A wicked thing has happened in the land. Prophets prophesy lies and priests obey them while the people love to listen to their lies. But what will you do at the end of it all. This is what Yahweh said to his people through Jeremiah so many centuries ago. Yet, I can hear him saying the same thing today.
Centuries Before Yahweh Spoke
Yahweh spoke these words to Israel because Israel didn’t fear him. They did not act with justice nor did they seek the truth. If they had he would have pardon them. He says,
“For among my people there are wicked men, who, like fowlers, lie in wait and set traps to catch their fellow human beings. Their houses are full of fraud as a cage full of birds. They grow rich and great, sleek and bloated; they excel in acts of wickedness but do not plead on behalf of the orphan, thus enabling his cause to succeed; nor do they judge in favor of the poor. The prophets prophesy lies, the cohanim (priests) obey the prophets, and my people love it that way. But what will you do at the end of it all?” (Jeremiah 5:26-28, 31 CJB)
Yahweh Elohim was not pleased with what his children were doing. It wasn’t just the children; it was the prophets and the priests also. These were the ones in charge of teaching the children right from wrong. Yet, how could they when they practiced just as much evil. Yahweh told Jeremiah to speak to the children of Israel. One of his responses to Yahweh was
“To whom should I speak? Whom should I warn? Who will listen to me? Their ears are dull. They can’t pay attention. For them the word of Adonai (Yahweh) has become unattractive, an object of scorn. This is why I am full of Adonai’s (Yahweh’s) fury; I am weary of holding it back.” (Jeremiah 6:10-11 CJB)
Yahweh tells him what’s going to happen to the Israel, while making this charge against them
“For from the least to the greatest of them, all are greedy for gains; prophets and cohanim (priests) alike, they all practice fraud – they dress the wound of my people, but only superficially, saying, ‘There is perfect shalom (peace),’ when there is no shalom (peace).” (Jeremiah 6:13-14 CJB)
Yahweh continues to tell Israel that they should be ashamed of their deeds, but they aren’t. They act like they are not doing anything wrong. They’re not in the least bit embarrassed either. They believe they are in the right and no one can tell them differently. After all, if the prophets and priests are doing it and nothing has happened to them, why should they worry?
Yahweh gives them a way out of their mess, but they refuse to listen to him. They don’t want to hear what he has to say. They want to continue to listen to the prophets and priests who are lying to them. He says,
“Stand at the crossroads, and look; ask about the ancient paths ‘Which one is the good way?’ Take it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not take it.’ I appointed sentinels to direct them: ‘Listen for the sound of the shofar.’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’ So hear, you nations; know, you assembly, what there is against them. Hear, oh earth! I am going to bring disaster on this people; it is the consequence of their own way of thinking; for they pay no attention to my words; and as for my Torah, they reject it. What do I care about incense from Sh’va (Sheba) or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are unacceptable; your sacrifices don’t please me.” (Jeremiah 6:16-20 CJB)
Yahweh was not pleased with Israel’s shallow worship, paying tribute to him with their mouths while their hearts were far from him. Their harden hearts and foolish ways could only give them bondage at best and total destruction at worst. That was not Yahweh’s plan for them. He wanted them to live and have an abundant life in him.
His abundant life provided everything needed and wanted without doing anything wrong to get it. There were no repercussions, no repossessions, no debt, no foreclosures, no jail time, no law suits, and no worries.
Today the Prophets Still Lie
The children of Israel wanted things their way on their time just like we do today. Time may have passed by, but nothing has really changed. The people changed. The scenery changed, but the hearts of humans toward their maker has not changed. We still have itching ears. We still prefer to listen to prophets and pastors instead of Yahweh. We still refuse to believe he means what he says and says what he means. We still want what we want when we want it and then lie on God and say he blessed us. (See note below.)
The church is full of sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. It’s a bunch of foolishness. Saints are running to get a word from the latest prophet. They want to know if the God of all creation is going to give them a new car, a huge home, millions of dollars to put into their bank accounts, a new spouse, a better job, and anything else their flesh desires.
Saints believe what the prophets say even though they know they are living a way contrary to the word of God. They go out to car lots and lay hands on a car they desire, knowing their income doesn’t allow for that particular car. But the prophet said and they have faith so it is so. Then ten months down the road the car is repossessed. They buy a larger house because the prophet said God said they could, even though they don’t even take care of the house they have already.
The scriptures tell us that we can’t be rulers over much if we have not done right by the little we do have charge over. He said we can be the lenders instead of the borrowers if we listen to him and do his commandments. He told us that the borrower is a slave to the lender. When we borrow too much we began to serve money and not God. He tells us we can’t serve him and money. We have to work to pay the bills for all of those “blessings” God has bestowed upon us. If we lose our jobs we lose our stuff.
How are we honoring God if we have borrowed (financed) more than we can pay? How are we serving God when our minds and hearts are always on our finances? Is this bill going to get paid? Is that bill going to get paid? God said when he blesses he adds no sorrow to it. How much sorrow do you have with your stuff?
How many times do the prophets tell us to come back to God with our whole hearts? How many tell us God is not pleased with our lifestyles? How many tell us the truth in spite of…? You fill in the blank.
We Worship Man and Not Yahweh
We the Saints listen to our pastors more than we listen to our God. We give more honor to our pastors than to the living God. We are literally afraid of our pastors and not afraid of the God of all creation.
I remember standing in the aisle at church one day with a bunch of women talking about some men. We were talking about how fine they looked and what type of bodies they had. One lady said, “Here comes Pastor.” The rest of the women got silent. When the pastor walked up to us he asked what we were talking about. Some of the women tried to clean up the conversation. I turned to him and said, “We were talking about how these men looked and how good their bodies were.” I showed him the pictures we were looking at.
He looked at me, made a comment concerning his lack of interest and walked away. The women were shocked that I would even say something like that to the pastor. I said, “First, I am not doing anything wrong. What you see is what you get. Second, he asked a question so I answered it. Third and most importantly, God is the only one I’m afraid of. Pastor didn’t see what I did last night. God did. Only God has a heaven or hell to put me in.”
There are many more examples I’ve seen throughout my church life – way too many to go into details here. The point is that we trust the pastor more than we trust God. We worship our pastors instead of our God. During worship service we are doing everything except worshipping God. The most popular thing we do now is text and post to Facebook during service.
We the pastor walks into the room we make a clearing for him to pass, but when Yahweh enters the sanctuary we don’t even bow down to him. If the pastor asked us to do something we jump at the opportunity as if it was an honor for him to ask us. If God tells us to do something, we question him, try to verify it with ten other people, and then forget he even spoke to us. We admire man more than we admire God.
Prophets Even Lie to Leaders
Leaders do whatever they want while the prophets give them the OK to go ahead and continue doing what they have been doing because the God of the universe is pleased with them. No one rebukes the child molester. No one rebukes the glory stealer. No one rebukes the defrauder of the people’s money and time. No one rebukes the little god worship syndrome.
Leaders can do no wrong, at least until it becomes public. Then known leadership (leaders who have worldwide appeal with an opinion on everything) becomes silent. When they speak it is to tell everyone that they are just going to pray and suggest others do the same. When a woman of their flock is beaten openly no one has anything to say. All of a sudden the leadership gets silent. There is no stand against evil.
Pastors set themselves up as a god, even though they say don’t. They make sure any scripture that talks about leadership is ever before the people, while the commandments of Yahweh fall by the wayside. They indoctrinate us with their interpretations of the scriptures of how we are suppose to treat them, but they leave out the parts that says how they are suppose to act and treat us. They forget they will be held accountable for every person they take into their fold.
Pastors and/or their leaders make comments such as “The Pastor is not to be questioned. He is the man of God and hears from God to direct us” or “You belong to this house and shouldn’t be visiting other churches without my (the Pastor’s) permission.”
We are taught to serve them and use our talents to further the “Kingdom of God.” If we get burned out something is wrong with us and we are not allowing God to do the work through us. Besides, we are soldiers and soldiers continue on in spite of. We are taught to be in the “house of God” whenever the church doors are open. If we aren’t then we don’t take God seriously.
I can tell you Yahweh Elohim is not pleased with such things. Yet, with great regret I echo the words of Jeremiah the Prophet,
“To whom should I speak? Whom should I warn? Who will listen to me? Their ears are dull. They can’t pay attention. For them the word of Adonai (Yahweh) has become unattractive, an object of scorn. This is why I am full of Adonai’s (Yahweh’s) fury; I am weary of holding it back.” (Jeremiah 6:10-11 CJB)
Wake Up
Wake up Saints and hear the sound of the shofar (trumpet). Listen to our God, Yahweh Elohim and let him direct your footsteps. Listen and obey. If you don’t, what will you do when it is all said and done? What will you say to our Father who is heaven? What explanation can you give him that will explain how you loved man and money more than you loved him? And finally, who will you be able to turn to when it’s all said and done?
Prayer Time
Our Heavenly Father, who is in heaven,
Open our eyes so we can see. Open our ears so we can hear. Open up our understanding so we can walk in your ways, biblical ways, ancient ways, and not man’s ways.
In Yeshua the Messiah’s name, Amen.
Notes
When I use the term “we” I am referring to the whole religious body who claim the name of Yahweh (Jehovah) as the God of all gods. I am in no wise saying every believer that names Yeshua (Jesus) as the Messiah (Savior) is doing wrong. I am saying we are responsible for one another. That may mean telling the truth when it hurts, loving in spite of, helping one who has fallen, encouraging another who needs it, and any other thing that builds up his people. We is used as a general term because we are in this together.
Scripture Reference
“From the least to the greatest, they trick others to get what does not belong to them. Yes, even my prophets and priests are like that! They offer superficial treatments for my people’s mortal wound.” (Jeremiah 6:13-14 NLT)
“So now the Lord says, ‘Stop right where you are! Look for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.’ But you reply, ‘No, that’s not the road we want!'” (Jeremiah 6:16 NLT)
“The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” (Proverbs 22:7 KJV)
“And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.” (Deuteronomy 28:1, 12 KJV)
“His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” (Matthew 25:23 KJV)