"Your prophets have predicted for you falsehood and delusion and foolish things: and they have not exposed your iniquity and guilt to avert your captivity [by causing you to repent]. But they have divined and declared to you false and deceptive prophecies, worthless and misleading. All who pass by clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Is this the city which was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?'" (Lamentations 2:14,15 Amplified).

"A righteous man who falters before the wicked Is like a murky spring and a polluted well" (Proverbs 25:26).

Isaiah had a vision of a glorious church (see Isaiah 62) that was so beautiful and prosperous that she would be seen as a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord. This church would be the delight of the Lord over which He would keep watch with a protective eye against every enemy. She would be a praise in the earth for which kings and nations would be envious. But much like the Jerusalem over which Jeremiah lamented with tears of sorrow, the glorious church of Jesus Christ has lost her luster and her appeal. The nakedness of her sin and carnality has been exposed to the world. Instead of making the nations jealous, she has become a reproach and is scorned by the lost. Instead of being a well of life-giving waters and refreshing streams to the thirsty and weary souls, she has become a polluted well of iniquity from which even the thirsty refuse to drink. As Jeremiah lamented in Lamentations 4:1,2, ‘her gold has become dim and her precious sons are esteemed merely as earthen pots.'

Jesus warned us over and over that the last days would bring out a multitude of false prophets and teachers. The main characteristic of these false brethren would be carnality, ‘those who walk after the flesh and indulge in the lust of polluting passion.' (2 Peter 2:10). They would be ‘lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, lovers of pleasure, having a form of godliness but denying the power of God to make them truly holy.' (2 Timothy 3:1-5). They prophesy falsehood and delusion and worthless things. They mislead with deceptive words wooing carnal Christians with empty promises of blessing and gain. Much of what we see going on in the prophetic ministry today is exactly so. So-called ‘prophets' go about selling prophetic words of blessing and speaking to the idols of men's hearts. They soothe the convictions of men's souls with smooth words of peace and prosperity.

The Old Testament contains more warnings of false prophets than it does promises of true ones. They proclaim ‘peace, peace' when there is no peace (Jeremiah 6:14). They promise protection and blessing to the rebellious merely because they are the church of God's grace. (Jeremiah 7:4). They speak of peace to those who walk after their own stubborn hearts. (Jeremiah 23:17). They speak out of their own hearts rather than waiting in the counsel of the Lord for His word. (Jeremiah 23:18-22). They imitate the words of one another and speak lying dreams to cause the people to go astray. (Jeremiah 23:32). And I could go on and on.

The church has fallen far short of God's glory and yet we still go on week after week prophesying out of and to the flesh of carnal man with promises of money and cars and houses and every conceivable blessing of God with no accountability for obedience or devotion to God. Jerusalem had fallen into ruin and destruction for this very reason. Instead of exposing the sin and carnality of the people, the prophets went around proclaiming peace and prosperity to a rebellious nation. They promised extended blessing and protection: giving the people a false sense of security causing them to remain in their sinful condition. The main purpose of the prophetic word of God is to expose the sin of the body and bring people to repentance and faith so that they can be delivered from their captivity to sin and flesh and come into the true liberty of the sons of God where they can freely receive the true blessings of the Lord.

The church has fallen into desolation and ruin for the same reasons as Jerusalem. The world has been spiraling into a moral abyss of darkness all around us while we get together week after week to bless one another and consume the word of God on the lusts of our flesh. It is time for the body of Christ to wake up and focus on our mission to a lost and dying world. It is time to do what Jesus commanded of us, to deny ourselves, take up the cross and follow Him into the fields ripe for harvest.

Many are prophesying today about the second coming of Christ. But I would like to boldly proclaim that before Jesus comes for His bride, there must first be a bride, a glorious and holy bride without spot or blemish. There must first be a glorious church that reveals the righteousness of God to the nations of the world. There must first be a consecrated people who lay down their lives for the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am continually saddened to see the secular world forsake its differences to rally together to unselfishly help after every major disaster while the church is nowhere to be seen because it can't get past its divisions of denomination and race and doctrine. The world races to the aid of the victims, while the church argues about who will get the credit. The church should be the first on the scene flooding the disaster area with compassionate care, spiritual support, finances, food, and whatever is necessary to show the victims the true love of a compassionate God.

It is time to open our eyes and ears to the prophetic word going forth in the church and put a stop to the false prophets and teachers that cater to the lusts of the flesh. It is time to return to true devotion to God in holiness and consecration so that we can get back to the true mission of the gospel — reaching the souls of lost men. If we would truly care about others the way we care about ourselves we would discover the true peace and blessing of the Lord.