Our Idol is Falsehood

By Doug Cook

Most of my thoughts these days seem to be consumed with a passion for unity in the body of Christ and deep grief over the considerable division.  This intensity is coming from the heart of the Lord Himself because I can not seem to let it go.  I’ve been accused of operating in “feelings” because of my fervor on the subject.  I sincerely believe that judgment has begun in the house of the Lord to bring the remnant back together as one.  I thank the Lord Jesus He has chosen us to be alive for such a time as this to see this unity come to fruition within the church.  I have desired to see it throughout most of my walk with the Lord.

I would like to speak to you out of Jeremiah 10 today.

Verses 1-5 is not the subject of this correspondence, but I have been over the first five verses in chapter 10 many times and, I pray most of you are aware by now that “Christmas trees” are a form of pagan worship to the goddess Ashera which the Lord says here to “learn not the way of the heathen.”  We, as believers, should not be participating in a pagan worship day, especially since the inception of the holiday of December 25^th was initiated as Sol Invictus (the unconquered sun god) day, not Jesus birthday as Jesus was born around September.  Only several centuries after inception did Christians begin to celebrate it as Jesus birthday.  And “as long as I think of Jesus” is not an excuse for joining in a pagan celebration.  That’s like saying its okay to dress up our kids in demonic costumes on Halloween as long as we tell them Jesus loves them!

Jeremiah 10:6-7 Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.  Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.

10:13 When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.

As you can see, Jeremiah spends the next several verses magnifying our Lord for how unfathomable He really is.  The last thing he mentions in verse 13 is “He maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth for the wind out of his treasures.”  The word “wind” is the Hebrew word “ruach” which means wind, breath or spirit.  The Hebrew word for Holy Spirit is “Ruach ha Kodesh,” which can be taken as the Holy Breath of God.  Spiritually the verse means He sends us His Breath (Holy Spirit) out of His treasures.

Verse 14 is the reason the Lord woke me up at 12:45 in the morning to show me once again another truth about division among His people in the Old Testament (the thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.)  Jeremiah was trying to tell God’s people at the time why they were being judged and since the Lord does nothing new, He is trying to show us why the church is being judged today.  So I want to expand on this passage, especially with this verse.

Jeremiah 10:14 Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

Please bear with me on the definitions, but the Lord revealed something most interesting about the Hebrew words in this passage. “Brutish” means to “burn, kindle, or consume but also to be stupid, barbarous, dull-hearted, unreceptive, or denominative!”  (Strong’s Concordance, Brown-Driver-Begs Hebrew Concordance)  Webster’s definition of “denominative” is “That gives a name; that confers a distinct appellation (the word by which a thing is called and known).”  The first sentence in verse 14 literally conveys that EVERY man becomes stupid, dull-hearted, or unreceptive and then denominates by another name due to the knowledge they have gained and are burned up or consumed by this denominations understanding. 

As I continue expanding on this verse, you should see it enlarges our understanding of 1Corinthians 8:1-2 “Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.  And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.”

The word “founder” in verse 14 means to “smelt, purify, purge away, try, or test.”  This is the person (elder, pastor, bishop, priest) who is making the graven image (carved idol).  The word “confounded” means “to be ashamed, confused, or disappointed; also to make dry, wither, be dry, become dry, be dried up, be withered, be without moisture” (as in water of the Word).  Therefore, the second part of the first sentence in verse 14 expresses that EVERY founder (pastor, elder, bishop, leader, etc) becomes confused, withers, and dries up from the water of the true Word by refining their denomination (graven image) they have created.

“For his molten image is falsehood.”  This is the most important statement in verse 14.  When we read the word idol, graven image or molten image in the bible, we take it literally and don’t think the passage applies to us because we don’t have any wood or metal figurines sitting around our homes or places of worship, much less surrounding them with candles and bowing down to worship them.  We think we’re so much more holy that God’s rebellious people “back then.”  But look at exactly what Jeremiah says here.  Their idol is falsehood!  These brutish denomination “founders” are worshipping falsehoods (untruths, false doctrines, man-made rules), not statues made of stone, and if we are following them, our idol is also false truths established by these sects.  According to these statements, I would venture to say it would be as difficult to find a “Christian” who is not practicing idolatry today as is was for Jeremiah to find one of God’s true remnant believers “back then.”  There is nothing new under the sun!

“And there is no breath (ruach) in them.”  And the last few words of verse 14 say it all.  There is no life giving spirit or breath of God coming from these denominative “founders.”  As discussed in Colossians chapter 2 on a previous teaching, they resort to making man made rules for “their people” to follow because they have no “breath” from the Lord to help them grow and mature from their spirit.

      Jeremiah 10:15 They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

The Hebrew word for “visitation” is defined as “oversight, care, custody, mustering, visitation, charge, office, overseer, or class of officers.”  The Hebrew word for “perish” means to “cause to wander away, that is lose oneself, to stray, to blot out, do away with, cause to vanish,” so verse 15 says about these denominational “founders” that “they are vanity” (empty) and their work errors from scripture.  In the time of their oversight, or custody of their flock, they shall wander or stray away from the truth (apostatize) or even be blotted out (which is a biblical term meaning blotted out of the book of life or loose their salvation).

Jeremiah 10:16 The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his name.

I won’t go into details on who He is really talking about here when he refers to “Jacob” as it took me 3 hours to explain it in a verbal teaching.  But basically he is saying these “founders” are not at all directing the church like God’s true leaders are supposed to be.  “The portion of Jacob” is the true remnant who is just like the “former of all things” remnant that was before in Jeremiah’s day.  “The Lord of Hosts” is who we should be seeking, not the graven images of denominational or “non-denominational” doctrines.  This also alludes to specifically Ephraim and the man child, who both rule with a rod of iron and have the Lord’s true heart on unity in these end times.

Jeremiah 10:17-18 Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress.  For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so.

He declares the same thing that 2 Corinthians 6:17 is saying, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”  The Hebrew word for “fortress” in verse 17 is another name for “Egypt” (the world) and also used as “an entrenchment.”  Jeremiah is saying to leave these denominated fellowships (entrenched worldly beliefs) because the Lord is going to cast out the “inhabitants of the land” (founders and members deceived by the graven images) in this time or season, and “will distress them” (to bind, make narrow, cause distress, besiege, be straightened, to show hostility toward, treat with enmity, vex, harass) so much that they will know for sure (“they may find it so”) they are under the judgment hand of God.

Jeremiah 10:19-21 Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.  My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.  For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.

The Lord is talking about Himself.  You can see just how much we grieve Him by our division and worshiping our idols of denominational religion, but yet He says, “I must bear it.”  He has to endure His own children turning from Him “my children are gone forth of me, and they are not” in order to purge His church.  Please note these are His children, meaning they were saved but have fallen away (another verse undeniably proving false the unconditional eternal security doctrine).  There are not any left to “stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains” meaning true worshipers who worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).  Our worship is not of God’s temple, but is corrupted by the rose colored glasses of our denomination.

In verse 21 he doesn’t speak in symbolism, he just speaks it as it is.  “The pastors have become brutish;” There’s that same “brutish” word again and as a reminder in means; to burn, kindle, or consume, but also to be stupid, barbarous, dull-hearted, unreceptive, or denominative!  He is still in the same context of what he began talking about in verse 14.  These pastors of denominational and “non-denominational” sects have become dull-hearted and unreceptive “and have not sought the Lord.”  The Lord has been long suffering and has born His grief with these elders, but he is going to clean house “at this once” and they will no longer prosper and “their flocks shall be scattered.”  Brethren, this is where we are in the end times and the flocks are beginning to scatter.  This is why you currently see many meetings among church elders trying to figure out what to do about people, especially the young ones, leaving “their” denominations.

Jeremiah 10:23-25 O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.  O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.  Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.

Jeremiah has now turned his attention on himself.  He knows that he, as a man, cannot know the way he needs to go with his life.  He understands Proverbs 16:9 “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.”  So after he delivers the Word from the Lord he asks for judgment on himself and “not in thine anger” or God’s wrath.  We must understand that judgment and tribulation is for God’s children, wrath is for the unsaved as God’s children will not be given to wrath (Romans 5:9).  He asks the Lord to “pour out thy fury (or wrath) upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name.”  Why does he ask this of the Lord?  The next sentence answers that question but, to bring it into our current time frame, we need to use “the true church” instead of “Jacob” (which is spiritually one in the same).  Because they (the founders that have denominated with their idol worship) have eaten up the true remnant church, “and devoured it, and consumed it, and have made its habitation desolate,” just like the Jews of Israel made their habitation desolate after they rejected Christ at his first coming and crucified Him.  This is why God sent His beast Roman government in 70 AD to utterly destroy them.  Likewise the beast revived Roman empire of our day will utterly destroy the “Christians” who have divided the church into factions and made her desolate.

Hasn’t anyone noticed lately that hardly any believer truly knows the Lord and how the church as a whole should be operating in unity?  The true habitation of the church has been made desolate because most Christians believe it’s normal and holy to be a part of a religious denomination when this passage in Jeremiah reveals it grieves the Lord.  We wouldn’t think twice about condemning another believer if they were committing adultery with another person, but what about Christians who are committing adultery with another mistress called denomination?  Somehow we seem to completely overlook that same sin because, for the most part, the whole church is intimately involved with her.  Most believers wouldn’t know a true minister of Christ who has been made a steward of the mysteries of God (1Corinthians 4:1) if he stood right in front of them revealing that truth.  They would just say “that’s your interpretation, not mine!”  The majority of Christians think they’re an expert of biblical understanding (knowledge puffeth up) and right in their own eyes.  Consider a warning from Isaiah 5:20-21 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!  Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!”

1Corinthians 8:2 And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.

Proverbs 30:12-13 There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.

My intention is not to sound doom and gloom, but we are that generation and we are under the judgment hand of God.  And that judgment will increase with frequency and intensity until those in the body of Christ either repent and turn back to Him or fall away from the faith into perdition.  There will be no “Christians” left straddling the fence between the world and the true righteous remnant any more.

OH LORD, correct us with your judgment and not in your fierce wrath, and help us not to judge our brothers and sisters lest that same judgment fall on us.  Amen!

Grace be with you all that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.

Your servant in Christ.