Heralds Digest

“And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me.” ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭16:12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ http://bible.com/114/jer.16.12.nkjv One of the benefits of the New Birth is a changed heart; where man is delivered from his wicked and evil heart, to be consistently inspired by the Spirit of the Lord. However, access to the presence of the Lord for divine inspiration does not withdraw the freedom to explore the potentials of human intelligence. The only challenge is the knowledge of the limit, where human intelligence contradicts the will of God. God had to outline the boundaries for the social lifestyles of prophet Jeremiah, in order to ensure that his possible relationship with those whose hearts have been polluted with idolatry is foreclosed. Today, the challenge of balancing believer's conservative faith with his openness to liberal lifestyles appears a wider misfortune, with sophisticated intelligence. But t...

“Therefore thus says the LORD: “If you return, Then I will bring you back; You shall stand before Me; If you take out the precious from the vile, You shall be as My mouth. Let them return to you, But you must not return to them.” ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭15:19‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ http://bible.com/114/jer.15.19.nkjv Change is a constant phenomenon in life, especially when considering the human standard of living. Since most measure of this standard of living is based on self-service or the taste of people, the desire for change drives the noticeable level of improvements in life. However, God's standard for life and godliness does not change. When prophet Jeremiah became seriously intimidated by the desire for change from the people, he was tempted to modify the style and standard of his preaching. The same reason why the Church today can argue that ' if the pew is responsible for picking up the bills, why not it being responsible for influencing the message from the pulpit '. Whereas, faith in ...

“If I go out to the field, Then behold, those slain with the sword! And if I enter the city, Then behold, those sick from famine! Yes, both prophet and priest go about in a land they do not know.’ ”” Jeremiah‬ ‭14:18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ http://bible.com/114/jer.14.18.nkjv The overbearing news of devastation, destruction, and deprivation in the cities and nations have a pathetic way of affecting the sense of responsibility of people, taking the responsive obligations ordinarily as reasonable oversights. The story of deprivation in a local assembly or family unit is synonymous to the burden of the larger society. When the prophets and priests of our land lose their heritage of being saddled with the responsibilities for declaring and disciplining the congregation of God's people, the state becomes overburdened; and unable to own the social mess beyond its capabilities. Whereas, every overseer, either at home or in the society, has the responsibility or oversight that cannot be abrogated to so...

“Hear and give ear: Do not be proud, For the LORD has spoken. Give glory to the LORD your God Before He causes darkness, And before your feet stumble On the dark mountains, And while you are looking for light, He turns it into the shadow of death And makes it dense darkness.” ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭13:15-16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ http://bible.com/114/jer.13.15-16.nkjv Innovation is driven by idea - that is, a new way of doing things; and this is one of the profound responsibilities of mankind on the planet earth. The progenitors of human civilization recognized this ordained responsibility, while proposing the fundamental laws that govern the interaction of elements toward creativity and advancement of knowledge. Most of them acknowledged the place of inspiration in every innovative drive. However, there is always the temptation to pursue advancement with independent mindsets, i.e., without appreciating the need for divine inspiration. It is not enough to appreciate and proclaim the general instruction of ...

“For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,’ says the LORD, ‘that they may become My people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they would not hear.’” ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭13:11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ http://bible.com/114/jer.13.11.nkjv Relevance in life is measurable with qualitative metrics, and publishable as the Guinness book of record, Fortune magazine, etc. However, God's metric appears to have nothing to do with material prosperity, maternal popularity, and mundane peculiarity. The lesson learnt by prophet Jeremiah through the story of the Linen Sach is pretty straightforward: man's pursuit outside an intimate relationship with God is unprofitable. Therefore, a profitable pursuit is nothing more than becoming the person of God in all of man's professional, social, family and institutional devotions. Unfortunately, the society have struggled and succeeded in making the man with God, at best...

““If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, Then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, In which you trusted, they wearied you, Then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?” ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭12:5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ http://bible.com/114/jer.12.5.nkjv Compliance to the state's penal code or institutional regulations is easy when enforcement procedures are freely-fair and securely-sincere. In such states, civilization is easily mistaken for civility, until performances are stretched beyond the limit of the controlled environment. Without the controlled environment, compliance standard is obviously left to personal convictions. Apart from prophet Jeremiah's disappointment about the lack of a high moral and religious standards among the people of God, perception of God's apparent encouragement for every act of wickedness was disturbing. He had a question for God, but his question could only get another question that call for sober reflectio...

““Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the men of Anathoth who seek your life, saying, ‘Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, lest you die by our hand’—” ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭11:21‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ http://bible.com/114/jer.11.21.nkjv The gathering of crowd through victimization and harassment is fed by the people's tendency to fear the immediate consequence of their actions more than the future consequence. Like the men of Anathoth, our workplaces and public institutions proffer an effective way of promoting ungodly practices. For example, proscription of public evangelism, bane on distribution of gospel tracts, frown on public praying in the name of Jesus Christ, censoring of Christian gathering, etc, are common lifestyle of liberalism in today's world. As long as the supply of the basic necessities of life is tied to matters that provoke deep biblical convictions, compromises become a common practice of many so-called believers of the Cross. Unfortunately, the Lord appeared to have n...