Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah, “Listen now, Hananiah: the Lord has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. Therefore, this is what the Lord says: ‘Behold, I am going to remove you from the face of the earth. This year you are going to die, because you spoke falsely against the Lord.’” So Hananiah the prophet died in the same year, in the seventh month. (15-17)
The biggest temptation that every preacher faces is the temptation to tell people what they want to hear. After all, telling people what they want to hear ensures that they will continue to listen to you, and it helps you garner a larger following. In the end, that kind of thinking only results in disobedience to God’s word and inevitable calamity for your listeners. Speaking the truth in love is not always easy, but it is definitely essential. In the days of Jeremiah, he was a lone voice calling for people to submit to the King of Babylon because God had sent him to mete out punishment to rebellious Judah. This message was not popular at all. People did not want to hear that destruction was inevitable, and even more so, they didn’t want to hear that it was coming because of their wickedness. Yet, Jeremiah proclaimed the truth out of obedience to God and a realization that if the people came to grips with that truth, they might repent and somehow be spared.
Along came Hananiah, who was willing to tell the people what they wanted to hear; basically, “keep living life the way you want to live it and know that God is going to solve all of your problems and remove the Babylonians from your midst.” Jeremiah makes it clear that he was making the people trust in a lie, and Hananiah paid the price for his false prophecy. Many preachers today do not address sin but instead tell you that if you think positively, you can have your best life today. They make people trust in a lie. The lie is not that God is good; on the contrary, He is very good and cares for you. The lie is that God cares more for your happiness than your holiness. This concept is indeed false. God wants you to be holy and obedient, and sometimes He requires you to go through pain and suffering for your good and His glory. If you love people, you tell them the truth, even if it’s not what they want to hear. You often pay the price for preaching the truth, especially in today’s society. God is not pleased with all of us, and we are not all okay; this world is broken, and this brokenness must be addressed. We need more Jeremiahs and fewer Hananiahs; the religious world is already filled with Hananiahs, and things get worse by the day.
