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believe it? • Opposition and persecution comes today from th e church leaders as it did then. They do not say today, “You do not speak th e words of God,” but they say, “The Bible is not the Word of God. It does' not mean w hat it says. We have a new Bible— a Shorter Bible— and have elim inated all those objectionable statem ents. We do not believe th a t God would curse a people. We believe in a God of» love. He is too good to punish evil. You must in te rp re t the Bible in th e ligh t of th e scientific tru th and findings of today.” So th e people who listened to Je re m iah’s message would not believe th a t Jeru salem was to be destroyed. They believed th a t th ere was some charm about the city th a t would save it, (10:18-21) ju st as th e people did in th e closing days of Christ’s m inistry. None of the Pharisees and Sadducees be lieved th a t Jerusalem would be de stroyed. When Stephen was before th e council, facing death, he charged the Jew ish leaders w ith resisting the Holy Ghost, in direct line w ith th eir fath ers (Acts 7 :5 1 ) :, “Y e stiffn e c k e d a n d u n c irc u m c ise d in h e a r t a n d e a rs , y e do a lw a y s r e s is t th e H o ly G h o st; a s y o u r f a th e r s did , so do ye.” We must not forget th a t history re peats itself, and th e re are the same tendencies in our own land today. Who is th ere th a t believes th a t America m ight be d rifting towards a judgment from God by reason of its denial of His Word? The Word of God is “ quick and powerful.” It-is a “savour of life unto life, and of death unto death.” T ru th has never been popular. Prophecies of evil have always been rejected by the people. was so in Sodom. It was so w ith the antediluvians. Human n atu re has never changed (Isa. 30: 9-10): “T h is is a re b e llio u s p eo p le, lying: c h il d re n , c h ild re n th a t w ill n o t h e a r th e la w o f th e L ord.
W h ich s a y to th e se e rs , See n o t; a n d to th e p ro p h e ts, P ro p h e sy n o t u n to u s r ig h t th in g s ; s p e a k u n to u s sm o o th th in g s ; p ro p h e sy d eceits.” L isten to th e words of our Lord in John 7:7: “T h e w o rld c a n n o t h a te y o u , b u t m e i t h a te th , b e c a u se 1 te s tif y o f it, t h a t th e w o rk s th e re o f a re ev il.” In these days th ere is a tendency to make but little of the strong doc trines of th e Lord; to smooth th e stern denunciations against sin; to make ligh t of eternal things and to prophesy a pleasant -future. (2) THE PRISONER AND THE PROVIDENCE. Because of his faithfulness in pro claim ing the message which God had given him ,. Jerem iah was cast into prison. (38 :1 -6 ). But he was still a prophet and was not relieved from his duty as God’s representative to de clare God’s counsel. He delivered for th e second tim e th e message which he had before given to Zedekiah’s rep re sentative (21 :8 , 9). “A nd u n to th is p eo p le th o u s h a lt sa y , T h u s s a ith th e L o rd ; B eh o ld I s e t b e fo re y o u th e w a y o f life a n d th e w a y o f d e a th ; H e t h a t a b id e th In th is c ity s h a ll d ie b y th e sw o rd , a n d b y fam in e , a n d b y th e p e s tile n c e ; b u t h e th a t g o e th o u t a n d f a lle th to th e C h a ld e an s th a t b e sie g e y o u , h e s h a ll liv e, a n d h is life s h a ll be u n to h im fo r a p re y .” This was not an easy thing to say. It was, in fact, an unpatriotic thing to u tte r such a prophecy against his own people and city a t such a time. He m ight have told them to “ cheer u p ;” th a t God was good and would never perm it them to suffer. Jerem iah could have been th e most popular preacher in Jud ah if he had ju st rallied th e choir, had some jazz music, and told them th e clouds were breaking and soon th e sun would shine, and th a t they would be free from th e ruje of Nebuchadnezzar. : But Jerem iah
could not change the message which God had entrusted to him. H e had given it before and he now gave it again and took th e consequences, though he knew it would not be re ceived and would incite intense a n i mosity. OUR GOAL—1000,000 SUBSCRIBERS THIS
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