And I replied, “Oh no, Lord God! The prophets are telling them, ‘You won’t see sword or suffer famine. I will certainly give you lasting peace in this place.’” But the LORD said to me, “These prophets are prophesying a lie in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, worthless divination, the deceit of their own minds.” 14:13-14
As Jeremiah was being told to prophesy the imminent destruction of Jerusalem and the future captivity of the nation of Israel, there was another group of prophets saying the exact opposite. Instead, those prophets were saying what the establishment wanted to hear… and to be quite honest what they themselves wanted to believe. It seems that there are two kinds of people in this world; those who are half glass empty and are constantly doom and gloom and then those who are half glass full and that want to preach hope, regardless. In reality, either one of those messages could have been possible. There were many times in the past when God had stepped in to save the day and perhaps that could be His will this time. Or, perhaps as Jeremiah was saying, this was all a punishment from God and He was bringing this destruction on His people because of their sin.
The difference was that one prophet was prophesying what the LORD wanted him to prophesy and the others were prophesying “the deceit of their own minds.” The lesson for those of us who are not prophets is that we need to be very careful and discerning with what we listen to. I find that same kind of contrast in today’s news where some are overly optimistic and many, many others are constantly doom and gloom. It seems the news media thrives by painting the worst possible scenario of any given situation and it creates nothing but despair. It is important that you check everything you read and hear with Scripture, (whether it be the media or a preacher) because there are many out there saying, “Thus saith the LORD!” who are actually saying things counter to the Bible. It is never the case that God will contradict Himself.
In our part of Africa, there are many prosperity gospel “prophets” and “apostles” who thrive off of feeding people false information. Their message is rarely one of judgment, and almost always one of false hope built on false premises that don’t come from the Bible. They say things like “God will always heal you, or this will be your year of miracles, or no harm shall come near you!” To be honest, they sound a lot like the guys who were opposing Jeremiah. Is it true that God heals, does miracles and protects us? Of course, it is… the problem is with that word “always.” Sometimes, God has His reasons for allowing suffering and problems to occur; sometimes He is actually punishing us for our careless disregard for Him and His word. This was the case in Jeremiah’s day. We need to be very careful before we “declare” what the will of God is and be certain we have heard from Him and not just from “the deceit of our own minds.”
