None of us have ever claimed the unique gifts of those prophets and apostles who were able to proclaim “Thus saith the Lord God Almighty” in a way that had not been proclaimed before. Rather, we are repeating what God has already said. There’s this really long book called “the Bible” to which we appeal frequently. Let our arguments be judged thereby.
Neither are any of us claiming that we know for certain that God will bring crippling judgment on the church and the society that has allowed the wanton and widespread desecration of the image of God and has ignored our responsibility to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are saying that has happened many times before.
Even if we did claim that, none of us claiming we know when that will happen. These are things that prophets would know. We don’t know. We just think it’s better to obey Jesus rather than waste His blessings and try to see just how patient He is willing to be with sin and how long He will delay before removing more lampstands. This is a fool’s errand.
Further, this same contention, if true, proves far too much. It just so happens that God in the Old Testament and Jesus and the apostles in the New, gave other commands such as:
“Abstain from sexual immorality.”
“Love one another.”
“Live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives.”
Why couldn’t we simply disengage from our responsibility to follow those? After all, nobody today is writing Scripture. You tell me I’m supposed to abstain from sexual immorality? You’re not a prophet.
No. We are listening to and obeying the God-breathed words of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:1 – Be imitators of me, as I imitate Christ. and in Ephesians 5:1-2 – Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.