The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1940-05-16
JEREMIAH DENOUNCES FALSE
PROPHETS

JEREMIAH DENOUNCES FALSE
PROPHETS
LESSON TEXT-Jeremiah 23:21-32.
GOLDEN TEXT-Prove all things; hold
fast that which is good Thessalonians
Tickling the vanity and pleasing
the ears Of ungodly people with
words of fattery and false comfort,
giving them the assurance of peace
and prosperity in the very pursuit Of
their sin, did not begin with the
false prophets Of the twentieth CEN
fury. Six hundred years before
Christ, jeremiah the prophet had to
contend with such false teachers.
His manner of dealing with them
is of great interest to us, for essen
TALLY the false prophets Of that day
used the same methods and had
the same false message that char
acterize their descendants of today,
the so-called modernistic religious
liberals who are busy everywhere
attempting to undermine the faith
Of Gods children in His Word They
are revealed as being destitute of
divine authority, without real mes
sage, and under the disfavor and
subject TO the judgment of God.
They are
I. without Divine Commission wv.
21-22).
81 have not sent these prophets
that should have been sufficient for
the people Of Judah. A man who
is not sent by God has no word from
heaven, no help for needy humanity.
He is worse than an admittedly
secular teacher or philosopher, for
he claims to speak with divine au-
thority and yet has only the disap-
pointing impotence of a liar and
fraud.
The reason Judah listened to them
was because they SO eloQuently
hushed the condemning voice of
their own consciences, assuring
them that all was well, when, as a
matter of fact, everything was
wrong. Men listen to the same kind
of teaching today for the very same
reason.
II. Without a Divine Message wv.
1920.
These false prophets may deIude
men, but they have not fooled God.
He is not finite being, limited to
this earth ". 23). He looks on men
from the far off viewpoint of heaven
and judges by His own high and
holy standards.
Nor can they hide from Him ".
24). God hears the word spoken in
the academic shelter of a college
classroom, secretly poisoning the
young PERSONS heart against the
faith of his father and mother. A
day Of judgment also awaits those
who in their public utterances use
the phraseology Of orthodoxy, while
in private they undermine and de-
stroy Christian faith.
If a man is foolish enough to sup
pose that the dreamings Of his own
mind and heart will help anyone,
let him be honest enough to call
them just that; namely, dreams wv.
1928. But God will assuredly not
hold those men guiltless who try to
pass off their own PHILOSOPHERS as
bearing the approval of God;
who would have people honor their
assemblies as Christian churches,
when they are at best only social or
intellectual gatherings designed to
magnify man rather than Christ.
Note in verse 90 that the Word of
God is like the fire that consumes
and purifes, and also like the ham
mer, that breaks up the rocky heart
0f man.
iii. Without Divine Favor and
Blessing wv. 3032).
God is against every false proph-
ct. Small wonder that there is the
SAVIOUR of death in their speaking
and their works. There is no divine
power in their message and no holy
dynamic to enable people to respond
to their admonitions. Prominent
modernists are decrying in our day
the fact that their cultured essays
and polished philosophers are not
reaching the hearts Of men and are
failing to transform lives. At the
same time, humble preachers and
teachers of Gods Word, sometimes
in hidden and remote places, are re-
Joicing as they see the transforming
grace of God come upon lives as a
result of their simple proclamation
OF the gospel of grace. Keep on,
brethren; God is with you.
Observe what God calls the false
prophets-thieves ". 3O) and liars
". 32). Hard words, but they come
from One who is all-knowing, who
judges rightly and in love.