The Church Series - Part Eight - If They Had Stood in My Council
Writer Author Sylvia Huffnagle
Christian Article
:
Church
- Fiction No
Jer: 23: 6: Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. 17: They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.
(This article is not meant to criticize or condemn, but I need to address the issue that God had Jeremiah address in Jeremiah 23 and 24. I believe the church needs to hear and heed this message.
How has the church told those that despise God that they shall have peace and that no evil that is harm will befall them? Well, first let us establish who this group is that despises God. They are church-goers who walk after the imaginations of their own heart. This is done by handling situations the way they feel like doing or the way they think they should handle them instead of heeding the written word on how to handle things.
Another way this group of people tell God they despise Him is to go on living as they did before or as the world does when the Bible clearly tells Christians to come out of the world and it also tell them how they should be different from the world.
Another way they walk after their own stubborn hearts or imaginations is to deliberately be ignorant of biblical instructions such as protecting their hearts and/or putting on the full armor of God so that they can withstand the wiles of the devil. Do they have their loins girt about with the Truth--what the Bible teaches? Do they use the sword of the Spirit against the enemy of their souls when he attacks their thought life? Do the use the shield of faith to combat temptation to believe what they see instead of what God has promised? I think these questions should be enough for you to get the point. This group that God says despise Him are the majority of church-goers. Let’s go on and see why the leaders are to blame.)
18: For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it? 19: Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. 20: The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. 21: I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 22: But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
(God says here that any preacher or teacher whose teaching makes the general congregation feel safe and secure when they are not following His instructions is preaching or teaching falsely. He goes on to say that if they had stood in His council, they would have taught and preached His message and the people would repent and do right.
What is the difference between the false teaching and the true teaching? The things that I am pointing out in this article are God’s council. Thus, God’s preachers are teaching and admonishing and cautioning people to follow the instruction in the Bible and are warning them of the consequences of not being a doer of the word. They elaborate on how to put on the full armor of God. They are not afraid of man. They do not worry about losing parishioners they are too busy worrying about losing souls to the enemy due to their neglect.)
23: Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? 24: Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. 25: I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. 26: How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; 27: Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. 28: The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.
(This segment talks about the prophet or teacher or preacher sharing his own take on things--his own perception of how the church is doing and what God is putting up with because of the blood, etc. I pray that these leaders will soon learn that God has already said in His word what he wants and how He feels about things. The passage I am elaborating on here is one of many passages that God intended to use to instruct the leaders and the people.)
29: Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 30: Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
(Yes, God’s words are like a fire, like a hammer, like a two-edged sword. God’s words are full of power to do whatever the passage is meant to do, whether that be to comfort, to encourage, to assure, or to rebuke. God’s words will do the job. Man’s words produce very little good fruit. God says here that He is against the leaders who speak out of their own understanding rather that to declare God’s word.
Earlier in Jeremiah 23, God describes what the true shepherds do.
Jer: 23: 1-4: 1: Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.2: Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.3: And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.4: And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.
(What do true shepherds do? They feed and nurture his people. They feed them rich green grass, they root out the thistles and poisonous plants, the keep the wild animals away from the flock, they minister the oil of the Holy Spirit to the sheep’s wounds, they pull them back from the edge of the cliff or pit, they gaurd the sheep. This is all done with God’s equipment, not theirs.)
Jer: 24: 1: The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. 2: One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. 3: Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. 4: Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 5: Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.
6: For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. 7: And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
(This is part of what God was doing when He gave us Jesus. The call to salvation includes a call to repent and be reconciled to God. When one responds to that call he or she is given a heart to please God. The new believers must be taught to follow their new heart rather than their old man or carnal nature. THIS IS A GIFT FROM GOD that He says right here will help the people walk in righteousness.)
8: And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt: 9: And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them. 10: And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.
( These verse 8-10 tell us what happens to people who have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. That group that despises God by continuing to do their own thing after they have promised to be His children)
© Sylvia Huffnagle
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