" Diminish Not A WORD "

Jeremiah 26:1-7   " In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah King of Judah came this WORD from the LORD, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD's house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD's house, all the WORDs that I command thee to speak unto them;  diminish not  a  WORD:  If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent ME of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.

And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; If ye will not hearken to ME, to walk in MY law, which I have set before you, to hearken to the words of MY servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened; Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD. "

     Many ministers in churches today have a tendency to trim the message of GOD's WORD in order to lessen the possibility of offending their hearers. This proclivity is bolstered by the fact that so many in the congregation desire to hear messages that have been altered in order to emphasize the positive and eliminate the negative. In Jeremiah's day, a similar situation existed, but GOD gave him an extremely specific command. He was to stand in the LORD's house, to speak unto all the people who came to worship , and to  "diminish not a WORD"  of the message GOD had given him (v.2). Just like today, the prevailing  "philosophy of ministry"  during Jeremiah's day presupposed (correctly) that people would be disconcerted if the message from GOD was "too negative."  Jeremiah's proclamation was a case in point. In a day of false prophets, greedy priests, and counterfeit worship, the people still wanted to hear promises of peace and prosperity, not of GOD's impending judgment. No doubt the people of Israel said to themselves, as many do in the church today, "We came to worship the LORD and to be affirmed in our spiritual walk, not to listen to negative warnings."

     In our day, as in Jeremiah's day, we need to  "diminish not a WORD" when proclaiming the Gospel and warning about the wolves in sheep's clothing who are deceiving so many. Our words will not be popular, but they will receive GOD's blessing and accomplish HIS purpose (Isaiah 55:11). A tremendous pressure exists today to  "diminish" the message. Never fall victim to this cunning ploy by the god of this world (the Devil). In the LORD's strength, let us give  "all the counsel of GOD"  and  "[cease] not to warn" (Acts 20:27-31). MHR

Your servant in CHRIST,

Julie

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