It has never been easy to be a prophet. Prophets speak for God. Since the things God would say to us, if we gave God a chance, are often not things we would want to hear, true prophets of the Lord have never been very popular.

A soldier was trying to get a check cashed in the small town near the base to which he had been assigned.

"I'm sorry," said the merchant who was waiting on him, "but I can't cash your check without some kind of identification. Haven't you got any friends at the base who could vouch for you?"

"Not me," the soldier answered. "I'm the camp's bugler."

I can understand that. We wouldn't look too favorably on one who rousts us out of bed at an ungodly hour each day.

The prophets were buglers for God. Sometimes they were not too popular either. Two themes dominate the …