“But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true.” Jeremiah 28:9 NIV
The struggle between knowing and identifying a true prophet from a false one is real and is also evident in this chapter. Being that God is good, should not the prophesies of God be good as well? That is what many want to believe.
Sometimes we need to go back to the beginning or back to the basics. The message of God has never changed and will always be the same. God’s message to the Israelites (and to us) has always been to repent and return to Him. Not one word of good counsel came from the mouth of Hananiah. Hananiah promised the Israelites unconditional prosperity in God’s name. There was no mention of their need to repent nor any warning of disaster if they do not turn from their evil ways.
May we not just accept the encouraging parts of God’s word, but also the alarming parts as well. May we also not tread in the steps of false prophets, but rather deeply root ourselves in His truth and in His word.
Lock Your Wings 
Excellent and very pertinent post for today. You could probably interchange the name of Hananiah with Copeland (et. al.) nowadays
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Therefore, this is what the Lord says: ‘You must die. Your life will end this very year because you have rebelled against the Lord.’” Two months later the prophet Hananiah died.”
Jeremiah 28:16-17 NLT
Interesting to think that God could have let him die instantly but instead waited two months. Was that to think about what he had done? Was that to cause him to dread each day not knowing if this would be the last? Was this because he had to have his affairs in order? We don’t know the day that will be our last day on earth but we should think about what we are doing, live each day like it is our last and be ready to meet our maker.
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