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The Scriptures are indeed quoted on every hand, but in such a way as to really "steal"
the word from us; "smooth things" are palatable, yet no smooth things can come from
God to a world still answerable to Him for the death of His Son. So it was in the days of
Ezekiel, the false prophets are likened to those who build a wall and who daub it with
untempered mortar. These prophets had said, "Peace", when there was no peace, and had
seduced the people. Their untempered daubing was doomed to fall:--
"The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it; to wit, the prophets of Israel which
prophecy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no
peace, saith the Lord God" (Ezek. 13:).
The secret lies in the words, "there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked". So long
as this evil age endures, so long as natural man administers and rules, so long as Christ is
absent from the throne, so long must true peace be known only to the few who believe in
Him.
What are some of the characteristics of the false prophets' message, that imperils the
times in which we live? The prophet Jeremiah in chapter 23: gives us a guiding word:--
"Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, hearken not unto the words of the prophets that
prophecy unto you: THEY MAKE YOU VAIN."
This is one of the characteristics of the false prophets of a Christless peace. Man is
everywhere magnified, his need of a Saviour and Redeemer, or his own innate corruption
and failure, is scouted. Jeremiah continues, giving another characteristic,
"They speak a vision of THEIR OWN HEART and not of the mouth of the Lord."
Here is the fatal error of the message; the heart of man is desperately wicked, and out
of the heart of the wisest and the best of unsaved men can come nothing but the wisdom
of the world that comes to nought. A third characteristic is marked by Jeremiah:--
"They say still unto them that despise Me, the Lord hath said, YE SHALL HAVE
PEACE: and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart,
NO EVIL SHALL COME UPON YOU."
This is marked as a characteristic of the last days by Zechariah in chapter 5: What real
peace can there be to those who despise the Lord? And is this not the attitude of all those
who believe not on Christ? As regards the second clause, which promises no evil to
those who walk after the imagination of their hearts, a consideration of Jeremiah's own
words concerning this will show the utter falsity of these promises.
Jer. 3: 17 speaks of the time of Israel's real peace, and places it in utter contrast with
the imagination of their hearts; 7: 24 speaks of the disobedience of Israel in the
wilderness under this term, and says, "they went backward and not forward", their
so-called progress was apostacy; 9: 14-16 threatens those who followed the imagination
of their hearts with wormwood and gall, with scattering and sword, and yet the false
prophets said, "no evil come upon you". In like manner 11: 8, 16: 12, 18: 12, and
13: 9, 10 link the imagination with pride, and threaten that the pride shall be marred--