Jeremiah 3:15, 10:21, 12:10, 23:1-2

Jeremiah 3:15, “And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.”

I love God. He cares more about humanity than any of us could ever imagine. In this passage the Bible says that God gives us pastors, according to His heart. The Lord alone raises up a man of God. God had chosen Jeremiah to be a prophet unto the nations, before he was even conceived in the womb (Jeremiah 1:5). God gives us pastors (true pastors that is) to feed Jesus' sheep with knowledge and understanding. Everything rises and falls on leadership. It is in our human nature to follow other men. Sadly, most men are not safe to follow. That is why billions of people are being woefully misled today by following their Catholic priest, Lutheran minister, Jewish Rabbi or other dangerous cult leader.

Sadly, although I am an Independent Fundamental Baptist myself, I have to warn you that 85% of Baptist churches today are dangerous Lordship Salvation cults, who preach a counterfeit plan of salvation (which cannot produce the new birth that is required to enter into God's Kingdom - John 3:3-7).

The adage is true: There is nothing new under the sun.

In the Old Testament there were false prophets, just as there are today in 2024. Jeremiah 10:21, “For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.” Isn't that sad? We read in Jeremiah 3:15 that God gave us pastors to feed God's flock with knowledge and understanding. So what happened that instead of preaching the truth, those pastors were now lacking good sense (brutish), and stopped seeking the Lord's face, and actually become a threat and danger to God's people? Jeremiah 12:10, “Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.”

There are millions of corrupt preachers throughout the world today who are pulling on the same rope as the Devil. Jeremiah 23:1-2, “Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!  saith the LORD. Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.” The most dangerous thing you'll ever do is listen to a preacher blindly, without searching the Scriptures for yourself to verify the things he is teaching you. You should always question everything, testing it with the inspired Word of God (Acts 17:10-11; 1st John 4:1). Any teaching that goes contrary to the Holy Bible is heresy (i.e., an opinion). One thing that you won't find in the Word of God is your opinion.

Beware Of Corrupt Pastors Who Preach A False Repentance

One of my favorite free grace preachers is Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold. I listened to a sermon today titled, “Legalistic Judaism is Today's Calvinism,” in which I gleaned these great quotes:

“When it comes to salvation, if you're saved by grace, there's nothing to stop or start.” —Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold, “Legalistic Judaism is Today's Calvinism”

“Christ paid for my sins. If He paid for my sins, why would I have to go to Hell to pay for my sins? All He wanted me to do was believe that He did it all for me. That is the greatest news in all the world! And no man, no preacher, has the authority to change the Gospel message. Just because you don't see how it works, or understand how it works—you don't have to know, it ain't none of our business; but God says there is a Heaven and a Hell, and if you want to go to Heaven this is what you do, and your opinion don't count.” —Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold, “Legalistic Judaism is Today's Calvinism”

I am deeply concerned about the false information being circulated in 99% of churches today about how to get to Heaven. You'll hear one or more of the following lies in churches (cults) today, all embellishments which pervert God's simple plan of salvation:

1. Repent of your sins
2. Turn from your sinful ways
3. Forsake the world
4. Forsake a lifestyle of sinning
5. Be willing to turn from your sins
6. Put Christ on the throne of your life
7. Surrender all to Christ
8. Give your life to Christ
9. Change your behavior to prove you've repented to be saved
10. Become a Christ follower
11. Commit to serve Christ
12. Invite Christ into your life
13. Invite Jesus into your heart
14. Give the steering wheel of your life to God
15. Live a perpetual lifestyle of repentance
16. Decide to follow and obey Christ instead of your self-serving sins
17. Run the race faithfully until the end
18. Prove the reality of the genuineness of your faith by works
19. Pray a sinner's prayer
20. Join a church
21. Keep the Seven Sacraments
22. Get water baptized
23. Confess the name of Jesus publicly
24. Partake of Holy Communion
25. Keep the Sabbath Day
26. Keep the Ten Commandments to prove your love to validate faith

Most proponents of Lordship Salvation will claim to believe that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone; but then they will contradict them self by insisting that a saved person must sin less and do good works to validate their faith. If these “signs” are not present they will claim that the person is not saved. This thought process can never lead to assurance of salvation because it is always dependent on how one lives. Jonah 3:10, “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.” Turning from one's sin is WORKS!!!

Also, carefully notice that God Himself repented! If repentance means to turn from one's sinning then this Bible verse makes no sense, because we know that God is righteous and incapable of committing sin (James 1:13). God simply changed His mind, which is exactly what the word “repent” means in regard to getting saved. The man who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ has repented. That is, he has changed his mind from unbelief to belief. He has changed his mind to admit that he is a SINNER, and that Jesus is the SAVIOR. Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do.

The simple plan of salvation is this. You and I are guilty sinners. We have all fallen short of God's perfect standard (Romans 3:10-23). There is a penalty for sinning, which is death. We all have to die. But the Bible warns about a second death in Hell, fire and brimstone forever (Revelation 20:11-15; 21:8). The GOOD NEWS (which means, "Gospel") is that God loves humanity and sent His only begotten Son into the world to die on a cross to pay our debt of sin (John 3:16; Romans 5:6-9). He was buried, but three days later Jesus came back to life, raising up from the dead (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). Jesus paid a debt He did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay (2nd Corinthians 5:21).

Jesus has already paid for everybody's sins. Forgiveness of sins and eternal life is a free gift, paid for by Jesus' precious blood (1st Peter 1:18-19). All God asks for anyone to be saved is to BELIEVE (put your reliance in, trust) that Jesus did it all for you. Childlike faith is all that is necessary. Nothing more is required or allowed by God. This plan of salvation is so simple that most men complicate it, by adding holy living, forsaking one's sinful bad habits and persevering in service to Christ in order to get to Heaven. In reality, they have been woefully deceived by the Devil, which we can sadly see happened to a group in Matthew 7:21-23. They cried out to Jesus, “Lord, Lord.” They boasted of having followed Christ, of having done “many wonderful work,” of having prophesied (preached) in Jesus' name to the masses, but Christ denied knowing them as His sheep. Tragically, they were lost and hellbound in their WORKS.

A True Pastor Preaches A Free Grace Gospel

I wouldn't sit in a church where a pastor lies to the people by preaching another gospel. The first thing I do when I attend a church and I hear the pastor preach a corrupt gospel from the pulpit, is that I personally hand that pastor a hard copy of Michael P. Bowen's book, "I NEVER KNEW YOU" (which is the best defense of the free grace Gospel I have ever read). I just purchased four more hardcopies to give to people as gifts. In 2023, I humbly gave hard copies to my pain management Doctor, her Physician's Assistant, and my Pastor, my next door neighbour. I have another neighbor who is an 84 year old elderly woman and an avowed atheist. I tried to give her one but she refused it. That is so sad. I am praying for her.

If after personally handing the aforementioned book to a new pastor, he persists in preaching a counterfeit gospel, then I leave the church and expose that bad church and the doctrinally rotten pastor on social media. This is 100% biblical. Titus 1:13-14, “This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.” Jude 1:3 exhorts Christians to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” Life is short, Hell is hot and eternity is a long time!!! Every preacher ought to be a Watchman upon the wall, who cries aloud to warn everyone about the wrath of God to come in Hell against Christ-rejecters (John 3:36; 2nd Thessalonians 1:8-9).

Jeremiah 3:15, “And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.” There were good pastors and bad pastors during Bible times, just as there are today. The love of money (merely pursuing a career to make money) corrupts preachers. When money becomes an issue there is a conflict of interest. That is one reason since 2002, when I began my internet ministry, I have never taken a single penny for all my (I estimate at least 50,000 hours) of diligent labor. I labor for the love of Jesus, truth and people (and of course, by faith in God's promise to reward me, I am laying up treasures in Heaven - Matthew 6:19-20).