An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely [and] my people love to have it so...
Reflections on Jeremiah 5 in the context of recent years
Dear Church Leaders (and everyone else)
Further to this post…
I finished reading through the book of Jeremiah last autumn.
Some parts of Scripture are well-suited to a sermon series covering (say) the length of a university term: Genesis 1-4 for example, or Matthew 5-7, or indeed the majority of the New Testament letters.
But the book of Jeremiah is rather less amenable, and, in terms of books of the Bible that make it onto preaching schedules, it is generally well down the pecking order, even at churches whose stated aim is to preach the whole of Scripture. While some chapters1 get a fair bit of attention, others are rarely if ever preached on. Or indeed studied in small group Bible studies.
One of those chapters is Jeremiah 5, whose verses particularly struck me as I read through them. And that passage is the subject for this post.
For broader context, I recommend watching this 7-minute Bible Project video (also available on YouTube):
This article is essentially my attempt to summarise the thoughts that have arisen in my mind as I have read, re-read and reflected on Jeremiah 5 in the context of recent years.
I realise that some of what I have written might be thought ill-judged, or in error, or merely inappropriate. But I am also open to the possibility that I might actually be understating the seriousness of the situation in which we find ourselves today.
NB while I have generally used the NIVUK version of the Bible for Substack posts, for this article I have used the more literal Anglicised English Standard Version (ESVUK).
A lack of people seeking the truth
[NB the context of Jeremiah 4:27, “For thus says the Lord…”]
[verse 1] Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her. [2] Though they say, “As the Lord lives”, yet they swear falsely.
Jeremiah 5 begins with a search of public spaces for “a man, one who does justice and seeks truth”. Truth is evidently important to God, and it seems to be linked with forgiveness here: “if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon [Jerusalem]” (emphasis added).
Prior to 2020, I had assumed that fellow believers at the church I attend placed a high value on truth generally (as distinct from truth specifically in relation to what the Bible says). But in the context of the past few years I have increasingly found myself asking: How many people are actually genuinely interested in the truth about what is happening in the world, let alone how it might relate to how God is acting.
Having even one person telling the truth can make a big difference. The effect of a single candle in an otherwise totally dark room springs to mind. But in times of deception, telling the truth is difficult. In words often attributed to George Orwell, “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” And the covid era was as close to a time of universal deceit as I have ever known. I am reminded of articles such as this one and Rev Dr William Philip’s comments on delusion and deception.
The nature of that deception is particularly insidious in that, even now, most people are apparently largely unaware of it, let alone its extent. This seems to me to be somewhat analogous to the human condition more generally, where part of the problem of sin is that we cannot recognise the extent of the problem. I find it ironic that many Christians (and their leaders) would readily acknowledge “another kind of blindness” in relation to the gospel, but seem oblivious to the possibility that the same principle could apply elsewhere, and even — shock, horror — to them.
In particular, I find it striking that I can recall little (if anything) by way of public acknowledgement from the leaders at the church I attend that we might have been deceived about covid. And these days, when I hear talk about “the pandemic” as though everything happened essentially as the authorities have portrayed it, with no reference to the notion of deception, I wonder how far that actually is from “swearing falsely” (v2). Let alone when church leaders (including the vicar at the church I attend) are on record as speaking highly of the so-called covid vaccines.
It is not difficult to demonstrate aspects of the deception using official sources.
Consider for example the UK government’s Office for National Statistics data which shows clearly that, until we were ordered into lockdown on 23rd March 2020, the number of registered deaths was at normal levels for the time of year.
Or, in relation to the injections, see for example Pfizer’s February 2021 Post-authorization Adverse Event Reports (e.g. page 7, 12). And then consider how what it says compares and contrasts with what the media and public health authorities — and some church leaders — have told us.
I wonder what Jeremiah would have to say to us today.
I am reminded of Psalm 12:2:2
Everyone utters lies to his neighbour; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
And these verses (v14-15) from the remarkable Isaiah 59:
Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
God looks for truth
[3] O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent. [4] Then I said, “These are only the poor; they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God. [5] I will go to the great and will speak to them, for they know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God.” But they all alike had broken the yoke; they had burst the bonds.
In contrast to human beings, who are wont to evade or even disavow truth when it suits them, God looks for truth. For God is truth.3
And so might we not reasonably ask: if a society — or a church — does not care much for truth, how much does it actually care for God? And if a society — or a church — does not care much for truth, will it not eventually suffer the consequences? Is that not how God has ordained the world to function?
In the context of the covid era, and particularly the suffering induced primarily by the policies of tyrannical governments, I find it interesting to read how v3 speaks of the people of Jeremiah’s time having “felt no anguish” when God struck them. And how, instead of responding to God’s judgement, they “refused correction” and “refused to repent”. I find the picture of obstinacy — “they have made their faces harder than rock” — particularly striking.
From v4 it appears that the people of v1-3 are “the poor… [who] have no sense [and] do not know… the way of [God]”. And, leaving aside how much sense they have, and whether or not they know the way of God, there seems to me to be little doubt that the poor have suffered more in recent years. It is often the case that the burden of suffering falls disproportionately on the poorest in society. And this was particularly the case during the covid era.
But Jeremiah’s focus then shifts from those on the street to “the great” — or, in the words of the NIVUK translation, “the leaders” — who, in contrast, do “know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God.” Yet according to Jeremiah, they too “had broken the yoke; they had burst the bonds.” A phrase which is translated in the Good News Bible as “have rejected the Lord’s authority and refuse to obey him.” Matthew Henry comments, “They know their Master’s will, but are resolved to have their own will, to walk in the way of their heart and in the sight of their eyes” (emphasis added).4
I find it ironic that those whose ministry is based (at least in part) on calling to people to repent, and who prior to 2020 would have readily recognised that every deed was tainted by sin, now apparently seem to think there are no sins from the past few years that we need to confess. I detect from my own church leaders an element of: “The people are not talking much about this, so why should we?” And I am particularly struck by the lack of engagement with e.g. this articulate and measured call to churches to wake up and repent. (If, for whatever reason, you prefer not to read about injuries from the so-called covid vaccines, I suggest starting around half way through, at this section.)
I find these words from the previous chapter of Jeremiah particularly sobering, spoken as they are of the people of God:
Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you. This is your doom, and it is bitter; it has reached your very heart.”
My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent, for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war…
For my people are foolish; they know me not; they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are ‘wise’ — in doing evil! But how to do good they know not.
[Jeremiah 4:18-22]
For it is not only in Christ that God makes foolish the wisdom of the world.
The consequences of idolatry
[6] Therefore a lion from the forest shall strike them down; a wolf from the desert shall devastate them. A leopard is watching their cities; everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great. [7] “How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of whores. [8] They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbour’s wife. [9] Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the Lord; “and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?”
The context here is of people living in a city without walls who are thus vulnerable to attacks from wild animals. The mention of a wolf reminds me of the biblical notion of a wolf in sheep’s clothing discussed in this post.
In v7 Jeremiah asks, “How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods.”
And in v8, as elsewhere in the Bible,5 Jeremiah uses the graphic imagery of sexual immorality to convey the unfaithfulness of God’s people: “When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of whores.”
Idolatry — excessive devotion to something other than God — is something that God takes very seriously. When he gave the Ten Commandments6 he spoke these words:
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
You shall have no other gods before [or besides] me.
You shall not make for yourself a carved image [i.e. an idol] or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth…
But then as now, God’s people were inclined to disobey his commands. Only a few chapters later, we read of the episode of the golden calf.
The notion of worshipping a golden statue of an animal may seem antiquated and absurd today. But, as any preacher worth his salt regularly reminds his hearers, idolatry is not confined to statues. There is no shortage of things that we idolise.
In my experience, Christians — and particularly preachers — are typically fairly quick to recognise and acknowledge certain idols: money, power, success, status, relationships, sex, pleasure, beauty, fitness, a nice house, a good car, children, grandchildren, financial security etc.
But I hear rather less mention of other things that we idolise: education for example, and safety, and health.
Including, in the latter category, the UK’s National Health Service. It is more than 30 years since Nigel Lawson7 observed that “the NHS is the closest thing the English have to a religion, with those who practise it regarding themselves as a priesthood”.
I wonder what he made of the covid era NHS:
Not unrelated, particularly in the context of the past few years, there is also the idol of science. Or perhaps that should be The Science™, or even The $cience? Which has been misused in the context of climate as well as covid — there are plenty of parallels. A pervasive culture of credentialism does not help.
And then there is vaccination. Which in some quarters apparently cannot be questioned. Even when the so-called vaccines use novel technology and plainly have no long-term safety data. I find this rather ironic given the example of the golden calf above and the etymology of this modern-day sacred cow. But even prior to the covid era it was plain to anyone who looked into it that vaccines are not nearly as useful or safe as the medical establishment would have us believe. Historical records show that deaths from common infectious diseases had actually fallen dramatically long before the relevant vaccines were introduced. And the testing of new vaccines for safety left a lot to be desired (to say the least) long before 2020.8
Yet I cannot recall hearing anything from our church pulpit — before, during or since the covid era — about the notion of the NHS, or science, or vaccination, as modern-day idols. And I guess this is probably fairly typical of most churches across the Western world.
There was of course no shortage of idolatry before the covid era, including in relation to the NHS, science, and vaccination. But in 2020-2022 we saw it on an unprecedented scale.
As in Jeremiah’s day, few of God’s people seem to be able to recognise certain kinds of idolatry. We might look back with scorn on those who worshipped the golden calf. Or on those in the Old Testament who sacrificed their children to Baal. But I wonder how God might view the covid era…
And what he makes of the fact that, in England and Wales alone, a quarter of a million unborn babies are killed each year — more than one abortion for every three live births.
God’s response to idolatry in Jeremiah’s time (v9) was: “Shall I not punish them for these things… shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?” And we read in the final chapter of the book of the subsequent fall of Jerusalem.
I wonder what lies in store for us in the coming years, not least in terms of economic turmoil, ill-health, and birth rates. And tyranny, be it “for our health” or “for the planet”.
“God will do nothing”
[10] Go up through her vine rows and destroy, but make not a full end; strip away her branches, for they are not the Lord’s. [11] For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly treacherous to me, declares the Lord. [12] They have spoken falsely of the Lord and have said, ‘He will do nothing; no disaster will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine. [13] The prophets will become wind; the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them!’”
God’s verdict in Jeremiah’s time is stark: “[My people have been] utterly treacherous to me, declares the Lord.” And why? “They have spoken falsely of the Lord and have said, ‘He will do nothing; no disaster will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine…’” God’s people have spoken falsely of him, and think they are immune from his judgement. And they are dismissive of those who say otherwise.
Are there not at least some parallels with recent years to be drawn here? Is it inconceivable that God might today view elements of the behaviour of the church at large as “utterly treacherous”? In relation to its views on sexuality over the past few decades, for example? Or its idolatry during the covid era? And if so, what should we expect? That he will do nothing…? (By the way, if you think that the God of the Old Testament changed his character in the New Testament, consider Acts 5:1-11.)
At the very least, should we not be asking why God closed our churches — or at least why God allowed the churches to close — in 2020? And again in 2021. There are surely several possible answers to that question.9 But I don’t recall hearing anyone at the church I attend even asking it, let alone seeking to address it. And when others raise the matter, it seems anything but welcome. Apparently we need to “move on”. But I wonder how God might view that response.
And should we not openly recognise that, at least up to a point, disaster has already come upon us? The covid deception has already caused suffering on an epic scale: babies and infants whose development has been seriously compromised by seeing mainly masked faces for months on end; children who have at times been denied a normal education and who have suffered in so many other ways, as discussed in this post; vulnerable people who have died as the result of “covid protocols” in hospitals and care homes, through lack of basic healthcare provision, denial of antibiotics, over-zealous application of Do Not Resuscitate orders, treatment with midazolam and morphine, and more — with relatives of the victims often denied the opportunity to say a proper goodbye to their loved ones.
And then there are those who have suffered life-changing injuries (or worse) from the so-called vaccines. In the UK, we don’t know how many of the many thousands of excess deaths among the 40s, 50s and 60s are vaccine-related. Or how many of the 800,000 extra people unable to work are vaccine-injured. But US life insurance data is consistent with tens of thousands of excess deaths of working age people coinciding with covid vaccine mandates. Yet few people seem even to want to talk about what has happened, or indeed about medical ethics generally. Especially doctors.
More broadly, as the economic realities begin to hit home, the damage from the covid era is plain enough to see. The fact that members of the Trusted News Initiative — and those who continue to parrot its lies — speak of a “cost of living crisis” rather than a “cost of lockdown crisis” does not change the reality.
As to the prospect of sword or famine, and the fate of modern-day prophets, only time will tell.
The proclamation of judgement
[14] Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts: “Because you have spoken this word, behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them. [15] Behold, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel,” declares the Lord. “It is an enduring nation; it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say. [16] Their quiver is like an open tomb; they are all mighty warriors. [17] They shall eat up your harvest and your food; they shall eat up your sons and your daughters; they shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; your fortified cities in which you trust they shall beat down with the sword.”
God’s response to his people’s treachery in Jeremiah’s time was devastating. They were to be “consumed” — as fire consumes wood — by “a nation from afar… an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say.” God ordered his people into exile. And those who refused to go fared worst.
Only God knows the fate of his people — and the countries in which they live — that lies in store in the coming years. But we already have some clear indications as to the direction of travel.
I am reminded of the apostle Paul’s words in Galatians 6:7:10
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
The mercy of God
[18] “But even in those days, declares the Lord, I will not make a full end of you. [19] And when your people say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’”
Verse 18 is a welcome reminder that God is merciful. But mercy and judgement are not incompatible. And there are good reasons for God’s judgement. In the words of v19, “As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.”
Again, we do not know what will happen in our land — insofar as it is actually ours. But I do sometimes wonder what my grandparents’ generation would make of what has happened — and is happening — to the country for whose liberty they fought.
Perhaps much yet depends on the response of God’s people now and in the coming years?
Foolish and senseless people
[20] Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah: [21] “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not.”
It is no coincidence that those striking words of Jeremiah in v21 are reminiscent of some of the teaching of Jesus Christ. As I discussed in this section of The weeping prophet, Jesus had plenty in common with Jeremiah, and his teaching reflected that.
On v21, Matthew Henry comments, “One would have thought that they took notice of things, but really they did not; they had intellectual faculties and capacities, but they did not employ and improve them as they ought.” I wonder whether something similar will eventually be the verdict of history on today’s Christians — and their leaders, particularly in places where education is particularly highly valued.
As to the question of seeing, these words attributed to Leonardo da Vinci spring to mind:
There are three classes of people: those who see, those who see when they are shown, those who do not see.I am reminded that I have long thought that there is a strong case to be made that the evidence for faith in Jesus Christ is remarkably good. And I have often wondered why, given the strength of the evidence, more people do not believe. I considered that question in a book called Revealing Faith that I wrote in 2017/2018 during a time between jobs. And I plan to post it on another Substack later this year.11
One of the recurring themes of Revealing Faith is that there are many parallels between how people respond to the evidence for faith in Jesus Christ and how they respond to the evidence for other things. And in the context of the events of the past few years, I plan to post some additional reflections on that here on Dear Church Leaders (and everyone else).
Do you not fear me?
[22] Do you not fear me? declares the Lord. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it. [23] But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away. [24] They do not say in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.’ [25] Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you.
“Do you not fear me?”asks God in the time of Jeremiah. “Do you not tremble before me?”
I wonder if God might ask us the same questions today.
In particular, I wonder to what extent church leaders genuinely fear God when they refuse to take seriously the notion that they might have made mistakes in endorsing the covid lies and deception.
As I wrote back in November 2021, one of the most striking things to me at that time was that fear of covid appeared more palpable at church than at other places to which I was going at the time (mainly work, shops, and occasionally the pub). I found this particularly ironic in the context of Jesus sharing in our humanity “so that by his death he might… free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”12
I do not recall detecting much by way of the fear of God during the covid era. As distinct from the fear of a respiratory virus:13
And I don’t detect much fear of God now either.
The words of v23 are surely at least somewhat apt: “This people has a stubborn and rebellious heart.”
Wicked men… great and rich… fat and sleek
[26] For wicked men are found among my people; they lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men. [27] Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and rich; [28a] they have grown fat and sleek.
In Jeremiah’s time, there were evidently wicked men to be found among God’s people, enriching themselves at the expense of the poor. “They set a trap; they catch men.” On the back of deceit, “they [had] become great and rich; they [had] grown fat and sleek.”
I wonder what Jeremiah would have to say about those who benefited from the “covid pandemic” in what was surely the biggest heist in history:
As to “houses full of deceit”, would it be too much to say that, during the covid era, such a description applied to almost all our houses, as the mainstream media poured out its relentless fearmongering? And indeed to churches, where many of the leaders (and members) parroted the deception fed to us by the authorities: “We are in danger”; “Masks will keep us safe”; “Thank God for the vaccine” etc.
They know no bounds in deeds of evil… they do not defend the rights of the needy
[28b] They know no bounds in deeds of evil; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
But that is not all. Those same wicked men “know no bounds in deeds of evil”.
That sounds bad, and we might reasonably wonder what is coming next. But we might be surprised at what follows: “they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless… they do not defend the rights of the needy.”
It is plain from the Old Testament that God has a particular concern for the poor and vulnerable. And it is hardly a surprise when the wicked fail to speak up for such people. But I cannot recall many people defending the rights of the needy during the covid era. And most remain silent even now.
When I posted Who will speak up for children? last summer, and sent the article to various people, I did think — perhaps naively — that it might elicit some tangible response. But I found then, as I do now, little or no appetite for speaking up for children, including from those who preach from the pulpit that we should emulate Jesus. And even from those who have an official safeguarding role. It is one of the things that upsets and dismays me most.
The fearmongering. The isolation. The relentless testing. The face masks. The injections that were anything but safe and effective. And all the suffering that those measures caused, and are to some degree still causing. To our children. And yet those who lead us — including at churches — seem to want to move on as if it never happened. As if there is nothing more to say. As if there is nothing to repent of. This was but one of various things that inspired me to write The love of many will grow cold.
I particularly wonder when we will face the reality of what we did to children. I have taken the liberty of adapting Bob Moran’s cartoon to make the point retrospectively:
I look forward to the lockdown generation of children growing up and finding their voice.
[29] “Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the Lord, “and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?”
It is important to remember that God typically judges nations — and their people — over decades rather than days.
I am reminded of the second of the Ten Commandments:
You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
And particularly of God “punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation…”
Here too the context is idolatry, and it is important not to misunderstand the word “jealous”. Or indeed the character of God — who shows “love to a thousand generations…”
On one level, I have come to regard the notion of “punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation…” as a statement of how things are. If parents commit idolatry, manifesting in a crime or in a way of life that violates God’s law, it is not difficult to see how such sin might affect their children, and their children, and the third or even fourth generation. We may object that it is not fair on the children. But we may also observe that it is how the world works.
An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land [and] my people love to have it so…
[30] An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: [31] the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?
And so we come to the final two verses of the chapter, which I chose as the title for this post.
According to these verses, in the time of Jeremiah those who are appointed by God to tell the truth are not doing so. The priests under them are “ruling at their direction”, presumably going along with the lies of the prophets and acting accordingly. And God’s people “love to have it so”.
Given that the message of Jeremiah concerned the prospect of the nation going into exile, it was perhaps not surprising that the people preferred the message of those prophesying falsely. But Matthew Henry doesn’t mince his words in his comments on these verses (emphasis added):
The leaders misled the people: The prophets prophesy falsely, counterfeit a commission from heaven when they are factors [agents] for hell.
He continues:
Religion is never more dangerously attacked than under colour and pretence of divine revelation. But why did not the priests, who had power in their hands for that purpose, restrain these false prophets? Alas! instead of doing that they made use of them as the tools of their ambition and tyranny: The priests [rule at their direction]; they supported themselves in their grandeur and wealth, their laziness and luxury, their impositions and oppressions, by the help of the false prophets and their interest in the people. Thus they were in a combination against every thing that was good, and strengthened one another’s hands in evil.
And adds:
The people were well enough pleased to be so misled: “They are my people,” says God, “and should have stood up for me, and borne their testimony against the wickedness of their priests and prophets; but they love to have it so.” If the priests and prophets will let them alone in their sins, they will give them no disturbance in theirs. They love to be ridden with a loose rein, and like those rulers very well that will not restrain their lusts and those teachers that will not reprove them.
There are surely at least some parallels here with the covid era, which, as I noted earlier, was as close to a time of universal deceit as I have ever known.
I find the phrase “my people love to have it so” particularly striking. I wonder how many people wrote to their church leaders during the covid era to ask for more of what our deceptive and authoritarian governments were already giving us.
I am reminded of these words of Jeremiah in chapter 17:
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Then as now, it is a reflection of our sinful nature that we sometimes prefer reassuring lies over uncomfortable truths. And that we are sometimes inclined to unite around falsehoods rather than to face the facts. But the message of Jeremiah appears to be that to do so is “an appalling and horrible thing” to God, that there are serious consequences of such sin, and that we are called to repentance.
Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear
I do not preclude the possibility that some who have read this far will be “cut to the heart”14 and respond accordingly. And that, to my mind at least, would be a wonderful thing.
Neither do I doubt that the response of plenty of others — if they engage at all — will be along the lines of: “We need to move on, and just stick to preaching the gospel”. But even leaving aside what “preaching the gospel” actually means, and the fact that such a response would be rather more defensible if churches had actually stuck to preaching the gospel during 2020 and 2021, I do wonder what is actually on the hearts of those who respond in such a way. And about the extent to which the church at large is even open to the notion that God might have been — and indeed might still be — trying to tell us something through the events of recent years.15
Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.
‘Is not my word like fire,’ declares the Lord, ‘and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?’ (Jeremiah 23:29)
Related:
Dear Church Leaders homepage
Some posts can also be found on Unexpected Turns
The Big Reveal: Christianity carefully considered as the solution to a problem
Jeremiah 1-3, Jeremiah 23 and Jeremiah 31-33 at the church I attend
Our church website has over 200 sermons on the Psalms, but #12 is one of the few psalms that are not covered
See e.g. John 10:30 and John 14:6
See e.g. Ezekiel 16 or 23, or Hosea 1ff
As it happens, in Summer 2021 we had a sermon series on the Ten Commandments, but I don’t recall much mention of idolatry in the context of the covid era
The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1983-1989
For more details, see e.g. this post detailing my own journey as someone who was once something of a vaccine evangelist:
You are welcome to subscribe to The Big Reveal Substack to receive the nine chapters of Revealing Faith as and when they are published
Hebrews 2:14-15, NIVUK
I genuinely wonder if some people during the covid era, on seeing that picture, would have thought, “Shouldn’t that mother be wearing a mask?”
It is worth considering Jeremiah 5 specifically in the context of the ways in which the covid era bore more than a passing resemblance to a form of religion, featuring — among other things — prophets (people who cannot be questioned) and priests (authority figures to interpret and enforce the rules)