Slippery Paths
9 Concerning the prophets:
My heart is broken within me;
all my bones shake;
I am like a drunken man,
like a man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord
and because of his holy words.
10 For the land is full of adulterers;
because of the curse the land mourns,
and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
Their course is evil,
and their might is not right.
11 “Both prophet and priest are ungodly;
even in my house I have found their evil,
declares the Lord.
12 Therefore their way shall be to them
like slippery paths in the darkness,
into which they shall be driven and fall,
for I will bring disaster upon them
in the year of their punishment,
declares the Lord.
13 In the prophets of Samaria
I saw an unsavory thing:
they prophesied by Baal
and led my people Israel astray.
14 But in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen a horrible thing:
they commit adultery and walk in lies;
they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns from his evil;
all of them have become like Sodom to me,
and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
15 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:
“Behold, I will feed them with bitter food
and give them poisoned water to drink,
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”
Jeremiah 23:9-15
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Slippery Paths
The Lord will not have his prophets and teachers use anything else but his Holy Word to teach and lead his people. He has found that his prophets have departed from his Word. Their way is like a slippery path in the darkness. No good comes from a journey like that. False teaching, for prophets and for pastors, must be accounted for. The Church is his great jewel. He delights in the Christian. No attack upon the Church will go unchecked by the Lord God. "Vengeance is mine," says the Lord. Every pastor must give an account. How is this safeguarded? How is it prevented? The pastor must depend on the Word of God alone. Forsaking all others and any other gods, he must throw his whole self in the Scriptures. He must push away reason and selfishness and meditate and pray on the Bible. And what of you, O Christian? You must insist that your pastor give you Jesus. You must insist that he study and meditate on the Word of God. You must do the same to check his work. These are all gifts to you. The Holy Spirit is the one that calls you by the Gospel and enlightens you with the gifts of heaven. The Holy Spirit sanctifies and keeps you in the true faith with the Word accompanying him everywhere he goes. There, in the Word of God and in his holy Sacraments, Jesus if with us and for us. This is what God provides for you and insists upon. Nothing but Jesus.
My heart is broken within me;
all my bones shake;
I am like a drunken man,
like a man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord
and because of his holy words.
10 For the land is full of adulterers;
because of the curse the land mourns,
and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
Their course is evil,
and their might is not right.
11 “Both prophet and priest are ungodly;
even in my house I have found their evil,
declares the Lord.
12 Therefore their way shall be to them
like slippery paths in the darkness,
into which they shall be driven and fall,
for I will bring disaster upon them
in the year of their punishment,
declares the Lord.
13 In the prophets of Samaria
I saw an unsavory thing:
they prophesied by Baal
and led my people Israel astray.
14 But in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen a horrible thing:
they commit adultery and walk in lies;
they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns from his evil;
all of them have become like Sodom to me,
and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
15 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:
“Behold, I will feed them with bitter food
and give them poisoned water to drink,
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”
Jeremiah 23:9-15
+
Slippery Paths
The Lord will not have his prophets and teachers use anything else but his Holy Word to teach and lead his people. He has found that his prophets have departed from his Word. Their way is like a slippery path in the darkness. No good comes from a journey like that. False teaching, for prophets and for pastors, must be accounted for. The Church is his great jewel. He delights in the Christian. No attack upon the Church will go unchecked by the Lord God. "Vengeance is mine," says the Lord. Every pastor must give an account. How is this safeguarded? How is it prevented? The pastor must depend on the Word of God alone. Forsaking all others and any other gods, he must throw his whole self in the Scriptures. He must push away reason and selfishness and meditate and pray on the Bible. And what of you, O Christian? You must insist that your pastor give you Jesus. You must insist that he study and meditate on the Word of God. You must do the same to check his work. These are all gifts to you. The Holy Spirit is the one that calls you by the Gospel and enlightens you with the gifts of heaven. The Holy Spirit sanctifies and keeps you in the true faith with the Word accompanying him everywhere he goes. There, in the Word of God and in his holy Sacraments, Jesus if with us and for us. This is what God provides for you and insists upon. Nothing but Jesus.
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