Good day Beloved of God. You are all welcome to another new day. Glory to God for the gift of life. I declare you are breaking through every obstacle. You will not grow faint, neither will you be discouraged concerning that endeavour, in Jesus name.
In our today’s episode 510 of studying and understanding the Bible, we shall be looking at Jeremiah Chapter 20 and also as a bonus, we will be examining why it appears God does not stop so many evils and disasters from happening, since the Bible has confirmed that He is not the cause of evils.
So, let’s start with Jeremiah Chapter 20 titled:
Exposed! 2Men of God At Loggerheads Over Doctrinal Differences
From our previous studies, we discovered how Prophet Jeremiah pronounced judgement upon the people of Judah engaging in all forms of sins, because of their refusal to repent. At the same time, their religious leaders were not helping matters at all.
Upon hearing Prophet Jeremiah proclaiming those prophecies, Chapter 20 then gives us an account of the terrible retaliations he received from Priest Pashur ( a chief officer of the temple), because the prophecies didn’t go down well with him. What a doctrinal difference!.
What did he do to Jeremiah? Let’s read Jeremiah 20:1-3
1 When the priest Pashhur son of Immer, who was the chief officer of the Temple, heard me proclaim these things, 2 he had me beaten and placed in chains near the upper Benjamin Gate in the Temple. 3 The next morning, after Pashhur had released me from the chains, I said to him, “The Lord did not name you Pashhur. The name he has given you is ‘Terror Everywhere.’
Good News Translation
Hold on a second! He ordered that Jeremiah be beaten for speaking and preaching the Word of God?
Do you know how many young preachers that have been victimized too in our dispensation by the so-called religious leaders of our time simply because they are not comfortable with the truth coming out of the pulpit? Some have been redeployed to hostile environments, some have been implicated and arrested, while some have even mysteriously died in the process.
Also, we have seen many honest religious leaders too, who are teaching and preaching the true Gospel and they have been terribly criticized and labelled various bad names. It’s happening all the time and will continue to happen till Christ comes.
So, after Jeremiah had been beaten and locked up for speaking the truth, the following day, he was released. He didn’t allow that to stop him form saying what he had received from God.
He immediately pronounced more details of the judgement against Pashur and his household for obstructing the truth from being preached. Adding that they would all die in war especially during the impending invasion of the Babylonians, who would take them into captivity as payment for their sins. Read 20:3-6.
As a normal human being would feel, Prophet Jeremiah began to feel the negative impact of the bitterness he was receiving from his wicked audience – the hate, the death threats, etc and he began to agonize, feeling cynical and contemplating of giving up, but then, he found out that the more he thought about giving up, the more the Word of God kept on burning in his heart. You can find that in Jeremiah 20:7-10.
He therefore rededicated his commitment to God’s work. He kept on praising and worshipping God and refused to give up. 20:11-13.
The remaining verses did not seem to be sequential, looking at the plot twist – from feeling encouraged and praising God to feeling sad again and cursing himself. It does not make sense at all. Another person that did this was Job but then at the end, it all ended in praise.
Now, here is my concern, why do some people, especially those we think to know God, those we esteem and respect, do not want to hear the truth, especially when it does not fulfil their selfish desire?
Well, Apostle Paul has a comprehensive explanation to that in the text below. You will also find an answer to the second question previously asked about why it seems God does not prevent some evils and disasters from happening in the world?
Let’s patiently read Romans 1:18-27 (TPT)
18 For God in heaven unveils his holy anger breaking forth against every form of sin, both toward ungodliness that lives in hearts and evil actions. For the wickedness of humanity deliberately smothers the truth and keeps people from acknowledging the truth about God.
19 In reality, the truth of God is known instinctively, for God has embedded this knowledge inside every human heart.
20 Opposition to truth cannot be excused on the basis of ignorance, because from the creation of the world, the invisible qualities of God’s nature have been made visible, such as his eternal power and transcendence. He has made his wonderful attributes easily perceived, for seeing the visible makes us understand the invisible. So then, this leaves everyone without excuse.
21 Throughout human history the fingerprints of God were upon them, yet they refused to honor him as God or even be thankful for his kindness. Instead, they entertained corrupt and foolish thoughts about what God was like. This left them with nothing but misguided hearts, steeped in moral darkness.
22 Although claiming to be wise, they were in fact shallow fools.
23 For only a fool would trade the unfading splendor of the immortal God to worship the fading image of other humans, idols made to look like people, animals, birds, and even creeping reptiles!
24 This is why God lifted off his restraining hand and let them have full expression of their sinful and shameful desires. They were given over to moral depravity, dishonoring their bodies by sexual perversion among themselves—25all because they traded the truth of God for a lie. They worshiped and served the things God made rather than the God who made all things—glory and praises to him forever and ever! Amen!
26-27For this reason God gave them over to their own disgraceful and vile passions. Enflamed with lust for one another, men and women ignored the natural order and exchanged normal sexual relations for homosexuality. Women engaged in lesbian conduct, and men committed shameful acts with men, receiving in themselves the due penalty for their deviation.
The Passion Translation
So, here are some key points in the above passage:
People are angry at hearing the truth because they want to avoid being held accountable about moral and spiritual living. They want an avenue to be able to do whatever they like. They want to go their own wrong ways.
The above is a fact as it has been experimented with so many people giving the same result. This experiment was conducted by Pastor Frank Turek (An American Preacher and a Host of Cross-Examined radio show). He said he asked his unbelieving respondents this question: “If Christianity were true, will you become a Christian?” He then said in his findings that they would stop, hesitate and yell back at him a big NO!
The truth is, ordinarily a normal human being should believe in something if that thing is true and has been confirmed with evidence to be true.
But then, the problem with many people, says Pastor Frank, is that a lot of people believe things not because they are true, but because they find them attractive.
That exactly what Apostle Paul was saying, when he said in verse 23 of Romans 1 that many people prefer to trade the unfading splendour of the immortal God to worship the fading image of other humans, idols made to look like people, animals, birds, and even creeping reptiles!
Consequently, God decided to withdraw and allowed them to face the consequences of their actions, because He will never force Himself on anyone. That’s where the will power comes in, which is reflected in the various choices people make. It started in Eden and from
Now, lets begin to think about what we engage in each new day, do we do them because we find them attractive to us (e.g Eve, the fruit and the serpent) or because they are true and the right thing to do according to the Word of God? I will allow us to make up our mind and amend where necessary.
But keep this in mind:
“Opposition to truth cannot be excused on the basis of ignorance, because from the creation of the world, the invisible qualities of God’s nature have been made visible, such as his eternal power and transcendence. He has made his wonderful attributes easily perceived, for seeing the visible makes us understand the invisible. So then, this leaves everyone without excuse.” Apostle Paul in Romans 1:20
Apostle Paul in Romans 1:20
To be continued…stay tuned and stay blessed.
Let us pray:
- Receive spiritual impartation that will empower you make the right decisions always and to stand strong in your faith in God through Christ, even in the face of any form of persecution or discouragement. You are moving forward and no going back for you, in Jesus name.
- I want to pray with Ministers of the true Gospels reading this message right now, I declare you will continue to experience and enjoy a huge harvest of spiritual fruits in your ministry, touching lives in various parts of the world, in Jesus name.
Bible Readings For Today: 2 Corinthians Chapters 10, 11, 12 & 13 with Psalm 115
I call you blessed now and always.
Thursday August 20, 2020 (DDMI)
