2013 The Year Of...?

She stood there motionlessly staring into his eyes as he tried to convince her that this is her year to get married. The other year she was told that because the year ends with the number “nine” she will get married because nine is the number of greatness and reproduction. She didn't get married.

The other year she was told that the number ten means multiplication and that the Lord would multiply her, meaning she will get married. Then in 2011, she was told that it is the year of faithfulness because there were eleven faithful Disciples of Christ and that God would be faithful to her and give her a husband.

It never worked. She told him in the face that she does not believe any of his declarations any more. He called her a doubter and declared that she won't succeed in life because of her unbelief.

As the year 2012 is coming to a close, you should brace up for numerological declaration and meanings of the next one. Our men of God try to out do each other in deciphering the meaning behind each number.

Sometimes they head in the opposite direction; sometimes they hit the same touchline. The irony is that all of them claim that they have just had an audience with the Holy One of Israel, and that it is Him that has just told them to tell us what they are telling us. If you don't believe me just watch your televisions.

Last year another man of God said the Lord had told him it is the year of debt cancellation and that all our creditors are going to cancel all our debts. It never happened. The other one said it is the “Year of open doors” and that we should not bother to knock on any door of opportunity because God shall supernaturally open doors for us.

He declared that employment will find us in the comfort of our homes. I am still looking for a job. Another one also said it is the Year of Divine completion that all the building projects we have started will somehow be completed without any effort on our part. My friend's house is still on window level.

Should we still believe in these declarations? Are these declarations prophetical or numerological? Is it God who sends them? If He does, then why do they differ? And why are the declarations not fulfilled? If there are some conditions attached, why are they not made known to the people?

I greatly sympathise with the disappointed people whose hopes were raised by a prophetic declaration based on the number of the year. As we preach and teach the word, do we have a Biblical precedence that the numbers meant something in the Bible? Is it Theological or Biblical to interpret the meaning of the number?

May be we need to be reminded that we follow the Roman calendar which is different from the Biblical or Hebrew calendar by at least three thousand years. While I believe in the God who knows the future and declares the end from the beginning, I am totally against taking advantage of people's plight and playing a numerical game with their minds.

The Lord can not give a general word for a five thousand jam packed audience in an auditorium. Different people have different problems and they come from different places.

As I sit at the back of the church, I am wondering as to whether the annual declarations come from God or are simply mental concoctions. Should we study Scriptures or Numerology?