Don’t Shoot the Messenger

   This week my Vipre security software on my phone came up with a malware warning, but it was for Google Play, which operates all the Android apps. What do I do with that, I thought. Vipre proceeded in an endless loop of not being able to clean by uninstalling (of course) and I could not get it out of the loop to do another scan. Vipre has a reputation for trustworthiness. I finally just turned off my phone until I could figure out what to do (to the distress of my family who couldn’t get hold of me). The people at the AT&T store couldn’t really help me except to advise removing Vipre, which I did. My phone then seemed happy again.
   Immediately God showed me the analogy to our current culture...and all the way back to Israel’s history with the prophets. When your prophetic watchmen begin to annoy you with their warnings, you find a way to either ignore them or get rid of them.  That way you can have a false sense of security that all is well and you don’t have to change anything in your life. All the while, something insidious is eating away at your foundation. You go blithely on your merry way like Scarlet O’Hara, setting aside dealing with any serious issues for ‘another day.’ Isaiah 28:15 says, “...for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood have we taken refuge.”
   Sometimes we choose false prophets because we like what they have to say.  Your computer sometimes pops up a virus warning, via some unheard of security application, advising you to take instant action to solve the virus problem they say you have.  However, what they're really trying to do is download spyware on your computer.  The very program that is offering to solve your problem is trying to rob you.  So with the false prophets, who are really self-serving wolves in sheep's clothing.  Isaiah 28: 16-17, however, leads us back to the Cornerstone and the Plumbline for all truth.  We musn't be deceived by gladly receiving something 'our itchy ears want to hear.' [2 Timothy 4:3]
   If you find yourself spending less ‘real’ time in quiet with the Father, search your heart to see if
you’re ignoring Him because you’re afraid of what He might have to say to you. If we turn off or delete the prophetic because it makes us uncomfortable, we’re still walking down the same dangerous road, whether we admit it to ourselves or not. Been there, done that. In the end, we always need to come back, knowing every course correction He gives us is out of love.  He’s not trying to spoil our fun, He’s trying to keep us from spoiling our lives, the lives of those we love, and, ultimately, our entire nation and world. I guess the phrase, “Don’t shoot the messenger” is applicable here. If the messenger is a trustworthy, untainted one, he’ll always alert us to danger and point us back to the Cornerstone. Our spiritual antennae should start beeping when we realize we have appeased our consciences by removing the source of the warning from our visual screens, instead of addressing its content.
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2 Timothy 4:3 

For the time is coming when people will not have patience for sound teaching, but will cater to their passions and gather around themselves teachers who say whatever their ears itch to hear.

Isaiah 30:10
They say to the seers, ‘See no more visions!’ and to the prophets, ‘Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.’