Matthew 7

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.

Is it possible to recognise a false prophet? On the one hand they look like a sheep, all white and furry and a bit stupid – and yet on the inside they are nasty pieces of work. In an age of pastiche and simulacra, where all meaning surfaces, do hypocrites exist?

Salman Rushdie, of Satanic Verses fame, wrote a piece on ‘ugly language with uglier consequences’ (http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/ugly-phrase-conceals-an-uglier-
truth/2006/01/09/1136771496819.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1). It’s not the most eloquent piece of writing, and I have to say I don’t think ‘ugly-ness’ is an adequate term to describe what is going on. Yet in general Rushdie is spot on. The invention of language is a wonderful and terrible thing. Good poetry and metaphoric relationships can trigger those old synapses in startling ways – unveiling a new slant on reality. ‘Weasel words’, ‘corporate speak’ and military propaganda numb our minds and our senses tricking us into believing the easy connotations rather than the scarier meaning. The thing about it is, this kind of language is not ‘false’. If it were it would be so much more easy to deal with. When the Pentagon talks about ‘mortality response’ they are talking about killing people, but because they use the word ‘response’ they can, if we are lazy, shift the discussion to that which they are responding to. And so the conversation is always about ‘them’ and what ‘they did’ instead of about ‘us’ and ‘our culpability’.

The thing about wolves in sheep’s clothing is that it is only laziness or wilfulness that allows us to ‘buy the lie’. The only reason a conjurer’s tricks work is that the audience wants to believe in magic. I know I want to all the time. But perhaps I should be believing in the world of God’s reality – where an allegiance to the prince of peace means that the lies of war can never take hold. Living in Australia, the 50-something-est state of the US of A, this seems more immediately necessary than ever.

On a different tack, I have a confession to make – which I hope will be absolved. I have now a mobile phone. I know I am a bit of a tech-head but I have never been a gadget-man like some of my friends. But starting chaplaincy this year has meant getting a mobile. I now have a Treo which is a glorified diary and ebook reader as well – so I guess there might be some kind of justification for it; or maybe not. I just hope I don’t lose the infernal thing...