The Man of God and the Old Prophet

             I have been reading through the Bible thanks to my wonderful Bible App on the iphone.  I challenged myself to quadruple the readings so (according to my calculations) I should be able to read through the Bible in 3 months instead of 1 year.  I began reading the end of August and should finish sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I have so far read 44% of the Bible, something I am very proud of right now!

             As I have read, I have discovered quite a few stories that I don't ever remember reading before (even though I KNOW that I have had to have read them sometime- at least in seminary).  For instance, the story of The Man of God and the Old Prophet found in 1 Kings 13.  Below is the synopsis that I gave Drew of the story last night:   

             There once was a Man of God from Judah who went to Bethel and spoke against Jeroboam's altar there.  He told Jeroboam that the altar would form a huge crack because of all the bad things Jeroboam had done.  When Jeroboam heard this, he shouted to seize the Man of God, but God caused Jeroboam's hand to become paralyzed.  Then, the altar had a large crack in it, just as the Man of God had prophesied would happen. Jeroboam said "Please restore my hand" so God did.  Then Jeroboam asked the Man of God if he would like to come to the palace and eat with him, but the Man of God said, "No, God has told me not to eat or drink anything as long as I am in this place."  So, the Man of God left.  On his way home, but while still in Bethel, he ran into an Old Prophet.  The Old Prophet asked the Man of God if he would like to go home with him and eat.  The Man of God said, "No, I am not suppose to eat or drink anything while I am here for God has told me not to."  Then the Old Prophet said, "I am a prophet too and God told me it was okay for you to come to my house and eat."  But, he was lying.  The Man of God said, "Okay" and went to the Old Prophet's house and ate.   While they were eating the Lord told the Man of God, "I told you not to eat anything while you were here!  Now when you die you will not be buried in your home land."  So, the Man of God left but on his way home he was attacked by a lion and died.  His body lay on the side of the road with the lion and his donkey standing beside it until the Old Prophet came, got the Man of God, and took him and buried him.  And, the Old Prophet felt really, really bad.   

            Drew asked, "So, what's the moral of the story?" To which I responded, "Do what God tells you to and not what someone else says that God told them to tell you to do."  Pretty good story, I think.