"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." (Jer 29:11)

I am always amazed at how we can pluck a snippet of Scripture out of a passage and completely ignore the surrounding context so we can reinforce the consolations that we long for. How many times have we heard this scripture in reference to the blessings that God has in store for us? We strain our ears to hear anything that will lean toward the wonderful things that we yearn to hear, and applaud the teachers that we have heaped up to soothe our itching ears. Oh, how wonderful are our messages of peace that our prophets have consoled us with!

And yet, the substance of the Word of the Lord that carries these snippets of Scripture often brings a much different message than what we want to hear.

Jeremiah was called to prophesy unto Israel in the 13th year of Josiah's reign. It was a message of woe and repentance, of judgment to come and Holy Ghost conviction for rebelling against the Lord. Five years later, Josiah discovered the scrolls and instituted a great revival in the land, but Jeremiah still continued his message of judgment and repentance.

I can imagine the resistance from the Jews of the time. Couldn't this old judgmental prophet see how wonderful their churches were? Why did he not understand that they were in a time of revival? Surely his dark message of repentance no longer applied to them, but this caustic old prophet just wouldn't let go of his old ways. He must not be of God, because, Praise the Lord, we're all saved and praising the Lord now. There's no need to repent.

The Lord has taken me through the first 25 chapters of Jeremiah over and over and over. He won't let me leave. Each time I go over them again, I

see more clearly an overlay of a picture of America and her modernistic churches. I hear the same cry from God for repentance for the sin and apostasy that we have left in our wake for years, but instead of hearing cries of repentance, I hear the same calls for peace and prosperity that Jeremiah heard from the false prophets of his day.

As the chapters in Jeremiah progress, there is an increased call from God to repent until there finally comes a point where it is too late. And still, issuing from the mouths of the prophets and priests of the time is a flood of prophesies of peace and prosperity: ‘God will never forsake His people, but will return and establish them'. ‘Surely God will bless us as we practice our religious ways.' ‘God is Love and He would never send destruction upon us.'

Today's prophets tell us the same messages. And yes, the message of repentance does carry with it the promise of restoration ... IF we repent.

But just as the people of God in Jeremiah's time could not see the need to repent, even so we in our modern churches emphasize praise and worship, but turn our hearts from the harder messages of repentance to the extent that we will even pluck scriptures as cameo examples of proof that judgment will not come upon us.

But it will come. And though God deal with us long and plead with us repeatedly -- and yes, even promise us blessings if we will just hearken to His warnings - nevertheless, judgment is determined upon this land for our refusal to acknowledge our departure from the old ways of holiness and the fear of God and our migration to a new Gospel of peace and love. As Leonard Ravenhill once said that we have Hollywood productions instead of holiness. And Jeremiah said, "... and my people love to have it so."

And the great stone wheel of judgment continues to roll ever closer.

The blood of 50 million innocents cries out of t

he ground of their murder for the sake of adulterous convenience.
One denomination after another has decreed that the abomination of homosexuality is righteous while our government has decreed that the demonstration of anything godly is against the law.
The translations of God's Word have devolved into comic book renditions and paraphrases of the Scriptures that God says we are supposed to tremble at.
There is a dearth of a flowing of the Spirit of God in our services, complete absence of miracles, and altars that are bare.
We sing and we dance, but do not travail in prayer.
As Amos says, we lie upon beds of ivory, but our hearts are not grieved for the affliction of the lost.

Our hearts are not cut for these things,

neither do we acknowledge our sin, but instead look to our prophets for messages of peace, love, blessings, and prosperity. We do not believe that God will send destruction upon us, for we are like the woman with a whore's forehead - we refuse to be ashamed. (Jer. 3:3) We wipe our lips and say, "I have done no wickedness." (Prov. 30:20) "... No man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done?" (Jer. 8:6)

Judgment is determined upon America. Destruction is on the way that will be far greater than 9/11 or Katrina. Your prophets have told you that God will spare us and send revival, but it will not come without broken-hearted repentance. The question is, will we repent? Or will we cross the same line that Israel crossed in Jeremiah where it is too late and God will no longer listen? Will we not wake up to our spiritual leprosy until we are carried away to Babylon? Or will we wake up at all?

"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." (Jer 8:20)

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