Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit.
There’s an abundance of rhetoric in today’s world. It comes at us through many different voices on our televisions, computers, and other electronic media. We hear rhetoric of all kinds from the media and the politicians of our day, especially since we are approaching another election year. A lot of it sounds like they make it up as they go along, speaking things they don’t really believe or mean, in order to win favor with the voters and to be elected.
A sinister joke I heard once asked this question:
“How do you know if a politician is lying?”
Answer: “If his mouth is moving!”
Yet, most people have been conditioned to accept the world’s political rhetoric as ‘normal’ and their candidate’s veracity takes a back seat to individual bias.
Could the same be said of our “Happy Church” leaders?
Could the Church be so accustomed to a lukewarm, watered-down gospel, that the real message from the Lord for the hour is perceived as abrasive or even offensive?
“Thus saith the Lord God ; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!” Ezekiel 13:3 KJV
I get letter after letter saying; “Jim, you’re the only one preaching Revelation today. Keep up the good work!” Why don’t we hear the Revelation message preached when the days of Revelation are unfolding right before us, and any other message should be secondary?
All too often, it’s because preachers are afraid of being labeled “prophets of doom” and they bend and sway with the demands of the people.
Jeremiah had experienced this phenomenon when he had tried to warn the Israelites that they would be judged for their sin if they did not repent! His warnings were met with derision, but he prophesied anyway.
Jeremiah 23:33-36 says; “When one of the people or one of their ‘prophets’ or priests asks you, ‘Well, Jeremiah, what is the sad news from the Lord today?’ you shall reply, ‘What sad news? You are the sad news, for the Lord has cast you away!’ And as for the false prophets and priests and people who joke about ‘today’s sad news from God,’ I will punish them and their families for saying this. You can ask each other, ‘What is God’s message? What is he saying?’ But stop using this term, ‘God’s sad news.’ (or Prophets of doom!)
Warning others from the Word of God that these are indeed the Last Days is not a well-received message. Many people make fun of us for doing it. Others accuse us of some ulterior motive.
We are compelled to preach! You have to know which voice to listen to – and then you have to obey!
We must hear from God in this day we’re living in! Hearing from God often means shutting out the world and getting alone with Him and His Word to hear what He wants to say to us personally, and corporately.
The leaders of God’s Church must not be lax in seeking the message that is relevant for the day and hour at hand. It could mean life or death to the flock, spiritually speaking. “Feed my sheep!” was not a request, it was a mandate.
Feeding God’s sheep means to give them something that will nurture them. It means hours spent in the Word and prayer so that you know that you know you are feeding the Lord’s manna instead of giving them some regurgitated old dried up ear-tickling slop!
Going on-line an hour before church to get your sermon from someone else is not exactly hearing from God.
A serious follower of Jesus wants more, and they deserve more.
And the serious leader in God’s Church can, and does, feed the flock of God what they need to survive and thrive!
Jeremiah 23:29-32 says; “Does not my word burn like fire?” asks the Lord. “Is it not like a mighty hammer that smashed the rock to pieces? So I stand against these ‘prophets’ who get their messages from each other-these smooth-tongued ‘prophets’ who say, ‘This message is from God!’ Their made-up dreams are flagrant lies that lead my people into sin. I did not send them, and they have no message at all for my people,” says the Lord.
i am on a bible-in-a-year program and am reading in Jeremiah now. it occurred to me that Jeremiah and other prophets not only had an unpopular message but had to endur some bad times. they were not taken out of the stuation but had to go through it. further proof that you are right and there is no pre-tribulation rapture.
hi, Jim thought you should see this, we as Christians need to do more fighting for our rights,like these poor lost groups,
what next? Pray for America,!!!!!!!!
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/26/atheist-group-sues-over-prayers-at-high-school-football-games-that-include/
Dear Jim, You are so very right. Nothing gets me more steamed than those petty people who take it upon themselves to judge others. Judgement belongs to the Lord, only, and I trust in you Jim to deliver His message to His people. My goal is to obey the word of God, and God only, as interpreted by great men of Heaven such as yourself and your fellow blessed preachers of the Morningside Church. God bless you, Jim!
Dear Jim, i sometimes get down, when i try to warn my family to get right with God and how we are truely living in last days , they only have to look around the signs are everywhere. yet they look at me as i have lost my mind, or i am speaking a different language they dont understand. But i will keep telling them, becuase we who are chosen must sound the alarm. God bless !!
Keep praying Irene! God hears your prayers and he is faithful – remember that.
Jeremiah 23:36 NASB: “For you will no longer remember the oracle of the LORD, because every man’s own word will become the oracle, and you have perverted the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God”
This seems to be what is happening in the US today!
Jim, I live at the Lake of the Ozarks…what, if any vision do you have for the end times concerning this area? Years ago I had heard a prophetic work that it would be a place of healing that people would flock to…
I think it is strange the US is having SO MANY earthquakes in so many different areas where there are rarely earthquakes. To me it seems that GOD is mercifully trying to get peoples attention, that things are coming that WILL truly SHAKE our country more than ever before. Sadly, few are paying attention. Just as in the days of Noah, everything, everyone, continues on….
Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit.
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your message which I enjoyed reading.
I read Ezekiel chapter thirteen concerning the ‘Lying Prophets’, which concluded with the ‘good news’ of god our father delivering his children out of the hands of the above ‘foolish prophets’. With myself paraphrasing some of that chapter, that brilliant chapter from god I will add, the ‘foolish prophets’seem to be filling people with lies and deceit which definitely does not come from the word of god. It’s important that the flock out there, although this is just my ‘believer in Jesus’ opinion need to listen very carefully to the words that they let into their hearts, then compare them with the word of god in the Holy Bible for confirmation of the truth.
Again though Sir, your words have been very nicely said,
Thanks,
God bless,
Stephen
Staffordshire
UK
Night after night I lay on my floor in my computer room, listening to the messages of David Wilkerson. While he was alive, a true prophet walked among us. I believe you also have the prophetic gift working through you. I would rather be warned than be told what I want to hear. To have my ears tickled so to speak. You said recently that you have stepped up preparation for your family. I also have felt compelled to do the same thing. If the ministers in all churches
had been warning the people, they would be so much more prepared. Put the trumpet to your lips and sound the alarm in my holy city. A trumpet gets people’s attention, as well as the shofar. Keep sounding the alarm.