Who’s True and Who Isn’t?
The prophet Hananiah son of Azzur said to me in the temple of the Lord…”This is what the Lord of Armies the God of Israel, says: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two years I will restore to this place all the articles of the Lord’s temple…And I will restore to this place Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon — this is the Lord’s declaration….’ Jeremiah 28:1-4 csb
Have you ever heard the saying, “It sounds too good to be true”? I have, and what experience has taught me is that it usually isn’t as good as they claim. In Jeremiah's day, some people rose amongst the people claiming to have a message from God. They would speak in a language that sounded so good, so inspirational but was false. The kings did not want to hear the truth of God’s judgment upon Judah and would hire these false prophets to give them good news that they wanted to hear. The people would hear it and get excited over these prophecies. You might say " What's wrong with that, people need to be encouraged!" The problem is that these men did not speak with God’s approval. They spoke from their authority. This is running rampant in our nation today Church.
In an article from Christianity Today it stated there were 113,000 recognized churches across the nation in 2012. Fast forward to 2020 there was an estimated 380,000 churches across the United States. One might say, hey thats a good thing the more the better! I would agree if they were all churches teaching sound doctrine of God’s Word. The fact is many of these “churches” are heretical like in Jeremiahs day. It’s overwhelming to consider that the vast majority are teaching from their own authority and not the Word of God. So how do we determine who is telling the truth, and who isn’t? Hananiah sounds legit, he sounds godly, how do you know he wasn’t telling the truth? The better question to ask is “What has God already spoken from His Word? God will not contradict His Word. Yet, this false teacher was contradicting Jeremiahs prophecies. Paul wrote to the church at Galatia this: “but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!” Gal. 1:6-9 csb.
There is only one Gospel of Jesus Christ and if that “Gospel” is lacking what God has already given us in His Word then it is false. A Gospel without the need for repentance of sin is a false gospel. A gospel without Jesus Christ and Him crucified and resurrected is a false gospel. A gospel with any additional works added is a false gospel. There is only one true Gospel of Jesus Christ. If anyone brings you anything new then it is not true, because the truth is not new! Measure everything presented to you by what the Holy Spirit has already spoken through His Word, no matter how inspirational it sounds. “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” 1 John 4:1 csb.
Agape, Pastor Frank
Our Daily Bread
“for what is straw compared to grain?” Jeremiah 23:28b csb
Over the past several years, I have become a bread maker. I always was scared of baking bread because of the precision of the ingredients. But when the lockdowns came, I thought I have nothing better to do with my time, so why not start learning? I began researching how to make sourdough starters, flours to use, and tools to purchase. When it came time for learning the method of making a loaf of bread, I was overwhelmed with how many different recipes and correct ways of proofing flour. Everyone's way was the best way of making a loaf of bread!
The same is true in life. There are many opinions about how someone should live their lives. In the time of Jeremiah, the same was true, many false prophets rose up and told the people they should listen to this teacher or this teaching. But all of these are ‘straw’ Jeremiah says. We aren’t horses we don’t eat straw we need bread. God had given them His Word which He called ‘grain’ so they didn’t have to search for truth, He gave it to them. What is man's opinion compared to God's Word? Bread is the stuff of life, and there is nothing quite like the smell of a freshly baked loaf of bread. There is nothing like the fresh manna of God's Word, it fills us up like nothing else. Jesus declared, “Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4 csb We don’t have to be overwhelmed by people's opinions and advice on how we should live, raise our families, and conduct our lives. God has given us His Word to feast on daily. They said, Sir, give us this bread always! Jesus told them, I Am the Bread of Life! John 6:34-35a csb Let us come to Jesus daily and receive our bread!
Agape Pastor Frank