All Too Familiar Scenario

Your prophets have said so many foolish things, false to the core. They did not save you from exile by pointing out your sins. Instead, they painted false pictures, filling you with false hope. [Lamentations 2.14]

There are some important facts to glean from the scripture noted above:

1. False prophets exist
2. False prophets do not point our sins, leading people to repentance
3. False prophets mislead, leading people to false hope

Prophecy is included in the five-fold ministry list given by the apostle Paul in the New Testament. While there exist those who refuse to believe that prophecy is valid in the Church today, there is no scripture to directly support that belief. Prophecy is indeed valid today, but, what may be missing are valid prophets.

In Jeremiah's day, just because there were false prophets did not exclude prophecy as a valid aspect of the worship of Almighty God. In fact, there were many more false prophets contemporary to Jeremiah than there were genuine prophets. But that did not cause prophecy to be excluded from God's people.

The scary part of prophecy is the part where it can be false.

How does one know if prophecy is true or false? It must line up with God's law - God's Word.

The false prophets in Jeremiah's day were refuting God's law with their prophecies because they were completely ignoring the sinfulness of the people (that God has always said He would punish). The false prophets were saying, "all is well" when unchecked sin existed.

Jeremiah, on the other hand, was prophesying doom. Why? Because disobedience (sin) was rampant and God's Word specifically prescribed harsh curses upon disobedience (Deuteronomy 28)! Jeremiah's prophecies should have been a no-brainer except for the fact that the people were proud and refused to acknowledge their sin.

This same scenario sounds all too familiar today...

Father, help us to repent and remain repentant. It seems we have many false prophets today proclaiming all is well and therefore not prescribing repentance. Forgive us for our blatant disregard for Your Word and the obvious sin-indicators of death, loss and destruction all around us (indicating unchecked sin that needs to be dealt with). And, forgive us for our lack of faith in Jesus, Who, by His work on the Cross, provided our redemption from every curse described in Deuteronomy 28.