The cure for anxiety.

Deception in the house of God.

“Beware of your friends; do not trust your brothers. For every brother is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer. Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sending. You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:4-6)

Jeremiah’s whole life was spent coping with opposition. From the time of his call to ministry, when he was probably still in his late teens, he was warned by God of the problems ahead: “They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord” (Jer 1:19).

Cost of Faithfulness

He was born into a family of priests in the rural area of Anathoth and his family were regarded as much lower down the scale of public esteem than the priests who lived in Jerusalem and were responsible for the Temple.

To have a prophet as outspoken as Jeremiah in a family of priests was a tragedy! No doubt when they came into Jerusalem to take their turn of serving in the Temple, his brothers and other family members would have been greatly embarrassed to hear what the Temple priests were saying of their relative. But Jeremiah did not soften his words to please his family or to spare their discomfort; he declared the word of the Lord fearlessly.

But there was a cost and many times he feared for his own life – even on one occasion at the hands of his own brothers, who were plotting against him saying, “Let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.” Jeremiah describes himself as “like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter” (Jer 11:19). He says in today’s reading, “Do not trust your brothers. For every brother is a deceiver”. Probably he had been invited to some family gathering but God had warned him not to go by revealing their plot to deceive him.

Jeremiah did not soften his words to please his family or to spare their discomfort; he declared the word of the Lord fearlessly.

Idolatry in the Temple

Jeremiah’s main target was not the ordinary people, nor the political leaders – it was the religious leaders, the priests and prophets who were the great deceivers of the nation. They were the educated elite who were able to read the Hebrew scrolls and to know the teaching of the Lord that was given to Moses. There was no excuse for them. The ordinary people did not know the requirements of the Lord, but the priests and prophets had full access to the word of God. They were the arch-deceivers because they misused this power and authority: “The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority” (Jer 5:31).

As we have said before in this series, the most serious act of deception by the Royal Temple priesthood was that they perpetuated the myth of the Temple’s inviolability, saying that God would never allow any enemy to destroy it and therefore Jerusalem was safe from attack, because God would always defend the city. Jeremiah knew this to be a terrible lie because God is a God of righteousness who demands faithfulness and loyalty from his people.

Yet the people of Jerusalem were worshipping other gods – especially Astarte, the goddess of the Babylonians, who they thought might help them by keeping the Babylonians away from the land of Judah. Once again, it was not only the people who were practising idolatry; there were even secret altars to foreign gods in the Temple itself. “Prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, Peace’, they say, when there is no peace” (Jer 6:13-4).

It was not only the people who were practising idolatry; there were even secret altars to foreign gods in the Temple itself.

Deceiving in God’s Name

God hates deception, especially in spiritual matters. When people declare something in the name of God that deceives others – that is particularly abhorrent! But that is what the prophets were doing in Jeremiah’s lifetime: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you”, he said. “They fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They keep saying to those who despise me, ‘The Lord says you will have peace’” (Jer 23:16-17).

These were wicked lies and deception that would have disastrous consequences because the people did not change their ways. They carried on in idolatry and God eventually removed his cover of protection from over Jerusalem, allowing the Babylonians to destroy the city.

In Western nations today, we are surrounded by deception in the media, in politics and in the world of commerce and advertising. But the most dangerous deception by far is coming from the Church. When the word of God is not faithfully taught and prophetically declared by the religious leaders of a nation, God holds those leaders responsible for the fate of that nation.

This is a sobering biblical truth that ought to be constantly in the minds of church leaders today – even if it means they have to pay the price that Jeremiah had to pay.

This article is part of a series on the life and ministry of the Prophet Jeremiah. Click here to read previous instalments.

Clifford Hill looks at questions of trust surrounding the recent Russian plane crash, noting similarities between today's threats and life in the time of Jeremiah.

The human tragedies behind the crash of the Russian passenger airliner over the Sinai Desert are incalculable. The loss of all 224 people on board plunged the whole city of St Petersburg into mourning as most of the returning holidaymakers came from there.

Tourists Stranded

The knock-on effect in the cancellation of returning flights for British tourists stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh is a small inconvenience in comparison with the terrible loss of life suffered by the Russian people.

Was the British Government right in suspending flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh? The Egyptian Government was understandably furious because of the effect upon its tourism industry, which is the strongest part of its economy. But any government's first commitment is to the safety of its own citizens, so the UK has surely been right in taking steps to ensure the safety of flights home for the thousands of British holidaymakers who were potentially at risk.

Questions of Trust

Tributes outside Pulkovo airport, St Petersburg.All of this raises major questions of trust. We all put our trust in others every time we leave our own home. If we are travelling by bus or train or boarding an aircraft, we put our trust in the driver or the pilot. But even when we drive our own car on the road we are dependent upon other motorists obeying the rules and not endangering our lives. We have to trust other people every day in a multitude of circumstances.

We all also know that there are risks involved in travelling today. If terrorists are determined to get a bomb on board an aeroplane they will find a way of doing it - even if it is simply paying a crooked bag-handler working at the airport.

Trust is at the heart of all our human relationships; from travelling in safety to business transactions. Businessmen need to be able to trust the word of those with whom they are signing contracts or the whole economic activity of society would be impaired. Even in simple everyday things there has to be trust. If we cannot trust the shopkeeper to sell us healthy food or trustworthy goods, life would come to a standstill.

Trust Breakdown

If trust breaks down the whole life of the community breaks down. But that was the situation in Jerusalem in the time of the prophet Jeremiah (around 600 BC, a turbulent period in history). In chapter 9 he describes the breakdown of trust. He says,

Beware of your friends; do not trust your brothers. For every brother is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer. Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth (Jer 9:4-5).

Jeremiah warns the citizens of Jerusalem: "You live in the midst of deception". The dire scene that he describes has some similarity to the situation facing us today. On the international front there was a growing threat of terrorism and at home there had been a catastrophic collapse of faith and morality.

Jeremiah describes a scene much like our own today, with a domestic collapse of faith and an international threat of terrorism.

The Assyrian Empire based at Nineveh (which today is called Mosul and is the capital of the Islamic State) had just been overthrown by Nebuchadnezzar (609 BC), the ruthless dictator of the rising Babylonian Empire. The Assyrians had been a byword for cruelty and the Babylonians were already outdoing them. Their army was on the move through Syria and threatening the tiny state of Judah and its capital Jerusalem.

Both the political and religious authorities assured the people that there was nothing to worry about because God was on their side! They said that as long as the Temple stood in Jerusalem, God would never allow an enemy to enter the gates of the City because it was his special shrine. Jeremiah could see everywhere lies and deception, greed and corruption, immorality and injustice. He publicly proclaimed that God would not defend the City so long as it was full of evil and faithlessness. He said,

From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain, prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace', 'Peace', they say, when there is no peace. (Jer 8:10).

In Jeremiah's time, the authorities assured the people that God would protect them – but Jeremiah proclaimed that they were deceiving themselves.

Urgent Warnings

As the Babylonian merciless murderers drew closer, burning and raping cities and even destroying the countryside on their way towards Jerusalem, Jeremiah's warnings became even more urgent. He told the people that they were putting their trust in a building created by human hands instead of the God of Creation who had made a covenant with their forefathers which they were now breaking. As anxiety increased among the people, instead of turning to God in repentance, they turned to different forms of idolatry and divination.

Recent research shows that less than half the population in Britain now believe in Jesus and only about 10% are regular churchgoers.¹ This means that we are not only abandoning our heritage of Christian faith that has protected this nation for hundreds of years, but it means that there are fewer people of faith praying for the nation and ensuring a covering of protection over the land at the very time when the threat of terrorism is rising.

In modern Britain, our Christian heritage is being abandoned, leaving less and less people to pray for the protection of the nation.

In Jeremiah's day his warnings went unheeded. In 587 BC the army of terrorists broke through the walls of Jerusalem and ran amok through the City tearing down the Temple and all the great buildings, slaughtering the people as they went from street to street. An eyewitness wrote,

The Kings of the earth did not believe nor did any of the world's people, that enemies and foes could enter the gates of Jerusalem. But it happened because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed within her the blood of the righteous (Lam 4:12).

Real Wisdom

This should be a strong warning to us. Where do we put our trust? Is it in politicians; or bankers and brokers; or social reformers; or educationalists; or philosophers? But these are just fallible human beings and what we are facing are no less than demonic spiritual forces that cannot be overcome with physical force or human wisdom.

The threats we face today cannot be overcome with physical force or human wisdom. So in what - or whom - will we place our trust?

As Jeremiah said of the people in Jerusalem, "Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have?" (8:9) In Britain today we face a similar question – what kind of wisdom do we have as we face the rising tide of destruction that threatens us? If God would allow it to happen to Jerusalem, why do we think it cannot happen to us in Britain? Surely our only hope is to re-discover the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ whom as a nation we have so wilfully and stupidly abandoned.

Weighed in the Balance

The warning signs are everywhere to be seen. The writing is on the wall for Britain and the nations of Europe that have despised their great Christian heritage. We are being weighed in the balance as God is slowly withdrawing his covering of protection. The midnight hour approaches for Britain and Europe.

Will there be repentance and turning before catastrophe strikes? That is still a question. We may not have long to wait for the answer. But what are we doing to warn our families and friends and others to help save our nation?

References

1 Jesus 'not a real person' many believe. BBC News, 31 October 2015.