At the beginning of the book of Lamentations you get a glimpse of what these false prophets have brought about on Israel. This is a book of five poems that lament the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. and about the false prophets who contributed to the downfall Jeremiah says...
"Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading." Lam. 2:14
This is a timely reminder that what people want to hear is not always, (usually) what they need to hear (which goes for myself as well). What people need to hear can be painful but it also leads away from destruction (in this life and the next). "They have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes." The medicine the people of Israel needed was hard to swallow, but it would have led to repentance and restoration, but instead the prosperity preaching led to destruction.
This is really only a question that each pastor and leader can answer, because as we continue to see in books that sell like hot-cakes (how well do hot-cakes sell anyway?), it is easy to make generalizations about "the church in America", "evangelical churches", "emerging churches", etc. but that is relatively unhelpful at large because all of this starts in hearts of people. Do we as leaders and participants love God enough to faithfully and prophetically speak the Word of God into each others lives? Do we have the courage and...well, self-esteem to be able to speak hard words into each others lives and not just, "it will be well with you"?
3 comments:
I really enjoyed reading your post. I have had the same thoughts recently and have written about them. You may enjoy reading my latest post on my blog http://joeydavis.typepad.com . Listen to what the words are saying of the song that I posted and let me know what you think. Jason Upton is a real worshiper and speaks the Truth of the prophets of old. That is what I am hungry for, regardless of what has to be purged. I will add you to my blog, I enjoyed reading your post that much. Blessings.
Dustin - this is a good teaching series you've got here.
Are you learning this in school? Or did you come up with this yourself?
Keep it up.
Thanks guys.
B - i was currently reading through Jeremiah (and the rest of the prophets) for school, but this was just something that I was thinking while reading it.
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