An Appalling and Horrible Thing

I am reading in Jeremiah 4-5 about God’s people in Jeremiah’s day who were largely living in rebellion against the Lord. They were foolish people who were ‘wise’ in doing evil, who did not do good. They were those who swore falsely of faith in God, who gave lip service only to the Lord. But they refused to take correction, and they made their faces harder than rock, and they refused to repent. Many professers of Christ today are like them.

They and their children had forsaken the Lord and they had sworn by false gods, and they committed spiritual adultery against the Lord, which often included sexual immorality, too. And they were utterly treacherous to God, and they had no fear of God, and they were stubborn, and they spoke falsely of the Lord, saying that “He will do nothing; no disaster will come upon us.” But that was a lie being told by the false prophets, same as today.

Jeremiah 5:26-28,30-31 ESV

“For wicked men are found among my people;

    they lurk like fowlers lying in wait.

They set a trap;

    they catch men.

Like a cage full of birds,

    their houses are full of deceit;

therefore they have become great and rich;

    they have grown fat and sleek.”

“An appalling and horrible thing

    has happened in the land:

the prophets prophesy falsely,

    and the priests rule at their direction;

my people love to have it so,

    but what will you do when the end comes?”

It is true that there are wicked people among the people of God who are laying traps to catch the people in their deceitful scheming. They are charlatans, and they are wolves in sheep’s clothing who are teaching lies to the people disguised as truth. And one of the big methods they use for telling their lies is the method of misimpressions (indirect lies). For those lies are hard to point out and to prove, and they are extremely deceptive.

Now many of these men are people of renown in the Christian community. They are very popular preachers among the people and they have large followings. And people are flocking to them by the thousands because of their “feel-good” messages. And many of them are very wealthy. One of the primary ones is Joel Osteen who doesn’t even come close to teaching the gospel of Christ but who is a charmer, a manipulator, and one who tells people what they want to hear to make them feel good, lies included.

But he isn’t the only one, for there are many of them, just not all of them are as obvious as he is. Many of these preachers are very clever at blending lies in with the truth in a way to where the lies aren’t easily discerned. And this is why we must be people of discernment who can see and reject and speak against the lies so that the people will not fall into their traps, and so that they will not be led astray to what is false.

And the sad reality of it all is what this states, that the people who claim Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives largely do love to have it so. They want the feel-good messages, and they want things that are only going to make them feel good, and they don’t want to hear anything they consider to be negative, but they want to only hear what is positive. But then we would have to avoid most of the Scriptures.

For all throughout the New Testament we are instructed in the ways of the Lord to die with Christ to sin and to walk in obedience to his commands and to live godly and holy lives for the glory of God. And all the promises of God have conditions, so we should not share those promises absent of those conditions or we might be lying to people. And we have to tell people that if they don’t meet those conditions that the promises are not for them.

And we have to tell the people that if they do not die to sin and live to God and to his righteousness, and if they do not obey the Lord, in practice, but they continue in deliberate and habitual sin, that they don’t have salvation from sin, and they don’t know God, and they are not in fellowship with God, and they are not born of God, but they are of the devil, and they will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what they profess with their lips.

For if we don’t tell them that, and we leave them with the impression that they can profess faith in Christ but then live however they want, then we are lying to them, and those lies, if they believe them, will send them to hell and not to heaven. So if we lie to make people feel good, who are we doing that for? It isn’t for them, and it isn’t for God, and it isn’t for their salvation. It is selfish, because we want them to like us.

So we need to be people of God who are willing to give up our lives and to give up being liked by people in order to tell them the truth in a day and time when telling people the truth is regarded as bad, and while lying to them is considered good. But feel-good messages are not going to get you into heaven. What the people need to hear is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, which includes the good and the bad. For it is the truth which will set them free, not the lies. Too many people are telling lies.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Video Talk

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My Heart’s Desire  

An Original Work / June 29, 2013

Based off Rm. 10; Lu. 9:23-26; Ep. 4:20-24

Loved Ones, Oh, my heart’s desire

Is that you might come to Jesus.

Many appear zealous for God,

But they do not trust in Him.

They have not submitted to the One

Who saved them from their sins;

Not forsaken their sins,

Nor have they obeyed their King.

The word of the Lord is near you:

The word of faith we’re proclaiming:

That you must confess your faith

In Jesus as your Lord and King:

Believe in Him as your Lord, 

And follow Him where’er He leads.

Share the gospel; be a witness,

And meet others’ needs.

Beautiful are the feet of those

Who bring the good news of Jesus:

Anyone who would come to Him

Must deny himself today;

Die to sin and self, and

Let the Spirit transform you in heart;

Put on your new self in Jesus,

Yielding to the cross. 

https://vimeo.com/115643303