Day 437: False preachers! – Jeremiah 23 vs 9 -22

9-11 Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me, and all my bones tremble. I have become like a drunkard, like a man overcome by wine, because of the Lord, because of his holy words. For the land is full of adulterers; the land mourns because of the curse, and the grazing lands in the wilderness have dried up. Their way of life has become evil and their power is not rightly used because both prophet and priest are ungodly. Even in my house I have found their evil. This is the Lord’s declaration. 12 Therefore, their way will seem like slippery paths in the gloom. They will be driven away and fall down there, for I will bring disaster on them, the year of their punishment. This is the Lord’s declaration.

13 Among the prophets of Samaria I saw something disgusting: They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. 14 Among the prophets of Jerusalem also I saw a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, and none turns his back on evil. They are all like Sodom to me; Jerusalem’s residents are like Gomorrah. 15 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies says concerning the prophets: I am about to feed them wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.

16-17 This is what the Lord of Armies says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are deluding you. They speak visions from their own minds,  not from the Lord’s mouth.  They keep on saying to those who despise me, ‘The Lord has spoken: You will have peace.’ They have said to everyone who follows the stubbornness of his heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’” 18 For who has stood in the council of the Lord to see and hear his word? Who has paid attention to his word and obeyed? 19-20 Look, a storm from the Lord! Wrath has gone out, a whirling storm. It will whirl about the heads of the wicked. The Lord’s anger will not turn away until he has completely fulfilled the purposes of his heart. In time to come you will understand it clearly.

21-22 I did not send out these prophets, yet they ran. I did not speak to them yet they prophesied. If they had really stood in my council, they would have enabled my people to hear my words and would have turned them from their evil ways and their evil deeds. Jeremiah 23:9-22 From the Christian Standard Bible

Jeremiah was left reeling like a punch drunk boxer by what God said to him about the state of the nation and behaviour of the prophets and priests. (vs 9-11) Adultery was abounding (probably in a physical as well as a spiritual way) and the religious leaders were ungodly. What was the main guilt of the Northern Kingdom in vs 13, and the Southern Kingdom (Judah) in vs 14?

To serve Baal was like serving Satan. And for prophets to 'strengthen the hand of evildoers' is to damn their followers to hell. We see how they were doing that in vs 16-17. They passed on as God's truth the fanciful imaginations of their own minds. They were like so many religious scholars and mega-Church pastors today who twist what the Bible teaches and substitute their own human 'wisdom'. They preach peace and prosperity instead of repentance and taking up a cross. What do vs 21-22 say about all false preachers – and what the evidence of a true prophet and preacher would be?

The result of all this was that God's judgment was not only coming upon the land, but it was justified! He had already struck them with famine (vs 9-11) but a whirling storm of His wrath was still to come! (vs 19-20). Some might say, well, that was all to do with Israel and is far in the past. Yes that is true – but the apostle Paul also wrote to Christians saying: “Don’t grumble as some of the Israelites did, and were destroyed by the angel of death. These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age. If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall ” (1 Corinthians 10:10-12) We need to take care who we listen to as there are many false prophets and teachers in the world today.