The Hunter and the Hunted

Song suggested by Marie Andresen. An assist goes to the Reverend George Pabst for getting the ball rolling on this entry.


Matthew 7:15

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves."

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Burning the ground I break from the crowd
I'm on the hunt I'm after you
Scent and a sound, I'm lost and I'm found
And I'm hungry like the wolf

"Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran

Let's face it, as words in the English language go, ravenous doesn't get nearly enough play. When was the last time you used it in a sentence or in a conversation? It's been a long, long time. Honestly though, just as soon as the word came up on the page, images of that wolf separating the weak from the herd, isolating the prey, and springing for the kill take center stage in the imagination.

When it's used there is no question about its intent. Sure it deals with hunger, but there is also more than a little menace in the word. Ravenous, it's hungry turned mean. So when I hear "Hungry Like the Wolf" there's a lot going on in that little phrase.

The wolf hunts. The wolf goes for the weak. The wolf separates the young from the mother. The wolf snaps its jaws shut around the head of the lamb and scats off to consume its prey. Let's face it, the food chain, the circle of life, they're brutal.

So in biblical times the wolf was not seen as a particularly noble beast. In a society of shepherds you could hardly associate a hunter of the weak as noble. Particularly when your society is the weak and all around you are the big bad wolf.

Using this image, Jesus warns us, beware the false prophets. They come upon us disguised as one of us. They seem to want the same things, but what they truly want is to devour and destroy what God has created.

They wait and they bide their time. They're on the hunt. They're after us. They follow the scent and the sound of the young and the unsure. They also are on the scent and the sound of those who are too sure of themselves too. Those who are overconfident and those who have nothing to be confident about are just the sort of people the wolf hunts. The wolf hunts both the lost and the found.

So beware false prophets. Test the spirits. Matthew teaches that only the good trees can produce good fruit, fruit worthy of helping us grow physically and in faith. We won't find good grapes among the thorns so we shouldn't rely on good words from ravenous wolves. Don't rely on feelings to help judge the spirits either, because false prophets can infiltrate those too. Seek first the kingdom of God. It is the things of God that will satisfy us with good food and not make us fodder for the ravenous wolf.

Seeking What God Has For Us

1John 4:1 (NRSV)

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

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Well they say that time loves a hero
But only time will tell
If he's real he's a legend from heaven
If he ain't he was sent here from hell

"Time Loves a Hero" by Little Feat

Faith is a sticky thing. We are called to do as the Lord tells us, but since the Lord has yet to send email as an answer to prayer, it can be tough to discern which way is right sometimes.

We have to remember that the greatest heretics of the Church were just men (yes, at the time it was only the men who made great heretical history) who thought they had it right and they were doing the will of the Lord.

Only time will tell they say. If he's real he's a legend from heaven, if he ain't he was sent here from hell. While it is true that time will tell, we don't have the witness of history when we seek to do the will of the Lord in our lives. So we need something more than the rear view window.

Seeking the Lord is how we test the spirits. Do the spirits bring the fruit of the Spirit? Galatians reminds us that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are the fruits of the Spirit. There is no law against such things. If the spirit brings these things, then it passes the test.

By extension, things that do not pass muster, indiscretion, gossip, sloth, stinginess, gluttony, these things don't come fromt the Lord and bring no good. Times when it seems that hate is the right thing to do, there must be another way, and there is.

Listen to the Lord, test the spirits, seek the Holy Spirit.