Even if there were false prophets and slacker priests, the people should have known better. The people should have been able to recognize idolatry and apostasy when they heard it.

False prophets decide whether to pay attention to you based on where, or whether, you went to college, and what tax bracket you’re in.

Lay evangelistic associations, formed at times of political and spiritual upheaval, reach all the way back to the time of Elijah.

We are better at remembering prophets than following them. Better at building monuments than recognizing their voices among us in their own time.

We can’t agree on what yardstick to use, or even if there is one. We can’t argue anymore; we can only fight. Our enemies can’t just be wrong; they have to be lying. We can’t persuade them; we have to destroy them.

Moral and theological propositions don’t become true for us just because of the words. We look at who is speaking those words, what effect those words have had on her/him, what we can reasonably predict would happen to us, our homes, our culture if we adopted the same words.

The sign of Jonah proclaimed by Jesus was saying to the Scribes and Pharisees, shouting to them as it shouts to the Church: “There are lost people out there whom you’re supposed to go see. God made them all, God loves them all, just the same as He loves you. So go!