#DailyDevotion Why Does The False Preacher Preach?
Micah 35The LORD says this against the prophets who lead my people astray: “When they have something to bite with their teeth, they preach. ‘All is well! But they declare a holy war against the man who doesn’t put anything in their mouths. 6That is the reason night will come on you, and you won’t have a vision, a darkness in which you won’t be able to tell the future. The sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will turn black over them. 7The seers will be disgraced and the diviners ashamed. They will all cover their lips because God won’t answer them.” 8But certainly I am full of the LORD’s Spirit, full of power, justice and courage, to tell Jacob his wrong and Israel his sin.
It is the basis of passages like these Paul rails against false teachers in the Church, Rom. 1617“I urge you, fellow Christians, to watch those who cause disagreements and make people fall by going against the teaching you learned. Turn away from them. 18Such men are not serving Christ, our Lord, but their own bellies and by their fine and flattering talk are deceiving innocent people.” In Micah it is the false prophets who preach and teach simply to fill their bellies. Whatever teaching will accomplish this they do. So if preaching “All is well” will get food on their tables and their stomachs full then that is what they preach. However, if people get slack in providing for them, then they preach against the people with threats and the like until the coffers get filled again. In Micah’s day these were men who were called into the ministry but were not preaching what LORD gave them to say, the LORD turns against. Apparently at one time or another the LORD spoke to them and revealed things to them. But because they were not always faithful, giving the people the proper word at the proper time, preaching only to their advantage, the LORD was going to cease giving them anything to speak. Whatever word for the future he had for them would cease to be revealed. Those who practiced divination, the LORD would make sure their false word would not come to pass.
Today’s false preachers are not much different. As long as the money is flowing into their coffers they preach what their listeners want to hear. If they start drying up you can be certain sermons on money are not far behind, misusing the Word of the LORD on the subject until they can rest easy again.
The Spirit of the LORD though was with Micah. He could not but preach the Law to the people of God at his time pointing out Israel’s sins and their wrongs. It did not matter whether Micah was full or not. The preaching of their condemnation was based on their sinful lives. It was from the LORD God himself.
In similar fashion, the true preacher of the LORD Jesus Christ today will preach to his people what word they need to hear at that time, whether good news or the thunder of the Law. He will preach what is needed based on the needs of his people and not on whether his belly is full or not. He will not withhold the truth because the people will not like it. He will not teach just pleasing things because it pleases his people’s ears. The LORD’s preacher preaches and teaches what is best for his people.
Heavenly Father, grant unto us men who preach what your people need to hear in season and out of season so they may repent of their sins and believe the good news of Jesus Christ in whose name we pray.