"Speak to Us Smooth Things"

“Then they said, ‘Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.’

 

“Hear me, O Lord,

    and listen to the voice of my adversaries.

Should good be repaid with evil?

    Yet they have dug a pit for my life.

Remember how I stood before you

    to speak good for them,

    to turn away your wrath from them.” (Jeremiah 18:18-20 ESV)

 

“For they are a rebellious people,

    lying children,

children unwilling to hear

    the instruction of the Lord;

who say to the seers, ‘Do not see,’

    and to the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy to us what is right;

speak to us smooth things,

    prophesy illusions,

leave the way, turn aside from the path,

    let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.’” (Isaiah 30:9-11 ESV)

 

Times really haven’t changed all that much. What they said to the prophets of old they will say to us who speak the truth of the Scriptures to the people today. Especially in today’s world here in America, which has infiltrated the American church, at large, we are going to hear more and more people tell us to stop sharing the stuff that people don’t want to hear and to speak to the people what makes them feel good, whether or not it is the truth.

 

But so much of what they are sharing are Scriptures being taught outside of their appropriate context, and thus they are being applied in ways which are not biblical. For even all of God’s promises in the New Testament to his people have conditions that must be met for those promises to be fulfilled. So if we tell the people the promises, as though they apply to them, when they do not, we are lying to them, and lies are never kind, but they destroy!

 

But don’t be surprised if you are teaching what the Scriptures teach, in context, if you have others who profess faith in Jesus Christ oppose you and speak out against you and what you are doing. Don’t be surprised if they try to talk you out of teaching the fulness of the Scriptures and if they try to convince you to dilute and to alter the Scriptures to make them more appealing and appeasing to human flesh and to the ungodly of the world.

 

For so many people today who profess faith in Jesus Christ are unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord, for it makes them uncomfortable. And so they will say to those who are teaching the Scriptures, in their fulness, the same kinds of things that were said to the prophets of old. They will want us to stop speaking what is right, and they will want us to speak to them “smooth things” and “illusions” that make them feel good.

 

They will want us to leave the way of the truth and the way of righteousness and to teach the broad road as the road leading to heaven and to life eternal rather than us teaching the narrow (restricted) road as the only path to life with God. For they are listening to these teachers who are telling them that the truth is “negative” and the lies (half-truths) are “positive,” and that we need to be less negative (or not negative) and more (or only) positive.

 

But they have “negative” and “positive” flip-flopped. For it is positive to tell people the truth that they need to hear, if spoken in love, and it is negative to dilute the truth to make it less offensive to people and thus to lie to them and to give them a false hope of salvation from sin and of eternal life with God based in a deliberate half-truth (lie). Lies may feel good in this life, but they won’t feel good when Jesus says, “Depart from me, I never knew you!”

 

So, if we are followers of Jesus Christ, we need to keep speaking the truth of the Scriptures, in context, and not be those who alter the truth to make people feel good. Jesus never altered the truth to make people feel good about themselves. In fact, many who had followed him ceased to follow him for they found his teachings to be too hard to listen to. And most everyone called for his crucifixion, even though he had only done good to them.

 

So, don’t be surprised if, when you are teaching the truth, that you are not well liked, and if people pull away from you and don’t listen to you and don’t want to hear what you are saying, and if they try to convince you to change what you are teaching to make it more acceptable to human flesh. For that is how they treated the prophets of old, and that is how they treated Jesus, and that is how they treated the NT apostles. But remain faithful to God!

 

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

 

All Through the Night 

 

An Original Work / December 7, 2013

Based off Various Scriptures

 

Blessed are you when you’re persecuted

Because of your faith in Jesus Christ.

Blessed are you when people insult you,

And falsely say what leads folks to doubt.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is

Great in the heavens. You’re not alone.

 

When you are persecuted in one place,

Flee to another. God will be there.

You will be hated by all the nations

Because you testify of God’s grace.

Many will seize you and persecute you,

And put to death the foll’wers of Christ.

 

Yet do not fear what humans may do to you,

For I’m with you all through the night.

I tell you, love your enemies with my love,

And forgive as I forgave you.

Pray for those who do evil against you.

Rest in my love and grace from above.

 

https://vimeo.com/379481617