Listening to the Right Message

Listening to the Right Message

Jeremiah 11-15

“The Lord said to me, ‘The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name.  I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility, and deception of their own minds.” (14:14).

                  In our age of information, we are flooded with people telling us right from wrong. Thus, we can easily find a preacher who tells us what we want to hear rather than what we need to hear. The age of information has become the age of misinformation, and the age of misinformation has become the age of self-deception. Today, we are not just faced with false teaching; we are faced with the greatest deceiver of all—ourselves. We no longer seek the truth; we only seek what agrees with what we want to believe. We now live in an age of confirmation bias, where we search for information that confirms what we want to believe rather than challenging us to change our beliefs and actions.

                  The problem with confirmation bias is not new; it exists among the people of Israel. Jeremiah delivered an unpopular message, warning of imminent judgment because of Judah's sins. Like the northern tribes of Israel, Judah had turned away from God. Instead of remaining faithful and obedient to His word, they relied on false prophets. As we read the description of these false prophets we discover they still exist today. The first trait of a false teacher is promising only peace and prosperity while ignoring the need to warn about judgment. Although the Bible highlights God's grace and salvation, it also warns that those who reject this message and continue in sin will face judgment. Judgment and grace go together. Without the reality of judgment, grace loses its meaning. Grace and mercy are central to salvation, but if there is no sin or judgment, salvation becomes unnecessary, and grace seems meaningless. Conversely, judgment without grace leaves us hopeless because we are still trapped by sin and its consequences. A true messenger from God condemns sin and warns of judgment, but also offers hope through salvation. While confronting sin, they direct us to the cross.

                  The second characteristic of a false teacher is that they adapt the message of God to fit our thoughts and perspectives. When we read something in the Bible that we do not agree with, instead of adjusting our beliefs to align with its message, we change the Bible to match what we want to believe. We become like these false teachers in that we follow "the deception of our own minds (vs 14)." They did not denounce sin nor warn of its consequences. A genuine spokesperson for God is one who communicates the entirety of God’s word. They challenge us to likewise conform our beliefs and conduct to scripture.      The third characteristic of a false teacher is that they claim there are no consequences for sin. Their mantra becomes, “There is no judgment, and all people will go to heaven.” However, this denies the holiness and righteousness of God. To leave sin unpunished is to accept sin. The mark of a false teacher is that they deny the justice and holiness of God. They justify and redefine sin rather than call people to repentance, and in so doing, they reject the message of Christ. A true spokesperson from God is one who confronts sin to point us to the necessity of salvation. Who then should we listen to? Do we gather teachers and preachers who say what we want to hear, or do we listen to those who challenge us to change in conformity to God’s word?