1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. 4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter:so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
7 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;
8 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. 9 And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
10 If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
11 Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you:return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
12 And they said, There is no hope:but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.
13 Therefore thus saith the Lord; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things:the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. 14 Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?
15 Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up; 16 To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.
17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
18 Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
19 Give heed to me, O Lord, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.
20 Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them. 21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle. 22 Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them:for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.
23 Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me:forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.
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Comments by Joan Boney
It is an incredibly foolish thing to go against a servant of God. To set yourself against a person you know to be a prophet of God would be an act of suicide.
Instead you must greatly honor those persons appointed to the work of God, in NT: apostles, prophets evangelists, pastors, teachers. Eph. 4:11
Hebrews 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
It is so important to honor the ministry offices. You bring great harm upon yourself to do otherwise.
I have experienced people in church groups who decided on a whim to go against me and even harbor bitterness in their hearts provoked by Satan. They should have known better just by scripture. But they rushed headstrong against me and eventually revealed to me their hostility against me. I was very shocked in two cases of this, for I cared greatly for both of these people on this earth and for their souls. But they thought nothing of the ministry to do what they did. It is such a foolish act to do this.
Satan authors bad things against prophets ... but God will not allow the evil to stand against a prophet or another minister appointed by HIM.
Certain evil ministers and evil prophets must be dealt with, sometimes by God's appointed. But in both cases in our group, I confronted the persons and was told by both persons they knew I was appointed by God to do this work of ministry. That puts both of them in very bad position. To not know and attack would be less severe but to know and attack is unthinkable.
If you do not honor the ministry of God I feel very sorry for you for I don't see how anything but bad consequences can result for you.
At one point, when I was a new Christian, I attended a church where pastor turned out to be exceedingly evil in his acts. I didn't know his evil at the time I was at his church. I have great love and respect toward ministers and the offices of the ministry as set forth by God. I owned a business at the time this happened and was making a very serious business decision. I made an appointment to seek pastor's council. I prayed very much as I went to the appointment, for God to guide pastor and give him wisdom. I was sincerely putting my life into his hands and I believe I would have abided by his counsel out of respect for the ministry. When I told him my intention, he looked directly at me and said: "I perceive that you have faith to do it this way." It was as if I had the assurance I needed from God. (That pastor was Robert Tilton.)
In another case at another church group, I had invited pastor and his wife to dinner at my house. He agreed to come to dinner. To me this was a great honor to have pastor come to my house. It happened to be the same night as Dallas Crystal Ball to which I was invited due to a museum work which I had done through my business. When I saw the dates and realized they were scheduled on the same night, I called and declined the ball invitation.
Nothing would have been more important to me than pastor coming to dinner at my house.
But I love the ministries of God ...
I had no idea at that time that I was called by God to be an apostle/prophet. I simply saw myself as a Christian, born again by God and given HIS Spirit.
I greatly love the ministers of God but I also am appointed by God to deal when I see evil in that which minister is speaking or is doing. The care of the congregation is one of my assignments from God and I can have great anger of God when I see them do that which will hurt the congregation.
Part of the concern comes as a result of the God ordained assignment.
In approximately 1980, God gave me the following dream: In this dream, I was traveling with a small group of approximately 12 people. We were on a plane and we landed at an island. It was hot and dirty, like a pineapple field. There were children on the island. All of a sudden, I realized they planned to leave me on that island to take care of those children. I said, "I won't stay ... I won't ..." Then I realized it might be the will of God for me to stay and care for those children and I said to God, "Unless YOU want me to stay." (He did want me to stay and they left me there.) There was a pastor and his wife on the island but he wouldn't come out of his house.