Such unpleasantness does the prophet Jeremiah speak about! He revealed the truth about the Nation of Israel, the chosen of His people at that time. As a nation or people group, Jews rejected Him time and time again and cast off the Christ in favor of their own rituals, philosophies and sacred mysteries that they developed from the time of the original law of Moses. Most of what the Jewish people came to follow were their own laws, prescriptions and words of wisdom: mere worldly philosophies with the blush of paganism and corruption around them.

The Jewish people as a whole were, in fact, little different from the contented Jews and Christians of today that blithely listen to whatever is set before them as truth with blind acceptance. What is worse is that many Christians fail to follow even the spirit of the God’s Word, which is what God requires. Christians and Jews alike have deceived themselves that there are no requirements or that religious prescriptions of legalism are somehow substitutes for God’s grace and obedience from a heart of faithfulness and love. Many would have you believe that all will be saved and that all people are going to the same heaven and are led by the same God. This nearsighted teaching of the devil is what the Gospel foretold and what modern faithful Christians must keep close to their hearts as they continue to strive for the truth of God’s Word in FAITH. We continue to reap what we sow and yet, billions of earth inhabitants refuse to see the truth of what they personally do. As humans, we deceive only ourselves. God is not deceived.

Jeremiah 8 (Modern King James Version)

4 And you shall say to them, So says Jehovah; shall they fall and not arise? Shall he turn away and not return?

5 Why has this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a never-ending backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return.

6 I listened and heard, but they did not speak right; no man repented of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Everyone turned in their own courses, as the horse rushes into the battle.

7 Yea, the stork in the heavens knows her seasons; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow watch the time of their coming; but my people do not know the judgment of Jehovah.

8 How do you say, We are wise, and the Law of Jehovah is with us? Lo, certainly the lying pen of the scribes has written falsely.

9 The wise are ashamed, they are terrified, and are captured. Lo, they have turned away from the Word of Jehovah; and what wisdom is in them?

10 Therefore I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall inherit them, for everyone from the least even to the greatest cuts off a profit. From the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.

11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

12 Were they ashamed when they had done an abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush; therefore they shall fall among those who fall; in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says Jehovah.

13 I will utterly consume them, says Jehovah; there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them, those who pass over them.

14 Why do we sit still? Gather yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there. For Jehovah our God has put us to silence, and has given us poisonous water to drink, because we have sinned against Jehovah.

15 We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, but behold, trouble!

16 The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan; the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his stallions. For they have come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those who live in it.

17 For, behold, I will send serpents and adders among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you, says Jehovah.

18 When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint within me.

19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people, from a far country. Is not Jehovah in Zion? Is not her King in her? Why have they provoked Me with their graven images, with foreign vanities?

20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

21 For the breaking of the daughter of my people I am broken; I am in gloom; horror has seized me.

22 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the healing of the daughter of My people not come?

As you read this passage in scripture, what fruit do you recognize in the world around you? The vision that the untrained eye sees is unpleasant and yet, this is the fruit that the nations have sown and reaped. Have you done the same? Does this scene in scripture sound like the nation that you live in? Perhaps this ghastly vision now applies to the entire world. This is because of the false religion and philosophy that so many have adopted and proclaimed in their personal version of their own “Christianity” or personal worldview. When God turns His face aside from repeated corruption and disobedience, the results are unmistakable and visible. Are we simply waiting for the final judgment of God as we hunker down in our own delusions within our ‘fortified cities’ or places of security? The society that you live in is a mirror of God’s abundance based on the acceptance or rejection of His principles over time. Those that stubbornly cling to the worldview of society will not be saved. Have the leaders and many of the followers of Christianity become a den of robbers like the Jews of old? (Jeremiah 7:3-11) That is what God Word indicates. Just as the Jewish Temple was utterly destroyed in 70 A.D., the concoctions of man will see the fire of God’s purpose as well. (Matthew 24:1-3) God is your healer, your balm and your physician for brokenness if you are willing to accept Him. Human society at-large and even much of Christianity has not. The fruit of Christians evidences this unhappy truth.

Jesus admonished his disciples (Matthew 24:4) not to be deceived and He described the time of the end. By reading scripture and keeping God’s Word in full context, we can see the spiritual fruit that most of the world is bearing. You do not have to partake in that spiritual fruit. The choice to be deceived and to depart from God (Matthew 25:42) is yours. God implores you to seek the interests of others around you that need help. God implores you to choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19) instead of weeping and gnashing of teeth in separation from Him.