Day 177: God’s Word vs. Man’s Word

Jeremiah 44:24-30

Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, “Hear Yahweh’s word, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt! Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and with your hands have fulfilled it, saying, “We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her.”

“ ‘Establish then your vows, and perform your vows.’

“Therefore hear Yahweh’s word, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: ‘Behold, I have sworn by my great name,’ says Yahweh, ‘that my name will no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “As the Lord Yahweh lives.” Behold, I watch over them for evil, and not for good; and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until they are all gone. Those who escape the sword will return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah few in number. All the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there, will know whose word will stand, mine or theirs.

“ ‘This will be the sign to you,’ says Yahweh, ‘that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words will surely stand against you for evil.’ Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and sought his life.’ ”

In this passage, God shows all of us where man’s real problem lies. On the surface, it would appear that the problem is that the people were choosing to worship “the queen of the sky” instead of God, but God exposes something else here. The people told God that they were going to keep their vows, but their vow was against the vow of God. The real issue is that the people were putting themselves in the place of God in their attempt to keep their own word. They were the ones who were choosing to elevate “the queen of the sky” and they were the ones who made a bad vow, so God told them that His vow is against them. As a result, the people would find out “whose word will stand, mine or theirs.”

These Jews had given up on God’s word and had chosen to believe in their own ideas about the “queen of the sky.” They never really talked to this “queen.” They were actually worshiping their own imaginations. They were trusting in their own ideas. Modern atheists today would probably mock this idea of worshiping some “queen of the sky” but they still have the very same underlying problems. They trust in their own faulty ideas and they even personify them. There are atheists who believe that “life will find a way,” but life in this sense is an evolutionary concept. It doesn’t have a mind. It can’t find things. They say things like: “science is atheistic,” but science is merely a set of tools that we use to learn things, it doesn’t have a mind. It can’t be an atheist! The concept of evolution teaches that somehow, randomness creates all of the good things that we enjoy but randomness is the opposite of creation in our experience. The idea that randomness can create, is applying a magical ability to a concept. It’s clear that atheists today are merely worshiping their own ideas and they vow to keep those ideas in tact at all cost. It is clear from this passage what God will do. God’s word will continue to oppose them until it proves to be true, just as God’s word opposed the remnant of Judah in Egypt.

Day 174: A Scientific Fact

Jeremiah 44:1-10

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who lived in the land of Egypt, who lived at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Memphis, and in the country of Pathros, saying, “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have seen all the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Judah. Behold, today they are a desolation, and no man dwells in them, because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, to serve other gods that they didn’t know, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers. However I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, “Oh, don’t do this abominable thing that I hate.” But they didn’t listen and didn’t incline their ear. They didn’t turn from their wickedness, to stop burning incense to other gods. Therefore my wrath and my anger was poured out, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is today.’

“Therefore now Yahweh, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Why do you commit great evil against your own souls, to cut off from yourselves man and woman, infant and nursing child out of the middle of Judah, to leave yourselves no one remaining, in that you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to live, that you may be cut off, and that you may be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? They are not humbled even to this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.’

This sure was a depressing time in the history of Israel. When we were reading through the history books, the story goes by pretty fast, but when we hear the emotions of God as recorded by Jeremiah, and feel the events as they unfold, from God’s perspective, it really shows us how bad things had become.

We are in the 43rd chapter of Jeremiah and we also read through all 66 chapters of Isaiah and God spent page after page warning Israel and Judah that they would be destroyed. First, God took down Israel. Judah saw it but they still sinned by disobeying God and purposefully choosing to follow strange gods. Then, God finally took down Judah and Jerusalem, but left a remnant of Judah behind. Now, even they, after moving to Egypt, started to worship other gods! I hope it is obvious that this doesn’t make any sense.

In our world there are many people who refuse Jesus and the Bible because it isn’t logical and reasonable and contains miracles and things that can’t be real. These claims are false as I am constantly exposing, but the thing that is really absurd is that these same people believe in evolutionism which isn’t logical or reasonable and contains things that have never been seen to happen before. When a belief contains things that have never happened before, we call those things miracles. They are being hypocritical and are refusing God, just like this remnant of Judah was doing. When you won’t listen to reason and, instead, accept a false set of gods in place of the real God, it is a scientific fact that you are going to be destroyed as demonstrated by several experiments recorded here in the Bible. God clearly holds us accountable for our behavior under these conditions. Just because our world’s miracles are different and our gods are even stranger, doesn’t mean that we are any better than the remnant of Judah or that we will escape God’s punishment.

Day 150: God’s Desire to Forgive

Jeremiah 36:1-7

In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, “Take a scroll of a book, and write in it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah even to this day. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I intend to do to them, that they may each return from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all Yahweh’s words, which he had spoken to him, on a scroll of a book. Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am restricted. I can’t go into Yahweh’s house. Therefore you go, and read from the scroll which you have written from my mouth, Yahweh’s words, in the ears of the people in Yahweh’s house on the fast day. Also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities. It may be they will present their supplication before Yahweh, and will each return from his evil way; for Yahweh has pronounced great anger and wrath against this people.”

This passage exposes the heart of God for everyone to see. After all of these pronouncements of His coming judgment on Judah, He still has the desire to see if anyone would be willing to repent. Isn’t it obvious that God hates to do bring punishment? God would do anything to get His people to repent and turn back to Him and even after all that Jeremiah has spoken, He is still trying to get them to repent so that He wouldn’t have to punish them.

So God had Jeremiah write a book that contained everything God told him. I am pretty sure that this required a supernatural memory. It could also be that men were smarter back then. It would make sense that people today are not as smart after so many years of genetic degradation. I think that the reason we think we are smarter, other than mere arrogance, is that our culture has influenced us to think in an evolutionary way. We automatically think that we are getting smarter when the scientific facts would suggest the exact opposite. It’s true that we have built on the documented knowledge of others, but that doesn’t mean that the average man is smarter today. In any case, Jeremiah was able to do the job.

Another encouraging thing is that Jeremiah found a brave man willing to write it down and then proceed to go out to read it to others. Baruch could see that Jeremiah’s words had already caused him to be restricted, but was willing to be obedient to God’s desire. It’s encouraging to know that Jeremiah wasn’t completely alone. It is possible that we may be called to suffer alone for a time, but often, God gives us friends who are willing to to go through hard times with us.

Walton’s Worldview Confusion

Here’s a good article by Answers in Genesis that answers the perversion being spread by Wheaton’s John Walton. He believes that God used the big-bang and evolution to make the world and rejects the simple reading of Genesis 1-11; and he’s a professor at a Christian university.

There are many good reasons to reject his interpretation of Genesis, but simply put, worldviews are the basis for truth. By definition, they are chosen without scientific evidence. By asking a Christian audience to choose a pagan worldview in order to interpret the Bible, the Bible as a worldview is set aside. This makes man the basis for truth not God and His word alone.

This is an evil and demonic strategy to stop people from believing in the Gospel by moving them from a Gospel-based worldview to a pagan one.

Check out the article: Reading Genesis: ANE Hermeneutic vs. Plain Meaning

Day 131: Our Heavenly Father

Jeremiah 31:7-14

For Yahweh says,
“Sing with gladness for Jacob,
and shout for the chief of the nations.
Publish, praise, and say,
‘Yahweh, save your people,
the remnant of Israel!’
Behold, I will bring them from the north country,
and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth,
along with the blind and the lame,
the woman with child and her who travails with child together.
They will return as a great company.
They will come with weeping.
I will lead them with petitions.
I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters,
in a straight way in which they won’t stumble;
for I am a father to Israel.
Ephraim is my firstborn.

“Hear Yahweh’s word, you nations,
and declare it in the distant islands. Say,
‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.’
For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob,
and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.
They will come and sing in the height of Zion,
and will flow to the goodness of Yahweh,
to the grain, to the new wine, to the oil,
and to the young of the flock and of the herd.
Their soul will be as a watered garden.
They will not sorrow any more at all.
Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance;
the young men and the old together;
for I will turn their mourning into joy,
and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness,
and my people will be satisfied with my goodness,” says Yahweh.

Modern secular culture has to ignore many obvious human needs in order to maintain its composure and one of those things is mankind’s need for hope. From an evolutionary perspective, mankind doesn’t really have a basis for hope because they believe that mankind was produced by accident. There’s no reason to believe that mankind’s existence at the top of the food chain will remain. The same accidents that produced man could also produce something else in the future. There’s no reason to think that some other thing won’t become more fit for survival in the future. This kind of nonsense is not found in the Bible, of course. Instead, what we find are things like we read here.

The truth of the matter is that God is the Creator and His decisions are all that is required to make things happen. We have been reading about the fact that God intended to make terrible things happen to Israel because they had chosen to walk away from Him, but at the same time, He said things like this. He makes it clear to Israel that He intends to bring them back in the future. Not only will He bring them back, they are to enjoy prosperity, peace and joy. Even before He sends them into captivity, He makes this clear. This message inserts something precious into their minds. Whenever they consider the horrible situation that God forced them into, they will also have the memory that this same God will force them back into their own land and “they will not sorrow any more at all.” That’s what I call: hope technology. God wasn’t intending to simply torment His people. He intended to save them.

Not only is mankind not the product of a series of accidents, they were created by a Father. Israel is a glorious example to Gentiles like us. A father doesn’t torture His children. His intent in punishing them is to make them thrive as he removes error from their lives and sets them up for the future. What we see in this example is God saying: “I am a father to Israel.” He then goes on to explain their final end. Israel’s Father has dedicated Himself to their success and that’s exactly what they will have. As Christians we have this same Father. When Jesus taught us to pray by saying: “Our father who is in heaven…”, He said that we should start by remembering this fact. We go through a lot of problems in our lives too, but we can count on the fact that our Father is dedicated to our success just like He shows us with Israel.

Day 125: A Crime Against Humanity

Jeremiah 29:24-32

Concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying, “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying, “Yahweh has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in Yahweh’s house, for every man who is crazy, and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles. Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself a prophet to you, because he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, The captivity is long. Build houses, and dwell in them. Plant gardens, and eat their fruit?” ’ ”

Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. Then Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah, saying, “Send to all of the captives, saying, ‘Yahweh says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I didn’t send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie;” therefore Yahweh says, “Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his offspring. He will not have a man to dwell among this people. He won’t see the good that I will do to my people,” says Yahweh, “because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh.” ’ ”

There are many sins that people commit, but there is one sin that Jesus characterized Satan as being the father of. Murder is horrible, but the sin of lying is capable of causing us to commit every other sin quite naturally, including murder. Today, people tend to believe that God is a myth and that molecules-to-man evolution is real. Evolution is a lie and out of it comes almost every imaginable sin. When a person who clams to talk for God, speaks lies to people, it is a very, very serious crime against humanity and this passage shows us the kind of thing it causes.

In this case, Shemaiah took it upon himself to speak for God and started telling priests what they should be doing. He even told them to lock up Jeremiah. By doing that, Shemaiah told the people who would follow him, that Jeremiah was wrong. Worse than that, it made the people think that God was lying and Shemaiah was telling the truth. They were slandering a prophet of God and even suggesting that he should be killed. So you can see that lying leads to slander and murder and because this lie made the people disobey God’s voice, it could have ended up condemning all of mankind to hell. If the people were not to listen to Jeremiah and were to try to oppose Babylon instead, God would have been obligated to destroy them and since the Jews were the only ones able to bring about the Messiah, the whole world would have been lost. So, we can see what is probably Satan’s most powerful tool: the lie.

If you think that Christians are obsessed with the truth, you are right. It is the truth about Jesus that sets people free. Without the truth, real faith would not be possible. In order to save mankind, God must stop those who speak lies in His name. In this case, God made sure that Shemaiah would be removed and have no offspring in Israel. May God continue to impress upon us the importance of the truth and may we continue to share that truth so that many will be saved.

Day 81: Humanism vs. God

Jeremiah 17:5-8

Yahweh says:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man,
relies on strength of flesh,
and whose heart departs from Yahweh.
For he will be like a bush in the desert,
and will not see when good comes,
but will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
an uninhabited salt land.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh,
and whose confidence is in Yahweh.
For he will be as a tree planted by the waters,
who spreads out its roots by the river,
and will not fear when heat comes,
but its leaf will be green,
and will not be concerned in the year of drought.
It won’t cease from yielding fruit.

This is one of the most important passages in the Bible to me because of how it has helped me with important issues in the culture. There is a war raging and at the base of that war is a philosophy. One side says that we should trust in experts, government officials and clergy. The other side says that we need to stick to the Bible. This passage tells you how to handle this dilemma in no uncertain terms.

It all comes down to one question: “Who are you placing your trust in?” Are you trusting in what a man has said? Or, are you trusting in what God has said? God tells us, through Jeremiah, that the answer to that question will have an effect on your well-being. It’s a critical decision. If you decide to trust in man, you will have a hard life. God tells us that you won’t be able to “see when good comes.” Instead, you will have to live in a place where nothing grows. You will have a bad economy even if opportunity is right in front of you.

If, on the other hand, you choose to put your confidence in God. Your life will be good even if you have to go through a drought. Life will still spring up for you even in the hard times.

Here are some things to consider. When clergy tell you that evolution is probably correct even though the Bible says it only took six days, you have a choice to make. The beneficial choice is to go with what God says and believe in six days. When a scientist tells you that we should worry because of man-made climate change, while the Bible tells us that God is the controller of the climate, the economic choice is to go with what God says in the Bible and not worry. You will probably see more clearly to take advantage of opportunities God has given. If man says that parents shouldn’t spank their children and you read differently in the Bible, your life will be better if you do what the Bible says and your children will grow too. Do you see how important and practical this is? These are only a few cultural issues.

Satan used this very issue to corrupt the human race. He said to Eve: “Did God really say…?” He got Eve and Adam to trust in themselves. When we trust in man, we are cursed and when we trust in God we are blessed.