Concerning Prophets

In Jeremiah 23:9-32 are strong words directed toward those who speak on behalf of the Lord. Here is John Stott on this passage....

We are blessed to have the written Word of God. So the contrast today is between true teachers, who submit to Scripture, and false teachers who reject or manipulate it.

Here are five characteristics of false teachers, whom Jeremiah exposes.

1). They abuse their power. They are marked more by autocracy than by the gentleness of Christ. They "use their power unjustly" (v.10).

2) They live a lie, a double-life between their private and their public persona (vv. 13-14).

3) They strengthen the hands of evil-doers instead of calling them to repentance (vv.14, 22).

4) They fill people with false hopes, saying that no harm will come upon them (vv. 16-17).

5) They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord (v. 16)

Perhaps the church's most urgent need today is pastors who faithfully expound and apply the Word of God and who practice what they preach.