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Jeremiah 43:4 "So Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of the Lord, to remain in the land of Judah." 

 

This is after most of the inhabitants of Judah had been taken into exile to Babylon. Johanan and the other people here were the remnant, the ones who had been left behind, and they were scared. They were thinking on fleeing to Egypt for safety, but they first asked Jeremiah what they should do (Jeremiah 42:1-3). Jeremiah prayed to God and gave them an answer: God told them to remain in Judah, that He would be with them and would protect them (Jeremiah 42:10-12), but if they went to Egypt, then "the sword which you fear shall overcome you there ...  and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow hard after you to Egypt; and there you shall die." (Jeremiah 42:16). Upon hearing this, however, Johanan and the rest of the people accused Jeremiah of lying, and of trying to deliver them into the hands of the Chaldeans (Jeremiah 43:2-3). So off they went to Egypt, only to have God send Nebuchadnezzar to conquer Egypt as well (Jeremiah 43:9-11, 46:1-24).

 

When we see this love/hate relationship with the Word of God, which is Truth, we know we've gotten to a really bad place. Jeremiah was treated horribly for all his prophecies to Judah, begging them on behalf of God to change their ways or suffer dire consequences. Nobody wanted to hear it. They wanted to keep on doing what they were doing and remain blissfully, ignorantly, convinced they were protected as God's chosen people. Anyone who challenged their complacency had to be rejected. So Jeremiah went through all kinds of misery at their hands, yet God kept sending him back to them. This is the "hate" part - the people of Judah hated Jeremiah for telling them what God wanted them to hear, for telling them the Truth.

 

But after the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile, the remnant went to Jeremiah to ask what they should do. Somewhere in their hearts, then, they did truly believe that Jeremiah was speaking for God. This is the love part. The Truth is love, and when all is on the line, people know where to seek it. They turn to the ones who have been trying to say it to them all along. Yet after they got their answer, the people rejected it, accusing Jeremiah of lying, and they did the opposite of what he, and God, told them to do, and suffered the consequences for it. Unfortunately for them, their hatred of the Truth outweighed their innate love for it.

 

A similar visceral reaction to truth-tellers, or even those just questioning the lies of the "Narrative", is something we see starkly today, and something we should view as a warning sign. During COVID and the Black Lives Matter phases of our recent past, anyone who questioned any part of the official narratives that sprung up around these movements was vilified, canceled, fired, and/or accused of spreading hatred, misinformation, or malinformation, just like Jeremiah. Now that things have calmed down a bit, some are starting to see the truth, or at least be more willing to hear questions and acknowledge inconsistencies. But many, especially those whose power or position rely on the Narrative, remain wedded to the lies and, it seems, always will be, if only for self-preservation.

 

This is an extremely dangerous place to be, and we are there, not only with COVID, but with many other very dangerous things, like Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Hamas, Syria, extreme climate change initiatives, etc. Too many experts have made up their minds that they alone know how these things should be resolved, and have gone in too deep on their fixes. They are now committed to only one course of action, the wrong one, and are going all in. They are taking our country and the world with them as they "run off to Egypt", despite the warnings from truth-tellers that we should maybe sit tight and let God have a hand in some of this.

 

That all sounds rather dire, and it is, but we have to remember that this is a spiritual battle, and God is in charge, no matter what the most misguided of our leaders do. This battle has to be fought, or God would not be allowing it. It will play out like every other spiritual battle, including the one that led to the fall of Jerusalem, but we still always know who wins, who has already won!