Prophets of doom vs. Prophets of hope: The Jeremiah Example?

A regular validation of "prophets of doom" that I hear even from some of my Facebook friends is the example of Jeremiah. He is pointed out as the one that had a lifetime of judgment prophecies "that people didn't want to hear" -versus the other prophets in Israel and Judah who kept prophesying "peace,peace". What is greatly misunderstood in the Jeremiah comparisons, is the level of darkness and debauchery that Jeremiah was surrounded by. If you immerse yourself into the book of Jeremiah you will see a very hurt God with a covenant people that has so forgotten Him and ignored Him that it is almost as bad as the days of Noah. The people have been ignoring God for multiple generations and there is now no "cure for their wound". Old Testament living was without the operation of the Holy Spirit and so there was not an internal mechanism for conscience and repentance such as we have today. We really have no grid for that existence. Furthermore there was not even a remnant of righteous ones in Israel. In Jeremiah 5:1, Jeremiah is challenged to go through all of Jerusalem to see if he can find even ONE righteous man. The Lord tells him that if he can find ONE that He would pardon Jerusalem even for these sins! As you read Jeremiah, you come across a people that are ALL worshiping Baal, all ignoring God, twice it speaks of how they are sacrificing children to Baal (yes, worse than abortion, as it is an intentional sacrifice to garner spiritual favor). Under this scenario, of course it is totally whacked out for "prophets" to be telling the people all is OK and peace and prosperity is theirs. That would be obviously ridiculous and even sinister. But can you see what a different scenario that is from what is taking place today? Today the worst nation on the planet is showing more righteousness than God's covenant nation was back then. Even so, sprinkled throughout the book of Jeremiah are His thoughts of mercy, peace and kindness for Israel. His heart was ever merciful towards them. He talked of relenting should He find ONE righteous! Then in Jeremiah 29:11 He spoke of His thoughts of kindness, peace and hope that He had for Israel, desiring them a prosperous future. If He could have those desires for a nation in such a terrible stretch of their history- than how much more for America where we have literally tens of millions of saints contending for righteousness and that which is good!!! ‪#‎GodBlessAmerica‬

RESTORE 7Comment