“As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet.” (Jeremiah 28:9)
In these days of public unrest and cultural upheaval, what message should the church be preaching? Should it be a message of God’s judgment against sin as Jeremiah the prophet preached throughout his ministry, a message which was quite unpopular? Or should it be a message that ignores sin but preaches only God’s love and peace, which was the message brought by the prophet Hananiah?
Hananiah represented the response of the religious establishment to Jeremiah’s pronouncements of God’s judgment on Jerusalem. He was an “official” Temple prophet, a self-righteous man who claimed he was doing God’s work. Yet he contradicted the word of the Lord as spoken by Jeremiah. He prophesied peace and an end to Babylonian oppression. He did not think that the Jews were guilty of any evil, certainly nothing so serious that it merited the judgment of the Lord.
Many churches, many of the spiritual gurus and religious media stars today often claim to know the word of God. They may focus only on one sin or another, such as racism or child abuse, forgetting the whole panoply of evil that exists in the heart of every human being. Rather than preach God’s condemnation of all sin, they, like Hananiah, tell people what they want to hear, what will make them feel good about themselves, something that does not offend them.
Here in the USA, we have the left, the liberal mainline churches many of whom who condone and exalt immorality, violence, abortion, and other sins as mere lifestyle choices. They preach we should accept all as God loves them and wants them to be all they desire to be. On the right we have the evangelical and fundamentalist churches many of which ignore the plight of the poor and downtrodden, the aliens and immigrants, while sanctioning warfare and promoting personal “God-given” rights. They have confused America with the Kingdom of God.
The Word of the Lord that Jeremiah preached is the very same word that the Lord would have His church preach. His desire is that the Church speak the truth so that it does not condone or ignore any sin including sexual immorality in all its forms, racism, and injustice. The word of God condemns sin, selfishness, pride, and self-righteousness. It calls for repentance from such evils, not acceptance. It offers grace and mercy for all who repent and come to faith in Jesus. Unless all individuals and nations acknowledge their own sin, they will never find peace and harmony. Unless they see their moral degradation, they will never see their need for a savior who is Jesus alone.