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Sandra Miller

Jeremiah 21:6-10 NASB
6 "I will also strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great pestilence.

7 "Then afterwards," declares the LORD, "I will give over Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people, even those who survive in this city from the pestilence, the sword and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their foes and into the hand of those who seek their lives; and he will strike them down with the edge of the sword He will not spare them nor have pity nor compassion."'

8 "You shall also say to this people, 'Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

9 "He who dwells in this city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence; but he who goes out and falls away to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live, and he will have his own life as booty.

10 "For I have set My face against this city for harm and not for good," declares the LORD "It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon and he will burn it with fire."'

COMMENT:
I went back and read chapter 21 and these verses begged to be meditated upon.

Judgement is coming. God tells them to do what naturally they would rebel in doing: go with the Chaldeans - you will save your skin.

In the midst of all this judgement, God had a plan; he was not going to allow anything, anybody go to waste. (It appears that when people refuse to repent, he will rid the place of them.) Daniel and his friends were carried away to Babylon. We know how God used Daniel to teach the Babylonian kings. Awesome stores of God's power, might, mercy and LOVE for arrogant kings.

When we see judgement upon a people, how do we respond? Can we see this as an opportunity for God to show his mercy and love that would not have been possible when things go well? or, how about us? are we as God conscious when things go well as we are when tribulations stalk us? For some reason I learn more about the mercy, grace of God during difficult times ...

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Sandra Miller

Jeremiah 23:14-22 NASB
14 Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing:
The committing of adultery and walking in falsehood;
And they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
So that no one has turned back from his wickedness
All of them have become to Me like Sodom,
And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

15 "Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets,
'Behold, I am going to feed them wormwood
And make them drink poisonous water,
For from the prophets of Jerusalem
Pollution has gone forth into all the land.'"

16 Thus says the LORD of hosts,
" Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you
They are leading you into futility;
They speak a vision of their own imagination,
Not from the mouth of the LORD.

17 "They keep saying to those who despise Me,
'The LORD has said, "You will have peace"';
And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart,
They say, 'Calamity will not come upon you.'

18 "But who has stood in the council of the LORD,
That he should see and hear His word?
Who has given heed to His word and listened?

19 "Behold, the storm of the LORD has gone forth in wrath,
Even a whirling tempest;
It will swirl down on the head of the wicked.

20 "The anger of the LORD will not turn back
Until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart;
In the last days you will clearly understand it.

21 "I did not send these prophets,
But they ran.
I did not speak to them,
But they prophesied.

22 "But if they had stood in My council,
Then they would have announced My words to My people,
And would have turned them back from their evil way
And from the evil of their deeds.

COMMENT:
I find the description of false prophets in this chapter fascinating. Once again proving that human nature has not changed. AND neither has the devils methods of working changed any...maybe this is the greater principle one needs to be aware of.

The besetting sin these false prophets were engaged in was adultery. AND lying...

Ever notice how one sin cannot exist in isolation in a person? James 2:10: "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." The older I get the more I am observing this principle at work.

So they were involved in adultery.

And they were lying. What were they saying?
1. They were relating visions from their own imagination.
2. They were preaching 'peace'.
3. Calamity will not come upon you. (Soft-peddling the consequences of sin?)

In Jer. 23:22 NASB the LORD indicates that if these men had been faithful the people would have been, too.

Reckon this is still true today?

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Sandra Miller

Jeremiah 23:29-32 NASB
29 "Is not My word like fire?" declares the LORD, "and like a hammer which shatters a rock?

30 "Therefore behold, I am against the prophets," declares the LORD, "who steal My words from each other.

31 "Behold, I am against the prophets," declares the LORD, "who use their tongues and declare, 'The Lord declares.'

32 "Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams," declares the LORD, "and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit," declares the LORD.

COMMENT:

When I read v. 30, I was a bit taken back. God is against those who steal God's words from another prophet. hmmm...interesting. Profound. Far-reaching implications...

He goes on to say how the false prophets' prophesied false dreams, related them with falsehoods, boasted about them, thus leading people astray.

Dreams, visions and using God's word from others to enhance their 'ministry'....what a lethal combination...

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Sandra Miller

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Matthew Guldner

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Sandra Miller

Hum good question Maybe there were some of the prophets that would misquote Jeremiah in hopes of crying Peace, Peace yet ignoring the rest of Jeremiah's pleas for repentance. Like half quoting Jeremiah stealing only the words of peace from Jeremiah for Support from the masses to make a gain from the people.

As a youth pastor I remember going through the schooling and found that there were some very Godly men that did infact write some of the material while me being a lost Pharisee taking these words and repeating them with no actual life style to back them up nor understanding to what it meant.

Yet again there are many in the Christian realm that enjoy quoting only the promises of God but ignore heavily the conditions of those promises. My wife and I talked about this tonight and she was shocked at the fact that people read one verse and just love quoting only the encourage one that requires nothing of them unless of course they would take the time to read the next verse. :)

All in all Satan and his children will always attempt to be angels of light at all cost. I am so thankful God adopted me into His family :)

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Matthew Guldner

ginnyrose wrote:

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Sandra Miller

Ginny, the very minimum someone teaching the word should do is study to show himself approved unto "GOD." I would have been rattled too. Your not alone sister.

It is worth considering though that a prophet did not just "teach" like a bible teacher does, but rather he spoke "The word of the Lord." The Lord was very particular and targeted in whom he chose to utter this particular sort of heavenly exhortation. The words a prophet spoke were targeted, precise, and far more direct than most modern preaching. Whether this is God's best intention, I do not know, but I do know that the word needs to be preached in faith, and needs to be received in faith. I suspect if any preacher in the American Church today got behind a pulpit and started saying things like his congregation was going to have fishhooks embedded into their flesh the next week by terrorists, and they were going to be lead to Baghdad with those fishhooks by foot except across the Atlantic, where they would be whipped as they rowed across the drink, at the very least the pews would probably be empty the next week.

To steal the words of a prophet would be more to credit oneself with the Godly wisdom and prophetic stature of God's mouthpiece.

I think it is total weak-sauce when someone just preaches another mans message, but it is not always the same as stealing the words of a prophet, unless of course the teacher uses the words of another man in such a fashion as to posture himself with accreditation for that other mans ideas...then I would say it is dishonest. Although I was recently preaching and wanted to puke my guts out the next day because I intended to quote someone whom had helped me understand something from the word but right as I was paraphrasing his encouragement, I looked up and my time was up for the evening so I failed to mention and give credit. I learned a valuable lesson to watch the clock more consistently when I have been given a time limit, and make sure that I do not fail in this area again by the grace of God...I felt it was a sin on my part.

As a matter of fact, it was this exact tendency I saw in others and myself even more so that finally drove me to my knees before the word of God a few years ago to seek truth directly from Him rather than through the lens of other men's philosophies and systematic theologies, and traditions, and my resulting preconceived notions. Jesus spoke with the most authority ever a man spoke, because every word he uttered was a word that his Father told him to say...

So as I look at Christ, I am shamed to ever even utter a word about God before men. Jesus is the standard for preaching, no one else. He was the standard for preaching as a demonstration of the Power of the Spirit.

The best preaching is always done when a man gets deeply alone with God, and allows whatever he is going to preach to be a reality in his own life first.

However, if Christ is being preached...we ought still praise God, knowing that the word is what is powerful.

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Jeremiah Dusenberry