House of Faith Ministries

Imagine telling the people today, what Jeremiah was commanded by God to tell the nation of Israel of his day.

 

Jeremiah 8:17 “‘For behold, I will send serpents among you, vipers which cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you,’ says the Lord.”

 

The glorious history of the nation of Israel was coming to a close. There was no other people in the entire history of the world upon which the Lord had bestowed so much honor and blessings.

 

Everybody knew how God humbled mighty Pharaoh and forced him to let the children of Israel go, and after he changed his mind and pursued them, how God drowned his mighty army in the depths of the sea.

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The world of old also knew how the God of Israel brought the walls of Jericho down, and how He led His chosen children into the land that He had promised them for their inheritance.

 

It was in the annals of the history of their world, how David and Solomon, under the mighty power of their God, had established a powerful nation from the seed of one man of faith—Abraham.

 

And now it was all coming to an end, what happen to them?

 

Jeremiah 7:3-4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Do not trust in these lying words, saying, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.”’”

 

They were deceived by lying words!

 

The Babylonians, who plundered the land of Judah, had a mighty army indeed, and many secular historians may say that Israel would have never had a change against them anyway. But according to God, had the children of Israel chosen to amend their ways, God would have caused them to stay in the land and dwell in it safely.

 

But the false prophets of their day were telling lies to the people, We have the temple of the Lord in our midst, God will deliver us from our enemies like He always has. So that when Jeremiah came and told them the truth that their destruction was near, they totally rejected his message.

 

Jeremiah 7:8-10 “Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by Me name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’?”

 

There is a parallel here that applies to all the nations that have had to face their doom because of their sinfulness; due to pride, they refuse to believe that their mighty empire will be brought down because of sins that they have been getting away with—they think—for a long time.

 

After the nation of Israel became divided, the northern kingdom retained the name Israel, while the southern half was called Judah. God judged the northern kingdom, allowed their nation to be destroyed and their people to be scattered to the nations, because of idolatry.

 

You think that Judah, the remnant of the children of Israel that was left, would have learned and turned away from their wickedness after God warned them through His prophets—after seeing what happened to their brethren in the northern kingdom—but no, they had the temple and felt that they could get away with their disobedience and expected God to protect the house that was called by His name.

 

Such was their foolishness, so they fell for the lies of their false prophets.

 

Jeremiah 7:14-15 “Therefore I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh (God allowed the Israelites to be defeated and the ark was captured). And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren—the whole posterity of Ephraim.”

 

Is amazing how they knew the history of how God had dealt with their forefathers; in their earlier and latter history God had made it clear to them that He would not allow them to continually provoke Him to anger without having to face eviction from their land.

 

Jeremiah 7:19 “‘Do they provoke Me to anger?’ says the Lord. ‘Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces.’”

 

We are living under the same conditions today, but God will not be dealing with just one nation and one area of land at this time, He is coming back to deal with the entire earth and the nations that inhabit it.

 

Revelation 3:10 “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”

 

There are many Scriptures that tell about the final days of the earth, before God’s judges the world and all the peoples for their idolatries.

 

Psalm 97:3-5 “A fire goes before Him, and burns up His enemies round about. His lightnings light the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.”

 

It is abundantly clear that a majority of the nations of the earth have decided to scrap the Judeo-Christian principles upon which they were founded—not to mention the nations that never embraced it—and have accepted the new morality of everything goes except what the Bible has to say.

 

We see this taking place at every level of society today, where the old foundations of morality are being done away with, in an open display of revolt and contempt against the Word of God.

 

Psalm 2:1-3 “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.’”

 

The fact that the nations of the world are doing exactly what God told us in His Word thousands of years ago, that they would do at the end of days, proves that we are the last generation before God’s Kingdom is established on the earth for the one thousand years reign of Christ.

 

If we look at the parallels from the history that we have been studying, three things become prominent; first, false prophets and false teachers who distort and pervert the Word of God, will lead people into believing that God is not going to bring any distress against those who embrace the new world order of morality founded on secular humanism.

 

Psalm 2:5 “Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress (bring tribulation to) them in His deep displeasure.”

 

Secondly, the misconception that those who are part of the church, any church, will not have to endure the wrath of His displeasure.

 

Revelation 3:15-16 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”

 

Just like the children of Israel that thought that they were safe since they were the guardians of the temple—and could live any manner of life that they chose—so will the members of the Laodiceans church at the end of the age, feel safe and secure in their compromising of the Word of God and Christ’s divinity, without fear of the coming judgments, that in their hearts they do not even believe are coming.

 

The Philadelphia church keeps the Word and does not deny the name of Jesus or His divinity, so therefore, they are taken out of the earth before the hour of trial begins, not so for the Laodiceans, they are left behind.

 

The third thing to look out for, has to do with the paralysis that un-dealt with idolatry brings upon the churches and the peoples that, are sincere with God, but in many cases are not even aware of the contamination that occurs when they participate in traditions that have been handed down to them, which are not based on biblical principles.

 

Jeremiah 8:22 “Is there no balm in Gilead, is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery for the health of the daughter of my people?”

 

False demonic doctrines and traditions within a church, will always cause the lack of spiritual growth, as well as becoming a hindrance to the physical health of those who knowingly or unknowingly practice it.

 

Revelation 2:20, 22 “Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things (participate in demonic doctrines) sacrificed to idols...Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their sins.”

 

We, as believers, have the responsibility of studying the Scriptures, and it is up to us to make sure that what we are being taught through the church, evangelists, or through different ministries, is founded on sound biblical principles that bring life into our souls.

 

If it is truth from the Word of God what we are hearing, the Spirit of God within us will recognize His own anointing upon what its being taught and will use it for our benefit and for our enrichment.

 

If we see the church compromising the Word of God, we do not have to be part of their compromise. We decide by our actions which church God sees us as being part of. If we keep God’s Word and do not deny the deity of Jesus, Jesus will keep us from the hour of testing, no matter what denomination or church affiliation we are part of in the natural.

 

It is also our responsibility to study the traditions that have been handed down to us, through the prism of the Word of God. If we find that they have a foundation in God’s Word, we should learn how to do them properly and in accordance with what the Scriptures teach us, so that we do not miss out on their benefits.

 

However, if they have no biblical foundation, even though they may be well established within church tradition, chances are that they are not from God and will end up doing us more harm than good.

 

Revelation 3:13 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

 

It is by listening to the Holy Spirit that we can make sure that we are saved and that we will not be left behind.