Nope

 If the lies men tell us on behalf of God weren’t so appealing, maybe more people would point out that God never said what they said He said. Either that, or most people don’t take the time to go to the source, to go to the Word, and search out whether God said something someone else said He said, which would be just as bad but somehow sadder.

It’s not like we’re living in the 1900s, and after riding our horse home from church, we sit by candlelight and search out the Bible to see if what the preacher said is true. You can type one word into a search engine, and every time that word is mentioned in the Bible, it pops up big and bold in less time than it takes for you to blink. You can aggregate the word by testament, the book of the Bible, or who the author was. You can pull up the whole chapter to see the context, reference commentaries by denomination, and even search for similarities in the Apocrypha if that’s your bag, all from the comfort of your local coffee shop while sipping on sugared caffeine.

How can it be that with all the technology we have at our disposal, this generation is more ignorant of the Word of God than those who studied it by candlelight? There is no excuse for the ignorance plaguing the modern church, and a judicious, objective investigation would conclude that it is wholly willful.

We want to be told that our feelings matter more than the Word of God. We want to be told that God changed His mind about that whole sanctification thing, and He’s all in on prosperity and your earthly comfort. We don’t just want it or like it; we demand to be lied to because if anyone dares speak the truth of Scripture to us, we belittle, deride, and ridicule them to the point that their heart grows bitter, and the work they do is no longer with gladness.

It’s not a recent problem, either; this mindset has been around since the times of the Old Testament prophets, and it was so pervasive that God pointed it out in no unclear terms.

Isaiah 30:8-10, “Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and note it on a scroll, that it may be for time to come, forever and ever: that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of the Lord; Who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.’”

The people demanded that they be lied to. The people demanded that the seers not see and the prophets not prophesy right things. They still wanted them to prophesy; they were still roaming the land, asking what the Lord was saying, then turning around and demanding that only smooth things be prophesied.

I’ve seen a version of this in modern times, where people don’t come out and demand someone change what they prophesied, but they go prophet shopping, from one to another, until they hear something they want to hear. Once that occurs, they are content in their heart that they are pursuing whatever avenue they intended to pursue with the full support and blessing of the Most High.

In love, God will say no once, twice, thrice, but eventually, He will leave you to the desire of your heart, seeing as you are unwilling to obey what He clearly stated time and again.

But what if what the Lord is saying is not smooth? What if what the Lord is saying doesn’t stroke your ego, gloss over your sin, or make you promises of riches beyond your imagining? Then lie, prophet! That’s right, lie! Indulge us in our fantasies, absolve us of our responsibilities, tell us it’s all going to be okay, and that there will be no consequences to the actions we have thus far undertaken. Prophesy deceits, and we will reward you handsomely for your betrayal of God. Tell us what we want to hear, and you will have a life of ease and earthly abundance.

Fail to supply what we demand, insist on prophesying the right things, the things God told you to prophesy, and you will know strife, alienation, and rejection by those you now call brothers and sisters.

And you wonder why so many give in to the madness of the crowds? Do you wonder why so many speak smooth things? That’s why. Because the offer they were made to betray the truth was too good for their flesh to pass up, at least in their estimation.

If you knew that, save for telling people they’d be riding pet dinosaurs in heaven, you’d probably be putting your dentures in some Polident and watching the sun go down over your penny-wise retirement community, and you never really knew the fear of the Lord, wouldn’t you keep up the clown show for as long as you could?

I think it’s early on that you have to decide what you’re in ministry for. It’s early on that you have to determine if you will stand for the truth, speak the truth, and follow after the truth, or be swayed every which way by the offer of something more than what you already possess.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.