as in Ezk 43:10-12; Rev 11:1-2) are crucial examples of the way God judges those who are essential components to His Temple (2Cor 6:16; 1Cor 3:9-17), of which His Son is High Priest (Rev 1:5-6), and who directs all worship towards His Father (1Pet 2:5-10):

In Rev 5:9-10 (NRSV) we read of the angelic congregation singing about Christ and the saints: They sing a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for You were slaughtered and by Your blood You ransomed for God saints from every tribe and language and people and nation; 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God, and they will reign on earth."