David Pawson looks at the messages of these so-called "minor prophets" and says: I do not like that term. To God all prophets are important, whether they speak a little or a lot. Even if God only gave you three words for somebody else, that is prophecy. You don't need to do it at length for fifty years as some prophets did. There are some prophets in the Old Testament who only speak once, and then, as far as we know, they disappear; but they have given a message from God. This is all a prophet is: someone who has heard a message and passes it on to the right people. It is such a simple ministry. You don't need to be theologically educated; you don't need to be a public speaker. In fact, God seems to entrust this ministry to those who don't have a gift of oratory. It is exciting to hear ordinary folk, who would never be able to get up into a pulpit and preach a sermon, hear from God and pass on a word from him