Shalom,
Please begin by reading Jer 23:21-29.
Satan is in the business of counterfeiting the good things of Yahweh. There are many warnings in the Old and New Testaments for us to be wary of false prophets. Without a doubt, the devil will go to any extreme to keep us from attaining the fullness of our alignment with the Holy Spirit. And don't forget that there are some men who are greedy and power-hungry enough to not need the devil's prompting to be a false prophet. And also don't forget that there can't be counterfeit without a real.
David Cannistraci said, "Satan's chief aim through these false apostles and prophets will be threefold: to dilute, defile, and discredit the new apostolic movement. Critics of the new move of God will point out the problems caused by false apostles and prophets in an attempt to dismiss the validity of all that God is doing."
Words are powerful. What we say and what we listen to really does matter. This includes the Word of God. Yahweh's Word is like no other. It's infallible. It's all sufficient. It affects people in profound and unimaginable ways. According to verse 29, it's a hammer able to smash rocks into pieces and an all-consuming fire.
One of the first things we use a hammer for is pounding, even breaking. The picture offered here is that Yahweh's Word is a sledge hammer. Sledge hammers aren't normally used for pounding in nails, but for harder tasks. Yahweh's sledge hammer can shatter and tear down old structures. There are some obstacles in the way of the advancement of Yahweh's Kingdom. They're manifesting all around our world. We need to use Yahweh's hammer to remove them. I believe Jeremiah share's this picture because of the call on his life found in Jer 1:9-10. "See, I have put my words in your mouoth! Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. You are to uproot some and tear them down, to destroy and overthrow them. You are to build others up and plant them."
A specific problem pointed out in this passage is the false prophets proclaiming their dreams to be from Yahweh when they were actually lies. Yahweh called them "prophets of decit, inventing everything they say." People continue to do that today, trying to con people into a false sense of security. Many of these modern-day false prophets have proclaimed the same sort of message. Yahweh has given the whole world hope for the future because he wants everyone to go to heaven, no matter how they've lived before repenting. If the world will listen to Yahweh's Truth instead of the false prophet's lies, more will accept his invitation.
All most of these false prophets want is some fame, to spend some time in the limelight. They want to be invited to speak on Oprah and Ellen and other popular TV or radio shows so they can be the current sensation. They're greedy for attention and will grasp at every bit of fame they can lay their hands on. But the words they're speaking aren't from Yahweh. They're from their own imaginations or they're demonically induced. And sadly, these glory hounds could care less if they're undermining the Word of the Most High God.
Most of these false prophets speak just like the ones in Jeremiah's day. Yahweh's question in verse 23 points out their lie. "Am I a God who is only in one place?" These false prophets tell us that our God is far away, that he isn't fully present in our world. They try to convince us that he isn't completely active and involved in our daily lives. They directly contradict the Word of God and expect us to jump on their bandwagon. They make outrageous claims about their connection with God and his angels, when in reality they are in contact with Satan and his evil horde.
We have churches and pastors and Bible teachers telling people that the Bible is full of contradictions. They say things like, "Oh, we don't believe the Bible literally means what it says. No, we're too enlightened and modern to believe the Bible is infallible or inerrant." Many people siiting in these churches and listening to these heresies don't have a working knowledge of the Bible and accept what these false teachers and prophets tell them. Because these lies are spoken so often, many begin to set them as the concrete truth that they set their hearts on. Then many of them defend these lies with strong emotion and are offended when someone comes in and speaks biblical truth.
These outright lies become the brick and mortar that harden and keep our hearts from moving closer to the living God. We build a solid stronghold out of these lies right in the middle of what was once the sole property of our Lord and Savior. A great problem is that all humans inherently want to stonewall our Creator. Our sinful flesh thinks it can build up barriers to keep the God of the Bible out of our lives. We think that we can find the answers to life without our Creator and Designer's help. If not for his truth and the activity of the Holy Spirit, our world would be a very dark place spiritually.
The false teachers and prophets directly contradict Yahweh's Word, and then tell us how we can find freedom and happiness outside of the Scriptures. They try to get us to abandon "ancient traditions" for modern ones promising us self-promotion and self-actualization. And in our ignorance we accept that we can self-actualize, making our dreams come true through our own efforts. In the end we find ourselves playing with lies that Yahweh will smash and destroy. His Hammer will crush our humanistically created defenses and ruin our arguments and spoil our ungodly insider information. When that heavenly Hammer swings there will be no place to hide and nothing will be camouflaged when the full light of Yahweh's Truth is finally fully manifested.
For the repentant heart, the Hammer of Yahweh's Word will smash stubborn hearts, rip out all that's rotten, and replace it with his truth and goodness. Jesus suffered being hammered to a cross because of our stubbornness and unbelief. As Yahweh told us in Ezek 11:19, "I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh." Yahweh's Hammer is much stronger than anything in our created world. Smashes means crushes and crumbles, breaking into small pieces. The solid ground people who listen to false prophets think they're standing on will eventually be turned into a pile of rubble. The intellectual arguments they built their personal doctrine on will be smashed into little, itty-bitty pieces.
The fire of Yahweh mentioned is the kind that will burn until there's nothing left but ashes. Yahweh's fire will totally consume anything that's grounded in this world. The world's fire can't burn what is fully committed to Yahweh. Remember the three Hebrew boys in Daniel 3. Our Creator is in control of everything. He won't allow lies to be spoken in His Name. Ultimately, the lies and liars will be absolutely and totally consumed by holy fire. 2 Pet 3:7 says, "The present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men."
In prairie country, people have been taught that the only way to escape from a range fire is to start a backfire. Burn out a place in the grass where you can stand as the range fire passes by. Because you've removed the fuel from around you, the fire will not touch you. When the heat of Yahweh's judgment and condemnation burn against our world, the redeemed can be sure that we have a place to stand. We have a place where Yahweh has already poured out his white-hot anger over our sin, the cross of Jesus. Our Savior has already lit the backfire and prepared a place of safety for us.
If our sins are burned away and gone, we don't have to fear the consuming fire. Those who listen to false prophets and teachers will find what they're trusting consumed and they'll be left wanting. Some are naive, casually listening for fun or entertainment. Others are deliberately looking for different truth, purposefully denying and rejecting biblical truth. We must reach out to those who both naively and deliberately trust in these messages of false hope and security. We must work to help them discern Yahweh's truth.
We, as the people of the covenant, must know both Yahweh's Word and the voice of the Holy Spirit to ensure that we're not believing in anything false or contrary to the Bible. The wisdom we gain from Yahweh's Word will guide our choices and keep us on the path of righteousness. The instruction we find in the Bible helps us to clearly see and discern between right and wrong, good and evil, Yahweh and Satan. We like to say that there are blacks and whites, dark and light, that must be judged. The grays that are so often glorified by false prophets and teachers will be easily recognizable as lies when we're walking with Jesus, and the moral and ethical grays are also clearly discerned as unbiblical positions.
We have a choice. We can listen to Yahweh, his Word and his Spirit, or we can listen to humanly and demonically contrived truth. Sheryl Price said, "God is more willing to speak to us than we are ready to listen." The mighty voice of our Creator is still speaking today. He's never stopped speaking to those who will listen for his voice. When a prophet speaks, make sure his words are backed up by Scripture. When a teacher uses extra-biblical sources, make sure they're in agreement with the Bible. Do these background checks with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Test the words of the prophets. Test the words of the teachers you listen to. Trust that your Father wants you to discern his truth, and pursue that truth with every bit of energy you have.
Blessings & Peace, Mike
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Blessings! I hope that this study has enlightened you or helped you in some way. Please feel free to leave a plain old comment, or a question. Comments are moderated to keep the peace