Paul Harvey: Personality or Prophet?

Paul Harvey

Assuming that you’ve all read your bulletins this morning, you may be either chuckling at where I am going with today’s sermon, or you have one or more eyebrows raised at the claim I am making today, and are either incredulous or interested in how I will prove this conclusively.

Church family, let’s look at some of the evidence today and see what the evidence says.

Paul Harvey, the son of a police officer killed by robbers in the early 1920’s, was a famous radio personality, who is most famous for the line “And now you know the rest of the story. Good day!” He’s done many social and political commentaries in his shows and may of them were issues that regular people had to contend with, and were told in a way that spoke to the common person in the United States. In 1965, he penned what is probably his most famous of all of his essays (which he both read and had printed in newspapers), titled “If I Were the Devil.” At its core, it was a commentary on how the Devil would go about destroying the world, albeit through the United States primarily.

Famous (or infamous depending on your views) in 1965, he revamped the essay to be a little more modern in 1996, a short 13 years before his death in 2009. Although his recording is much better voiced than I can do, I will do my best and read it for you now:

If I were the prince of darkness, I would want to engulf the whole world in darkness.

I’d have a third of its real estate and four-fifths of its population, but I would not be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree — thee.

So, I would set about however necessary to take over the United States.

I’d subvert the churches first, and I would begin with a campaign of whispers.

With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: “Do as you please.”

To the young, I would whisper that the Bible is a myth. I would convince the children that man created God instead of the other way around. I’d confide that what’s bad is good and what’s good is square.

And the old, I would teach to pray after me, “Our Father, which are in Washington …”

Then, I’d get organized, I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting.

I’d peddle narcotics to whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. I’d tranquilize the rest with pills.

If I were the devil, I’d soon have families at war with themselves, churches at war with themselves and nations at war with themselves until each, in its turn, was consumed.

And with promises of higher ratings, I’d have mesmerizing media fanning the flames.

If I were the devil, I would encourage schools to refine young intellect but neglect to discipline emotions. I’d tell teachers to let those students run wil. And before you knew it, you’d have drug-sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every schoolhouse door.

With a decade, I’d have prisons overflowing and judges promoting pornography. Soon, I would evict God from the courthouse and the schoolhouse and them from the houses of Congress.

In his own churches, I would substitute psychology for religion and deify science. I’d lure priests and pastors into misusing boys and girls and church money.

If I were the devil, I’d take from those who have and give to those who wanted until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious.

What’ll you bet I couldn’t get whole states to promote gambling as the way to get rich?

I’d convince the young that marriage is old-fashioned, that swinging is more fun and that what you see on television is the way to be.

And thus, I could undress you in public and lure you into bed with diseases for which there are no cures.

In other words, if I were the devil, I’d just keep right on doing what he’s doing.

Is This News to Us?

If this is the first time you’ve heard this, then I strongly urge you to go onto the internet this evening and look it up on YouTube, because Paul did it way better than I could ever do. That said, though, it’s a pretty accurate look at what the world looks like today, and in many ways, as a result of some of the things he “predicted” in his 1965 and 1996 essays. But the question we are asking today is whether or not this would qualify him as a prophet, even if he prophesied unintentionally I mean, let’s just look at the things he states! None of these things are generic! These are VERY specific in their telling.

Considering how Satan works, it would be no wonder that he would attack the nation that used to be considered the moral authority of the world (at least the most so in comparison). Let’s see, subversion in the churches, check. People acting as they please, check. A large amount of youth believing the Bible to be a myth and that man created God instead of the other way around, check. Society turning right and wrong around, check. To the many people in our nation who constantly look to the government to solve their problems, do they pray “Our Father, which art in Washington...” check. Authors, bloggers, and other such people making lurid, that is, shockingly vivid and disturbingly detailed descriptions of a violent or sexual nature, literature to be exciting, so that anything else would appear dull and boring, check. Narcotics being a rampant problem, alcoholism, and over-medication, check. Let’s see, families at war with themselves, check. Churches at war with themselves, check, and nations at war with themselves, to the point of being consumed and/or destroyed, check. The media fanning the flames of extremism for the promise of better ratings, check. Schools that refine young intellects, but refuse to help youth discipline emotions, check. Teachers letting students run wild, check. Drug sniffing dogs and metal detectors at most schools, check. Prisons overflowing, and judges approving and ruling in favor of immoral activities, check. God evicted from courthouses, schools, and Congress, check (Barry Black was a great exception). Many churches substituting psychology for religion and deifying science, check. Pastors and priests misusing kids and church money, check. The people who wanted taking from those that have, thereby killing the incentive of the ambitious, check. States promoting gambling and other such as a way to make themselves rich, check. Many people convinced that marriage is old-fashioned or outdated, and that anything else is more fun and that emulating television shows is the way to live, check. More and more people in media being practically undressed and rampant sexually transmitted diseases, several of which still have absolutely no cure, check.

Hazarding another guess, based partly on the fact that I saw many nodding their heads, that many of you probably could think of very specific news or media stories or have actually seen some or all of this at some point or another, and, if I were a betting man, I’d wager that many of you have seen this become more and more prevalent in the last 20-30 years! Yeah, me too.

So we can all say that the things that he said came true, right? Well, what are the Biblical tests for a prophet? Deuteronomy gives us the most instruction here:

Whatever a prophet predicts or foretells, or even forthtell, that is tell of things that he/she would have no other way of knowing, must actually happen. This comes out of - If a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.

Whatever a prophet says must comport, that is, agree with, the entirety of Scripture. This comes out of - 13:1 If prophets or those who divine by dreams appear among you and promise you omens or portents, 13:2 and the omens or the portents declared by them take place, and they say, "Let us follow other gods" (whom you have not known) "and let us serve them," 13:3 you must not heed the words of those prophets or those who divine by dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you indeed love the LORD your God with all your heart and soul.

The prophet must not claim to have received said word from any sort of magician, diviner, soothsayer, sorcerer, or who casts spells, consults ghosts, spirits, or seeks oracles from the dead. This also comes out of , verses 10-14 - 18:10 No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, or who practices divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, 18:11 or one who casts spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead. 18:12 For whoever does these things is abhorrent to the LORD; it is because of such abhorrent practices that the LORD your God is driving them out before you. 18:13 You must remain completely loyal to the LORD your God. 18:14 Although these nations that you are about to dispossess do give heed to soothsayers and diviners, as for you, the LORD your God does not permit you to do so.

Regarding number 3, they must claim to speak what the Lord has given them. This comes out of - 18:18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. 18:19 Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. 18:20 But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak--that prophet shall die."

As we can clearly see, God put some pretty strict rules and signs to identify a real prophet versus a false one. As far as Mr. Harvey goes, he never claimed to speak for God, although from what we heard and I’ve read in his essay, I cannot see anything in there that is, at least outwardly, counter to anything Biblical. In fact…I’d say it actually mirrors something I’ve read in there…something…something very familiar. And by a guy named Paul...

Nothing He Said Was New

If you turn with me in your Bibles to 9, we’ll look at today’s Scripture reading, and see what we find.

English Standard Version Chapter 3

2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. 9 But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

Although much of this is very self-explanatory, there are a few things here that bear some looking at deeper. First, the context. Paulthe Apostle was writing to Timothy his last letter, knowing that he was about to be put to death and that his time was near. As such, he wanted to leave his young pastoral protegee some last counsel, much of which was to be shared with the early church, and as such, us today by extension. In this particular section, Paul has figured out, like many of the apostles at the end of their lives, that their expectation at the Second Coming, that is, it’s arrival within their lifetimes, was not going to be realized, and that they needed to revise their views. God gives Paul some insight and inspiration, where he pens these amazing words, telling what the state of the world will be at the end. After our Scripture reading, we see Paul telling Timothy about false teachers and what to do with them. I don’t have to tell you that he doesn’t have any sympathy for them, and says to have nothing to do with them.

In our Scripture reading today, we also see two names that are found nowhere else in the Bible. Considering his Jewish background and the fact that the primary recipient of the epistle was a Jewish (well, tradition says he is half-Jewish, on his mother’s side; his father was Greek, and thus has a Greek name) man, who would be versed in Jewish traditions, would know that Jannes and Jambres were the names given to the two magicians who served the Pharaoh who was forced to let the Hebrews leave in Exodus. The word “opposed” here is particularly telling, as the Greek word is “anti-histay-me”, the same word used in reference to the resistance of Elymas the Sorcerer in . The word is a literal mashup of two Greek words - “anti” meaning, as in English, against, and “histayme” which means to set up or stand up, together meaning “to stand against” or “to set up against” as in, to resist, or oppose, and here, the resistance and opposition was to the truth that is the Gospel. In essense, they stood in the way of the communication of the truth, just as false teachers do.

Now, looking at Paul’s list, although not a specific commentary on American Society, I would say that it is an even BETTER description of today’s world than even Paul Harvey’s. I mean, let’s go down the list, shall we?

Are times difficult? Yup.

Are they lovers of self, money, proud, arrogant, abusive? Yup.

Are they disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy? Yup.

Are they heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, lovers of things not good? Yup.

Are they treacherous, reckless, filled to the brim with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than of God? Yup.

Do they have the appearance of godliness, but deny its power? Yup.

Are among these those that creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sin and led astray by various passions? Yup.

Are they always learning and never able to arrive at a Knowledge of the truth? Yup.

Are they corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith? Yup.

Now, let me ask all of you, as I ask this myself: Does anything in this list hit home in your own life? Something to think about, at the very least, you know?

Amen

As we close, I think that we can conclude that Paul the Apostle could easily be defined as a prophet, although that wasn’t his primary job or duty, much in the same way as Daniel is not found in the books of the prophets in the Bible, but in the writings. Daniel, although having prophecized several times, was not primarily a prophet, like Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel. He was a government administrator. Paul the apostle was a pastor and evangelist. But like all pastors and evangelists, he sometimes prophesized. What is a sermon (or at least what is it SUPPOSED to be), but a word from God that He gave me that I pass to you? Do I always do a good job in communicating said Word? No. But the blame for that lies in the vessel, not the Potter.

In any case, Paul Harvey, although a great and good man by all accounts, to include his Adventist Pastor in Arizona (although he and his wife Angel were not, themselves actually members of the SDA Church, but attendees), he was not actually a prophet. He was a devout Christian that, again by all accounts, kept the Sabbath, and loved Jesus, and often quoted E.G. White in his shows, and was outspoken about many important social issues that we still deal with today, but not a prophet.

Despite both his and Paul the apostle’s dire warnings, though, unlike Paul Harvey’s essay, Paul the apostle’s statement ends in hope. Verse 9 is the most telling and hopeful of all:

English Standard Version Chapter 3

9 But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

In other words, If I were the devil, I’d be very afraid, because one day, Jesus is coming back, and on that day, I lose for good!

In the words of Paul Harvey, “And now you know the rest of the story. Good day!”

Let us pray.