The prophet's handbook

discovered the Almighty truly is the greatest of all gods. This awesome being became his covenant God forever as a result. Following this came Joseph, another Scripture-declared prophet. His prophetic ability succeeded in placing him as the third leader in Egypt, where he became the savior of his nation Israel through the use of his prophetic acumen. Joseph’s position turned out to be providential as his status ended up being redemptive for his family and later all of Israel. Dreams and visions were used by God to set Joseph’s course. We see this method in operation again with Moses, whom God sent to deliver the people of Israel. The Lord brings us into the world of the prophetic by speaking through fires. God talked to Moses from a burning bush and told him what he was called to do. He was to display the Most High’s power to Pharaoh of Egypt and systematically dismantle the powers of one of the oldest and most menacing kingdoms in history. Moses was to do so with only two resources: a wooden stick that he used to handle the flocks of Midian, where he fled after killing an Egyptian officer many years earlier, and a prophet. God told Moses that his brother Aaron would accompany him into Egypt and serve as Moses’ prophet (spokesman for a deity). Moses would be a god to Pharaoh by virtue of the calamitous events that befell the nation at his words. With only two implements that transformed themselves into weapons of a cosmic war, the Lord toppled the entire Egyptian nation, bringing one disaster after another on them in a clash with every one of Egypt’s gods (see Numbers l2:12), by merely speaking. What is scarcely known by the Lord’s church is that God Almighty through His prophet engaged the entire Egyptian pantheon in a divine contest and won a decisive victory for them. The history of the prophetic goes on as God continues His pattern with Joshua, Moses’ successor. Again, enlisting a supernatural agent to complete His project, God used His militaristic prophet, Joshua, to conquer the territory Israel had been gathering. Joshua’s prophetic mantle continued the legacy and was passed on after a few generations to Samuel, the prophet who instituted Israel’s judgeship. Samuel blended judgeship into his prophet’s mantle as commander in chief and high priest. His fourfold gifting emerged as a developing model of diverse prophetic service. Samuel went to war with the Philistines, called the nation back to true worship, and restored devoted worship of Yahweh. Lastly, he organized and formalized prophetic education and ministry and propelled the nation forward in its destiny. God’s prophetic mold continued as yet one other office merged with the prophetic—that of king. After Saul’s demise, his replacement, David, assumed