Good Morning!
Have you ever been accused of something by someone that was not true? What if this person who is accusing you is surrounded by a populous group of people who will not listen to you, but, will only listen to the lies of your accuser? That was happening to Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a true prophet of God, but, the king had his own paid prophets to tell him the news he wanted to hear. So, Jeremiah was thrown into jail for telling God's message...the TRUE message...to the king and his people. It was not a popular message but it was the truth.
Have you ever been thrown into jail for telling the truth? I remember as a teenager going from house to house with a friend in our community doing a survey to find out if people were going to church. It was harmless. We were friendly. But...I was later told that our city did not approve of such activity by a church. You could go house to house and sell raffle tickets or candy bars for the local football team or music program, but, leave the church out of it. Leave God in the church and don't tell anybody. On this particular day my friend and I were knocking on doors talking with people when suddenly a police car pulled up next to us and policemen got out of the car. They told us we had to stop our survey or they were going to take us to jail and call our parents. I told them to go ahead and take us to jail and call our parents. My father is the pastor of Willoughby Baptist Church and he is the one who sent us out here. So, we got into the police car and went to the station and I called my father and told him we were being threatened to be jailed for surveying. He came to the police station and took care of the whole mess and we were allowed to go free. I must tell you that the situation was a bit intimidating.
Like the time I was preaching on Red Square in Moscow, Russia when a policeman drove up to me and told me that I did not have permission to hold an evangelistic event. I was told that there were approximately 10,000 people in attendance. My Russian interpreter was interpreting everything that was being said and the crowd heard. (She had the microphone!) The officer threatened to take me to jail if I did not break up the meeting. The crowd began raising their voices at the policeman and told him to leave me alone and to go away. The policeman gave up and got into his car and drove within hearing distance of our meeting. I shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ for about ten minutes and asked people to come around me if they wanted to pray and by Faith receive Jesus into their lives. I noticed the policeman got back into his car and drove near me and got out of his car and walked up next to those who were coming to me. He took off his hat and began praying with me to receive Jesus!
I have never spent time in jail...only threatened. Jeremiah went to jail. He was put into prison because the message he delivered from God was NOT what the king or the people wanted to hear. Someone saw him one day and accused him of something that was a blatant lie. Jeremiah told him that it was not true what he was being accused. But...the person took him to his populous group and they brought charges against him...LIES...and they put him into jail.
"'That's a lie, Jeremiah replied...' The officials were angry at Jeremiah and beat him and placed him in jail..." 37:14 & 15
They were more interested in their sin and flesh than in the God that could bless them and protect them.
The king thought that Pharaoh was sending his army from Egypt to protect Jerusalem. But, the army turned back and went home and Israel was left alone to die at the hands of the enemy.
America is in danger of losing on many sides. I know...many of our leaders think we can count on China or Iran to come to our defense. If we simply make deals with them to show our allegiance to them they will be our ally. Are you kidding me? It does NOT matter how much money we give them or how much intelligence we share with them...they will use what we ignorantly give to them to defeat us!
China is for China! Iran is for Iran! Russia is for Russia! We need to be for AMERICA!
Today...God needs you to be a Jeremiah. Don't be ashamed or afraid to be God's voice in a nation that needs God's voice today. Maybe some people won't like the message. Maybe some people will be a part of a populous group of people who will rebuke you. Maybe. Possibly. It's okay. When you share God's message the world has the choice of receiving it or rejecting it. The cool thing is...many will receive it. It will be life-changing for them like the policeman in Moscow.
May God Bless You!
Don Betts
DBEA/campus320
DBEAWINNING.COM
TO GOD BE ALL GLORY!