False Prophets with Empty Words

Jeremiah 23:9-24 

9 My heart within me is broken
Because of the prophets;
All my bones shake.
I am like a drunken man,
And like a man whom wine has overcome,
Because of the LORD,
And because of His holy words.

10 For the land is full of adulterers;
For because of a curse the land mourns.
The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up.
Their course of life is evil,
And their might is not right.

11 "For both prophet and priest are profane;
Yes, in My house I have found their wickedness," says the LORD.
12 "Therefore their way shall be to them
Like slippery ways;
In the darkness they shall be driven on
And fall in them;
For I will bring disaster on them,
The year of their punishment," says the LORD.

13 "And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria:
They prophesied by Baal
And caused My people Israel to err.

14 Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem:
They commit adultery and walk in lies;
They also strengthen the hands of evildoers,
So that no one turns back from his wickedness.
All of them are like Sodom to Me,
And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

15 "Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets:
'Behold, I will feed them with wormwood,
And make them drink the water of gall;
For from the prophets of Jerusalem
Profaneness has gone out into all the land.'"

16 Thus says the LORD of hosts:
"Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you.
They make you worthless;
They speak a vision of their own heart,
Not from the mouth of the LORD.

17 They continually say to those who despise Me,
'The LORD has said, "You shall have peace"';
And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say,
'No evil shall come upon you.'"

18 For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD,
And has perceived and heard His word?
Who has marked His word and heard it?

19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD has gone forth in fury—
A violent whirlwind!
It will fall violently on the head of the wicked.
20 The anger of the LORD will not turn back
Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart.
In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.

21 "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran.
I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in My counsel,
And had caused My people to hear My words,
Then they would have turned them from their evil way
And from the evil of their doings.

23 "Am I a God near at hand," says the LORD,
"And not a God afar off?
24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places,
So I shall not see him?" says the LORD;
"Do I not fill heaven and earth?" says the LORD.

Oh, how false prophets with their own empty words prove might is not right in their power over others who listen blindly apart from God’s words (Acts 17:11)!  God’s holy word made Jeremiah tremble at their hubris in daring to speak in His name but not for Him or from Him.  The land was full of adultery, both physical and especially spiritual.  Their course of life set sail into evil as they forced their false prophecies on the people with a harsh hand.  Yes, both their self-proclaimed prophets and errant priests served other gods as if in the name and protection of the God of Israel who they assumed would protect and justify them no matter what they did in their own name.  We see this today in the fringes of the church as well, for pride and self-seeking never dies since the Fall of man.  Many claim to be prophets as they speak the unspeakable against the scriptures for their own gain and praising worship of men (John 12:43, 2 Peter 1:20-21).  The prophets of Samaria (Israel) spoke from a dead idol and caused many to stumble in their worship of death instead of the LORD according to His word, while those of Jerusalem (Judah) committed the dual adultery and spewed lies for truth while backing evil and causing judgment to fall on them all.  This is the end of all who mislead God’s people, then and now, just as Sodom and Gomorrah with their justification of and open practices of homosexuality.  May this never be preached as God’s will from twisting His scriptures to their and other’s destruction (2 Peter 3:16)!  Prophets with their own visions make the listeners worthless because they invent the visions in their corrupt hearts contrary to the word of the LORD who has spoken clearly on all things for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3) in His writings of His word to us.  These preach peace with lawlessness justified as if whatever we wish to do we may and God will not judge us if we just do anything out of our hearts.  The question posed then through Jeremiah stand still today, who has heard and understood God’s word?  God warned His people then that they would reap the whirlwind if they continued in these things instead of listening to Him.  Sin has consequences (Romans 6:23).  Death.  God’s judgment was to be understood in the end by them and is now by us in the word made more clear and sure to us by Christ and explained by the apostles.  The prophets not sent by God then did not get their messages from God, bit if they took the time to look deep into the scriptures and take heed, they would have turned their hearers away from sin instead of headlong in.  God is not far away to be deceived, but near at hand and from whom nobody can hide what they say or do in His name.  He fills heaven and earth, the entire universe of His creation, and sees all as omnipresent and omniscient in His omnipotence over us all.  How then can anyone speak as if in His name when they know what He already said as the final Prophet (Hebrews 1:1-2)?  Who can add to what is written already or dare to spake contrary to His word to change it, especially turning evil to good and good to evil by what they say?  May it not be so!  Therefore we who have His Spirit and walk according to His word stand valiant for the truth and contend earnestly for the faith as given already (Jude 1:3) and do not endure false prophets with deceitful and empty words from their own corrupt hearts, but according to scripture alone.  May we learn from these examples as 1 Corinthians 10:11 instructs us and not listen to those who speak contrary to God’s finalized prophetic word given and explained to us within its pages already.