Jeremiah 23
Jeremiah 23
By
Gary Primo
Feb. 13, 2021
The other morning, I was doing research on another topic when I came upon this chapter in Jeremiah, which reminded me so much about what is going on today, I just had to delve into it.
What I found to be particularly interesting is that what the prophet is warning Israel about, is exactly what has and is happening in Christian nations today. If I counted right, Yahuwah’s name appears 37 times in this chapter and the name/title Elohim appears 4 times. Each time, in the English Bible editions, these names/titles have been done away with and replaced by the names of imaginary, pagan, Roman gods. The authors have hypocritically repeated the same error as ancient Israel. And, I suppose, that means that they will suffer the same curse and punishment.
Jeremiah 23
1 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my
pasture!” declares Yahuwah.
Who is the intended target of this warning? Those who are destroying and scattering the sheep are the lying ministers and priests of the Christian church. The Christian church (Constantine’s model) absolutely fulfilled this prophesy. They preached lies, which their congregations believed and lead them in the opposite direction, away from the truth and Yahuwah and into over 1,000 different denominations with varying versions of truth. All liars are the enemy of truth. And when they are exposed, they attack the truth tellers. (Isn’t that what is happening around the world today – in all Christian nations?)
2 Therefore this is what Yahuwah, the Elohim of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares Yahuwah.
Yes, lying is evil and only begets more lies/evil. Who are Yahuwah’s people? Israel. All of Israel, not just the Jews. There were 10 ½ other tribes that were led away to the north and never returned to the land of Israel. These are the ones referred to in these verses. And there is an excellent chance that most or all of us are in some way descended from one of these tribes. Yahuwah’s call goes out to all of us, but some are too spiritually deaf and cannot hear. Others hear and attempt to follow but are quickly swallowed up by well-meaning friends and led in a different direction. Others hear but simply do not believe enough and allow the seed to wither and die.
3 “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number.
This has not happened yet as far as Northern Israel is concerned. So far it has happened twice with Judah. These are the Lost Sheep of Israel that Yahushua often mentioned. These are the ones He was calling back to the land. Just as a shepherd will search and search for any lost sheep, so does Yahuwah.
4 I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares Yahuwah.
Yahuwah personally selects those He knows will serve Him truthfully. For all we know, we could be the ones chosen to shepherd them. The religions of this world first send their selected leaders to “brain washing school” (e.g., Christian colleges) and make them into very fine liars, just like themselves. All are merely schools of Baal worship. Yahuwah left us with written instructions that serve to guide us to all truth. Many have tried to corrupt those words, but they are still available to the most serious of truth seekers. The Scriptures admonish us to search and prove ALL things and not to blindly follow blind guides.
5 “The days are coming,” declares Yahuwah, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.
6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: Yahuwah Our Righteous Savior.
This, of course is speaking of the Messiah, Yahushua, following His return. He will be both King and High Priest. All liars will be exposed and punished. There will be no more politicians telling you anything to secure your vote; or any lying ministers trying to defraud you of your tithes. At last, truth will reign supreme.
7 “So then, the days are coming,” declares Yahuwah, “when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as Yahuwah lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’
8 but they will say, ‘As surely as Yahuwah lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ Then they will live in their own land.”
These verses are definitely talking about Northern Israel. That would be most of us. Yahuwah desires that we identify with our Jewish brothers rather than differentiate ourselves from them. The twelve tribes are prophesied to reunite at some point and that is what we should be working towards right now. There is presently a large population of Messianic Jews. This is the people we should start with, reach out to and form a bond with.
9 Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble. I am like a drunken man, like a strong man overcome by wine, because of Yahuwah and his holy words.
10 The land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land lies parched and the pastures in the wilderness are withered. The prophets follow an evil course and use their power unjustly.
Spiritual adulterers would include committing any form of sin. The sin of Northern Israel was that in the king’s zeal to distinguish his kingdom from Judah, he also distinguished the god he worshiped from the Great Elohim of Israel. I go into this in greater detail in “The Christian Counterfeit, Constantine’s One World religion”. Corruption begins at the top.
11 “Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness,” declares Yahuwah.
However, we know that Judah did not always serve Yahuwah righteously either. The prophet Ezekiel witnessed 25 men with their backs to the temple (and Yahuwah) and bowing down towards the rising sun (sun god/Baal). In more righteous days, they would have swiftly been put to death. They were godless because the god they worshipped never existed (except in the form of Nimrod).
Ezekiel 8:16 16He then brought me into the inner court of the house of Yahuwah, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of Yahuwah and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east.
Jer. 23:12 “Therefore their path will become slippery; they will be banished to darkness and there they will fall. I will bring disaster on them in the year they are punished,” declares Yahuwah.
No evil deed goes unpunished. The only escape from that punishment is genuine, heartfelt repentance and obedience to Yahuwah. Northern Israel never did this, at least, not as a nation. Judah fell and rose twice (Babylonian/Roman) and since 1947 has returned to the land again; yet they still do not follow the Scriptural model. They still deny the Messiah and tell horrible lies about Him. If there is not any national repentance, and they try to attempt a revival by their own means and their own doctrines, they will fail, just as they did in ancient times. And again, Yahuwah will use other nations to punish them. In fact, I was just reading in today’s news, that the UN is going to allow the Palestinians to prosecute Israeli officials for war crimes. The current Israeli PM is likely at the top of their list. If so, this could be a trigger for an all-out Israeli/Palestinian war, which could end up drawing in the entire world.
13 “Among the prophets of Samaria I saw this repulsive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.
Baal is one of the many names ancient king Nimrod is worshipped by. Another is Zeus. Another of the names for Baal is Baal-gad (pronounced Gaud/god). The name Jesus comes from the Latin “Iesous’ (Praise Zeus). Any who use these names in their worship system are, in fact, worshipping, praising and prophesying in the name of Baal/Nimrod. They are no different from the 25 men with their backs to the temple. Every religion in the world worships Baal is one form or fashion. All worship not directed toward Yahuwah is Ball worship. Plain and simple!
14 And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that not one of them turns from their wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”
15 Therefore this is what Yahuwah Almighty says concerning the prophets: “I will make them eat bitter food and drink poisoned water, because from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.”
The people of Sodom and Gomorrah had turned completely away from Yahuwah and the moral decay reached such a degree where they had no morals left. Finally, Yahuwah had to make an example of them before other cities fell into this condition as well. We might call it spiritual mental illness.
Who is it that strengthens the hands of evil doers? Is it not their followers? Let us look at this question from a political angle. Did the German people not elect Hitler and at first demonstrated great adoration for the man? It is up to us to examine the person we follow and judge them by Yahuwah’s standards and not by the standards of men. Another example would be the Pope who declares himself “God on Earth”. If I were to do that, I would quickly be judged insane, yet everyone believes the Pope. When I view devotees having a meltdown over the site of him and large crowds standing for hours outside his residence to hear his useless words, it makes me sick. If only their devotion was directed toward the true Elohim, Yahuwah.
Eat bitter food and drink poisoned water is pretty much what we are now doing every day. GMO foods and chemically loaded city water (and let’s not forget the polluted air); we are bringing about this punishment by our own means. That is how dumb we are!
16 This is what Yahuwah Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of Yahuwah.
17 They keep saying to those who despise me, Yahuwah says: You will have peace.’ And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’
We have all known an example of this kind of prophesy. Some man has a dream and assumes it came from Yahuwah, however, if that man is not worshipping Yahuwah by name and obedience, his vision did not come from Yahuwah, but perhaps by His Adversary. They claim their visions are from Yahuwah, but they are frauds and liars.
18 But which of them has stood in the council of Yahuwah to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word?
Not one of these lying priests, ministers or preachers have ever stood in the council of Yahuwah. They do not even know who He is. They are in their own little worlds following the dictates of their overactive imaginations.
19 See, the storm of Yahuwah will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked.
20 The anger of Yahuwah will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart. In days to come you will understand it clearly.
Just as sure as the flood overwhelmed the people of Noah’s day, our punishment is equally sure to come. Yahuwah only withholds His punishment for so long, giving us a chance to repent. However, with man, delayed punishment usually only results in even worse behavior. They think they have gotten away with something and try to take it even further. People do not usually wake up until the punishment is upon them. And by then, it is already too late. That is when we will understand these things clearly.
21 I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.
So, how does one tell a false prophet from one truly sent by Yahuwah? First of all, if he is praising the name of any other (pagan) god, he is obviously not of Yahuwah. If he is not obedient to Yahuwah in regard to the 10 commandments, he is not of Yahuwah. If that prophet utters different words, which Yahuwah never spoke, he is not of Yahuwah. If he is not of Yahuwah, then he is not a true prophet.
Humans think that since Yahuwah abides so far away, he cannot see the evil things they do. However, they are wrong. Yahuwah did not merely create the universe; He is the universe. His spirit permeates all that exists, sees all and controls all things. The universe is not some dead object. It is teeming with life – maybe not life as we understand it, but life, nonetheless. All the planets align with each other and follow the course Yahuwah has laid out for them. New planets continue to come to life while others die. Everything is in a constant state of motion. The universe is most definitely very much alive.
Some look at the universe and see only chaos. This is not true! If it were, what chance would life on Earth have had? What keeps the planets on their appointed and completely predictable paths? New planets are being born and old ones are dying all the time, Just like life down here on Earth. The planets lie in what we consider a state of decay; however, the truth is, they never supported life at any time. No life, no decay! They are merely awaiting the coming to glory of man to bring life to them. In the meantime, they simply have a form of life that we do not yet comprehend.
25 “I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’
26 How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds?
In recent times there was one famous Christian minister who uttered these words in one of his speeches. This was, of course, Dr. Martin Luthor King. As wonderful a man as he was and as much of a champion for African Americans as he was, he still came up short on the “Yahuwah Scale”. The one hope he has left (as do we all) is to repent following the resurrection and be forgiven.
Of more recent times, we have had numerous false prophets predicting the end of the age even though Yahushua told us that even He did not know when the end of the age would be, but His Father only. So, who are these false prophets who think themselves wiser than Yahuwah? I am sure a number of their followers sold everything they owned and were waiting wit their bags packed for the false Armageddon.
27 They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their ancestors forgot my name through Baal worship.
HaSatan has been trying to make everyone forget Yahuwah’s name almost since the beginning of man. In fact, it was several generations before anyone even knew the name of Elohim. Northern Israel succeeded in blotting out His name. The Jews did blot out His name following the Babylonian captivity in an effort to protect the name, but that was in blatant disobedience to Yahuwah’s command to “proclaim” His name. And, of course, the Christians under Constantine, did the exact same thing as Northern Israel. They forgot His name by taking on a form of Baal worship.
28 Let the prophet who has a dream recount the dream but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares Yahuwah.
29 “Is not my word like fire,” declares Yahuwah, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?
30 “Therefore,” declares Yahuwah, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me.
31 Yes,” declares Yahuwah, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, ‘Yahuwah declares.’
32 Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” declares Yahuwah. “They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least,” declares Yahuwah.
The prophet, Eliyah had his day with false Prophets. He proved them false when he called for a fire to come out of heaven and destroy 50 of them. The prophets of Baal stand no chance against the prophets of Yahuwah.
33 “When these people, or a prophet or a priest, ask you, ‘What is the message from Yahuwah?’ say to them, ‘What message? I will forsake you, declares Yahuwah.’
34 If a prophet or a priest or anyone else claims, ‘This is a message from Yahuwah,’ I will punish them and their household.
35 This is what each of you keeps saying to your friends and other Israelites: ‘What is Yahuwah answer?’ or ‘What has Yahuwah spoken?’
36 But you must not mention ‘a message from Yahuwah again, because each one’s word becomes their own message. So you distort the words of the living Elohim, Yahuwah Almighty, our Elohim.
Do any of us wish to be forsaken any/or punished? If not, we had better be using and declaring His name to EVERYONE, believers and non-believers alike. The world must know that they do have a choice.
I especially like the phrase, “each one’s word becomes their own message”. In other words, each man’s thoughts become what they believe to be truth. When someone reads the Scriptures for the first time, they should do so with a completely open mind, putting aside all the things they think they know and allowing Yahuwah to teach them all truth. There is no one else we can trust.
37 This is what you keep saying to a prophet: ‘What is Yahuwah answer to you?’ or ‘What has Yahuwah spoken?’
38 Although you claim, ‘This is a message from Yahuwah,’ this is what Yahuwah says: You used the words, ‘This is a message from Yahuwah,’ even though I told you that you must not claim, ‘This is a message from Yahuwah.’
39 Therefore, I will surely forget you and cast you out of my presence along with the city I gave to you and your ancestors.
40 I will bring on you everlasting disgrace—everlasting shame that will not be forgotten.”
The deeds of the wicked are never forgotten. Their deeds will be remembered as a lesson in unrighteousness. Every wicked deed will be punished eventually.
I seriously doubt that anu one of us desires to hear Yahuwah speak such words of condemnation against any of us. What we wany to hear is “Well done, you good and faithful servant.” The first step is to sever all ties with worldly religions – they are all religions of men, not Yahuwah. They next step is to begin a mission to uncover all truth via a complete and thorough study of the Scriptures. This should consume one for the rest of their natural lives. And, I have discovered that even following this plan, some manage to twist things to their own imaginations. Truth is the most valuable and elusive of all commodities. Finding it is like digging for gold. “Here a little, there a little”! It is all there if we faithfully seek it.
Conclusion
Yahuwah has been extremely patient in waiting on us to remember and worship His name. Yahushua declared His Father’s name openly before the people for which He received the sentence of death for blaspheme. Can you imagine any nation charging their own Elohim with blaspheme? Were the Rabbis not elevating themselves above Elohim in doing this? Of course, this ruling sat well with the Gentile converts as they hated His name anyway.
Yahushua’s elevation was completely dependent on Hs total obedience to every word that came from His Father. So, must it be with us. Some of us are going to suffer a similar fate as our Messiah. But we must not allow the fear of that fate to deter us in any way. We must remain confident that in the end, we will be raised up and appointed to glorious positions in Yahuwah’s Kingdom. It will all be worth it, folks.
When the Jews began the tradition of hiding Yahuwah’s name, their whole system of faith fell apart. When Yahushua did come, they not only demonstrated hatred towards His name, but Him as well. I wonder what their excuse will be when standing in the judgement?
The Constantinian Christians were no better than the Jews and quickly followed the error of Northern Israel. Constantine became the god they worshipped, and they bowed to his every decree. No man has the right or authority to place themselves between Yahuwah and man. We do not need to go through any man to get to Yahuwah. Everything we need to know can be found in the scriptures.
The descendants of the Lost Tribes are being called at this very moment. The number of such descendants are like the gains of sand in the sea. Of course, this is a spiritual calling, not a physical one. If it were to be announced on CNN, I suppose most of the world would believe and pursue it. Yet, most will not even make the effort or spend the time studying the one source that has all the answers.
Nothing has changed in the 5,700+ years since man has been on this planet. One generation learns its lesson and the next forgets it. It has simply been as King Solomon declared, “There is nothing new under the sun”. Yahuwah raises up a people under His name and they corrupt it every time. I hope and pray that it never becomes so with us.
The good news is that Yahushua will be returning soon, and He will reveal all things and set all thing right. The population at the time will have to go right back to primary school and begin learning afresh. No more lies will be taught to them. Yahuwah’s name will be worn by all. At last, the entire earth will know His name. Hallelulyah!
Yahuwah Bless
G.P.