Tag Archives: Bible

Day 70: A Thing of Nothing

Jeremiah 14:13-18

Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, the prophets tell them, ‘You will not see the sword, neither will you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.’ ”

Then Yahweh said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I didn’t send them. I didn’t command them. I didn’t speak to them. They prophesy to you a lying vision, divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart. Therefore Yahweh says concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, but I didn’t send them, yet they say, ‘Sword and famine will not be in this land.’ Those prophets will be consumed by sword and famine. The people to whom they prophesy will be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. They will have no one to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, or their daughters, for I will pour their wickedness on them.

“You shall say this word to them:
“ ‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,
and let them not cease;
for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach,
with a very grievous wound.
If I go out into the field,
then, behold, the slain with the sword!
If I enter into the city,
then, behold, those who are sick with famine!
For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land,
and have no knowledge.’ ”

Here, Jeremiah brings up to God the fact that prophets in Israel were telling the people that there would be peace and that they would have nothing to worry about. Jeremiah was being opposed by other prophets who were telling the people the exact opposite thing that Jeremiah was. God makes it very clear here what was going on. Those prophets were making things up out of their own imagination. God says that He didn’t send them, command them or speak to them. These were prophets that chose their own career. God didn’t call them. I especially like how God calls their message: “a thing of nothing.” The people were following men who had a completely worthless message! The result was that both these men and the people were going to suffer.

This is a big warning to everyone. Christian leaders need to be hearing from and speaking the word of God. God gets angry with those who just make stuff up that they imagine, but it doesn’t stop there. God also punished those who listened to them. Everyone has a responsibility to look into those who claim to be speaking for God. In our day, we have no excuse. We all have access to the Bible and we can check to see if what is being said lines up with it. God expects us to listen only to the Jeremiahs and not to the false prophets. If we fail at this, there are serious consequences as we read about here. We can count on God to lead us to His true prophets as we carefully consider what the Bible says.

Day 69
Contents
Day 71

Wisdom and the West

Posted on by

The word “Philosophy” when literally translated means “lover of wisdom.”  Being a philosopher is a good thing in that sense, according to the Bible.  Here’s what the Bible says in Proverbs:

Whoever loves wisdom brings joy to his father;

Proverbs 29:3a

The western world has a big problem, though.  What they call “philosophy” isn’t what the Bible says is philosophy.  The problem has to do with the word “Wisdom” that the philosopher is supposed to be loving.

According to the Bible, “Wisdom” means something very specific.  Wisdom starts with believing in God.  That’s what the Bible says.

The fear of Yahweh. is the beginning of knowledge;
but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1:7

Obviously, you must start at the beginning, and to begin you must fear God.  It’s difficult to fear God when you don’t even believe in Him.  So, what does “Wisdom” call a person or a nation that doesn’t believe in God?  Well that’s here too.

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”

Psalm 14:1a

Now, that’s pretty strait-forward, don’t you think?  But that’s not all, it also says this:

There is no wisdom nor understanding
nor counsel against Yahweh.

Proverbs 21:30

Remember, Yahweh, is a representation of the biblical name of God.  “Yahweh” is the God of the Bible not the God of any other religion.  What the Bible is saying is that anyone who doesn’t start out believing in the God of the Bible, can’t be wise.  There is nothing “progressive” about throwing the Bible away.  If the western world doesn’t go back to the God of the Bible, foolishness is all that is left.

 

 

Rebuilding America’s Foundation

Posted on by

It was difficult for me to celebrate Independence Day this year.  From a Bible-believing Christian’s point of view, the United States is really coming apart.  It was brought to my attention that the leadership of the United States is going in exactly the opposite direction than when the was country founded.  Let’s look at some of the quotes from America’s leaders:

“The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the Word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next.  Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts.”
– John Jay, Original Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court

“The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings which we get from Exodus and St. Matthew, from Isaiah and St. Paul.  I don’t think we emphasize that enough these days.”
– President Harry S. Truman

“The teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be… impossible for us to figure to ourselves what life would be if these teachings were removed.”
– President Teddy Roosevelt

“The Bible is the rock on which our Republic rests.”
– President Andrew Jackson

And these are just a few examples.

Just a couple of weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that what the Bible says about marriage doesn’t matter anymore.  That may seem like a small thing at first, but it’s actually monumental.  The crack in the foundation of the United States that is now widening by the day, has to do with who’s ultimately in charge of our lives.

As we can read in these quotes, there was a time when not only did the people and leadership of the United States believe that God was in charge, but that it was the Bible that would show us exactly how.  The thing that is destroying the United States today is the thing that Presidents Truman and Jackson warned us about.  The foundation for any people is the world of God.  Here’s what God has to say:

“Jesus answered him, saying, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”’”
– Luke 4:4, Jesus is quoting the Old Testament from Deuteronomy 8:3 while He is starving and being tempted to simply make bread to eat.

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”
– Proverbs 14:34, King Solomon of Israel (The wisest man that ever lived)

So, as you can see for yourself, the problem the United States has is that many of the people and the leaders have decided that man’s opinions are to be trusted over the clear words of God.

The wonderful thing is that there is something we can do about it.  We can live our own lives based on the Bible today.  That means that we need to know what it says.  That’s one of the many reasons why I am writing about the Bible, I can’t think of anything that is more pertinent to us right now.  As long as we trust in the opinions of man, we are under a curse.

“Yahweh says:

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man,
and makes flesh his arm,
and whose heart departs from Yahweh.
For he shall be like a bush in the desert,
and shall not see when good comes,
but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
a salt land and not inhabited.
 “Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh,
and whose confidence is in Yahweh.
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters,
who spreads out its roots by the river,
and shall not fear when heat comes,
but its leaf shall be green;
and shall not be careful in the year of drought,
neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”
– Jeremiah 17:5-8