“Both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in my house I have found their evil, declares the Lord. Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery paths in the darkness, into which they shall be driven and fall, for I will bring disaster upon them in the year of their punishment, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 23:11–12, ESV)
One of the things that my dad loved was fishing. We would often go on surf fishing expeditions with my dad and some of his work buddies. On one such trip we went to fish in the Chesapeake Bay. I forget the name of the place that we chose, but when we arrived it was a foggy morning. The air was so dense that we could not see where the water was.
Then a couple guys showed up to do some fishing. We watched as they took a coil of rope, tied it to a tree and threw it off the side of the road. They took their gear and, using the rope, maneuvered their way down a steep incline to the bay below the road.
My dad asked them if we could use their rope also and they agreed. So, we all shimmied down the rope to the bottom, about 50 to 100 feet below. All was going great, but one of my dad’s friends arrived late. By then the fog had cleared and he yelled down to my dad, “Hey Hank, how do I get down?” I guess he expected to find some stairs or something. My dad told him to use the rope.
He went over to the rope and decided that he could negotiate the slope without it. As he began, he shouted down to my dad, “Hey Hank, I don’t think we need the
R-R-O-O–P-P-E-E!” This was followed by a large sound of a splat as he hit the bottom. Fortunately, he was not hurt. Yet the image of him sliding on his back side in perfect pike position, while miraculously missing every tree on the wooden slope is one that I will never forget. We had a huge laugh at his expense that day, which made up for the lack of fish.
What is the point of this story? It is that a failure to do specifically and accurately what the Lord our God requires is a slippery slope with a disastrous end. This is what we see in this passage. For the prophets and priests of Israel who were lying to the people. This was a great evil as we see further in the Lord’s words.
Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’” (Jeremiah 23:16–17, ESV)
The only prophet that was telling the truth from God at that time was Jeremiah.
We have many false prophets today. They are in the world and unfortunately, we also see them in the church. What is their message? They bring hopes of prosperity by following that which is contrary to the word of God. In the church it is the misapplication of God’s word. It is the compromising of moral virtues clearly presented in the Scriptures.
There is a movement by many in our educational system, medial, and others that say man is the sole determiner of right and wrong and that religion and in particular evangelical conservative Christianity takes away one’s freedom. The is a certain animosity against conservative Christian values.
As a result, churches are progressively adopting departures from parts of God’s word, to the point that people are denying biblical inspiration. This is a slippery slope that weakens the church and ultimately will undermine the reliability of the Bible and the message of the gospel. After all, if some parts of the Bible are not authoritative, what else can be trusted?
Moreover, this has an effect on society as a whole. We will see continued division in our society and moral decline. The results are devastating, an increase in suicide rates, murders, drug deaths, etc.
Furthermore, the end of this will be seen in the great judgment to come. When it is too late, people will see the error of their ways and discover their destiny of eternal punishment.
What can we the true church do today? We must spend more time in prayer for a confused and deceived world who are listening to the false voices of our age. This is a spiritual deception instituted by the devil, designed to drag people to hell.
So, we must pray, but also demonstrate the true joy and freedom of the Christian life through Spirit filled living. We must not use our freedom for licentious living, but rather learn to live by the Spirit, and display the fruit of the Spirit in daily life. And we must praise the Lord our God for saving us and leading us in a glorious path.
Renewing the Heart 